Happy Martin Luther King Jr Day

Today, on Martin Luther King Jr. Day (which the state I currently reside in, Arizona, did not recognize as a holiday until 1990, shout out John McCain), instead of me writing about my feelings about MLK, or how much progress we’ve made as a country since his assassination, or the lack thereof, I will post a series of articles I’ve read today, not only to shine some light on sources I use for information, but also, because everything I could possibly want to say about this great man has been said time and time again. So without further ado, here’s my list of fantastic and interesting articles about Martin Luther King the 2nd. 

1. Martin Luther King Jr and the White Delusion of a ‘Non-Racist’ America

2. The Rocky History of MLK Jr Day in Arizona

3. Meghan McCain says her father regrets opposition to MLK Day

4. Mike Pence says Donald Trump is like Martin Luther King Jr for ‘inspiring us’ with a border wall

5. Martin Luther King Jr on the record for Universal Basic Income

Happy Martin Luther King Jr Day everyone. I shouldn’t be at work today. But since I am, figured I’d share some of my favorite reading daily materials, and some good articles about this hero for not only black America, but all Americans who believe in true equality.  

Policy Over Identity Politics

I just read a thread full of people just shitting on Bernie Sanders. Young people. Simply because he’s an older white man. There was literally NOTHING about policy mentioned in the video they were commenting on OR in the tweets in the thread. That scares me if that’s how people are viewing politics. “We just want a woman because women have had it rough and we’re judged harsher, so therefore it’s our time.” While I agree woman have it harder in society, policy is what creates the change we need to see equality. 

While it would be awesome to have a Woman in the White House, she MUST have the right policies. That’s why TulsiGabbard or Elizabeth Warren can get my vote but Hillary couldn’t. We have to stop being childish about politics. Would you vote for Sarah Palin simply because she’s a woman? Of course not. 

The even weirder part about all of the tweets is that these are ALL people who support Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Apparently, these twitter users are unaware that Bernie and AOC essentially have the same policies. So if it’s not the policy that makes them dislike Bernie, that only leaves the identity of the individual, which in this case happens to be a straight white male. 

One thing the right wing has been saying lately that I’ve seen quite a few of my favorite progressive pundits have been in disagreement with is that the left focuses too much on identity politics and not enough on policy. A lot of people have become aware of some people on the left who essentially think all straight white men are inherently evil. Pure nonsense in my opinion. 

While I do believe this is realistically just a very loud minority, it still gives me a little reservation about whether or not we (the left) actually learned the correct lessons from the 2016 election. The establishment media CLEARLY hasn’t, and establishment within the DNC clearly hasn’t, but I really felt like the people did. I really hope that the voters prove me wrong in 2020. 

Here’s the Twitter thread that got me in my feelings.

https://twitter.com/notcapnamerica/status/1083911868438192129?s=21

Two Years of Tiny Hands Trump

So we’re two years in. Let’s see where our current President Donald “Baby Fingers” Trump is in the arena of policy accomplishments and the results that will become of these decisions.

1. Repeal of Obamacare

According to Vox, not only did he cut the previous 6 week enrollment period to just 3 weeks, he cut the ad budget from $100 Million to just $10 Million, cancelled scheduled events to assist with enrollment around the country, shut down the website for 12 hours every Sunday during said 3 week period, and has openly stated on multiple occasion how he wanted to “blow that thing up”. Now, has he successfully repealed the law? No, because the people were NOT having it. Phone calls were being made to senators, tweets were being tweeted at congressmen and women, and ad-campaigns were launched in opposition. As a result, he folded. So this right-wing, Heritage Foundation/Mitt Romney/Chuck Grassley/Newt Gingrich healthcare plan which was implemented by President Obama, all of a sudden wasn’t right wing anymore because a democrat implemented it, which means it had to be destroyed. Although he has done significant damage overall, he hasn’t fully repealed it as of now. 

