A few days ago, my husband and I were in Walmart. Two men (about their late teens early twenties) were riding around on the handicap motorized shopping carts as their girlfriends walked around with them. They then proceeded to both ram the end caps at full speed and began to laugh about it. My husband, disturbed by what he was seeing said to them, "Why don't you put those carts back for people who actually need them?". The one girl (I refuse to use the word woman or lady because she was less than such) then shouted, "Why don't you mind your own fucking business?". In response my husband said something along the lines of, 'if you can ram into things and giggle, you obviously don't need the carts'. The girl then shouted "Black Lives Matter". We found a manager and addressed the problem with him and he ended up kicking them out of the store.
In this brief incident, there was a severe case of racial profiling and discriminatory contempt. My husband, in his dress khakis and tucked in polo shirt, was assumed to be an entitled racist white man correcting a young adult - not for destruction of property, or using a handicap device when they didn't need it strutting out in the parking lot - but because they were black. Oh the oppression!
These four, have missed the point.
Now, to those that think this [BLM] is strictly a bunch of hula-baloo stirred up by black supremacists and perpetuated by a biased media, those who think this is a directive to kill police, those who think there is absolutely no reason to protest because racism just doesn't happen in today's America.
You too, have missed the real point.
Black Lives Matter has the potential to be a great and powerful movement in communities who are oppressed, profiled, violated, and discriminated against. I am not naive enough to believe that racism does not exist in our country - because it most certainly does. And that is wrong. Black Lives do matter. No one should ever fear being stopped by police or other law enforcement because they are a certain race or gender. No one should fear the justice system if they are innocent. In these terrible cases of injustice and in some cases murder of innocent men and women - Black Lives Matter, too - just as much as any white, Hispanic, Asian, etc life. THIS is where the need for this movement lies.
But in this Walmart case of discrimination, you can CLEARLY see that these people are opportunists manipulating the message from "we deserve equality" to "we deserve whatever we want whenever we want and if you don't let us its because you're racist". These people have transformed the movement into "Black Lives Matter More". I'm so terribly sorry that this young girl felt that her life was in mortal danger from the racist oppression of her boyfriend because he was not allowed to goof off on a motorized cart with his friend in a Pennsylvania Walmart.
This is Fayette County, Pennsylvania. Not Detroit or Baltimore. People are not getting gunned down in the streets or dying in police custody. If people are getting gunned down, its by their wives in the comfort of their own home (Vicites shooting) and by persons of the same race (white and black alike).
By this time (the time of publication), this example at a local Walmart is at least a couple months old; however, it is enlightening none the less. ALL the negative things people have to say about BLM - which are always said to be lies and misperception by the privileged white class - are embodied in this instance. Many people have told me that the stupid, system skating, tax evading, drug using crap that occurs in our county "happens everywhere, not just here". Assuming this statement is true - then the opportunistic, ignorant, trashy-behaved people like the ones we see in my personal example must also happen everywhere and not just here. And THERE is the problem. Like my piece on the BET Humanitarian Award, there is a problem in America - and continuing to promote hate and supremacy of any kind will not fix it.
Becasue this point has been missed on SO many levels, it needs to be addressed. Becasue so many have misunderstood BLM's meaning, it is in need of adjustment. This adjustment is necessary because it is not just us "privileged white folk scared of the black man" who are reading and hearing it as "Black Lives Matter MORE", it is those in unoppressed lives fighting to do whatever in the hell they want because they're black. This hijacking of what could be an amazing movement should enrage those fighting hardest for its truth to be heard. This misunderstanding should be met with the response of changing the movement title to Black Lives Matter, Too. If you meant for the "too" to be a silently perceived thing, your message has failed and needs adjusting.
Monday, August 15, 2016
Friday, August 5, 2016
Which Lives Matter
Among the many lives lost at the hands of police, many have been brought to the attention of the media. Some I feel deserved the response given, some I feel the police need to be held responsible. You decide!
#1) Man is wandering up and down the streets causing problems. Officer stops him as he is attempting to get into a van. Man charges after officer. Officer shoots. Man has 6 bullet wounds - two of which are from behind (3 shoulder, 1 chest, 1 back, 1 back of arm). Man had multiple drugs in his system. Officer has no marks on him. Is offender white or black? Should he have been shot? Should he have been killed?
#2) Man steals from store. Officer confronts man. Man attacks officer leaving bruises and even attempts to take officer's weapon. Officer shoots and kills man. Is offender white or black? Should he have been shot? Should he have been killed?
#3) Man fresh out of prison parks outside of elementary school. Man has shotgun in vehicle. Police are called to this suspicious activity. Police tell man to surrender. Man refuses and threatens suicide vs arrest. Man is shot when exiting car to move against police. Is offender white or black? Should he have been shot? Should he have been killed?
#4) Man and girlfriend are pulled over in parking lot. Officer tells man to exit vehicle. Man reaches to put vehicle in park. Officer shoots through open drivers window into man's shoulder and head. Man had no weapons or drugs on him, but his girlfriend had some pot on her. Officer says he was afraid he was going to get run over. Is offender white or black? Should he have been shot? Should he have been killed?
#5) Man is waving around gun in public place. Security cameras in the area show the weapon. Police see the weapon and fire. Is offender white or black? Should he have been shot? Should he have been killed?
These are the cases I was able to find online. YES, I feel they all needed shot or slowed down. Killed? depends on how brutally the officers were being attacked. Looking at these cases there are two which demand an answer or explanation - #1 & #4 - because they are clearly excessive in force and questionable judgement. #2, 3, & 5 are pretty straight forward. The issue here though? Their race answers are as follow: WBWWB. The truly questionable incidents involved white men, and not black men. But all races were involved in criminal behavior. So it might actually be a human thing, not a race thing. It might just be a humanity problem, not a civilians vs police problem.
Just some brief food for thought!
#1) Man is wandering up and down the streets causing problems. Officer stops him as he is attempting to get into a van. Man charges after officer. Officer shoots. Man has 6 bullet wounds - two of which are from behind (3 shoulder, 1 chest, 1 back, 1 back of arm). Man had multiple drugs in his system. Officer has no marks on him. Is offender white or black? Should he have been shot? Should he have been killed?
#2) Man steals from store. Officer confronts man. Man attacks officer leaving bruises and even attempts to take officer's weapon. Officer shoots and kills man. Is offender white or black? Should he have been shot? Should he have been killed?
#3) Man fresh out of prison parks outside of elementary school. Man has shotgun in vehicle. Police are called to this suspicious activity. Police tell man to surrender. Man refuses and threatens suicide vs arrest. Man is shot when exiting car to move against police. Is offender white or black? Should he have been shot? Should he have been killed?
#4) Man and girlfriend are pulled over in parking lot. Officer tells man to exit vehicle. Man reaches to put vehicle in park. Officer shoots through open drivers window into man's shoulder and head. Man had no weapons or drugs on him, but his girlfriend had some pot on her. Officer says he was afraid he was going to get run over. Is offender white or black? Should he have been shot? Should he have been killed?
#5) Man is waving around gun in public place. Security cameras in the area show the weapon. Police see the weapon and fire. Is offender white or black? Should he have been shot? Should he have been killed?
These are the cases I was able to find online. YES, I feel they all needed shot or slowed down. Killed? depends on how brutally the officers were being attacked. Looking at these cases there are two which demand an answer or explanation - #1 & #4 - because they are clearly excessive in force and questionable judgement. #2, 3, & 5 are pretty straight forward. The issue here though? Their race answers are as follow: WBWWB. The truly questionable incidents involved white men, and not black men. But all races were involved in criminal behavior. So it might actually be a human thing, not a race thing. It might just be a humanity problem, not a civilians vs police problem.
Just some brief food for thought!
Tired of the two faced...
Okay, so I am a manager of a full-serve petroleum station. The Daily Sales Report requires me to measure tank inventory on three tanks by hand (no machine at my station to do it), balance the fuel sales meters, record deliveries of fuel, verify store invoicing, balance store inventory taking into account sales and invoicing, calculate daily sales tax, count approx 10,000$ in cash over three shifts and verify accuracy of individual shift paperwork - correcting when necessary, evaluate and summarize credit cards, verify and summarize coupons, and evaluate verify and summarize any other monetary transactions such as paid outs and gift card sales. If the DSR does not match up and cross verify in ALL directions, I have to then go code by code, line by line, digit by digit to locate and correct the error. Once the DSR is complete, it must be entered into the corporate submission system. If there is any finalized figure outside of the acceptable limits (rounding errors on gallons reported, take inventory overage or shortage, shift overage or shortage, etc), the submission is flagged and I must then wait for status confirmation call to verify what may have caused the error. If the DSR is still rejected, I need to find the error and adjust accordingly until it is acceptable, then submit it again.
