Memorial day and some of the stupidity thrown out by the right has me a bit pissed. Lets start with Obama visiting Hiroshima. First, he didn't go ON memorial day!, he didn't apologize for being the only nation in the world to drop not 1 but 2 of the most lethal weapons in the world with the intent on killing as many civilians as possible, He did however show our now allies Japan that our country is not the heartless assholes the right wing in this country make us out to be. He did place a wreathe at the tomb of the unknowns ON memorial day! As for this notion that this country is always correct and never has to apologize for things we do or did that was just plain fucked up and wrong, YOU'RE WRONG!!! We as a nation have stuck our noses in plenty of shit we should have just stayed the hell out of and by getting involved made it worse.
Now, the rednecks want to claim confederate soldiers as American veterans dying at war and claim they deserve to be remembered, BULLSHIT!!!! They were traitors trying to succeed from the union, they fought AGAINST the United States as they were trying to leave. You continue to show you're ignorance of history. Your rebel flag is a sign of hatred and bigotry! It was flown over rebel troops fighting for states rights, that is true. But every state that wrote a letter explaining their decision to succeed from the union explained the right their state was fighting for above all else was the right to keep slaves, TO OWN HUMAN BEINGS AS PROPERTY!
Tuesday, May 31, 2016
Wednesday, April 27, 2016
The government we deserve
With the
polls closed in the northeast Hillary is most likely going to be the Democratic
party’s nominee to run against, most likely, Donald Trump. I for one can’t imagine a scenario worse for
our country than what will be the 2016 general election.
The
republicans are going to nominate a complete and total clown. He is a racist, a
xenophobe, and has absolutely zero policy specific plan to better this country.
If, somehow, Cleveland Ohio survives the riots that will ensue if this ass hat
isn’t nominated and someone else is nominated I don’t believe the republican
party has waiting in the wings anyone that will be any better on policy than
Trump, and he has no policy. The worst case on the republican side is that
Kasich, who is currently beating Hillary in the national poles, is handed the
nomination. This is a man that has defunded Planned Parenthood in Ohio and is
just slightly right of Hillary. Ted Cruz, who claims to be a constitutionalist,
believes his religion trumps your rights when it comes to homosexuality,
trans-gender, and even being an atheist.
On the
Democratic side the choice is an establishment corporate shill that has been
bought and paid for by wall street banks and other big money donors. She is not
going to help save our environment by banning fracking, she is not going to
fight for healthcare as a right, she will not fight to overturn citizens
united, she is not going to help our children get better educations without
being in debt that they can never get out from under, she will increase our
presence in the middle east needlessly putting more of our troops in harm’s way
and continuing the quagmire we are currently in, she will side solely with
Israel rather than looking for a fair 2 state deal that is needed to bring
peace to the region.
Maybe we
deserve Trump! If the general public is stupid enough to vote for this man,
maybe we deserve it. Maybe we deserve a man that will build a wall and spend billions
trying to deport millions of hard working immigrants. Maybe we deserve a candidate that will
alienate an entire religion across the world with his ban on them coming into
our country regardless of the fact there are millions of Muslims in this
country that share our concerns about extremists. Maybe we deserve to be forced
back to the segregation of the 50’s and 60’s. Maybe we deserve a president that
will bring back the torture of innocent detainees and the murder of the
innocent families of terrorists. Or maybe we deserve the incremental change
from the big bank bought candidate the Democrats are offering us.
We allow our
votes to be ignored. We allow millions in the state of New York to not be heard
and not allowed to vote. We allow the poll times to be changed, the polling
places to be moved, the voter rolls to be purged, a person’s affiliation to one
party to be officially changed without that
persons permission or knowledge, we allow the number of polling places to be
cut in half even when we know there is most likely going to be a record turn
out and then blame the people for coming out to vote. We have allowed the
corporate media to run this campaign. We have a congress with a 4% approval
rating and yet when it comes time to vote we will most likely keep the same
people in office we don’t think are doing a good job. But if one guy making
minimum wage at McDonalds screws up your fatty burger you want him fired and
use his mistake to prove $15 an hour is too much for a livable minimum wage. We
have spent the last couple of months arguing over where people take a piss!
