Pointing Fingers

by with No Comment CultureFeaturedGen Z

There is a monster within our midst. This monster was born and bred in the Land of the Free, fed from the bosom of bigotry, and taught how to survive by means of trigger happy fingers. Now that the monster is running amok, we are quick to point fingers at each other. Did you know that when you’re pointing the blame at someone or something else, there are three fingers pointed back at yourself? 

This monster has been taking the form of mass shootings, which have unfortunately become endemic in the United States. From theaters to parks to schools to nightclubs to Walmarts to downtown night scenes, gun violence has become increasingly more pervasive and its reach keeps extending. It continues to take over any and all remaining safe spaces, if people even feel safe here anymore. 

On the first Sunday of August, many lives were threatened and many lives were claimed. 

Patrick Crusius, a 21-year-old White man, traveled 600 miles from his hometown of Allen, TX to El Paso, to this Walmart. It is inarguable that he was a man on a mission to “get as many [Mexicans] as he [could]”. Given that El Paso is comprised of roughly 80% Mexican and Latinx, it is accurate to deem this as a hate crime. Crusius allegedly posted a “manifesto” on a dark website, 8chan, which includes strong anti-immigrant sentiments. 

Authorities reported that Crusius unabashedly confessed to this crime, saying “I’m the shooter”. Crusius is being charged with capital murder, but it is still uncertain whether he will be charged for this mass shooting as a hate crime. According to The NY Times, authorities are still looking for a definitive link between the manifesto on 8chan and Crusius. If they are to find it, then they may prosecute him for the shooting being either an act of domestic terrorism or being a hate crime. Personally, I don’t understand how it can’t be both. 

There are people who claim that this rhetoric sounds like President Trump’s election and re-election campaign, which both contain antagonistic views of immigrants, legal and illegal. This is finger-pointing. We are looking for someone to blame for this and Trump fits the mold, close enough. 

In Dayton, OH, Connor Betts finally got to enact his desire of becoming a mass shooter. Betts had expressed his desire to be a mass shooter since he was in high school. According to his old classmates, all he talked about was guns, extreme violence, and his “hit list.” This list was divided into two sections: a kill list for guys and a rape list for girls. With someone as vocal as he was about his intents, it begs to question why there was no further action taken against him. Betts had been a ticking time bomb since he was a high school student so I want to know how we could have given him the chance to explode. 

Something’s got to give. 

On Monday, August 5th, President Trump addressed these tragic events. While his sincerity could be called into question, if we focused on what he said, there is still a bone to pick with it. He blames violent video games and the internet for corrupting the minds of youths like Crusius and Betts. He also blames these violent acts on mental illness. Trump wants to start putting Red Flag Laws into effect through a bipartisan effort so that we can prevent arming “mentally ill monsters” in the future. Mental illness, video games, and the internet can be factors in decisions and intents such as these, but they are not the blame for them. 

Trump is pointing fingers at other reasons for these tragedies, but his remaining three fingers point at how he seems undecided about whether he’ll protect the people or the second amendment rights, how he feels there’s an influx of immigrants that are ruining our “great” country and making America lose its identity, and how his words and actions can be construed as misogynistic and racist. During his presidency, racist and sexist agendas have become more forthright. If our president can do and say these things, why can’t we the people do the same? 

One thing that stuck with me from Trump’s address is how mass shootings have steadily increased since Columbine twenty years ago. This increasing frequency needs to be stopped so innocent lives won’t be taken. This needs to stop now, but what would the solution look like? 

I like the idea of running background checks on individuals who are looking to purchase a firearm. It is certainly tedious work, similar to getting clearances for a new job, but this extra work can ensure that individuals like Crusius and Betts do not get their trigger happy fingers on them. This can be invasive, and it surely wouldn’t be infallible, but it would be a move in the right direction.  

The second amendment grants us the right to bear arms, and by placing the gun market under stricter supervision, it can be seen as an infringement of this right. I don’t see how we can more strictly regulate the sale and resale of firearms in America whilst remaining completely faithful to our second amendment right. However, as the saying goes, you can’t make everyone happy. 

I also like the idea of raising the age from 18 to 21; however, it is ridiculous to enforce because we are allowed to enlist in the army at the age of 18. We’ll be handling guns at 18, home and overseas, but will not be able to purchase them upon our return if we enforce a policy like this. 