On top of the very basic paperwork listed above, I am required to check email daily, create the weekly schedules, submit payroll, distribute payroll, submit an inventory report (fuel inventory), track daily sales (both store and fuel), calculate and track daily sales projections, count cigarette inventory, track cigarette inventory, track cigarette gain/loss, track employee shift overages and shortages, track voids/cancels/returns daily, track and report pump meters compared to register meters weekly, summarize and report to DM with weekly projections and payroll usage. ensure required training is completed, complete a month end summary, report fuel system safety monitoring information monthly, check and update in store advertising signage monthly, discipline when necessary, submit hard copies of all reporting to corporate office, and whatever else is asked.
All of this is in addition to waiting on customers, fronting shelves, stocking when necessary, pumping fuel, and whatever else the normal attendant is required to do.
That is my life. I wake up at 430am Monday-Friday to do all of that. Yet, I have customers coming in and telling me that my assistant (who only does the DSR on weekends - asking them to complete all the other tasks is like pulling teeth!), must be off and "that means you actually gotta work now". That PISSES me off to no end.
If they want to talk about an honest day's work, we need to remove my assistant because they sell a portion of their monthly pain medications & food stamps to the highest bidder, and their spouse stays home to "watch the kids" (year round) instead of working because its worth more that they do not work. Who is ACTUALLY working here...
FAST FORWARD A LITTLE...
I was freshly done with day #10 of what should have been 10 straight (Assistant took a 10 day vaca instead of the standard 9 so they "had time to relax after being at the beach"). That night our station got broken into. Since I was still in town, I raced to the store and had my husband call my assistant. My assistant arrived as my husband was cleaning up the broken glass. After cameras were reviewed. Assistant then told me, "well since you're here, I'm going to go home and get a few more hours of sleep. If the glass people haven't come by the time I open in the morning I can relieve you" and then they left. When my assistant got there, I ran through all that would need done the next full business day. That was now Day #11.
After I got home at a little after 8am, I went to sleep until the afternoon. Upon waking I had a txt informing me that our boss said "you have to work tomorrow" to get this taken care of. My thoughts were, okay no problem, who needs a day off anyway. When my boss was done, I asked him if I could leave and he told me "sure, you weren't supposed to be here anyway"..... WHAT!?
Now here I am, at day 16 in a row because my assistant manager - Mr Work-king, didn't want to do his damned job. I am sorry it was so mentally and physically taxing to sit on a beach for 9 days paid for with your big fat tax payment (not refund, payment), food stamps, and SSI. I am sorry you LIED to me, your boss, because you just didn't feel like dealing with doing your job. I have only one reaction to when employees lie to me and expect me to not get irritated and pissy - revenge.
It is coming and it will be sweet.
On top of the very basic paperwork listed above, I am required to check email daily, create the weekly schedules, submit payroll, distribute payroll, submit an inventory report (fuel inventory), track daily sales (both store and fuel), calculate and track daily sales projections, count cigarette inventory, track cigarette inventory, track cigarette gain/loss, track employee shift overages and shortages, track voids/cancels/returns daily, track and report pump meters compared to register meters weekly, summarize and report to DM with weekly projections and payroll usage. ensure required training is completed, complete a month end summary, report fuel system safety monitoring information monthly, check and update in store advertising signage monthly, discipline when necessary, submit hard copies of all reporting to corporate office, and whatever else is asked.
All of this is in addition to waiting on customers, fronting shelves, stocking when necessary, pumping fuel, and whatever else the normal attendant is required to do.
That is my life. I wake up at 430am Monday-Friday to do all of that. Yet, I have customers coming in and telling me that my assistant (who only does the DSR on weekends - asking them to complete all the other tasks is like pulling teeth!), must be off and "that means you actually gotta work now". That PISSES me off to no end.
If they want to talk about an honest day's work, we need to remove my assistant because they sell a portion of their monthly pain medications & food stamps to the highest bidder, and their spouse stays home to "watch the kids" (year round) instead of working because its worth more that they do not work. Who is ACTUALLY working here...
FAST FORWARD A LITTLE...
I was freshly done with day #10 of what should have been 10 straight (Assistant took a 10 day vaca instead of the standard 9 so they "had time to relax after being at the beach"). That night our station got broken into. Since I was still in town, I raced to the store and had my husband call my assistant. My assistant arrived as my husband was cleaning up the broken glass. After cameras were reviewed. Assistant then told me, "well since you're here, I'm going to go home and get a few more hours of sleep. If the glass people haven't come by the time I open in the morning I can relieve you" and then they left. When my assistant got there, I ran through all that would need done the next full business day. That was now Day #11.
After I got home at a little after 8am, I went to sleep until the afternoon. Upon waking I had a txt informing me that our boss said "you have to work tomorrow" to get this taken care of. My thoughts were, okay no problem, who needs a day off anyway. When my boss was done, I asked him if I could leave and he told me "sure, you weren't supposed to be here anyway"..... WHAT!?
Now here I am, at day 16 in a row because my assistant manager - Mr Work-king, didn't want to do his damned job. I am sorry it was so mentally and physically taxing to sit on a beach for 9 days paid for with your big fat tax payment (not refund, payment), food stamps, and SSI. I am sorry you LIED to me, your boss, because you just didn't feel like dealing with doing your job. I have only one reaction to when employees lie to me and expect me to not get irritated and pissy - revenge.
It is coming and it will be sweet.
Tuesday, July 26, 2016
Fact Checking the CNN "Reality Checkers"
I recently read an article from CNN (Typically a very liberal/democrat anti-republican source). It is analyzing the declarations of Donald Trump and Barrack Obama on immigration and crime rates.
You can read that article HERE.
CNN's Levels of ratings and my perception of their meaning:
TRUE - meaning completely factual and in no way false or misleading or skewed
MOSTLY TRUE - some falsehood but very very little and is not misleading or skewed
TRUE BUT MISLEADING - this is where things get creatively skewed and falsehood begins to creep in at an alarming rate but not enough to call it completely false.
FALSE - completely untrue and fabricated
IT'S COMPLICATED - the situation is far more than true or false.
I was first disturbed and moved to blog by a one-sentence brush off of the method of detection of illegal immigrants - "The best measure that we have of how many people try to enter the country illegally is how many are apprehended each year."...
WHAT?! That is absolutely ridiculous! That is no way to measure anything. Basically Border Patrol is saying that unless they're caught, they don't exist. THAT method is misleading. But for the sake of argument, we will accept this method because its what we have. And we're going to give our president who relies on these numbers a leg up.
So here we go!
OBAMA -
"Well it turns out that the rate of illegal immigration into the US today is lower by 2/3 than it was when Ronald Reagan was president. And far fewer undocumented workers crossing the border today than we did in the '80s or '90s when George Bush was president." -- CNN calls this TRUE.
Oh Lord Almighty, give me strength to not rip this man a new ass hole!
Number 1, the "system" for these calculations and figures is flawed beyond belief. It's only accounting for those CAUGHT. Number Two, the problem is, the ones NOT being caught. Three, did we ever stop to think they're getting smarter about getting in and hiding? Four, did we ever stop to think that the entitlement-generation wants the paycheck and does not want to do the work for said check? Five,Trump's stance (see below) that Mr. Obama is criticizing is that we're not doing enough to keep them out let alone get them out once they're here. Five, this "they don't exist until they're caught" mentality is devastating - much like there are no such things as terrorists until they fly a plane into a building, shoot up a Christmas party or night club, or ram a truck through a large crowd of people. -- I call this TRUE BUT MISLEADING. The only reason I am not calling it false, is because (like I said earlier), this is the system we have. Although, I feel if the system is false and flawed, any claims made using them are therefore false and flawed. But let's give our president the benefit of the doubt.
TRUMP -
Brings up the statistic of 180,000 criminals who are illegal and AT LARGE. If you know they are here, they should have been sent away immediately, not out roaming freely. CNN registered this as TRUE.
TRUMP -
Then we touch more on the tens of thousands who have been apprehended so far in 2016 and told "OK, go back home now" and then they are released to go home. do they go home? Hell no. the run deeper into the country. CNN gives this a TRUE BUT MISLEADING because the number is incredibly up, but there is no evidence they wish to share about releases.
An illegal immigrant in January 2016 killed a girl in a car accident. CNN gives this a FALSE because the man had been in the country since 2013 and was not a prior criminal. Let's go back to the Border Patrol Statistics - they don't exist until caught. Therefore; he wasn't really here or counted until 2016. I give this a TRUE rating and I'll even give a MISLEADING to be fair on the 2013 thing. The point here is, had this man been sent away and our borders secured, this girl would not have died.
