A Problem a Wall Won't Fix

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Who I Am , What I Believe

To all of my readers. Please read this. It pretty much explains where I stand. I'm a Progressive, but that doesn't mean what a lot of you apparently think it does. Let's break it down, shall we? Because quite frankly, I'm getting a little tired of being told what I believe and what I stand for. Spoiler alert: Not every liberal or progressive is the same, though the majority of liberals and people who call themselves progressives I know think along roughly these same lines:

1. I believe a country should take care of its weakest members. A country cannot call itself civilized when its children, disabled, sick, and elderly are neglected. Period.

2. I believe healthcare is a right, not a privilege. Somehow that's interpreted as "I believe Obamacare is the end-all, be-all." This is not the case. I'm fully aware that the Affordable Care Act  has problems, that a national healthcare system would require everyone to chip in, and that it's impossible to create one that is devoid of flaws, but I have yet to hear an argument against it that makes "let people die because they can't afford healthcare" a better alternative. I believe healthcare should be far cheaper than it is, and that everyone should have access to it. And no, I'm not opposed to paying higher taxes in the name of making that happen.

3. I believe education should be affordable. It doesn't necessarily have to be free (though it works in other countries so I'm mystified as to why it can't work in the US), but at the end of the day, there is no excuse for students graduating college saddled with five- or six-figure debt.


4. I don't believe your money should be taken from you and given to people who don't want to work. I have literally never encountered anyone who believes this. Ever. I just have a massive moral problem with a society where a handful of people can possess the majority of the wealth while there are people literally starving to death, freezing to death, or dying because they can't afford to go to the doctor. Fair wages, lower housing costs, universal healthcare, affordable education, and the wealthy actually paying their share would go a long way toward alleviating this. Somehow believing that makes me a communist.


5. I don't throw around "I'm willing to pay higher taxes" lightly. If I'm suggesting something that involves paying more, well, it's because I'm fine with paying my share as long as it's actually going to something besides lining corporate pockets or bombing other countries while Americans die without healthcare.


6. I believe companies should be required to pay their employees a decent, livable wage. Somehow this is always interpreted as me wanting burger flippers to be able to afford a penthouse apartment and a Mercedes. What it actually means is that no one should have to work three full-time jobs just to keep their head above water. Restaurant servers should not have to rely on tips, multi-billion-dollar companies should not have employees on food stamps, workers shouldn't have to work themselves into the ground just to barely make ends meet, and minimum wage should be enough for someone to work 40 hours and live.

 7. I don't believe LGBTQ people should have more rights than you. I just believe they should have the same rights as you.

 8. I don't believe illegal immigrants should come to America and have the world at their feet, especially since THIS ISN'T WHAT THEY DO (spoiler: undocumented immigrants are ineligible for all those programs they're supposed to be abusing, and if they're "stealing" your job it's because your employer is hiring illegally).

I believe there are far more humane ways to handle undocumented immigration than our current practices (i.e., detaining children, splitting up families, ending DACA, etc).

9. I don't believe the government should regulate everything, but since greed is such a driving force in our country, we NEED regulations to prevent cut corners, environmental destruction, tainted food/water, unsafe materials in consumable goods or medical equipment, etc. It's not that I want the government's hands in everything -- I just don't trust people trying to make money to ensure that their products/practices/etc. are actually SAFE. Is the government devoid of shadiness? Of course not. But with those regulations in place, consumers have recourse if they're harmed and companies are liable for medical bills, environmental cleanup, etc. Just kind of seems like common sense when the alternative to government regulation is letting companies bring their bottom line into the equation.

10. I believe our current administration is fascist. Not because I dislike them or because I can’t get over an election, but because I've spent too many years reading and learning about the Third Reich to miss the similarities. Not because any administration I dislike must be Nazis, but because things are actually mirroring authoritarian and fascist regimes of the past.

11`. I believe the systemic racism and misogyny in our society is much worse than many people think, and desperately needs to be addressed. Which means those with privilege -- white, straight, male, economic, etc. -- need to start listening, even if you don't like what you're hearing, so we can start dismantling everything that's causing people to be marginalized.

12. I am not interested in coming after your blessed guns, nor is anyone serving in government. What I am interested in is the enforcement of present laws and enacting new, common sense gun regulations. Got another opinion? Put it on your page, not mine.

13. I believe in so-called political correctness. I prefer to think it’s social politeness. If I call you Chuck and you say you prefer to be called Charles I’ll call you Charles. It’s the polite thing to do. Not because everyone is a delicate snowflake, but because as Maya Angelou put it, when we know better, we do better. When someone tells you that a term or phrase is more accurate/less hurtful than the one you're using, you now know better. So why not do better? How does it hurt you to NOT hurt another person?