Change is a ripple effect and it doesn’t happen immediately. Decisions have to be made in order for change of some sort to occur. We won’t know if it’s a bad decision or a good one if we don’t put forth the effort. President Trump is pushing for us to put our political differences aside because we need to stand together to make change. We need to relinquish ourselves of this monster we’ve created in the hopes of being and feeling safe within our own country. 

Similar Read: Gun Control: Could It Be That Easy?

Dancing With the Devil… A Brooklyn Perspective on Gun Violence

by with 3 Comments CultureFeatured

[This is the third installment of a three-part series on American gun violence. Read part one here and part two here.]

“You ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?”

This is the iconic question that The Joker, played by the legendary Jack Nicholson, posed to his victims in Tim Burton’s 1989 film, Batman. You see, what The Joker is asking Bruce is if he’s ever wrestled with fate. Moreover, did that tangle with fate deliver grief and sorrow to his life experience.

I sure have danced with that devil in the pale moonlight.

Late in the summer of 2011, I ventured out with my roommate to Queens (NY) on a school night in an attempt to lift his spirits as he was dealing with a breakup. I offered to be the designated driver for the night so he could take his mind off the emotions of the breakup and have a good time.

Coming out of the club that morning, as fate would have it, my roommate began to say that there were Angels all around us and that he could see them. I affirmed his vision to appease him and wondered to myself how much he had to drink. Seconds later each of us had the barrels of loaded guns pressed against our torsos. Our initial response was to push the guns away, to which our assailants threatened that they would shoot us. They stole our jewelry and then ran off into the night.

We quickly moved to the car and drove off towards flashing police lights in the distance. Thinking that we were trying to chase them, one of the robbers opened fire on our car eight times at close range. Similar to the photo above, I’ll never forget ducking down and looking back to see flames coming out of the muzzle of the gun. As I turned my gaze forward, the back windshield of the car in front of us shattered. Luckily the car was empty and we sped off towards the police lights. Thankfully, he was a terrible shooter and not one bullet struck our vehicle. The Angels that my roommate saw that evening and the availing prayers of my Mother had truly prevented us from being yet another fatality in America’s gun violence epidemic.

Hearing the gunfire, the NYPD acted quickly and ultimately apprehended the young men with our jewelry in their possession. We were a little shaken but the Officers asked that we return to the precinct to identify the shooters later that day.

The Officers had investigated the crime scene and determined that whoever was in the passenger seat would have been struck between the head and chest area – I was in the passenger seat.

With that in mind, the Officers then crammed six young black men into a small room and asked that I select the men who robbed us. Looking through a one-way mirror where they could not see me, I looked at these young men in the eyes and was overcome with strong feelings of empathy and sadness.

What could have transpired in the lives of these young men to bring them to this room? Was it low wages and poverty that brought them to this room? Was it the poor public education system that brought them to this room? Was it the American government backed distribution of crack cocaine to black neighborhoods that brought them to this room? Was it mass incarceration and the fatherless homes that those policies left in its wake that brought them to this room?

Having an understanding of the pitfalls in the area in which I grew up in Brooklyn, I had a surreal feeling knowing that there was a pane of glass separating me from an alternate life that I could have lived. In fact, I would later find out that one of the young men who robbed us lived in the neighborhood I grew up in. Here I was, a young black man working for American Express, living on my own, but wondering what I could do to prevent other young men from being in this room. In a way, I felt and feel a sense of survivors guilt. I walked away from that room muttering to myself, “there but for the grace of God go I.”

I know those young men went to jail and I think about them from time to time. I wish blessings on their lives and I hope that they can overcome the mistakes of their youth and the unrelenting punishment of the American prison system.

It has taken me a few months to complete this series on American gun violence and share my own personal experience with guns. Sadly, as time passed, I knew that before I completed this series that there would be another mass shooting. As I write this piece, I received yet another Notification of Death that ten people have been gunned down in a Texas High School.

Why do we need gun reform in America? Quite simply, too many Americans are having to dance with the devil in the pale moonlight… it needs to stop.

This article was originally published on 22 May 2017.