I want a
person to vote for that has earned MY vote not the vote of the 1%. I know I and
hundreds of thousands if not millions are not going to get the government we
want, but just maybe we are going to get the government we deserve because we
didn’t speak up and speak out.
Sunday, April 24, 2016
Added a store front to the website, I know right now I'm talking to my self but will look back at this and laugh someday. buy now
Wednesday, April 20, 2016
If you
listen to people like Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Fox News, or even the Mississippi
state legislation the white Christian male is, and has been for years, under
attack. Really? Mississippi just passed a law allowing discrimination of gay or
transgender people. Their reasoning? Religion! They claim that your right to
equal protection under the law is trumped by their belief and their religion.
If a gay man walks into a store to purchase a product the owner of the store or
his employee can refuse to provide any service or product to him because being
gay is against the store owners religious beliefs.
Let’s set aside the fact that the same book
they use to justify their belief that being gay is a sin also teaches snakes
talk, a staff can be transformed into a snake, a 900-year-old man and his
family collected 2 of each animal on the planet put them on a boat for 40 days
and nights, and a virgin gave birth.
How does
this new law differ from segregation in the 50’s and 60’s? When a black man
walked into that same store and the owner or employee saw blacks as savages or
sub-human and refused service? It’s not, it’s the same principle. The 14th
amendment makes it perfectly clear that all citizens are protected equally
under the law and frankly I for one am saddened that it has taken until 2015
and 2016 to acknowledge that simple fact when it comes to any minority.
The
constitution is there for all Americans not just the people that hold the
power.
Because of
North Carolina’s recent law allowing discrimination against the gay and
transgender communities, again on the basis of religious freedom, Bruce
Springstein has cancelled his concert series in the state. Hulu has not only
moved production of it’s new pilot Crushed out of the state they have now moved
it out of the country to Canada. Fox and A&E have said they will not bring
productions into the state. A large number of CEO’s from varying companies have
written a letter to Governor McCrory of North Carolina:
Dear Governor McCrory,
We write
with concerns about legislation you signed into law last week, HB 2, which has
overturned protections for LGBT people and sanctioned discrimination across
North Carolina. Put simply, HB 2 is not a bill that reflects the values of our
companies, of our country, or even the overwhelming majority of North
Carolinians.
We are
disappointed in your decision to sign this discriminatory legislation into law.
The business community, by and large, has consistently communicated to
lawmakers at every level that such laws are bad for our employees and bad for
business. This is not a direction in which states move when they are seeking to
provide successful, thriving hubs for business and economic development. We
believe that HB 2 will make it far more challenging for businesses across the
state to recruit and retain the nation’s best and brightest workers and attract
the most talented students from across the nation. It will also diminish the
state’s draw as a destination for tourism, new businesses, and economic
activity.
Discrimination
is wrong and we believe it has no place in North Carolina or anywhere in our
country. As companies that pride ourselves on being inclusive and welcoming to
all, we strongly urge you and the leadership of North Carolina’s legislature to
repeal this law in the upcoming legislative session.
Sincerely,
Karen
Appleton, Senior Vice President, Box
Brandee
Barker, Cofounder, The Pramana Collective
Marc
Benioff, CEO, Salesforce
Chip Bergh,
President and CEO, Levi Strauss & Co.
Michael
Birch, Founder, Blab
Ed Black,
President and CEO, Computer & Communications Industry Association
Nathan
Blecharczyk, Cofounder and CTO, Airbnb
Steven R.
Boal, CEO, Quotient Technology Inc.
Lorna
Borenstein, CEO, Grokker
Brad
Brinegar, Chairman and CEO, McKinney
Lloyd
Carney, CEO, Brocade Communications Systems, Inc.
