I Am Truly Torn on the Issue of Guns

What is one issue I will concede that the right wing has won the argument for? 

Guns.

The right wing has successfully mastered the art of the smear when it comes to this subject. They say all left wingers want to “take your guns”, and leave you defenseless while only criminals have arms, and therefore will murder you and your grandma while you watch old episodes of “The Price is Right” together. 

They say that we stage mass shootings so that we can then pass legislation that will take away the rights of law abiding citizens, which again, leads to only the “bad guys” with straps, so therefore you need a gun too so you can be a hero, like the OG Bun B. 

Meanwhile, in real life, after all those mass shootings that stupid libtards say could be prevented or at minimum slowed down with common sense regulation, nothing got passed. Background check just to make sure only law abiding citizens of sound mind can obtain weapons? Nope. Ban on high capacity magazines, but NOT the guns that use them? Nah bruh. Assault weapons ban (Assault weapon being defined as “semi-automatic rifles, pistols, and shotguns that are able to accept detachable magazines and possess one or more other features.”) Of course not. 

Here’s the thing. 

I get it. I’m from Detroit. I have friends from Chicago, Compton, Los Angeles, New York, Baltimore…basically anywhere considered “the hood” or “dangerous”. These places have high rates of gun violence. So it makes plenty sense to carry a weapon in these environments, knowing that the number of sticks in the area is probably high. Gotta protect yourself, and as the old saying goes, “Never bring a knife to a gun fight.” 

Expanding on that point, I now live in Arizona, which has some of the loosest gun laws on Earth in America. We are also the 11thWORST state in the country when measuring gun deaths. It’s almost like, where there are more guns, there is more gun related death. But even knowing that, I understand the emotional need for a gun, especially in a state where you KNOW everyone’s packing, and not scared to fire. You never want to be out gunned, especially if you have a family or any loved ones you want to protect. 

This is why I’m torn. The progressive in me wants to simply use the numbers to convince people that gun regulation is a good thing and will reduce the number of overall gun deaths. The Detroit n*gga in me wants to go buy a .40 right now. I know that if I was Bun B in that same situation, I’d be very thankful to have heat in the house. But I also know that guns are rarely used in self-defense, and are way more likely to inflict harm on self or others. 

So what do we do? This is America, and G-Unit’s “Buddy” isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. I’m honestly torn on this, and have been for a while. All I know is that nobody I’ve seen on the left has flat out advocated for a gun ban, but for some reason that lie has stuck with us. First, we should work on messaging that shows moderates and center-right people that regulation doesn’t equal a ban. Then, we get some progressives in congress who aren’t scared of republican backlash or the NRA. Then finally, we pass Medicare for All and include mental health checks, so that way when the next mass shooting happens, right wingers can’t just blame mental health for it. Until then…

#GETTHESTRAP

Money in Politics

Sorry about the lack of posts, but ya boy just got a new apartment with my brother, so I been moving, working, and still trying to keep up with all the f*ck sh*t going on in society. I have plenty to write about, so strap in.

First, Trump vetoed the joint resolution to end the unconstitutional war in Yemen. Anybody surprised? 

Second, I’ve been helping my lady friend write an essay for a college course, and our subject is “Campaign Finance Reform”, and I’ve actually learned way more than I already knew, and boy oh boy is it worse than I thought. 

Third, RIP Nipsey. Do you all see the positive change that has happened since his untimely passing? The Bloods, Brim’s, and Piru’s are all on one accord, the Neighborhood/Gangster Crip sets have squashed issues that have been going on since the 70’s, and both sides have decided to attempt peace. They have marched together down Slauson (Nip’s NeighborHood), and people from all sides have been at the memorial in front of the Marathon Clothing Store, where Hussle was murdered by a snitch from his own set. 

Let’s get into the campaign finance reform though, as I had a pretty good grasp on how it worked when it comes to the obvious (I do secret speeches for industries and then vote for policy in favor of said industries, or certain industries/interest groups give me a lot of money for my campaign and then I vote in favor of said industries/interest groups), but I forgot all about dark money. 

All those ads from random, ambiguous groups that “aren’t affiliated” with any campaign, but have a clear agenda of producing negative ads, often times outright lies and smears, against a particular political party, movement or candidate. 