My Fellow Republicans, We Need to (Finally) Have This Talk

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Dear Fellow Republicans,

This is not something I want to do. I’ve hinted about this for years, but my pleas have fallen on deaf ears. This is not something pleasant to discuss, but it is long overdue. I am not doing this because I feel pressure to please ‘the other side’, it is because my faith has convicted me to speak out, and when you feel the Holy Spirit leading you, this message will reach the people it needs to reach.

For too long, we have allowed a darkness to linger in our party. During the early Bush (43) years, we ignored it. In fact, most of our party leaders tacitly confronted it. Fueled by a growing evangelical movement that was less partisan and more racially diverse, there was a movement in the Republican Party to build upon the gains made in previous elections with minority communities, especially the Latino community. George W Bush rode this momentum to two terms by capturing Hispanic-heavy states like Texas, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Florida, and Nevada. Then something changed, and it opened the door to something that spread like wildfire and has a chokehold on us at this hour. 

It started with several protests that lead to the defeat of Bush’s comprehensive immigration reform. Anxiety about border security was stoked daily by national talk radio hosts and personalities like Sean Hannity and Mark Levin. A so-called conservative uprising, fueled by resentment to millions of people who were here illegally, seized control of the party and set the table for something far, far worse. Opportunistic political candidates leaped at the chance to further stoke this anger for electoral success.

Dan Patrick was a provocative state Senator from the Houston area. He owned a talk radio station, and he had a talk show on the channel. Perhaps the most infamous event his show is remembered for is getting a vasectomy on his live show. In 2014, he challenged the sitting Lieutenant Governor, David Dewhurst, and two other statewide elected officials in the GOP primary. His candidacy, fueled by Tea Party-affiliated groups like Empower Texas, was built upon one slogan, “Stop the Invasion!” He ran ads of people with darker skin climbing over a fence to further stoke the smoldering embers, and by the time the TXGOP convention came around, he was received like a rock star, completely overshadowing every other speaker. 

One year later, another media personality with his own show used the same template and rode it to the GOP nomination and the White House. He took the foundation that Dan Patrick and others had laid and built a national campaign that convinced rural people in midwestern states that illegal immigrants were crossing the border to rape and destroy our country. Now, most Americans believe we need competent border security. In the post-9/11 world, our national security is not negotiable. This does not mean we need to scapegoat groups of people. 

Originally, the consensus argument was, “We support legal immigration, not illegal immigration.” Never mind the intermixing of the terms ‘illegal immigration’ with ‘immigration’, this was the party line used to deflect claims of xenophobia or racism. Then over time, there was a backlash against legal immigration as well. When deciding on what kinds of immigrants we should prioritize (skilled, unskilled, college-educated, etc.), the same people oppose any changes or increases because immigrants would drive down wages. Basically, we are ok with people coming here legally, but we are going to put up every roadblock to prevent you from coming here. Last October, the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) released a survey that measured American attitudes towards immigration. Some of their findings are startling, though not surprising.  They found that “74 percent of Republicans think immigrants are a burden, while only 35 percent of Democrats do.” The generational divide on this point is also significant, with 62 percent of seniors believing immigrants are a burden, but only 32 percent of young Americans. As the Republican party sheds young professionals and college-educated voters to market to older White working-class voters, these attitudes are solidified in the party’s structure. 

In the last 15 years, I’ve had a front-row seat watching the progression (or regression) of the party from a suburban, middle-class party with an interest in Hispanic voters to an older rural, working-class party who openly questions if the person speaking Spanish at the booth in the coffee shop in town is here legally. The reality is the racial and xenophobic anxieties were always there. Party leaders like the Bush family, John McCain, and many others did a good job at diffusing these impulses, or at worse, muzzling them. With the rising influence of social media, these anxieties have been fed by talk show hosts like Laura Ingraham, Mark Levin, and Lou Dobbs. When you combine it with daily Twitter diatribes from the President, you have a nearly unbreakable support system.

Now I realize that many of you have stopped reading out of anger, and some have created new profanities, and most believe I am a gutless RINO sellout. I also owe you an apology. When I saw these cancerous symptoms a decade ago, I did not actively confront it. I would mention it bothered me on a Facebook post, but at political events, I normally walked away instead of pushing back. I let my political ambitions trump what I knew was wrong. I would defend the party against outsider attacks because while my team has its faults, it is still MY TEAM. I knew one day this intervention would have to happen, and the tragedy that took place at the Walmart in El Paso was the final straw.