14.. I believe in funding sustainable energy, including offering education to people currently working in coal or oil so they can change jobs. There are too many sustainable options available for us to continue with coal and oil. Sorry, billionaires. Maybe try investing in something else.

15. I believe that women should not be treated as a separate class of human. They should be paid the same as men who do the same work, should have the same rights as men and should be free from abuse. Why on earth shouldn’t they be? I think that about covers it. Bottom line is that I'm a liberal -Progressive because I think we should take care of each other.

That doesn't mean you should work 80 hours a week so your lazy neighbor can get all your money. It just means I don't believe there is any scenario in which preventable suffering is an acceptable outcome as long as money is saved..

-Author unknown. 

Keith's Music Spotlight

HAPPY SUNDAY!

Weekend Humor

Said No Founding Father Ever

Then Maybe...Just Maybe...

Diversity (Makes America Great)

A Message To Trump Supporters

To Be African-American

Weekend Humor

Everybody have a great weekend!

Allowed To Be One

I'm With Them

I stand with these courageous congresswomen. They will go down in #Americanhistory as the heroes that stood up to that racist occupant pretending to be the President of The United States sitting in the White House #impeachtrump #dumptrump

Hate Is A Choice

AOC-Born in the USA

It Won't Work This Time

 This weekend, Tweety Amin....I mean President Donald Trump , tweeted something so racist, so obviously racist, that even racists were stunned.....

It was so inflammatory that it burnt through the hesitations of cautious editors. CNN plainly, and correctly, called it a "racist attack."

Tweety Amin, I mean President Trump sarcastically suggested that some of his critics, who happen to be people of color  are not real Americans. He urged that "Progressive Democrat Congresswomen," the best-known of whom happen to be women of color, should go back to their countries.

The "Congresswomen," he wrote, "who originally came from countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe, the worst, most corrupt and inept anywhere in the world..." should leave.

I swear....I wish he would leave..


He was most likely referring to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, born in New York City , the Bronx, to be exact...; Rashida Tlaib, born in Detroit , Michigan; Ayanna Presley, born in Cincinatti, Ohio; and Ilhan Omar, a Somali-born naturalized American.

These women are all US citizens, like him, like his wife, his in-laws, and his ex-wives. They are Americans.

Now let's talk about HIS background....

Did you know that Donald Trump's grandfather, Friedrich Trump, was born in Kallstadt, Germany, and emigrated to the United States as a teenager?

(According to one historian, he was thrown out of his country of birth for failing to perform mandatory military service.) Sound Familiar?

Now Friedrich's grandson has become President of the United States, and is trying to fuel a re-election campaign by stoking nativist and racial  resentment.

Pehaps there has always been a segment that does not trust outsiders -- and bigots who consider non-whites inferior -- I don't believe that most Americans are racists,  bigots, and xenophobes. Maybe I'm being extremely optimistic.

So why is President Trump, the man who possesses a peculiar political instinct, betting his re-election on dividing Americans and turning them against their better instincts?

He thinks it worked the first time. But this is not 2016. In 2016, the entire world was terrified by ISIS terrorists beheading hostages and blowing up nightclubs.

The Great Recession was recent enough that people still feared the recovery might unwind, making it easier for many people to believe that immigrants were taking away their jobs. He could frighten people by talking about rapists at the border, promising better health care, and an administration of "only the best people."

Back then, Nobody knew just how much Trump lied, and how many of his promises he would be unable to keep. It's different now. Far Different , Trump's dog-whistle, formerly perceived mainly by extremists, is now a trumpet everybody can all hear. Sure, his racism, his cruelty against migrants and his family separation policy will still play well with a segment of the electorate. The brain dead, But today, Americans see Donald Trump for what he  really is.  A Reality show huckster.

They see his campaign and what he is trying to do. When he tweets about corrupt, inept governments, we think about Donald Trump. When he tells the descendants of immigrants that they should leave, we think perhaps Friedrich Trump's grandson is the one who doesn't belong here.

I'm just sayin....It won't work this time, people are hip to your game Tweety Amin!

Abort Immediately

Weekend Humor

Megan

A Partisan Message From Keith

Selective Outrage

The Real Little Mermaid

All this controversy because Disney chose a Black Actress to play a live action version of the Little Mermaid... Really??

The Racism and Idiocy of some people in this country never ceases to just totally astound me...

Let me give you folks a brutal history lesson, for those that don't know..and judging the furor over this..many of you don't know.

 The Little Mermaid is based on a book by Hans Christian Anderson published in 1837 where "Ariel" (that wasn't her name in the book)has her tongue ripped out in exchange for feet (feet that bleed the entire time she's on land, by the way).