OBAMA -
The violent crime rate is down. CNN says TRUE.
Violent crime is defined as "murder, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault". It does not take into account the riots and destruction of property. It does not take into account simple assault. It does not take into account a lot of things. IF this were to be called true, it needs to be called true but misleading. Again IF you wish to call it true. IF we are talking "violent crimes" as defined above it is TRUE AND MISLEADING. If we talk the state of the country as a whole, I feel it is clearly FALSE.
I give CNN credit here for stating that the reduced violent crime rate was already on a downward trend PRIOR to Obama taking office; therefore, he should not receive credit. I give Mr. Obama a TRUE BUT MISLEADING against his claim that violent crime is the lowest its been in decades during his presidency. It may be true, but he implies he did it which is FALSE.
TRUMP -
Makes the claim that crime and violent crime is up in America's top 50 cities. CNN simply said that this was TRUE.
Amongst the president's attempts to derail and chastise Donald Trumps points, he did make one thing abundantly clear - he is an idiot. From my perception of this ordeal, the president is more false and misleading than Mr Trump. He lied to get elected, he lied and mislead while in office, and he will continue to be an idiotic and lying human being long after he gets thrown out on his ass come January 2017.
I leave you with this - The definition of insanity is performing the same tasks in the same manner and expecting different results. Wake up America and actually support CHANGE in our government.
You can read that article HERE.
CNN's Levels of ratings and my perception of their meaning:
TRUE - meaning completely factual and in no way false or misleading or skewed
MOSTLY TRUE - some falsehood but very very little and is not misleading or skewed
TRUE BUT MISLEADING - this is where things get creatively skewed and falsehood begins to creep in at an alarming rate but not enough to call it completely false.
FALSE - completely untrue and fabricated
IT'S COMPLICATED - the situation is far more than true or false.
I was first disturbed and moved to blog by a one-sentence brush off of the method of detection of illegal immigrants - "The best measure that we have of how many people try to enter the country illegally is how many are apprehended each year."...
WHAT?! That is absolutely ridiculous! That is no way to measure anything. Basically Border Patrol is saying that unless they're caught, they don't exist. THAT method is misleading. But for the sake of argument, we will accept this method because its what we have. And we're going to give our president who relies on these numbers a leg up.
So here we go!
OBAMA -
"Well it turns out that the rate of illegal immigration into the US today is lower by 2/3 than it was when Ronald Reagan was president. And far fewer undocumented workers crossing the border today than we did in the '80s or '90s when George Bush was president." -- CNN calls this TRUE.
Oh Lord Almighty, give me strength to not rip this man a new ass hole!
Number 1, the "system" for these calculations and figures is flawed beyond belief. It's only accounting for those CAUGHT. Number Two, the problem is, the ones NOT being caught. Three, did we ever stop to think they're getting smarter about getting in and hiding? Four, did we ever stop to think that the entitlement-generation wants the paycheck and does not want to do the work for said check? Five,Trump's stance (see below) that Mr. Obama is criticizing is that we're not doing enough to keep them out let alone get them out once they're here. Five, this "they don't exist until they're caught" mentality is devastating - much like there are no such things as terrorists until they fly a plane into a building, shoot up a Christmas party or night club, or ram a truck through a large crowd of people. -- I call this TRUE BUT MISLEADING. The only reason I am not calling it false, is because (like I said earlier), this is the system we have. Although, I feel if the system is false and flawed, any claims made using them are therefore false and flawed. But let's give our president the benefit of the doubt.
TRUMP -
Brings up the statistic of 180,000 criminals who are illegal and AT LARGE. If you know they are here, they should have been sent away immediately, not out roaming freely. CNN registered this as TRUE.
TRUMP -
Then we touch more on the tens of thousands who have been apprehended so far in 2016 and told "OK, go back home now" and then they are released to go home. do they go home? Hell no. the run deeper into the country. CNN gives this a TRUE BUT MISLEADING because the number is incredibly up, but there is no evidence they wish to share about releases.
An illegal immigrant in January 2016 killed a girl in a car accident. CNN gives this a FALSE because the man had been in the country since 2013 and was not a prior criminal. Let's go back to the Border Patrol Statistics - they don't exist until caught. Therefore; he wasn't really here or counted until 2016. I give this a TRUE rating and I'll even give a MISLEADING to be fair on the 2013 thing. The point here is, had this man been sent away and our borders secured, this girl would not have died.
OBAMA -
The violent crime rate is down. CNN says TRUE.
Violent crime is defined as "murder, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault". It does not take into account the riots and destruction of property. It does not take into account simple assault. It does not take into account a lot of things. IF this were to be called true, it needs to be called true but misleading. Again IF you wish to call it true. IF we are talking "violent crimes" as defined above it is TRUE AND MISLEADING. If we talk the state of the country as a whole, I feel it is clearly FALSE.
I give CNN credit here for stating that the reduced violent crime rate was already on a downward trend PRIOR to Obama taking office; therefore, he should not receive credit. I give Mr. Obama a TRUE BUT MISLEADING against his claim that violent crime is the lowest its been in decades during his presidency. It may be true, but he implies he did it which is FALSE.
TRUMP -
Makes the claim that crime and violent crime is up in America's top 50 cities. CNN simply said that this was TRUE.
Amongst the president's attempts to derail and chastise Donald Trumps points, he did make one thing abundantly clear - he is an idiot. From my perception of this ordeal, the president is more false and misleading than Mr Trump. He lied to get elected, he lied and mislead while in office, and he will continue to be an idiotic and lying human being long after he gets thrown out on his ass come January 2017.
I leave you with this - The definition of insanity is performing the same tasks in the same manner and expecting different results. Wake up America and actually support CHANGE in our government.
Monday, July 11, 2016
Fundamental Right - 1 Man, 1 Vote
There is a lawsuit going on right now, where a Republican delegate of Virginia wants to "vote his conscience" instead of "voting as a representation of the people".
As those who have followed the Republican election know, there are some very goofy rules and regulations regarding the distribution of delegates across the various states.
Winner Take All vs Proportioned Delegates (aka Pledged Delegates)
Some states (each GOP decides which), award their delegates via a Winner Take All method. For example, if a state has 100 delegates and candidate A wins 53% of the vote, and candidate B wins 46% of the vote and 1% are for candidate C, then Candidate A wins all 100 delegates. Other states have a Proportioned method. Using the same percentages above, A would only get 53 delegates, B would have 46 and C would have 1. Some may not even award C with any, but give it to one of the others.
Voters vs Caucuses
There are two separate ways in which to vote. First is the quick and easy, unmuddled everyone goes out and votes. The other method is that you have to attend a state convention (Caucus) and vote there. Clearly, I am for the every person has a say method. However, those who really want to be heard, would surely make attendance at a convention in their state happen.
Pledged and Unpledged Delegates
In addition to "pledged" delegates (explained above), most states also have "unpledged" or "free" delegates. These delegates are voted for by the people or are automatically selected in some cases where there were just enough delegates to fill the positions. These delegates can vote however they want during the national convention, and delegates are not bound to any candidate. When voting, devoted voters knew who each delegate supports and whom to put their vote behind going to the convention as an unpledged delegate.
Carroll Correl and His Adult Sized Temper-tantrum
He is is PLEDGED delegate for the great state of Virginia. His job? Vote for who the citizens of the great state of Virginia wanted him to vote for. Problem? He doesn't like who the citizens want him to vote for. Solution? Throw a tantrum and file lawsuits so you can vote for who you want to vote for, CLEARLY!
Virginia has 49 Pledged Delegates which are distributed Proportionately. There were 1,012,807 votes cast this year. Approximately every 20,670 votes is worth 1 delegate. Trump won the state with 17 delegates (355,960 votes). Mr. Correl is a supporter of Ted Cruz, who only won 8 delegates (173,193 votes). For Mr. Correl to say "I don't want to vote for Donald Trump" is to say that the over 20,000 votes which he represents are pointless - he would essentially be voting 20,000 times by doing whatever he wanted. Mr. Correl knew prior to the election what his job was to do. Mr. Correl knew he had to vote as the people wanted. Mr. Correl knew Virginia had no unpledged delegates. Mr. Correl assumed he would be voting for "his guy". When it came down to the nitty-gritty, Mr. Carroll Correl has definitely made a bad ASSumption.
Looking further on the flip side - what if Cruz had won the state and a Trump co-chairman was designated a Cruz delegate. What if that person wanted to vote for whomever they wanted to? Your pants would be all in a bunch because "Cruz won fair and square, to hell with your ideals, do your job and vote Cruz". THIS is why our party is crashing down around us. We need the elitist pigs to unite with everyone else under one republican banner and move forward.