The terrorist responsible is a 21-year-old man from a middle-class Dallas-Fort Worth suburb that is best known for having the most expensive high school football stadium in the country, and it is the home of Kyler Murray, the 1st pick in the NFL Draft this year. This person drove 600 miles to a majority-Hispanic city because he wanted to ‘Stop the Invasion’. From what has been discovered from his social media activity, he was inspired by the terrorist that executed 9 people at the church in South Carolina, and he was a passionate believer in the anti-immigration rhetoric used by our president. No, I do not believe the President is liable for the shooting, but it needs to be a wakeup call. A mentally disturbed racist using identical language of one of the most powerful political figures in the state, killed fellow Americans because he was blinded by hateful rhetoric that is used interchangeably by many political activists and elected officials. 

In the youth group room at my childhood church, there are walls painted by students as an expression of what it means to be a Christian. On the wall behind where my youth pastor would preach is a school of fish pointing one direction, with one fish facing the other way. Sometimes, you must buck peer pressure because your peers want you to go along with something you know is wrong. Right now, this could be that moment, and I accept that.  

I will leave you with this. Ask yourself this one question. Is an illegal immigrant a human being? I am not asking what you think needs to be done to solve this complex issue. This is a simple yes or no question. If you asked this question on your social media account, will your friends and allies be able to answer this simple, basic question? If your answer is ‘yes, but…’ or anything other than a simple ‘yes’, you have successfully dehumanized a group of people. If you call yourself a person of faith and fail this simple test, you need to ask yourself what idol you are actually worshipping. The world and this country needs a vibrant, healthy Republican Party. We cannot treat or ignore the symptoms any longer. We must treat the disease instead. I am under no illusion that the treatment will be tough, and the immediate side effects will not be pleasant, but we can choose to take our medicine and start the recovery or let the disease kill us. The choice is yours.

 

Your loyal friend,

 

Luke

Luke’s Consciousness from Night 2 of the Debates

by with One Comment FeaturedPolitics

My thoughts… 

Biden vs Harris is good TV. Kamala Harris is trying to get Warren supporters with her single-payer plan, but now allowing private plans after taking some heat. The one person who is clear on this issue is Bernie Sanders, and he embraces every criticism for single-payer, including raising taxes. Warren and Harris are not comfortable getting into the criticisms. 

The similarities between Harris and Ted Cruz’s campaign from 4 years ago can’t be understated. She is very sharp and very tight to the base, which will turn out in caucuses. Harris has one mission tonight, and she telegraphed it loud and clear – tear down Biden. 

Gillibrand’s answer on healthcare feels forced. Taking the same position as Bernie or Warren is a lost cause because people who care about this will choose Bernie or Warren instead.

Mayor De Blasio enjoys listening to himself talk. He just teed it up for Biden on healthcare when Harris had landed a number of haymakers.

Just like the previous night, the divide between red or purple state candidates versus blue state candidates when it comes to decriminalizing illegal border crossings made it clear that some of them do not know the difference between illegal crossings and seeking asylum. 

Castro is extremely opportunistic on illegal immigration and it is also the only issue he feels comfortable on the offensive.

Cory Booker is trying to be the unifier. This is not an electorate that wants unity.

Joe Biden is being framed as hostile to immigrants. I don’t think it will cause lasting damage because his base is more interested in general election dynamics than primary-based issues. Biden’s biggest threat is after the field winnows down to 3 or 4 candidates. If Bullock, Delaney, Hickenlooper, or one of the moderate wing candidates catches fire, he will be in trouble.

Booker vs Biden on criminal justice reform is fascinating. Booker is wisely milking the attention. This is how candidates raise their profile. We will see copycat attempts by the rest of the field to duplicate it.

My wife brought up a great point, every single time a candidate attacks Trump, 1) he gets more TV time to speak to voters, and 2) it reinforces that he is the unquestioned frontrunner.

Biden is campaigning to be Obama’s 3rd term. He is betting Obama could win another primary. 

Tulsi Gabbard will not receive a Christmas card from the Harris family this year.