Brian
Chesky, CEO, Airbnb
Ron Conway,
Founder and Co-Managing Partner, SV Angel
Tim Cook,
CEO, Apple
Dean Debnam,
Chairman and CEO, Workplace Options
Jack Dorsey,
CEO, Square and Twitter
David
Ebersman, Cofounder and CEO, Lyra Health
Jared
Fliesler, General Partner, Matrix Partners
Joe Gebbia,
Cofounder and Chief Product Officer, Airbnb
Jason
Goldberg, CEO, Pepo
Alan King,
President and COO, Workplace Options
Kristen Koh
Goldstein, CEO, BackOps
Mitchell
Gold, co-founder and chair-man, Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams
John H.
Graham IV, President and CEO, American Society of Association Executives
Logan Green,
CEO, Lyft
Paul Graham,
Founder, Y Combinator
David
Hassell, CEO, 15Five
Charles H.
Hill III, Executive Vice President, Worldwide Human Resources, Pfizer Inc.
Reid
Hoffman, Chairman, LinkedIn
Robert
Hohman, Cofounder & CEO, Glassdoor
Drew
Houston, CEO, Dropbox
Chad Hurley,
Cofounder, YouTube
Dave Imre,
Partner and CEO, IMRE
Dev
Ittycheria, President & CEO, MongoDB
Laurene Powell
Jobs, President, Emerson Collective
Cecily
Joseph, VP Corporate Responsibility and Chief Diversity Officer, Symantec
Corporation
David Karp,
Founder and CEO, Tumblr
Travis Katz,
Founder and CEO, Gogobot
Brian
Krzanich, CEO, Intel
Joshua
Kushner, Managing Partner, Thrive Capital
Max Levchin,
CEO, Affirm
Dion Lim,
CEO, NextLesson
Shan-lyn Ma,
CEO, Zola
Marissa
Mayer, President and CEO, Yahoo
Melody
McCloskey, CEO, StyleSeat
Douglas
Merrill, CEO, Zestfinance
Dyke
Messinger, President and CEO, Power Curbers Inc.
Hari Nair,
Vice President and General Manager, Orbitz.com & CheapTickets.com
Michael
Natenshon, CEO, Marine Layer
Alexi G.
Nazem, Cofounder and CEO, Nomad Health
Laurie J.
Olson, EVP, Strategy, Portfolio and Commercial Operations, Pfizer Inc.
Bob Page,
Founder and CEO, Replacements, Ltd.
Michelle
Peluso, Strategic Advisor and former CEO, Gilt
Sundar
Pichai, CEO, Google
Mark Pincus,
Founder and Executive Chairman, Zynga
Hosain
Rahman, CEO, Jawbone
Bill Ready,
CEO, Braintree
Evan Reece,
CEO, Liftopia
Stan Reiss,
General Partner, Matrix Partners
John
Replogle, CEO, Seventh Generation
Virginia M.
Rometty, Chairman, President and CEO, IBM Corporation
Dan
Rosensweig, CEO, Chegg
Kevin P.
Ryan, Founder and Chairman, Alleycorp
Bijan Sabet,
General Partner, Spark Capital
Julie
Samuels, President, Engine
George A.
Scangos, PhD, CEO, Biogen
Dan
Schulman, President and CEO, PayPal
Adam
Shankman, Director and Producer
Gary
Shapiro, President and CEO, Consumer Technology Association
David A.
Shaywitz, MD, PhD, Chief Medical Officer, DNAnexus
Ben
Silbermann, CEO, Pinterest
Brad Smith,
President and Chief Legal Officer, Microsoft
Arne
Sorenson, President and CEO, Marriott International
David
Spector, Cofounder, ThirdLove
Jeremy
Stoppelman, CEO, Yelp
Bret Taylor,
CEO, Quip
Todd
Thibodeaux, CEO, CompTIA
David Tisch,
Managing Partner, BoxGroup
Nirav Tolia,
Cofounder and CEO, Nextdoor
Kevin A.
Trapani, President and CEO, The Redwood Groups
Ken Wasch,
President, Software & Information Industry Association
Bob &
Harvey Weinstein, Co-Founders and Co-Chairmen, The Weinstein Company
Mark
Zuckerberg, Founder and CEO, Facebook
The same
type of outrage is being shared for the law in Mississippi, Paypal has pulled
out of a new building project denying the state jobs and income.
Mississippi religious money well
spent?