I hope that the judge decides that he (Mr. Correl) had his right to vote as a delegate and a representative of the people and that free speech has nothing do to with this issue. If he has a problem, send in an alternate so he does not have to go against his "personal ethical beliefs".
Updates will be posted as they occur!
UPDATE: [7/14/2016]
A technical "win" for the opponents of Virginia law. The law stating that Virginians MUST vote in a winner take all fashion was found unconstitutional. Why do I call it "technical"? Because Virginia is a proportional state. MEANING - the delegates are allowed to vote for whomever they wish so long as the overall 49 votes are assigned proportionally to the ACTUAL election results. If Sandy Loo is a delegate who does not like Cruz - she would then vote for Trump and Mr. Correl would be free to vote for Cruz. Now how I read this - if everyone is pretty set in their delegation and no one wants to swap with Mr. Correl, he's then pretty S.O.L..
See the excerpt from CNN News:
As those who have followed the Republican election know, there are some very goofy rules and regulations regarding the distribution of delegates across the various states.
Winner Take All vs Proportioned Delegates (aka Pledged Delegates)
Some states (each GOP decides which), award their delegates via a Winner Take All method. For example, if a state has 100 delegates and candidate A wins 53% of the vote, and candidate B wins 46% of the vote and 1% are for candidate C, then Candidate A wins all 100 delegates. Other states have a Proportioned method. Using the same percentages above, A would only get 53 delegates, B would have 46 and C would have 1. Some may not even award C with any, but give it to one of the others.
Voters vs Caucuses
There are two separate ways in which to vote. First is the quick and easy, unmuddled everyone goes out and votes. The other method is that you have to attend a state convention (Caucus) and vote there. Clearly, I am for the every person has a say method. However, those who really want to be heard, would surely make attendance at a convention in their state happen.
Pledged and Unpledged Delegates
In addition to "pledged" delegates (explained above), most states also have "unpledged" or "free" delegates. These delegates are voted for by the people or are automatically selected in some cases where there were just enough delegates to fill the positions. These delegates can vote however they want during the national convention, and delegates are not bound to any candidate. When voting, devoted voters knew who each delegate supports and whom to put their vote behind going to the convention as an unpledged delegate.
Carroll Correl and His Adult Sized Temper-tantrum
He is is PLEDGED delegate for the great state of Virginia. His job? Vote for who the citizens of the great state of Virginia wanted him to vote for. Problem? He doesn't like who the citizens want him to vote for. Solution? Throw a tantrum and file lawsuits so you can vote for who you want to vote for, CLEARLY!
Virginia has 49 Pledged Delegates which are distributed Proportionately. There were 1,012,807 votes cast this year. Approximately every 20,670 votes is worth 1 delegate. Trump won the state with 17 delegates (355,960 votes). Mr. Correl is a supporter of Ted Cruz, who only won 8 delegates (173,193 votes). For Mr. Correl to say "I don't want to vote for Donald Trump" is to say that the over 20,000 votes which he represents are pointless - he would essentially be voting 20,000 times by doing whatever he wanted. Mr. Correl knew prior to the election what his job was to do. Mr. Correl knew he had to vote as the people wanted. Mr. Correl knew Virginia had no unpledged delegates. Mr. Correl assumed he would be voting for "his guy". When it came down to the nitty-gritty, Mr. Carroll Correl has definitely made a bad ASSumption.
Looking further on the flip side - what if Cruz had won the state and a Trump co-chairman was designated a Cruz delegate. What if that person wanted to vote for whomever they wanted to? Your pants would be all in a bunch because "Cruz won fair and square, to hell with your ideals, do your job and vote Cruz". THIS is why our party is crashing down around us. We need the elitist pigs to unite with everyone else under one republican banner and move forward.
I hope that the judge decides that he (Mr. Correl) had his right to vote as a delegate and a representative of the people and that free speech has nothing do to with this issue. If he has a problem, send in an alternate so he does not have to go against his "personal ethical beliefs".
Updates will be posted as they occur!
UPDATE: [7/14/2016]
A technical "win" for the opponents of Virginia law. The law stating that Virginians MUST vote in a winner take all fashion was found unconstitutional. Why do I call it "technical"? Because Virginia is a proportional state. MEANING - the delegates are allowed to vote for whomever they wish so long as the overall 49 votes are assigned proportionally to the ACTUAL election results. If Sandy Loo is a delegate who does not like Cruz - she would then vote for Trump and Mr. Correl would be free to vote for Cruz. Now how I read this - if everyone is pretty set in their delegation and no one wants to swap with Mr. Correl, he's then pretty S.O.L..
See the excerpt from CNN News:
At issue in the lawsuit was a previously ignored part of Virginia election law that mandates delegates to the national convention to vote in a winner-take-all fashion, instead of proportionally as Republicans had planned. Judge Robert E. Payne said Monday the winner-take-all portion of the state law was unconstitutional and can't be enforced.
The ruling means that Republicans can vote how they have always intended to — with the state's 49 delegates bound to vote proportionally based on the March 1 results — without fear of criminal prosecution. Though the chances of prosecution were always remote: state officials said before the ruling they had no plans to prosecute anyone for how they voted at the GOP convention.
CLICK HERE to read the full article from CNN News.
Wednesday, July 6, 2016
Making America Great Again... what does that really mean?
Over the last several weeks, I have seen blog after blog and report after report slamming Donald Trump (yet again) over his "Make America Great Again" slogan. I can understand the reasons why people are so very against this slogan and I feel their offense is unfounded and stemming from a misunderstanding that; no, people are not out to destroy your way of life (although those same people wish to strip others of their rights such as guns and freedom of speech - but that's another post altogether).
This post was brought on by my recent viewing of Scandal Season 5 Episode 20 ("Trump Card") [episode title is a double meaning!]. In this episode, Hollis Doyle (Scandal's billionaire businessman running for president) is being dragged through the mud. Hollis is intended to be a mirror of Donald Trump. Shonda Rimes (an outspoken supporter of Hiliary and the BLM movement) is firmly against Donald Trump and his run for president. Thusly, she embellished Hollis Doyle to become what she believes to be the true face of the evil, sexist, racist, bigotted, immoral, etc. Donald Trump. For the following quote, simply replace Hollis Doyle with Donald Trump and you will see the summation of what I am debating here today. Everything in this fictional character's speech, mirrors all the negative notions and claims against Mr. Trump.
"Hollis Doyle is a disgusting piece of trash.A relic. A man, like many other white men who have had a free run at prosperity and opprotunity. For whom discrimination and injustice are as foreign to them as the Muslim immigrants that they want to ban from our country. And now that they don't have a free run, they're lashing out. To be honest, I can't believe it took him blatently expressing his racism for you all to start asking these damn questions.
He ends every speech with 'Dare to be great again!'. Huh? What? Should we return to slavery? Jim Crowe? In today's America my gay friends can get married. In today's America, I can vote. Fifty years ago, in Hollis Doyle's lifetime, that wasn't the case. In today's America, my parents don't have to recruit a white couple that worked along side them at the cereal plant to apply for a mortgage because banks wouldn't lend to folks with brown skin. In today's America, we have the Brandon Bill; which means, I may not have to tell my future son that he could be murdered by law-enforcement just for asking why he was pulled over.
Black Lives do matter, because young black people are under attack. Immigrants, too! The fact that Doyle insists on saying that All Lives Matter when talking about this movement really pisses me off. It's like walking up into someone else's funeral and screaming, 'Why are you not crying for my daddy? He's dead, too.' Well, yes he is, and that is sad. But, that is not the topic of the conversation. Go stand over there and let the adults talk.
Hollis Doyle is a thug. A Punk. And the people who support him are thugs or punks. Or they condone his behavior. They are not Americans. The idea that this country belongs to one kind of person is the least American idea that anyone has every had. In fact it is the opposite of the ideals of this nation. Nothing needs to be restored. Nothing needs to made great again. We are a better Nation than we were 20 years ago. Than we were 50 years ago. Than we were 100 years ago. Than we were at our founding. That is the point of America. We are a country where we are always greater than our past.
I am proud to live in a nation where a black man has a legitimate shot at the white house. That is American greatness."
Topic One: The Privileged Whitey and Their "Free-Run"
Without saying it, the accusation that anyone whom is white and upset at the condition of America is strictly upset because they're not the center of attention like they have been for 275 years, and must now compete with persons who are black, latino, asian, and whatever other ethnicity is not called white. The reason people are offended by the BLM movement and any other organization promoting a non-white persons is because they no longer have the "free run" or "easy ride" through life anymore.