Candidates need to STOP USING ANECDOTAL STORIES EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. I get it, you spoke to a stranger before.

There was a better discussion on climate change on Night 1. Considering it is Inslee’s pet issue, I expected a better dialogue tonight.

If candidates were serious about addressing lead levels in water in places like Flint, the profession that needs to be brought in are civil engineers, not politicians.

I am surprised to not see anyone at least push for additional tariffs in a state like Michigan.

Biden will face questions over TPP if he is a candidate. The base opposes it, and Trump does as well.

Biden faced accusations of racism in the first debate and sexism in the second debate. It raises the question if his critics will fully unite behind him if he is the nominee.

Biden is the only person on stage to be around for the 2002 Iraq vote and voted for it. Will that come back to haunt him if it comes down to him and Bernie?

Calling for impeachment hearings during campaign season is pandering. If impeachment hearings are going on next year, it will be political theatre that Trump feasts upon.

This debate crystalizes the intra-party civil war. Biden is the traditional Democratic Party, running against Warren, Sanders, Booker, and Harris who represents the new Democratic Party. I don’t think Biden wins if the race is reduced to a 1 on 1 race after New Hampshire. He is a near-lock if 3 or 4 of the others stay in the race on Super Tuesday.

Similar Read: Luke’s Consciousness From Night 1 of the Debates

Luke’s Consciousness from Night 1 of the Debates

by with One Comment FeaturedPolitics

My thoughts… 

Instead of 2 nights of 10 candidates, they should move to 4 nights of 5 candidates. Too many candidates on one stage muddles the message and it feels more like a spelling bee or an 80s dating show. People committed to watching two nights will watch four. 

Single-payer is the dividing line for the party and candidates. Removing the option for private policies is the sticking point.

Elizabeth Warren does not want to be labeled as raising taxes on the middle-class by supporting Medicare for All, even though the sponsor, Bernie Sanders, says it will require an increase in taxes. 

Kudos to Jake Tapper for making each candidate answer about raising middle-class taxes. 

Beto is trying the Goldilocks approach, but it appears he is provoking both sides instead of uniting them.

Bernie has the healthcare debate cornered in this debate. He will say what others won’t and it shows he is the most comfortable saying it.

Delaney has the policy that is most likely to get through both Houses of Congress, but he is likely to become the Dems John Kasich – possible crossover support, but will not find a receptive audience in a segmented primary. 

The red-state/blue-state Dems divide when it comes to public health care for illegal immigrants. Red-state Dems have had to appeal to Trump-leaning voters, and they view Trump’s landmines very differently. 

Steve Bullock is extremely uncomfortable answering questions about gun violence. Red-state Dems do NOT want to answer questions about guns and are hiding behind changing issues. 

Based on the answers provided on climate change, immigration, and health care, President Obama is a borderline blue dog Democrat. 

These candidates throw out the term ‘trillions’ like Oprah with new cars. 

Tim Ryan, Bullock, Hickenlooper, and Delaney are running for the Hillary 2008 voters, who turned to Trump. Bernie, Warren, Buttigieg, and Beto are running for the Obama 2008 voters. It’s Midwest blue-collar working-class union voters versus coastal cosmopolitan upscale liberals. 

Buttigieg is what Beto was supposed to be. Beto had the perfect foil in Ted Cruz, he doesn’t have that luxury in a large primary. 

Watching an entirely White stage debate reparations was interesting because most of the candidates were not comfortable discussing it. 

Delaney embraced TPP! I never expected to see a presidential candidate do that, especially since Trump opposes it too. Delaney has fully embraced the DLC mantle, but that group has not been relevant for more than a decade. He has potential to get Never-Trump former Republicans. 

It will be interesting to see how effective Warren, Sanders, and Biden will be able to combat the potential issue of ageism. 

Warren and Sanders elevated themselves from the rest of the stage when it comes to seizing the progressive mantle. They need to face Biden in the next debate. Delaney has unabashedly seized the moderate mantle. It will get him new donors, but being the moderate candidate has too low of a ceiling to win. Klobuchar reminds me of another former MN presidential candidate, Tim Pawlenty. Solid resume, but in a giant field, she won’t have the dedicated support to make a dent. Beto won’t make it to the Iowa caucus. Buttigieg is a wildcard. He has potential, but he doesn’t have the stage presence Warren or Sanders command. 