2. Foreign Policy

As of today, Trump still is declaring he wants to pull out of Syria and halfway out of Afghanistan. (You can see myarticle about this, full breakdown here.) However, with some new info I’m skeptical at the moment because I heard from the homie Kyle Kulinski that Trump is planning to replace the Military troops with Blackwater style militias, which are really djust private armies. When we say private though, we mean only in operation, as they are still publicly funded institutions. So your tax dollars will still be going towards illegal invasions of sovereign nations that didn’t attack us. So this whole “pull out of Syria” thing is basically a lie. So this as of now, I file in the I Don’t Know file. 

As far as Russia and North Korea, I am always going to be in favor of being cordial with other nuclear powers who have dangerous sociopathic and even psychopathic leaders, or even just regular run of the mill leaders for that matter. Not only do I seriously doubt all of the “Russia and Vladimir Putin are controlling Donald Trump” talk (here I explain are a few good reasons why…here too), but we don’t want smoke with Russia. Not that we wouldn’t be able to overpower them easily, because we spend more 10X the amount annually on our military then they do so we would, but is it worth it? Is it worth World War 3 with effing NUKES on the playing board just because MAYBE Russia tried to spread their political alignment on the internet? Because MAYBE MAYBE MAYBE Russia had something to do with the e-mail leaks, in which we found out how Hillary Clinton and the DNC were literally corrupt to the teeth? And then there’s North Korea.  Why do we want beef with them? You never want to go to war with anyone who cares less than you. And if you look at the power grid at night, it is very clear that Kim Jong Un gives not one f—k. Trump playing nice with “Little Rocket Man” now is actually a very good thing. Remember that time everyone in Hawaii was hella scared because they thought something got launched at them from North Korea, and it was actually plausible? Yeah, we haven’t had anything like that lately have we? These two things get marked in the good file. 

Overall his foreign policy has still been garbage on account we have increased drone strikes by 400 percent, we invaded Niger, increased the military budget by an additional $80 Billion per year, put a ban on majority Muslim countries, have increased the bigotry pertaining to this stupid ass wall, pulled out of the Paris climate agreement, are backing Israel and assisting in the denial of Palestinian rights at the U.N, and sparking a trade war with China, I’d say overall his dealings overseas have been doggy doo doo. 

3. Tax Cuts

Not only did his plan NOT reduce the annual deficit as stated multiple times by himself and his colleagues, it added $779 Billion to it this year, and is expected to surpass $1 Trillion this fiscal year (2019). About $17 Billion this year of that amount will go to millionaires in savings. The rest of it? Billionaires and corporations. They also said this would increase job growth. From a literal standpoint, it did. In his first 16 months (I can’t find data on the first 24 yet) he has created about 3.2 Million jobs, which sounds pretty dope. But then you have to ask what the pay is like for those jobs. According to CNBC, 56% of Americans have unmanageable debt, 78% percent live paycheck to paycheck, and as far as how MUCH Americans make, as of December 2018 according to WalletHacks: “The number  people earning less than $39,000 accounts for 49.33% of the population. The 2018 poverty guidelines for a family of four is $25,100.” 

So overall, in the big 3 categories of Foreign Policy, Healthcare and Economy, he’s doing pretty damn horrible. There’s a few OK things in there, but overall, President Infant Palms is caca. Expect another 2 years of this. Make America Great Again. Like during the GREAT Depression, or GREAT recession. Maybe that’s what he meant all this time…

Message for the Democrats

Happy New Year everybody. I hope you guys had happy holidays and had plenty of good food, spent time with your fambam, and got blisters on your thumbs from the new NBA 2K you got for Christmas for whatever system you have. 

Now that we got that out the way, it’s time to focus. We gottaput the stupid shit to the side for a while and focus on real issues. No more Russia talk, no more “Ohmagawd Trump cursed!” fake outrage. We have to start focusing on policy. So this is my plea to the Democrats. If you do these things, you can not only regain power in government, but you can actually change the country for the better. Here’s a short list of things you should run on unapologetically like the homie Bernard Sanders (side note: I’m not sure if his real name’s Bernard).

