A Few Things....,

Iowa, Iowa, Iowa!

Monday marks the official start of the primary season.  First on deck?  The Iowa caucuses.  While Iowa is not the make or break of a lot of campaigns, it will go a long way towards weeding out the contenders from the pretenders.  On the Democratic side, regardless of outcome, Hilary and Bernie will both move on to New Hampshire.  However, this should be the reality check Martin O'Malley needs to have him move out of the way and start his REAL campaign towards respectability in 2020 and beyond.  Any hopes he had of being the next Barack Obama and catching the excitement of a disappointed electorate should be dashed by now; a very distant 3rd place finish should seal that deal.
Now, on the Republican side, the "gang of clowns" who are all fighting to be at least recognized should be whittled down to those that have the stones and the cash to limp into New Hampshire and come up for one last try at the brass ring.  We all know it is really just a matter of time for the reality to slap Christie, Paul, Santorum, Huckabee, and Fiorina in the face and tell them to get off the stage; though I am sure Christie will try to take a "bite" out of that slap before he has to "swallow" his truth.  But Jeb Bush should have the long green needed to keep limping along for a few more primaries, sad to say, but what is even sadder, the choices left to challenge Trump are going to be Rubio, Cruz and Carson; a couple of kooks and a Doctor with dementia!  WOW!

Don't Drink the Kool-Aid!

The situation in Flint Michigan has surpassed absurd and is squarely looking like criminal negligence.  In an effort to save money, the appointed city manager, made a decision that will have disastrous consequences for decades to come.  The water flowing through the pipes and infrastructure of that city is so dirty and so toxic that unlike in areas like the Hinkley California case showcased in the book and movie Erin Brockovich, people are not seeing the effects later in life and in the new born children; the lead levels and pollution is immediate and visible to the naked eye. 
Children are showing effects now, older folks are suffering now, hospitals and restaurants are not able to use the water flowing out of their pipes to clean, cook, or wash.  This is 2016, so how crazy is that?  And in a classic example of the "peter principle", the same city manager who was directly responsible for the decision to change the source of the city's water supply from Lake Huron to the already known polluted Flint River, has been assigned by the Michigan governor to take control of Detroit's school system.  Not up on THAT story yet?  Well it is a disaster of such horrendous proportions that teachers' union has gone all in to bring attention to what is happening to those students, those schools, those teachers and the whole system.  When schools cannot use the gymnasiums because the floors have buckled, when kids are going to class in buildings that are overrun with black mold, when teachers are having to "survive" instead of live off of their salaries; then you have what is by definition, a disaster.  Why is the state of Michigan killing its lower status citizens and then failing to educate its children, and why is this NOT on the agenda of the Republican Presidential candidates?  The governor is Republican.  Why is this not on the agenda of the Democratic Presidential candidates?  Why are we continuing to read and hear about how Obamacare is destroying the future for our children and grandchildren but no one is discussing how the reality on the ground in Michigan is killing the people TODAY?  Do yourself a service, investigate these issues and start asking these hard questions; your NOW deserves answers.  Flint is saving dollars, one life at a time.

Enabling A Murderer: Hey Netflix!  

Look, if you have not watched or started watching the Netflix documentary "Making a Murderer", you should start doing so if at all possible.  I will not reveal anything here as to the final resolution of the story or to any subsequent follow up shows and stories about the case.  What I will say is, I just wish, the same attention, the same scrutiny, the same media attention would be focused on George Zimmerman and the Trayvon Martin murder. 

Nothing about that case made any sense to those of us who understand the fear and outrage of a community that is to this day beset with killings of young Black men.  Why won't someone do some serious in-depth investigation and bring to light details of that fateful night and follow up on the life of the man who pulled the trigger and killed that young man?  Will someone please start asking hard questions about the how the case was turned to make the victim the wrong doer and the killer the hero and how that hero continues to walk the streets and cause mayhem amid societal norms?  What happened in the prosecution's criminal investigation of that night that ended up with a young child dead and a glory seeking asshole walking amongst us?  Nancy Grace, how come YOU are no longer beating the drum for Trayvon?
This country is all abuzz over this case in Wisconsin, but no one is as outraged as the Black community still is over Trayvon.  The shame of it is, the truth should still be released, we owe it to Trayvon.