Similar Read: Luke’s Consciousness From Night 2 of the Debates

Before Watching the Debate Tonight…

by with No Comment FeaturedPolitics

Before you watch the debates tonight and tomorrow night remember these few things:

a. Flint still doesn’t have water

b. Donald Trump has been accused by a new woman of sexual assault

c. Who will speak up about the border crisis

d. Warren and Sanders have proposed student loan debt elimination

e. Biden is still making political gaffes but is it sticking…

f. Pete has a crisis happening in South Bend with white cops killing black men

g. There are multiple women and women of color running for President

h. There are plenty of white men running for president

i. Climate change is real and listen for who speaks up about it

j. The economy is not better under the Trump administration and listen who references that

k. There is a war happening in Sudan- who will speak up about it

l. Healthcare is still not accessible by every American in every state

m. The election is still over a year out

Listen intently and give every candidate a real chance to win you over.

This article was originally published on 26 June 2019. 

Trump Is Wrong, And So Are We

by with 3 Comments CultureFeaturedPolitics

This is America. Where a President can insult a city of 600,000 residents over his own conflicts with Representative Elijah Cummings. The truth is, our border is being run with wild incompetence and cruelty. The harder truth is, so is the city of Baltimore. Don’t all jump at once – I am a firm supporter of Baltimore, but the city has been left behind time and time again. It has seen its share of scandals and – wait, am I talking about Baltimore or our president? Truth is there are gross similarities here. And let’s get one thing straight, Washington, DC, where Trump calls home, is experiencing a historic rat infestation all over the city. Like, real rats, not the folks cycling in and out of the White house tearing our democracy apart and then running to the hills when they realize the president is Master Shredder. 

As a very wise Facebooker recently said, “Baltimore deserves our own AOC or Ilhan Omar.” It is time for someone to FIGHT for the people of Baltimore and challenge the status quo. Cummings has retained support by relying on voters in Baltimore being uninformed and voting against their own self-interests. This is also how our president maintains a 40% approval rating on average – it has been reported that the educational level of Trump’s supporters averages an 8th-grade reading level. Our democracy is no longer based on facts, truth, and real issues. And Trump attacking Cummings because he has not been a strong enough advocate for Baltimore is interesting considering our country is the laughing stock of the developed world. 

So what can we do? Well, we need to get informed. Those that are informed need to take an Each One, Teach Twenty-One approach. We don’t have time to just hope for the best. It is time that we as a nation get the facts, learn the issues, and challenge those who we vote into office to DO WHAT WE NEED THEM TO DO. This includes every level of elected office starting with the school PTA, city and county council, state legislatures, and our national elected officials. You want to stop having to deal with Trump and Cummings? VOTE THEM OUT. We have a rat infestation. Not just in Baltimore, not just in DC or New York – we have an infestation of rats who have pimped all of us into electing them so they can do as they please with the power we hand them. Trump is dead wrong. And now that we know better, we are dead wrong if we do nothing to change the fabric of our nation, including Baltimore.  

Similar Read: War Taxes And Other Radical Ideas From the Left

TRUMP’S HOME IS WHERE THE HATE IS

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“Immigrants are the lifeblood of this country – we’re a nation of immigrants – and neither of us would be standing here today if it wasn’t.”  

“Clichés. There’s a point of saturation.”

At the beginning of T.C. Boyle’s premonitory fiction The Tortilla Curtain (1995), White American liberal humanist Delaney opposes his wife’s Kyra pejorative view of immigration. These words definitely sound like they were spoken yesterday during a White House press conference. They sound like something you can overhear in a bar, at a bus stop, in front of the school gate, at a family dinner party. They sound like something an American president whose grandparents were born in Europe and whose third wife holds a Slovenian passport would definitely not endorse. The only thing is that he actually does. In the eye of his devotees, Trump’s efforts to blackmail Sweden over the totally legal and justified incarceration of A$AP Rocky, professionally counselled by Kim Kardashian, undoubtedly contradict the groundless allegations of racism.  His nonsensical understanding of law, justice and freedom of speech is simply appalling.