1. Medicare for All.

2. Public funding of public colleges/universities

3. Ending all US interventions

4. Green Technology bill/Jobs Program/Infrastructure spending bill

Medicare for all is not only cheaper than our current system by anywhere from $2 Billion to $5 Billion for the American people when you factor in no longer having to pay for private insurance AND the tax increases required to make it happen, but it also covers everybody, so it’s objectively better. You’re just wrong if you think otherwise. 

Public funding of colleges/universities is a no brainer also, we already do this for all school up until 12th grade. Why can’t we just continue doing the same thru undergrad? It’s an investment in the future, it would help America to stay in the top countries on the education spectrum, and it would allow college graduates to participate in the economy in a way that matters. 

Ending all the wars is an easy way to obtain some much needed funding for some of these good ass ideas. And it would make everyone hate us WAY less. 

Green New Deal as it is often called would be a huge infrastructure bill that would essentially rid us of all oil dependency as we transitioned to renewable technology such as solar, wind, and hydro power. This would require a gang of workers, so there’s your jobs program also. It’s not like there isn’t a blueprint for this, how do you think the highways got here?  

Democrats. Focus on these 4 things, and you’ll takeover. Stop the Russia shit. Stop the Stormy Daniels shit. Stop the fake outrage. Stop taking money from super PACs and corporations and billionaires and multi-millionaires. STOP IT. Otherwise you’re gonna subject us all to another 4 years of Donald Trump. And in the famous words of Mr. Tiny Hands, that would be “SAD!”.

5 Fun Facts about Christmas

Merry Christmas. Have a list full of fun “Did You Know?” type of stuff to share. Let’s get started.

1. Did you know Christmas wasn’t celebrated by Christians until the year 354? That’s right! A Greek saint named Saint Nicholas was known in modern-day Turkey as a jolly old fellow who delivered gifts to children on this special day. St. Nick’s tradition continued, and later evolved into who we now call “Santa Clause”. 

2. Jesus was not born in the winter time. If you believe in the Bible, and believe that Jesus walked the earth, then you should know what the genocidal/purely mythological and in no way should be taken literally good book says. “She gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them. 8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.” Shepherds working the fields, keeping watch of their flocks? Doesn’t sound like it was winter to me…

3. This was originally a pagan holiday that was “adopted” by the Christians. As it states on World Bulletin by ErtanKarpazli, “December 25 marked what was known as the Winter Solstice. Sol is the ancient Latin word for ‘Sun’, and Stice literally means ‘standing still’. It was celebrated by sun-worshippers as the day signaling the middle of winter, the shortest day of the solar calendar.” 

In addition to pagans, the Romans who were around before Christianity also celebrated December 25th as a special holiday. Karpazli says “ December 25 marked their most important holiday, Saturnalia. This was later renamed to ‘Sol Invicti’, which means ‘the unconquerable sun’, in honor of the Syrian sun-god Apollo. Ancient Egyptians also used to celebrate December 25 in worship of Ra, or Horus, the sun-god child of Isis and Orisis. In Mesopotamia, the mythical god Marduk, who was believed to fight against the cold and darkness, was also worshipped on this day. The Aztecs on this day would sacrifice children in worship of their sun-god, Huitzilopochli. North-western Europe hosted festivities for the Nordic god Balder, while the Ancient Greeks dedicated the day for Adonis and Dionysos. For the Ancient Persians, December 25 represented the birth of Mithra, the sun-god.” (Side note: Horus also basically shares ALL the same traits as Jesus Christ such as virgin birth, 12 disciples, performed miracles, was crucified, died, and rose from the dead 3 days later.)

4. Did you know that pagans worship nature, and create idols out of organisms found in nature? Hence, the Christmas tree. 

5. Read this article about 5 direct quotes from the Bible specifically said by Mr. Christ, and how literally EVERYONE who celebrates Christmas goes against most of these ideals, such as not making a show of your giving in Matthew 6:2, how worrying about money can strangle your spirituality in Matthew 13:3 and 7, and how wealth/materials security can blind us to our real needs in Revelations 3:17. 