Oops, Our Bad; We Didn't Mean It

What if you staged a standoff and no one came?  What if you raised a call to arms but forgot to tell people to bring provisions?  What if you provoked the police and they actually fired on you?  Well if you are a White man with a bunch of guns trying to show how big your testicles are based on the caliber of your weapons, you get a quick lesson in what WILL happen IF the government does come for your guns.  Those fools, no, Domestic Terrorists; those Domestic Terrorists in Oregon found the answers to those questions this last week.  After staging a protest in support of people who did not want their support.  After taking over a federal refuge and declaring you were there for a fight, and walking around wearing their AR-15s around the necks and dressed as if they were real soldiers, Ammon Bundy and a few of his followers got the confrontation they SAID they were looking for from authorities.  Guess what?  They fought the law and the law won!  This is not a game People! This is not a show and tell situation where people in the federal government are cowered by seeing big bad men with guns on TV talking big game.
Now, from behind bars, arrested protest leader, Ammon Bundy is telling the 4 fools still at the refuge to stand down and go home.  He is also telling all of us that "this was never meant to be an armed stand off".  Hmmm...., how do they call walking around brandishing guns and saying they aren't leaving, NOT an armed standoff???? Where I come from, if it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and points a gun at you and says it will shoot if you come for it, that is what it IS!  And finally....,

It IS just TOO Important!

I did a quick experiment on social media the other day.  I asked supporters of both Hilary Clinton and Bernie Sanders if their candidate did not win the nomination, would they still support the ticket, or do what several supporters of Hilary did in 2008; refuse to throw their support behind Obama.  How short memories are for those who claim to be progressives.  In 2000 people who sought a different kind of candidate wrote in for Ralph Nader, if just half of those voters had put their support behind Al Gore in Florida and Ohio we would not have had 8 years of George Dubya Bush.  Don't be so butt hurt because your candidate won't get the chance to stand next to Donald Trump or Ted Cruz to fight for rational thinking, that you

• lose the chance to keep Obamacare, 
• to set the direction of the Supreme Court, 
• to keep marriage equality,
• to continue the fight against global climate change
• and to keep the Black Lives Matter movement front and center

This election is more important than your personal desires.  This is an election that could change the status quo of  party change every eight years.  Not since Reagan to Bush has one party held the White House in consecutive administrations.  The Dubya Bush years where a disaster both domestically and abroad.  Though the anger of power comfortable White folk have marred the tenure of Barack Obama, his administration has been good for this country.  Respect abroad has encouraged other countries to believe in America's greatness again; whereas England and Israel have already held parliamentary votes to decide if they should ban Donald Trump from their borders because of his crazy divisive rhetoric on the campaign trail. 

I am not choosing a candidate at this juncture, but I am imploring you, if you proclaim to be a Democrat first, then follow your mind and not your heart if Hilary or Bernie is not your first choice.  I was blown away by how many people are so vested in their personal choice at this point that they declared they would either stay home, or refuse to support the nominee if they don't get what they want.  Well if you don't think you will get what you want if either Bernie or Hilary is your choice, wait til you see what happens when a stacked Congress sends Obamacare repeal legislation to the White House and it is signed.
This election is just too important to walk away with your feelings.  Vote the party, both candidates have admiral qualities and either will make a great President.  And either of them are a much better alternative then what the Clown Car is gonna drop off at your doorstep.

What it AIN'T About!