How many times have people intimidated strangers to go back home if they weren’t happy with the way things are done in [insert any country, preferably dominated by a White population]? No criticism allowed, no awareness-raising on serious issues, no calling out inappropriate behaviours…  As a theoretical stranger, your dissident voice does not matter. Your opinion does not matter. Instead, your name, your skin colour, your mother tongue does. It’s not about who you are, where you were born or what you do, it’s about what you threaten and who you endanger. By raising their voices, Ilhan Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib and Ayanna Pressley became scapegoats for the likes of fictional Kyra thinking in real life. And sadly, there are many, who like Kyra reckons that “everybody’s got a right to work and have a decent standard of living, but there’s just so many of them, they’ve overwhelmed us, the schools, the welfare, the prisons and now the streets.” 

Guess what? They’re overwhelming the Congress now. Except that they didn’t cross any border at night like coyotes, they were born free or given refuge and nationality lawfully. And they belong here as much as anyone who wants them to leave. 

“The more you give them the more they want, and the more of them there are,” says one of the characters in The Tortilla Curtain. Without a doubt, many immigrants took instead of waiting for something to be given to them. Ask Native Americans. Delaney sees Mexicans as migratory animals and the displacement, “made for war, for violence and killing, until one group had decimated the other and re-established its claim to the prime hunting, breeding or grazing grounds.” This is what Trump and his base are afraid of: losing their grounds to these women who fight for the greater good. The war they are anticipating is not to be made with bows and arrows, guns and swords on a battlefield. They instead feel like this herd of females is going to decimate their insubstantial White male domination over a nation of immigrants. Blows given with words. Fatal injuries caused by justice and equality. Carcasses of White patriarchy littering the land of the free. 

To be honest, I’m only half-surprised by the “go back home” comments. I expected them to be paired with “do the cooking and watch your kids” advice. This would have been completed the picture: these foreign, arrogant and silly women would have known where they truly belong: in the kitchen of some remote village in an underdeveloped country, cooking rice for their out-of-hand offspring. Well, that’s probably where Melania would be if it hadn’t been for her good looks and luck – although I’m not sure this is my definition of luck. In 2018, Melania herself complained she was “the most bullied person in the world” in an interview. Why wasn’t she encouraged by her dear husband to go back home after voicing her discontent with the way people treated her in the USA? That would have been sound advice, and also hopefully pretty effective. Nevertheless, she still hasn’t raised her voice to defend these women in the same situation as her. She may be stuck in the kitchen after all. 

On a personal level, as the mother of bi-national children who have only once ever set foot in the country where their father comes from, I’m bracing myself for the day someone tells them to go back home if they don’t like it here. They have only one home. They were born and are being raised to consider this home a safe place and the world their oyster. I’ll be glad whenever they come home because it is filled with compassion and love for others. Unlike Trump, our home is not where the hate is. 

Similar Read: Legal Attack on Women’s Right to Choose (How Did We Get There?)

Blonde Ambition: Is That All It Takes?

by with One Comment FeaturedGlobalPolitics

While the price of the pound sterling erodes faster than the Amazon basin, we see an appreciation in the values of middle-class white privilege, having horrible views and being totally incompetent. I am of course referring to Trump, Johnson and Bolsonaro. We are no longer discussing right-wing politics as their views go beyond protectionism. Their policies are derived from laziness, convenience, self-interest and defiance of doing the right thing. So what exactly is going on in the world? How has it come to this in 2019?​

I want to impress upon you how Trump et al are not simply laughable misfortunes we can shrug our shoulders at. An eclipse of rationality and reality has overcome us with deep scars impending on our social and ecological history. Of course in the three nations, different forces are at play. In the USA, fatigue of being told ‘you need to do the right thing’. Brazil’s vote was swung by appealing to the public’s desperation. Boris bucks the trend in that he was elected by party peers when Theresa May stepped down. At first glance, Boris seems the most harmless in his glory-seeking buffoonery. But a ruthless liar can only mean potential ruin for Britain.​

We all know enough about Trump; but as a Brit, I feel a duty to inform the world of Boris’s incompetence. Despite being fired multiple times for dishonesty, Boris maintained his career as a journalist until entering politics. He then won an election to become Mayor of London. During which he failed to deliver on any of his responsibilities and betrayed promises. Most notorious of these lies is the promise of £350 million a week back into the U.K’s public healthcare system to win the Brexit campaign. This year, Boris was taken to court for these unsubstantiated lies but somehow left unscathed. Dishonourable mention for his 37 offensive public remarks including calling Black children of the commonwealth “flag-waving piccaninnies,” devout Muslim women walking “letterboxes,” likening gay marriage to bestiality and “f**k the families of 7/7″ bombings. ​