To that I say, the Irish are so very thankful for their free and easy ride - being the pastiest of white-folk. I could not begin to imagine what their lives of slavery (equal or greater to the African American Slave Era) would have been like, had they not been white.
Topic Two: Again?
This is the sticking point of the slogan. People accuse by saying we cannot look backwards, and that no one can quite pin point which "era" of American history in which to return. Because this entire phrase is misunderstood, the nay sayers begin offering their own suggestions. Like in the work of fiction, it has been suggested that maybe we should go back to slavery, or severe acts of violence on people, or when people who were homosexual had less rights, which leads us to the civil war or post-Korean War eras. Others say things like, pre-9/11 or the last time the economy was fantastic - which leads us to the Clinton era.
The intended perception (as I perceive it as a non-racist, pro-life, pro-2nd, white Christian woman) is that we start ranking America among the superpowers, again. It does not mean jump in a time machine and transplant an entire era exactly as it was. It means to have America placed back on the list of top nations.
The education of this country is deplorable. It is not necessary for students to know how to write in cursive and it is acceptable for a large population of early 20-somethings to be on SSI because they don't know how to read or write and are not being made to better themselves adult-education facilities. It would be absurd for us to think that someone who is illiterate is capable of working on a road crew or turning a sign that says "Stop" or "Slow". There are people I personally know on SSI, who watch the children of friends as long as the friends don't try and sign up for the government assisted child care program that will PAY the person on SSI (yes, employee these people). Why don't sign up for it? Because then they will lose their SSI benefits. They make their friend pay them upwards of 900$ a month for watching three kids (parents must provide food too), so they can make the 900 plus their 800 from the "gob-mint" VS the child care support that will just cover the 900 for the other struggling family. Today's America is one where ~109,631,000 are receiving government assistance (SSI/SNAP/Cash Assistance/LIHEP, etc) and 105,862,000 people worked full-time in the USA. [NOTE: I understand that children and seniors are listed among the 109billion; however, I also believe that if you cannot take care of your own children, you need to give them to people who can - Uncle Sam is not your baby-daddy... also, retired citizens should not retire unless they can afford it.] If we stopped to educate our children, or demanded that those on SSI or other disabilities better themselves through education, our country would be a much BETTER place.
The economy is in the toilet. Inflation is on the rise, Unemployment is only down because people on it have spent too much time on it and have fallen off the "claimable" list. And then after a year of working, they "get fired" and hop on UE for another 13-26 weeks. The minimum wage is not the problem, it is the work ethic of the country. The country's deficits and debt are astronomical and government spending is absurd. Today's America is an America where as a country we are floundering. Instead of unchecked, unsupervised, unregulated UE, how about we put men and women to work for the government like during the Great Depression building things and cleaning things in order to receive their UE check. Not only would the government be getting something out of the people it's freely paying, it would get projects like bridges and renovations completed. That would surely make our country BETTER.
Our technology and drive to push scientific boundaries is severely decayed over the decades. Bringing the the forefront of technology BACK to America would make our country BETTER.
Our healthcare system stinks! Obama-care, for all its fantastic ideas - low premiums, open access to health care providers, employers taking care of their employees, they fell short and pushed the country further into economic crisis.
The AGAIN is not referring to stepping back in time to an era which homophobia, bigotry, racism, sexism, and all the other bad ism's ran a muck - we wouldn't be stepping any further back than a day or two ago. It refers to returning America to a state of power where it is once AGAIN greater than other countries - not because we are America, but because we are actually a greater place.
It just so happens that AGAIN must be achieved through closing our borders - we can't support and care for our own citizens, removing people from assistance who have been free-riding it for so long, stopping the government from spending needlessly, and so many MANY things proposed through the GOP, and specifically the Trump Campaign.
Topic Three: The Perception of BLM
Keeping this to a minimum, the BLM Movement has become the new form of "Black Power" in America. It is a supremacy group, and anyone who says that the message is not being misunderstood must realize this truth - perception is truth. BLM supporters are enraged when they are met with the phrase "_____ Lives Matter" in response to their rhetoric. They say responding with ALL or BLUE or RED or whatever Lives Matter is detracting from an epidemic of violence against the African American population. The message is that there is an implied "too" at the end of the BLM title. This is a creative response to the dog-whistle politics being played by this movement. The perceived truth is that ONLY BLM, and not BLM, too. This perceived truth is supported by the BLM leaders and supporters ENCOURAGING violence against people, businesses, police, and anyone else who is not black.
In the speech above, the example is given in Shonda's stab to Donald Trump, "It's like walking up into someone else's funeral and screaming, 'Why are you not crying for my daddy? He's dead, too.' " The BLM Movement and their negative rhetoric are the ones bursting into all of our lives saying "why don't you care that my life sucks too?". Excuse me, but it would be racist of me to say that all your problems are because you are black and not because of dealing drugs, shoplifting, destruction of property, and all the other mistakes you have chosen to make in life. It's okay to be "Bout Dat Lyfe" until you actually have to live that life - you can't have it both ways. Act like a thug, live like a thug, accept the consequences of the thug lifestyle - whether you are black, white, yellow, purple, blue, or green. It's not because you are black its because you are an idiot.
Topic Four: We ARE A Better America
I fully agree that the late-20th and early-21st centuries have had a tremendous impact on the progression of our social culture. More and more people are gaining the rights that every person should be able to enjoy. Voting, working (and for fair equal wages), being able to be "who you are" and not get denied use of whatever restroom or bakery you see fit. Yes, in the last 240 years we have become a better country with inclusive-to-more-of-our-own-citizens laws. What would make the current social climate even better is if hate speech would not be used when accusing people of using hate speech. [Whitey won't let me eat in their diner because I'm chinese, or Chink won't hire me because I'm black and drooping is how I express myself] In these examples, the government would fight against the diner owner and the business person - but those who were denied can use racial and ethnic slurs in their description of their "abusers".
Hypocacy is the ONLY thing stopping our current social climate from being the best in history. Christians who condemn sinners yet continue sinning in the same way themselves, ethnic groups who refer to other ethnic groups by derogatory slurs but demand that they be respected, Politicians who call for us to embrace equality and the freedoms spelled out for everyone in the Constitution but are pushing for the obliteration of rights that could pose a threat to themselves when they begin their coup.
We may be better, but we are not great by any stretch of the imagination.
ULTIMATELY...
Because people choose to see racism and hatred before anything else, we are left here screaming that a man is a bigot and racist and sexist and unamerican; instead of seeing that he wants his country to be the greatest ever - all eras wrapped into one and exemplifying a culmination of American history.
This post was brought on by my recent viewing of Scandal Season 5 Episode 20 ("Trump Card") [episode title is a double meaning!]. In this episode, Hollis Doyle (Scandal's billionaire businessman running for president) is being dragged through the mud. Hollis is intended to be a mirror of Donald Trump. Shonda Rimes (an outspoken supporter of Hiliary and the BLM movement) is firmly against Donald Trump and his run for president. Thusly, she embellished Hollis Doyle to become what she believes to be the true face of the evil, sexist, racist, bigotted, immoral, etc. Donald Trump. For the following quote, simply replace Hollis Doyle with Donald Trump and you will see the summation of what I am debating here today. Everything in this fictional character's speech, mirrors all the negative notions and claims against Mr. Trump.
"Hollis Doyle is a disgusting piece of trash.A relic. A man, like many other white men who have had a free run at prosperity and opprotunity. For whom discrimination and injustice are as foreign to them as the Muslim immigrants that they want to ban from our country. And now that they don't have a free run, they're lashing out. To be honest, I can't believe it took him blatently expressing his racism for you all to start asking these damn questions.
He ends every speech with 'Dare to be great again!'. Huh? What? Should we return to slavery? Jim Crowe? In today's America my gay friends can get married. In today's America, I can vote. Fifty years ago, in Hollis Doyle's lifetime, that wasn't the case. In today's America, my parents don't have to recruit a white couple that worked along side them at the cereal plant to apply for a mortgage because banks wouldn't lend to folks with brown skin. In today's America, we have the Brandon Bill; which means, I may not have to tell my future son that he could be murdered by law-enforcement just for asking why he was pulled over.
Black Lives do matter, because young black people are under attack. Immigrants, too! The fact that Doyle insists on saying that All Lives Matter when talking about this movement really pisses me off. It's like walking up into someone else's funeral and screaming, 'Why are you not crying for my daddy? He's dead, too.' Well, yes he is, and that is sad. But, that is not the topic of the conversation. Go stand over there and let the adults talk.