America you are disappointing me. The Trayvon Martin story is a sad one but it ain't about what certain people are trying tell you it's about. This story ain't about gun laws or gun rights. This story ain't about George Zimmerman or HIS story. This story ain't about Skittles or hoodies. The story of the tragic death of Trayvon Martin is about the murder of a child. The loss of a mother's 17 year old baby boy is sad in and of itself but when that child is taken from his mother by the hands of someone who felt he had a duty to do makes this even more disturbing and sad.
Shame on those on both sides of the aisle who try to push their own agenda over the body of this kid. Shame on the NRA for trying to defend the shooting and framing the shooter as some sort of hero. Shame on the anti gun lobby for trying to use this story to push their agenda of no guns over this kid's body. I am flabbergasted but not shocked that there are people on Fox News who try to impeach the character of this young man so that they can find some sort of justification for the murder on the street that night. This story ain't about that. Those who try to defend George Zimmerman by making the TV talking head circuit and say he wasn't a racist are profiting either financially or celebrity only to further their own cause. And for those on the Left who shout and pontificate about how it is a certain fact that George Zimmerman is a racist and hated or distrusted Blacks, I am sorry to tell YOU, this story ain't about THAT! As much as I am in solidarity with those that don hoodies and march the streets and stand in front of city halls across this nation to decry what happened in Samford Florida, I am sorry to say, "Lord KNOWS, this story ain't about THAT!! To be sure, racial divides in this country still exist. Let me repeat that because there are those that don't want to read, believe, hear or acknowledge this as fact. But racial divides STILL EXITS in this, the greatest country on this planet. But again I have to say, this story of the death of Trayvon Martin ain't about THAT!
As President Obama said and as Trayvon's mother continues to tell everyone who are open to listen, what this story IS about, is the murder and death of not only Trayvon, his mother's child, but the possibility that if it can happen to YOUR child, MY child and ANYONE'S children if we all don't wake up and take a step back. Was George Zimmerman overzealous in his pursuit of this person HE suspected? Well the proof of that is here for anyone to see. But we all have to work TOGETHER to find a better way my friends. We have to work together to TRY to keep this from happening again.
The police in that community and the in all communities in this country have to step up and stop doing drive by policing. They need to be able to invest in bringing awareness and protection of the people's trust back to the communities they are sworn to protect and serve. This story, this sad tragic totally unavoidable story is about what that mother now has to deal with for the rest of her days, that burden that she must bear so that hopefully no other parent here in America will never have to again. If we as a people, the children of a God fearing nation can come together and work together, none of us, Black, White, Brown, Yellow or whatever will have to wonder if someone who is steeped in distrust will gun down our babies because they fit a certain profile.
My heart cries out to Trayvon's mother and father. My child is 12 and if I were to lose him for whatever reason at 17 to something as tragic and senseless as this, I know I would not have the strength to go on.
Learn to love one another People.

Don't Do ME Any Favors

After watching George Zimmerman 's "good friend" on the Lawrence O'Donnell show last night, if you THINK you are my friend, if I EVER find myself in a jackpot, PLEASE check with me before going in TV to show your support! This damned fool had the nerve to try and defend someone it turns out he does not know as well as he's been claiming and made his assertions of Zimmerman's innocence and racial neutrality seem even more absurd. Some words of advice to Mr Joe Oliver, for free, don't try and defend someone whom you barely know if you aren't solicited to do so. On every level imaginable your friendship has now been brought into question. Your so called knowledge of the details of what happened that night are no more full of truth, than MINE are sitting here in Maryland. Only 2 people know exactly what transpired between Zimmerman and Trayvon that evening that led to the confrontation an only police forensic evidence will reveal how things actually ended. Only one of those two people are alive now to tell a story but prayerfully the police evidence was not tainted to the point where it cannot be truthfully revealed. Make no mistake the public outcry in this matter has the eye of the nation focused on what will happen going forward and only the eye of God can see into the heart of George Zimmerman to see what his actual intent was. But certain facts are indisputable, a young man who was doing no more than walking back from a store is now dead and two parents are now without a son. A man who was not authorized to do so shot that young man and despite the outcome of the confrontation, no one would be talking about any incident had that man not followed then confronted that young man.
No one is wrong for wanting to ensure their neighborhoods are safe but we all have to be measured in how and when we interject ourselves into certain situations. You have the right to defend your family and property from harm and destruction, especially IN your own home. But only the police are paid and duly charged with risking their own lives to protect someone else's lives and property. Private security firms can be engaged and hired by private citizens and communities to be sure but they should be properly trained to make sure that incidents like what happened in Florida last month aren't going to happen. In the cases where citizens take it upon themselves to patrol and report on activities in their own neighborhoods they should be trained and sanctioned by local police authorities. From published reports coming out of Samford, the citizens patrol that George Zimmerman belonged to were not so trained or sanctioned. And from other accounts out of that community that police force has been a problem for Blacks living there. To be sure, across this country we as a people are always under served by police forces, but when you read of how a dead man is laying at the feet of the admitted killer and no one brings that shooter in to question him of events or takes the gun into custody for testing or takes photographs of that shooter to jive his story with what is evident on the street, one HAS to take a mental check of the calendar to see if this 2012 America or 1812 America. The term "and justice for all" is supposed to be a right that ALL citizens of this country should unquestionably be guaranteed regardless of what Rick Santorum would have you believe. Not all rights come from God Rick, some rights, such as civil rights are an expectation that MY people fought, marched, protested, prayed, and DIED for so that the Trayvon Martins who are born to live their lives in America can do just that without being hunted down and killed in the streets like rabid dogs.