So to wrap it up (pun intended), everyone enjoy your holiday, enjoy the time with your families, enjoy the presents, and enjoy the food. Don’t take any of the historical elements of Christmas too serious or you will upset yourself. Just take it for what it is. A capitalists dream, a consumers nightmare, and a child’s reason for getting good grades. Merry Christmas y’all.

Donald Trump is correct on Syria

So Donald Trump appears to be doing something that left wingers, progressives, liberals, and whatever other labels you want to use have been asking for going on roughly 17 years.

BRING THE TROOPS HOME.

So, while it somewhat pains me to give Trump credit on anything because he’s so trash, I must call it how I see it.

This is a great move.

Removing 7,000 troops from Afghanistan and removing all troops from Syria is fantastic news. Anyone who says otherwise is suffering from “Trump Derangement Syndrome”, meaning you hate him so much that even when he does things you agree with, you find a reason to disagree with it.

You have probably already heard the nonsense “This helps Russia” talk, which is basically just a way to spew propaganda. They say our withdrawal will help ISIS and somehow at the same time will help Asaad’s regime. Even though they are the two groups fighting each other. That should be a clear indicator of bullshit. 

And let’s get back to the Russia point for a second. My guy Kyle Kulinski over at Secular Talk on YouTube, brought up the best point. “So if Vladimir Putin was in favor of Medicare for Alland free college, and then Trump implemented it, would you all of a sudden be against it?” Excellent point.

I am an advocate for peace, for not spending money to try to “fix” other countries when Flint still has poison water, we have 50,000 homeless veterans, and student loan debt remains in the top 3 types of debt, which stops my generation from being able to participate in the economy in any serious way. 

So, in closing, good job Trump, you should do this in Iraq, Yemen, Somalia, Pakistan and Niger too. 

Also, I’ll believe it when I see it. Once the troops are actually on planes, I’ll give REAL credit. Right now, it’s just talk. We’ll see.

Capitalism Makes People Trash

been a while people, how are you? Me? I’m tired. Been working mad overtime, making sure this Christmas isn’t trash for my loved ones. But this whole month, I’ve been thinking about how much fun the month of December used to be as a child compared to how stressful it is as an adult. 

I work at a west coast delivery company, similar to Fed Ex (it’s not Fed Ex.) We’ll call it “Western Delivery”.  And let me just tell you…

People get really really angry when there are issues with package delivery. 

Nobody really thinks about the grand scale of things, so let yaboy put it in perspective.

We deliver in 8 states. Each of the larger states have more facilities, smaller states may only have one warehouse for the WHOLE state. Each warehouse may have anywhere from 50 to 200 drivers. 

We deliver somewhere in the neighborhood of 1,000,000 (Dr. Evil voice) packages per day. 

So with that said, there are going to be delays, deliveries to incorrect addresses, packages that go missing, which sucks, but let’s face it. Shit happens. And boy oh boy, when the shit happens to YOU, all that other stuff goes out the window. Quickly.

All the anger stems typically from people who are anticipating gifts to give their kids for the holiday season, and they don’t want to disappoint anyone with a lack of presents under the tree/by the menorah. So the stress which comes from essentially trying to make sure that your loved ones have new shiny material things for this one particular day creates a hostile relationship between consumer and producer. 

People always forget what it’s like to have rules and restrictions as an employee as soon as they are the customer. So all chill goes out the window, and the aggressiveness begins towards people who truly weren’t involved with your issues with the delivery/product in the first place. Then people leave work stressed and have to participate in this whole debacle as well, and the stress cycle of the holidays continues. The only people who aren’t on the constant verge of a mental breakdown are the owner class. They don’t have to deal with the consequences decisions they make for everyone else when it comes to the anger and extreme disappointment that the consumer faces because “Western Delivery” took on too many contracts that we couldn’t fulfill with the amount of employees we currently have. 

So what is my point in all of this? There’s two.

1. Capitalism sucks.

2. Be nice to customer service employees, the person on the phone didn’t do anything wrong.