Hollis Doyle is a thug. A Punk. And the people who support him are thugs or punks. Or they condone his behavior. They are not Americans. The idea that this country belongs to one kind of person is the least American idea that anyone has every had. In fact it is the opposite of the ideals of this nation. Nothing needs to be restored. Nothing needs to made great again. We are a better Nation than we were 20 years ago. Than we were 50 years ago. Than we were 100 years ago. Than we were at our founding. That is the point of America. We are a country where we are always greater than our past.
I am proud to live in a nation where a black man has a legitimate shot at the white house. That is American greatness."
Topic One: The Privileged Whitey and Their "Free-Run"
Without saying it, the accusation that anyone whom is white and upset at the condition of America is strictly upset because they're not the center of attention like they have been for 275 years, and must now compete with persons who are black, latino, asian, and whatever other ethnicity is not called white. The reason people are offended by the BLM movement and any other organization promoting a non-white persons is because they no longer have the "free run" or "easy ride" through life anymore.
To that I say, the Irish are so very thankful for their free and easy ride - being the pastiest of white-folk. I could not begin to imagine what their lives of slavery (equal or greater to the African American Slave Era) would have been like, had they not been white.
Topic Two: Again?
This is the sticking point of the slogan. People accuse by saying we cannot look backwards, and that no one can quite pin point which "era" of American history in which to return. Because this entire phrase is misunderstood, the nay sayers begin offering their own suggestions. Like in the work of fiction, it has been suggested that maybe we should go back to slavery, or severe acts of violence on people, or when people who were homosexual had less rights, which leads us to the civil war or post-Korean War eras. Others say things like, pre-9/11 or the last time the economy was fantastic - which leads us to the Clinton era.
The intended perception (as I perceive it as a non-racist, pro-life, pro-2nd, white Christian woman) is that we start ranking America among the superpowers, again. It does not mean jump in a time machine and transplant an entire era exactly as it was. It means to have America placed back on the list of top nations.
The education of this country is deplorable. It is not necessary for students to know how to write in cursive and it is acceptable for a large population of early 20-somethings to be on SSI because they don't know how to read or write and are not being made to better themselves adult-education facilities. It would be absurd for us to think that someone who is illiterate is capable of working on a road crew or turning a sign that says "Stop" or "Slow". There are people I personally know on SSI, who watch the children of friends as long as the friends don't try and sign up for the government assisted child care program that will PAY the person on SSI (yes, employee these people). Why don't sign up for it? Because then they will lose their SSI benefits. They make their friend pay them upwards of 900$ a month for watching three kids (parents must provide food too), so they can make the 900 plus their 800 from the "gob-mint" VS the child care support that will just cover the 900 for the other struggling family. Today's America is one where ~109,631,000 are receiving government assistance (SSI/SNAP/Cash Assistance/LIHEP, etc) and 105,862,000 people worked full-time in the USA. [NOTE: I understand that children and seniors are listed among the 109billion; however, I also believe that if you cannot take care of your own children, you need to give them to people who can - Uncle Sam is not your baby-daddy... also, retired citizens should not retire unless they can afford it.] If we stopped to educate our children, or demanded that those on SSI or other disabilities better themselves through education, our country would be a much BETTER place.
The economy is in the toilet. Inflation is on the rise, Unemployment is only down because people on it have spent too much time on it and have fallen off the "claimable" list. And then after a year of working, they "get fired" and hop on UE for another 13-26 weeks. The minimum wage is not the problem, it is the work ethic of the country. The country's deficits and debt are astronomical and government spending is absurd. Today's America is an America where as a country we are floundering. Instead of unchecked, unsupervised, unregulated UE, how about we put men and women to work for the government like during the Great Depression building things and cleaning things in order to receive their UE check. Not only would the government be getting something out of the people it's freely paying, it would get projects like bridges and renovations completed. That would surely make our country BETTER.
Our technology and drive to push scientific boundaries is severely decayed over the decades. Bringing the the forefront of technology BACK to America would make our country BETTER.
Our healthcare system stinks! Obama-care, for all its fantastic ideas - low premiums, open access to health care providers, employers taking care of their employees, they fell short and pushed the country further into economic crisis.
The AGAIN is not referring to stepping back in time to an era which homophobia, bigotry, racism, sexism, and all the other bad ism's ran a muck - we wouldn't be stepping any further back than a day or two ago. It refers to returning America to a state of power where it is once AGAIN greater than other countries - not because we are America, but because we are actually a greater place.
It just so happens that AGAIN must be achieved through closing our borders - we can't support and care for our own citizens, removing people from assistance who have been free-riding it for so long, stopping the government from spending needlessly, and so many MANY things proposed through the GOP, and specifically the Trump Campaign.
Topic Three: The Perception of BLM
Keeping this to a minimum, the BLM Movement has become the new form of "Black Power" in America. It is a supremacy group, and anyone who says that the message is not being misunderstood must realize this truth - perception is truth. BLM supporters are enraged when they are met with the phrase "_____ Lives Matter" in response to their rhetoric. They say responding with ALL or BLUE or RED or whatever Lives Matter is detracting from an epidemic of violence against the African American population. The message is that there is an implied "too" at the end of the BLM title. This is a creative response to the dog-whistle politics being played by this movement. The perceived truth is that ONLY BLM, and not BLM, too. This perceived truth is supported by the BLM leaders and supporters ENCOURAGING violence against people, businesses, police, and anyone else who is not black.
In the speech above, the example is given in Shonda's stab to Donald Trump, "It's like walking up into someone else's funeral and screaming, 'Why are you not crying for my daddy? He's dead, too.' " The BLM Movement and their negative rhetoric are the ones bursting into all of our lives saying "why don't you care that my life sucks too?". Excuse me, but it would be racist of me to say that all your problems are because you are black and not because of dealing drugs, shoplifting, destruction of property, and all the other mistakes you have chosen to make in life. It's okay to be "Bout Dat Lyfe" until you actually have to live that life - you can't have it both ways. Act like a thug, live like a thug, accept the consequences of the thug lifestyle - whether you are black, white, yellow, purple, blue, or green. It's not because you are black its because you are an idiot.
Topic Four: We ARE A Better America
I fully agree that the late-20th and early-21st centuries have had a tremendous impact on the progression of our social culture. More and more people are gaining the rights that every person should be able to enjoy. Voting, working (and for fair equal wages), being able to be "who you are" and not get denied use of whatever restroom or bakery you see fit. Yes, in the last 240 years we have become a better country with inclusive-to-more-of-our-own-citizens laws. What would make the current social climate even better is if hate speech would not be used when accusing people of using hate speech. [Whitey won't let me eat in their diner because I'm chinese, or Chink won't hire me because I'm black and drooping is how I express myself] In these examples, the government would fight against the diner owner and the business person - but those who were denied can use racial and ethnic slurs in their description of their "abusers".
Hypocacy is the ONLY thing stopping our current social climate from being the best in history. Christians who condemn sinners yet continue sinning in the same way themselves, ethnic groups who refer to other ethnic groups by derogatory slurs but demand that they be respected, Politicians who call for us to embrace equality and the freedoms spelled out for everyone in the Constitution but are pushing for the obliteration of rights that could pose a threat to themselves when they begin their coup.
We may be better, but we are not great by any stretch of the imagination.
ULTIMATELY...
Because people choose to see racism and hatred before anything else, we are left here screaming that a man is a bigot and racist and sexist and unamerican; instead of seeing that he wants his country to be the greatest ever - all eras wrapped into one and exemplifying a culmination of American history.
Jesse Williams and the BET Blackitarian Award
Much has been said by many people regarding this speech. And the majority of them have been severely racially biased - on both sides of the fence. The problem, though? It is a racist speech. A racist speech, on a racist network, promoting a racist award.
The BET Humanitarian Award. "It is given to a celebrity philanthropist who donates their time and money to a charitable cause." [Wikipedia "BET Awards"] This is a very noble award to win. It clearly represents the definition of humanitarian - concerned with or seeking to promote human welfare. A philanthropist donating time and/or money to a cause would fall under that category. Jesse Williams rightfully deserves this award. He has donated of himself to the promotion of discontinuing the "schoolhouse to jailhouse" track that so many young black men are forced into because of certain areas and regions in our country working against them. He is working to improve and change the social climate of young black men and women - to give them the same opportunities he had access to. Making their black lives matter more to them than being a poor and uneducated thug in the ghetto. He also marches with those who march in these justice-forsaken areas. He works with civil rights lawyers and is dedicated to equality - true equality; where all people have a fighting chance from birth and not an up-hill climb.