If you thought Boris was a farce, Bolsonaro says hold my caipirinha. His rainforest slaying is reported daily, this needs no introduction. He says Black people “are not even good for procreation” and should “go back to the zoo.” He said about an opposing female Congresswoman that she doesn’t even deserve to be raped. Recalling his earlier years on a public sector salary, he would spend his money on sex. So why would so many women and Black Brazilians vote for him? It is speculated that speaking to the electorate’s increasingly popular Catholic values and promises of a quick fix to the country’s crime and ailing economy won it for Bolsonaro. ​

An unsavoury but important question some of us are secretly asking: is White male privilege to blame here? Wealthy, supposedly educated White majority countries elect racist White men. In fact, a White man in Brazil has managed to deeply offend those of Afro-Caribbean descent yet astoundingly garnered the majority of their votes. Why are Trump, Johnson and Bolsonaro untouchable when they are awful human beings? Is it even fair to bring up the White male privilege cliché? Because let’s face it, if a person of colour or a woman held the same views they would not even be in the running, let alone be in office.

My answer to all the above is yes, because this generational phenomenon is the last ripple of imperialism and patriarchy. An act of revolt against liberalism is a revolt against today’s youth… a united youth who want to dissolve lines of socioeconomic class, race, gender identity, orientation and faith to work together. These values are a deep threat to old-world privilege. ​

We have reached shameful new heights for politics in the western world. I look forward to a future where any form of undeserving privilege is an artefact of our troubled history. I am confident that when generation X become the leaders of our world, they can turn some of it around. Let’s hope we haven’t lost the Amazon and our minds by then.

Similar Read: Fascism 101 

Important Takeaways From Mueller Testimony

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“Over the course of my career, I’ve seen a number of challenges to our democracy. The Russian government’s effort to interfere in our election is among the most serious. As I said on May 29th (2019), this deserves the attention of every American.” – Robert Mueller’s opening statement, Congressional Hearing 

Nadler: “Did you actually totally exonerate the president?” Mueller: “No.”

Besides not exonerating the president and his initial statement about the importance of Russian interference, another important takeaway from Mueller’s testimony, and probably the most damming… Trump can be prosecuted after he leaves office (which we’ll come back to later). 

High-level assessment… Mueller didn’t want to be there. Nearly 75 years old and defenseless, he seemed flustered and confused at times. It was hard watching him ask Congressmen to repeat their questions over and over as he squinted and leaned in for what seemed like an eternity.

With the exception of Nadler’s opening questioning, Democrats seemed to mostly ask obvious questions followed by, “Is that correct Mr. Mueller?” Perhaps a good strategy considering the majority of America hasn’t read the report and they’re hoping to educate the masses.

Republican’s did the opposite and repeatedly badgered him on his handpicked team of lawyers and the fact that he decided not to prosecute the president, despite knowing the president was immune from prosecution. Yes, that little known fact, which according to OLC opinion states that a sitting president cannot be charged with a federal crime.

What is the OLC?

The OLC, or Office of Legal Counsel, is an office in the US DOJ delegated by the Attorney General that renders legal advice and opinions to the president and executive branches, often dealing with complex and extremely important matters. So if you’re Mueller, a guy who follows the rule of law and doesn’t deviate, then charging the president with a crime was never an option or even the intent.

Well, what was the point of the two-year investigation? What was the point of Democrats essentially forcing Mueller to testify publicly?

Nancy Pelosi clearly doesn’t want to impeach or even attempt to impeach the president, but… she has stated that she wants to see him in jail. And despite Mueller not being able to charge the president with a crime, he can make a case for the most important and damming takeaway from his testimony, which is Trump can be prosecuted after he leaves office. He makes a good case in his report by citing more than 10 instances where Trump may have obstructed justice, but that case was unfortunately not reinforced with his testimony.

If anything, it was diminished.

Similar Read: Reframing the Mueller Investigation