According to the always trustworthy Wikipedia:

“In the politics of the United States, dark money refers to political spending by nonprofit organizations—for example, 501(c)(4) (social welfare) 501(c)(5) (unions) and 501(c)(6) (trade association) groups—that are not required to disclose their donors.[3][4] Such organizations can receive unlimited donations from corporations, individuals and unions. In this way, their donors can spend funds to influence elections, without voters knowing where the money came from. Dark money first entered politics with Buckley v. Valeo (1976) when the United States Supreme Court laid out Eight Magic Words that define the difference between electioneering and issue advocacy.”

In that paragraph, the key phrase is “are not required to disclose their donors.” Meaning, if I want to donate Millions and Millions of dollars to a specific Super PAC who is endorsing a specific candidate, I can do that and it’s NOT illegal. Remember, the cap to donate to politicians directly is $2,700. So, although Super PACs TECHNICALLY are not allowed to coordinate directly with the campaigns of the candidates, if you think that ISN’T happening, you are simply just naïve. 

So then what happens? Billions of dollars get spent by un-named, un-elected rich muhfuggas on ads, and that money often times is the clearest indicator of who is going to win an election. Why is this important? Because if we don’t know who is essentially controlling all of the money in politics, then we can’t know who is expecting favors from public officials. Hence the Princeton University study that concluded that the United States functions more as an oligarchy than a democracy. 

So what do we do with this? You can join Wolf-PAC, whose whole purpose is trying to create a constitutional amendment to get money out of politics. You can run for office or help to support members of Justice Democrats, Our Revolution, PCCC, and many more organizations who’s whole purpose is rejecting big money contributions and working towards clean, publicly financed elections. Only then, will policy match the polling data regarding what the American people want. Until then, the top 1% will continue to run sh*t.

Hypocrisy on the Left Wing

REAL QUICK: Before we get into the blog, just want to issue a retraction from my last post. In the beginning I offered condolences to Philadelphia battle rapper Tech 9, as it was reported he “passed away” in his sleep. Turns out he was facing 10 charges of child pornography, sexual contact with minors, and other various crimes in the same vein. So, ignore all the positive stuff I said about Tech. 

LONG LIVE NIPSEY HUSSLE.

OK, back to politics.

I have questions.

I have questions for people who love Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (which they should), but dislike Bernie Sanders. I have questions for people who defend Joe Biden and the 4 (and counting) allegations of inappropriate behavior dealing with women, but made a huge deal about the same allegations against CAMPAIGN MEMBERS of Bernie Sanders (not Bernie, who was unaware at the time but when made aware instantly made it right). I have questions for people who have NOT called out Corey Booker for his answer on reparations (spoiler: he’s not for them), but jump on Bernie’s back when he HONESTLY says he isn’t for that policy but offers other policies he believes will be more efficient. 

In my best Joe Budden voice, “Whussup witchall man?”

Y’all know that AOC’s platform is based on Bernie’s, right? So, policy wise, they line up almost perfectly. They might have differences in percentages for certain policies when it comes to taxes and things of that nature, but the GOAL is the same. Tax the wealthy more, spread that money around into programs that help regular people, regulate big businesses and Wall Street, Medicare for All, publicly funded college, Green New Deal, etc. You guys all know this. So it’s very weird to me when I read publications that are “left wing” that do their best to shit on Bernie, but then praise AOC. Again, she deserves the praise, but it’s still cognitive dissonance at its finest. 

Joe Biden has been touchy feely with way too many women and female children for YEARS, and now that it’s actually being called out in the media, all the centrist Democrat lovers are doing their absolute best to defend him as “that’s just Joe being Joe.” Nah slime. That’s not gonna fly, especially in 2019 when we are aware of the different levels of harassment and we are way more aware of our behavior (us being men/males.) But Bernie had campaign workers who were being inappropriate, and as soon as Bernie was made aware, those people were gone. But, Bernie’s worse, right?

And then all these reparations smears, basically acting as if he is the ONLY candidate that doesn’t support giving cash payments to black Americans. That’s completely false. Cory Booker supports baby bonds for ALL American born new-born babies, not just black people. Kamala Harris supports funding for mental health treatment as a form of reparations, so…not reparations. Bernie is just the only one to flat out say the word “No”, rather than acting as if something that isn’t reparations is. Now he does have policy goals that will help fund HBCU’s, inner city programs, plus the whole Medicare for All/Publicly Funded College/Publicly Funded Daycare plan, which obviously would free up a lot of black people to work and be able to pursue higher education, which ultimately would put us in better position. 

Final thoughts, keep that same energy. Don’t diss Bernie for doing something and then act as if it’s OK when someone else does. That is called hypocrisy.