The speech Jesse Williams gave at the awards began in such a way, it indeed spoke to the continuing efforts in these philanthropic areas. "Now, this award – this is not for me. This is for the real organizers all over the country – the activists, the civil rights attorneys, the struggling parents, the families, the teachers, the students that are realizing that a system built to divide and impoverish and destroy us cannot stand if we do.
By saying these things, he is emphasizing how the perpetuation of the "black and thug" culture will come to an end. Once those in these situations get out of them and actually care to get out of them, his philanthropic mission will have been achieved. By saying "we can and will do better for you", he is promising to make that nurturing mean something when their friends, family, and children succeed because of who they are and not their physical traits. In doing this, a flawed system will crumble and true equality - with persons of all colors respecting and deserving of respect - will be reached throughout the USA and not just in most places.
THAT is a real winner of a Humanitarian Award.
Now, if you proceed to listen to the rest of the acceptance speech, we go from a Humanitarian to a Blackitarian (concerned with or seeking to promote black welfare over all others and as a superior class of persons).
This is where I begin to separate in thought with Mr. Williams.
"Now, what we’ve been doing is looking at the data and we know that police somehow manage to deescalate, disarm and not kill white people everyday. So what’s going to happen is we are going to have equal rights and justice in our own country or we will restructure their function and ours."
At this point, we have turned the switch from "break the stereotype by not being the stereotype & be better people" to "whitey with a badge will kill you if you so much as look at them slightly angered and are black". Jesse Williams has taken this from a cry to promote a better social atmosphere among the black community through is philanthropy to blaming every white person in the country.
He goes on to say:
"There has been no war that we have not fought and died on the front lines of. There has been no job we haven’t done. There is no tax they haven’t leveed against us – and we’ve paid all of them. But freedom is somehow always conditional here. “You’re free,” they keep telling us. But she would have been alive if she hadn’t acted so… free."
But so has everyone else. This point where he has reached an "US" and "THEM" line in the sand is the reason there is such a problem in the country today. During an episode of Grey's Anatomy, Maggie and Amy were talking and Maggie explains that to be black, you always have that little voice in the back of your mind saying, "it's because I'm black". She explained also that it is like how women have that small voice in the back of their head saying, "It's because I have a vagina". If that is the truth, then people who are hearing that voice need to get over themselves and quit accusing everyone who is not black of being a racist... because that in itself is racist. As a woman, I do not hear that little voice accusing people of being sexist pigs. I was not raised to think that way; therefore, I do not think that way. A contributor to the perpetuation of racial divides and inequality, is assuming people are racist because they are white. I refuse to hate someone based on their race. I also refuse to tolerate someone because of the color of their skin. I (and many others) judge based on a person's character - I (and many others) would appreciate the same gesture.
As for conditional freedom, look around you. If you are white, Christian, pro-gun, republican, female, pro-life, or for Donald Trump, you might as well unplug because if anyone finds out, you will get electronically lynched - because you are not allowed to have your own ideas or voice them. I do agree that the Tamir Rice situation could have been handled better. On the heels of a BLM snippit in his speech, "but she would have been alive if she hadn't acted so... free", begs the question - freedom to steal? freedom to loot? freedom to wave around a weapon look-a-like? freedom to be high-up and commit armed robbery? Freedom does not mean doing whatever you feel like, acting like a "thug", and expecting to not get arrested; expecting not to get injured or even killed for violently resisting. I don't care what color your skin is. If you are breaking the law and you resist, you have made your choice and sometimes the consequence is death.
Thus, Jesse Williams is the clear winner of not only the Humanitarian Award, but the Blackitarian Award as well. He has some fantastic ideas, and those few places in the country which are unjustly oppressing minorities need looked at. But this should not be a strict Black vs White, Us vs Them fight. THAT is what perpetuates racism and violence between the two. We are more equal than you think and everyone is tired of the race games.
For Extra Reading...
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/apr/21/police-kill-more-whites-than-blacks-but-minority-d/
The BET Humanitarian Award. "It is given to a celebrity philanthropist who donates their time and money to a charitable cause." [Wikipedia "BET Awards"] This is a very noble award to win. It clearly represents the definition of humanitarian - concerned with or seeking to promote human welfare. A philanthropist donating time and/or money to a cause would fall under that category. Jesse Williams rightfully deserves this award. He has donated of himself to the promotion of discontinuing the "schoolhouse to jailhouse" track that so many young black men are forced into because of certain areas and regions in our country working against them. He is working to improve and change the social climate of young black men and women - to give them the same opportunities he had access to. Making their black lives matter more to them than being a poor and uneducated thug in the ghetto. He also marches with those who march in these justice-forsaken areas. He works with civil rights lawyers and is dedicated to equality - true equality; where all people have a fighting chance from birth and not an up-hill climb.
The speech Jesse Williams gave at the awards began in such a way, it indeed spoke to the continuing efforts in these philanthropic areas. "Now, this award – this is not for me. This is for the real organizers all over the country – the activists, the civil rights attorneys, the struggling parents, the families, the teachers, the students that are realizing that a system built to divide and impoverish and destroy us cannot stand if we do.
It’s kind of basic mathematics – the more we learn about who we are and how we got here, the more we will mobilize.
Now, this is also in particular for the black women in particular who have spent their lifetimes dedicated to nurturing everyone before themselves. We can and will do better for you."
By saying these things, he is emphasizing how the perpetuation of the "black and thug" culture will come to an end. Once those in these situations get out of them and actually care to get out of them, his philanthropic mission will have been achieved. By saying "we can and will do better for you", he is promising to make that nurturing mean something when their friends, family, and children succeed because of who they are and not their physical traits. In doing this, a flawed system will crumble and true equality - with persons of all colors respecting and deserving of respect - will be reached throughout the USA and not just in most places.
THAT is a real winner of a Humanitarian Award.
Now, if you proceed to listen to the rest of the acceptance speech, we go from a Humanitarian to a Blackitarian (concerned with or seeking to promote black welfare over all others and as a superior class of persons).
This is where I begin to separate in thought with Mr. Williams.
"Now, what we’ve been doing is looking at the data and we know that police somehow manage to deescalate, disarm and not kill white people everyday. So what’s going to happen is we are going to have equal rights and justice in our own country or we will restructure their function and ours."
At this point, we have turned the switch from "break the stereotype by not being the stereotype & be better people" to "whitey with a badge will kill you if you so much as look at them slightly angered and are black". Jesse Williams has taken this from a cry to promote a better social atmosphere among the black community through is philanthropy to blaming every white person in the country.
He goes on to say:
"There has been no war that we have not fought and died on the front lines of. There has been no job we haven’t done. There is no tax they haven’t leveed against us – and we’ve paid all of them. But freedom is somehow always conditional here. “You’re free,” they keep telling us. But she would have been alive if she hadn’t acted so… free."
But so has everyone else. This point where he has reached an "US" and "THEM" line in the sand is the reason there is such a problem in the country today. During an episode of Grey's Anatomy, Maggie and Amy were talking and Maggie explains that to be black, you always have that little voice in the back of your mind saying, "it's because I'm black". She explained also that it is like how women have that small voice in the back of their head saying, "It's because I have a vagina". If that is the truth, then people who are hearing that voice need to get over themselves and quit accusing everyone who is not black of being a racist... because that in itself is racist. As a woman, I do not hear that little voice accusing people of being sexist pigs. I was not raised to think that way; therefore, I do not think that way. A contributor to the perpetuation of racial divides and inequality, is assuming people are racist because they are white. I refuse to hate someone based on their race. I also refuse to tolerate someone because of the color of their skin. I (and many others) judge based on a person's character - I (and many others) would appreciate the same gesture.
As for conditional freedom, look around you. If you are white, Christian, pro-gun, republican, female, pro-life, or for Donald Trump, you might as well unplug because if anyone finds out, you will get electronically lynched - because you are not allowed to have your own ideas or voice them. I do agree that the Tamir Rice situation could have been handled better. On the heels of a BLM snippit in his speech, "but she would have been alive if she hadn't acted so... free", begs the question - freedom to steal? freedom to loot? freedom to wave around a weapon look-a-like? freedom to be high-up and commit armed robbery? Freedom does not mean doing whatever you feel like, acting like a "thug", and expecting to not get arrested; expecting not to get injured or even killed for violently resisting. I don't care what color your skin is. If you are breaking the law and you resist, you have made your choice and sometimes the consequence is death.
Thus, Jesse Williams is the clear winner of not only the Humanitarian Award, but the Blackitarian Award as well. He has some fantastic ideas, and those few places in the country which are unjustly oppressing minorities need looked at. But this should not be a strict Black vs White, Us vs Them fight. THAT is what perpetuates racism and violence between the two. We are more equal than you think and everyone is tired of the race games.