Has the new
law in Mississippi been money well spent? The new law in question is Religious
Liberty Accommodations Act that basically makes it legal for persons of
religion to discriminate against gay or trans-gender individuals, claiming
their religion disagrees with the gay or trans-gender lifestyle. On the face of it the legislation started to
make sure people were using the bathroom “god” intended them to. A session of
the state congress was dedicated to this bill and then law. The governor spent
time lobbying for and signing into law this discriminatory bill. What is going
on in the state of Mississippi that may have been just a bit more important.
In an article by Mississippi State University
the state of Mississippi leads the nation in death from coronary heart disease
and stroke at even greater rates than the nation, and has a higher rate of
obesity than the majority of the nation. According to multiple articles
Mississippi ranks number 2 in the country in deaths by guns. Mississippi’s
unemployment rate is a full point and a half higher than the national average
and some counties are double the national average.
These are a few of the problems the government
of Mississippi could have been working on. They could have been reaching out to
industry to locate in the state, they could have been working on travel and
tourism to the state, they could have been working on a way to turn around
their slow growing economy. They could have been working towards making the state
more inviting for fortune 500 companies, and building a technology base for new
companies to invest in the state. Instead they were wasting their time voting
on a bill, that is set to become law July 1st, and violates the
first and 14th amendments of the constitution. It was more important to protect
their belief in god and to force that belief on anyone that steps foot in their
state then it was to make it a better place, not only for people that may visit
or want to start a new business there but for those that live in the state and
don’t happen to share the same religious view of the governor and his ilk.
Mississippi
has had a history of bigotry so I guess this shouldn’t actually be all that
surprising.
Money in politics and its excuse
Since Bernie
Sanders has come on the scene as a presidential candidate the issue of money in
politics has been pushed to the forefront. While the problem has been ongoing
in our system for decades, this campaign and protests like democracy spring are
highlighting it and asking for a fix to the broken system. Citizens united may
well have been the death nail for a fair and balanced representation of all of
us over the corporate interests that can donate millions of dollars to a
candidate or political party to sway their opinion or policy.
Bernie had a
choice when he decided to run, start a super pac to fund his campaign or rely
on donations from everyday Americans. He chose the latter. Hillary and all the
republican candidates on the other hand chose to accept money from corporate
donors and super pacs. Hillary’s claim and defense for this is that President
Obama did the same. And claims that
there is no evidence she has ever changed her policy in response to her donors.
In my
opinion, I believe the “he did it so why can’t I? “excuse is childish and
something I would expect from a third grader. Going with that excuse does
nothing to change the corrupt system. And if you read President Obama’s book
“The audacity of hope” you see he realizes the issue with this system and the
actual influence it can have on even the strongest politician.
“Few lobbyists proffer an explicit quid pro
quo to elected officials. Their influence comes from having more access than
the average voter, having better information, and more staying power when it
comes to promoting an obscure provision in the tax code that means billions for
their clients.
For most
politicians, money is not about maintaining status and power. It is about
scaring off challengers and fighting off the fear. Money cannot guarantee a
victory, but without money, you are pretty much guaranteed to lose.
When I
decided to run for the Senate, I found myself spending time with people of
means. As a rule, they were smart, interesting people, expecting nothing more
than a hearing of their opinions in exchange for their checks. But they
reflected, almost uniformly, the perspectives of their class.
I became
more like the wealthy donors I met, in the sense that I spent more time above
the fray, outside the world of hardship of the people that I had entered public
life to serve.”
Source: The Audacity of Hope, by Barack Obama, p.109-115 Oct
1, 2006
As you can
see from this quote, even Barack Obama admits that you don’t necessarily change
a policy in direct correlation to the money donated to you, your policy changes
over time because of the company you keep. Hillary you didn’t flip on an issue
after a donation, well accept for the bankruptcy bill you lobbied against as
first lady then lobbied for and passed after elected to congress that
benefitted wall street banks, you changed what you are willing to do for us the
common folks because you spend time with the 1% instead of the majority of us
here in the 99%. But then again after seeing your tax returns you are in a
percentage the rest of us can only dream to be in.
Monday, April 18, 2016
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