She comes on land to try to win the prince's love in order to steal part of his soul (mermaids apparently don't have souls, but live for 300 years, so I guess you win some, ya lose some, go figure.).

She fails, and the prince marries someone else. She contemplates murdering him in his bed, but can't bring herself to do it, so she dies/melts into seafoam.

 By the way, her skin is green. There. Now I'VE ruined your childhood, and you can stop complaining about/debating the casting choice of a Disney remake about fish people... People who by the way DON'T EXIST!!!

This was a horrific story and Disney(rightfully so) changed it when they decided to adapt it into an animated cartoon.. She had a singing crab to accompany her...There was Calypso music sung by other fish and a nice sweet story that has a happy ending..

I remember, however...The Book being read to me as a child and how horrific it was..

I don't like Mermaids anyway...So this whole issue means less than nothing to me...I just thought I'd enlighten anybody who cares to read this..

Keith's Music Spot Light

I love this gem....HAPPY SUNDAY...And , you're welcome!

Weekend Humor

EVERYBODY HAVE A SEXILICIOUS WEEKEND!

Storming the Airport (In 1775)

Talk about rewriting history ... our President just explained how the Revolutionary Army took over JFK ... AIRPORT!!!

  President Trump was in the middle of his speech yesterday when he started to talk about the U.S. Army's success during its storied history.

It started ok, as President Trump took everyone back to 1775 … "The continental Army suffered a bitter winter of Valley Forge, found glory across the waters of the Delaware and seized victory from Cornwallis at Yorktown." Then, the huge OOPS.

And then he re-crafted historical facts and, for sure, technology with this ...

"Our Army manned the air, it rammed the ramparts, it took over airports, it did everything it had to do and at Ft. McHenry under the rocket's red glare had nothing but victory."

  Here's what's bizarre ... it seems Mr. Trump didn't stray from the TelePrompter -- is it possible???

Critics pounced with astonishment, maybe mixed with a little secret delight. President Trump just said the army took over the airports during the Revolutionary War. That’s, um, 127 years before the airplane was invented....and uh 37 years before the Star Spangled Banner was written...

Even George W. Bush, not the brightest bulb in the socket never made a gaffe like this...In Fact ,NO OTHER PRESIDENT HAS!

I'm just shaking my head...and I shouldn't...This has been par the course.

Who Said( It Couldn't Happen Here?)

On The Matter Of Freedom and Independence

After the Independence Day military parade in the nation’s capital today, President Donald Trump will give a speech at the Lincoln Memorial, the most recognizable memorial to his predecessor’s leadership during the Civil War and the abolition of slavery.

And yet, alternative Fourth of July commemorations across the United States often draw attention to a different side of that story, with readings of the Frederick Douglass speech best known today as “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?”

The speech was originally delivered at a moment when the country was fiercely locked in debate over the question of slavery, but there’s a reason why it has remained famous more than 150 years after emancipation, says David Blight, author of the 2019 Pulitzer Prize winning biography Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom.

To some, celebrations of American independence on July 4 are a reminder of the country’s hypocrisy on the matter of freedom, as slavery played a key role in the nation’s history; even today, America’s history of racism is still being written, while other forms of modern-day slavery persist in the U.S. and around the world.

We have thousands of Migrant Children locked in cages and separated from their families at this very minute as I write this...What does our Independence day mean to them?

For those who feel that way, July 5 may be an easier day to celebrate: on that day in 1827, 4,000 African Americans paraded down Broadway in New York City to celebrate the end of slavery in their state .

 Here is an excerpt of his speech..The most famous passages:

"What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence? Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us? and am I, therefore, called upon to bring our humble offering to the national altar, and to confess the benefits and express devout gratitude for the blessings resulting from your independence to us?…

I say it with a sad sense of the disparity between us. I am not included within the pale of glorious anniversary! Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. The blessings in which you, this day, rejoice, are not enjoyed in common. 

The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence, bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not by me. The sunlight that brought light and healing to you, has brought stripes and death to me. This Fourth July is yours, not mine. 

You may rejoice, I must mourn… What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July?

I answer; a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. 

To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciation of tyrants, brass fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are, to Him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy — a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. 

There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of the United States, at this very hour. "

I am amazed he got to deliver hat speech and live to talk about it...But it was true and it still rings true nearly two centuries later...


Frederick Douglass’ speech  foreshadowed the bloody reckoning that was  to come: The Civil War. “For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder,” he said. “We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake.”

Some say America is due another bloody reckoning....I hope it doesn't have to come to that...Enjoy your fourth!

Much Respect

What Does This Remind You Of?

The Real Moral High Ground

I Miss Them!