For Extra Reading...
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/apr/21/police-kill-more-whites-than-blacks-but-minority-d/
Wednesday, March 23, 2016
Am I Enough?
One thing that I struggle with a lot is the question everyone (or at least I hope everyone) faces in a relationship - Am I Enough?
For me, this question has re-emerged as of last night at dinner. For approximately 20 minutes, my husband proceeded to play a game on his cell phone while we waited for our food. In the middle of his game, he did go to the restroom, but then went right back to his game. As I sat in silence, the question hit me again, am I enough for him??
This hasn't been a stressing point in my life until the last couple years. I'm pretty sure that it started when we let a family friend's 18-yr old daughter live with us so she could finish her schooling. Said girl decided to quit her job, only do 1/3 of her home school work, then drop out of high school because she knew it was easier to walk all over my husband and I. We fed her, clothed her, provided car insurance for her, let her use our vehicles and run out our fuel, provided her cell phone, and my husband even let her use his tablet. That's where it got shady. I got home every night after working 10 hr days, cooked a meal and our house guest decided she was going to help around the house by doing dishes. That was all well and good until she started complaining to my husband that I dirtied too many while cooking and that I should soak and scrub the dishes I use as I cooked - it was only fair. So I reluctantly agreed. Eventually, I was the one making the food and cleaning after the meals. That's about when I just gave up. But I thought I was imagining my husband taking an 18yr old girls side over mine. Later down the road, I shared a private conversation with my husband about how I felt like he was choosing an 18yr old over his own wife and how having to work 50+ hr work weeks, then come home and cook and do the dishes and take out the trash. And then on the weekends when I slept until noon, I'd get a lecture. A couple days later, a large verbal argument broke out and she mentioned details of the conversation I had with my husband (and my husband only). This conversation was had over Google's "Hangouts" app. I then proceeded to tell my husband that I felt emotionally betrayed and sent him a link to a Focus on the Family surviving emotional affairs articles. My husband then asked me if I told her that she was causing us to need to think about a divorce. HOW THE HELL DID SHE KNOW WHAT I SENT MY HUSBAND?! It wasn't until my husband went to the bathroom that night without his phone that I figured it out. I sent him a Hangouts message, and his phone chimed on our headboard. Then the hangouts message went to "read" while his cell phone was still sitting next to me. The little leech logged into his hangouts on his tablet and was actively (and had been actively) reading our private conversations. My husband took back his tablet, factory reset it and told her she needed to call her father and figure out a new place to live because "his wife and his marriage was worth more to him than her and her invasive, destructive poisonous actions".
YES, my husband stood for me and was not a cheating bastard. But in the time when she knew the things I told only to my husband, when she used it against me and my marriage; that is when I felt small and insignificant. That is the first time I ever entertained the notion that I was not going to be enough for my husband.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
About a month after the removal of our house guest, I was diagnosed with Uterine Cancer (Good Thursday 2014) and I was given the news that the best and most effective treatment at this stage of the game was full hysterectomy. I would never be able to give my husband children. Enter the demon once again. Again, Am I going to be enough? Through the surgery, my recovery, and onward my husband was an amazing a caring man. Hell, he even bit the bullet and wiped my ass for me because after the surgery I just couldn't! That's love right there. But deep down, I have this hurtful feeling that his great desire to have children and my inability to have them will destroy us. That burning question burns deeper - am I enough?
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Now a far more present example. My husband and I had made plans to go to the pistol range with our god-children and their parents. It was realized that the time we planned to go was also the last time to sign up for t-ball, so plans to shoot with them were cancelled. My husband began to pout and refused to do anything. I told him we could still go to the range and have fun. He then said he'd drive me there so I could shoot, but he was just going to sit in the car. Out popped the feeling. Going to the gun range with his wife and having some fun wasn't good enough. He wanted to go with our god-children and their parents and anything less wasn't worth it. Going with me; therefore, wasn't worth it. I wasn't worth it.
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It's a constant and nagging question that keeps popping up. I popped up initially because a marriage crushing leech entered the picture and manipulated the relationship my husband and I had together. It is true that my husband did NOTHING wrong and the little See You Next Tuesday just made it appear that something was wrong. But for 6 months (out of our 42 months of marriage), I felt smaller and smaller, less and less significant, more and more worthless.
Does one small event in a long, long line of events truly cause that much doubt? Can it continue to hurt so much that a simple 20 minute game at the dinner table instead of conversation, makes you feel like you've failed completely?
The question still remains. Although quiet at the moment... Am I Enough?
Does one small event in a long, long line of events truly cause that much doubt? Can it continue to hurt so much that a simple 20 minute game at the dinner table instead of conversation, makes you feel like you've failed completely?
The question still remains. Although quiet at the moment... Am I Enough?
Thursday, March 10, 2016
Who is MrsTater10210?
I am an almost 30 yr old woman, married to a wonderful (and occasionally stubborn and hot headed) man. We've been married since October 2010. Prior to our marriage, my husband was known as "Tater". Naturally, I became MRS Tater.
Still going to guard my Pre-Taterist life for a while, but I will tell you a little about the present.
We (my husband and I) are both Christians who lead various classes at our local congregation. We are also conservatives, gun-supporters, pro-lifers, smokers, red-meat-eaters and we are also involved with our local fire department.
I manage a local petroleum station (currently at 8 1/2 years with the company and nearly 5 years as manager) and I am also a Scentsy Consultant. I enjoy all kinds of music (I do not consider rap to be music), watch a variety of TV shows (#TGIT), including but not limited to Grey's Anatomy, Scandal, How to Get Away With Murder, SVU, Charmed, NCIS, and Once Upon A Time. I can nearly guarantee that there will be many MANY blog posts about these shows and my personal review of them.
I verbally voice my opinion quite frequently and I enjoy engaging in intelligent discussion. Anyone out there who may be reading this, I invite you to voice your opinions on anything I post. My only request is keep it intelligent, understandable, non-vulgar, and in the spirit of passing information and ideas.
Some other things you may run across in this blog are what I am calling "Random Thoughts". During the course of the day, I have the most random notions, ideas, and questions which need answering. I will post them as they pop into my head and revise as I discover more information.
I think that about covers it. Until next time cyber-space!!
Still going to guard my Pre-Taterist life for a while, but I will tell you a little about the present.
We (my husband and I) are both Christians who lead various classes at our local congregation. We are also conservatives, gun-supporters, pro-lifers, smokers, red-meat-eaters and we are also involved with our local fire department.
I manage a local petroleum station (currently at 8 1/2 years with the company and nearly 5 years as manager) and I am also a Scentsy Consultant. I enjoy all kinds of music (I do not consider rap to be music), watch a variety of TV shows (#TGIT), including but not limited to Grey's Anatomy, Scandal, How to Get Away With Murder, SVU, Charmed, NCIS, and Once Upon A Time. I can nearly guarantee that there will be many MANY blog posts about these shows and my personal review of them.
I verbally voice my opinion quite frequently and I enjoy engaging in intelligent discussion. Anyone out there who may be reading this, I invite you to voice your opinions on anything I post. My only request is keep it intelligent, understandable, non-vulgar, and in the spirit of passing information and ideas.
Some other things you may run across in this blog are what I am calling "Random Thoughts". During the course of the day, I have the most random notions, ideas, and questions which need answering. I will post them as they pop into my head and revise as I discover more information.
I think that about covers it. Until next time cyber-space!!
Beginning to Chip Away
When I set out to share my opinions and thoughts, I had to face a very terrifying struggle that is in my life -- exposure. For the longest of long times I have sheltered and protected my social media sites. Why? Well, back in "the day", you could say whatever the heck you wanted. If you wanted to rant about how your supervisor is a blithering idiot who is laundering money, you could without issue. Today, if you decide to post that little tidbit, you can be FIRED and PROSECUTED. I certainly don't have the time for that!! To this day, unless I want you to know me, you have no way of seeing anything. I like that, though. Protected.
However, this kind of protection leaves a very VERY tough skin. For reasons I may one day get into, my skin is exceedingly tough and thick. BUT, this is my venture for MrsTater10210 to get "Beneath The Peel".
I don't know what this blog will become. I don't know what reactions to it will be. What I do know, is that I want to open up my mind and feelings. Where that leads, I'm ready to go.
However, this kind of protection leaves a very VERY tough skin. For reasons I may one day get into, my skin is exceedingly tough and thick. BUT, this is my venture for MrsTater10210 to get "Beneath The Peel".
I don't know what this blog will become. I don't know what reactions to it will be. What I do know, is that I want to open up my mind and feelings. Where that leads, I'm ready to go.
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