Too Many Candidates

A lot has happened since my last post. I’m gonna open this by saying Long Live Nipsey Hussle and Long Live Tech 9, you both will be truly missed.

In addition to this, approximately 47,398,675 new candidates have announced their run for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States. I want to keep this simple.

WE DON’T NEED ANY MORE PEOPLE RUNNING.

My Mom asked me what I thought about Stacy Abrams. My answer was “We don’t need anyone else to run for President.” The majority of the candidates are running on one of two platforms. There’s the “I mostly agree with Bernie” platform (Tulsi Gabbard, Elizabeth Warren, to a lesser degree Andrew Yang), and there’s the “I will talk the Bernie talk and walk the Hillary walk” platform (Kamala Harris, Corey Booker, Kirsten Gillibrand, Joe Biden, etc.) 

If there is any more people who want to run, wait until 2024. The race is plenty crowded, and we don’t need a bunch of people parroting ideas they think the American people want to hear if they don’t have a plan to implement them. Kamala Harris has been saying that she wants to legalize cannabis, even though her entire record is full of arresting people for said “crime”. Corey Booker is saying he won’t take big money donations anymore, even though his entire career he has. See how their rhetoric changes with the wave? 

We don’t need any fake lefties running, trying to sway the publics opinion with talking points that they have no plan to implement. Which is what this is. We need the genuine thing. 

#Bernie2020 

OR

#Tulsi2020

OR even better…

#BernieTulsi2020.

God Hates You, But I’m Not Judging

So a former middle school associate of mine turned pastor posted a status on Facebook today, basically saying “Hey if you’re gay, I don’t hate you, but God does.” That’s definitely a paraphrase, but it’s pretty much accurate. 

Under the post, several people commented, most agreeing with him, and a few that did not. I of course, was one who did not. I pointed out the book of Leviticus (which is the most often cited verse condemning LGBTQ people) also condemns eating shellfish, wearing a mix of two fabrics at the same time, cutting your hair, or shaving your face. 

The majority of Christians who I debate about this issue all pivot to the same point. “Leviticus is the Old Testament, we follow the New Testament now because Jesus brought the new covenant.” 

I just want to say, that this is the most ridiculous argument ever. EVER. The reason being, that when you go to church, why do pastors still teach LESSONS out of the Old Testament? They never teach it as if it’s simply the history of what was going on before Jesus arrived and fixed all his Dad’s mistakes. They present them as if there are valid lessons that still apply in today’s society. So that negates the whole “that’s old bro, we on a new type of time now” argument.

The other thing I want to bring up is the fact Jesus literally NEVER said anything about gay people. He didn’t condemn it, he didn’t support it, he completely left the topic alone altogether. As a matter of fact, there were only 6 references in the entire New Testament, and it was Paul, not Jesus who spoke about gay people. 

Final thing, people say it’s wrong because it is impossible to produce life through gay sex. Let’s accept that premise (even though there’s adoption, artificial insemination, and plenty of other ways for LGBTQ people to have children). So by that standard, should heterosexual people who have medical issues that prevent them from producing children not be allowed to have sex? Are old people who still get it in sinners? What about people who are married, were both virgins and waited until marriage to have sex, but choose not to have children and use condoms? Are they sinning too? This is dumb.

I’m not saying whether or not you should believe in God, Jesus, religion, or any of that. That’s on you to figure out the truth for yourselves. All I’m here to do is make you aware of one of MANY things in the book that’s premise falls apart with even the slightest bit of scrutiny. In other words, a lot of this shit makes no sense when you really think about it.

Final Final thought, as a straight man, I believe it is my responsibility to treat sexual/gender minorities with respect, dignity, and to show others that they deserve everything that we take for granted. 

Also, stop saying things like “You’re going to hell, God hates what you’re doing, but I’m not judging.” 

Yes the fuck you are.

I Hate Ben Shapiro

I can’t stand Ben Shapiro. 

I basically hate everything about the man. I hate his political ideology, I hate how religious he is, I hate his voice, and I hate the stupid look he always has on his face. 

But most of all, what angers me the most about Ben Shapiro is his Trump-like ability to be a complete and utter hypocrite without even the SLIGHTEST thoughts of irony when making his statements, as well as his Trump-like ability to be arrogantly incorrect. Let’s go thru a few quotes, which I will then debunk/rebuttal with ease. You can listen to him talk fast and confidently (which is basically his whole strategy for conning the masses), or you can read his quotes and after, read my correct viewpoints and see for yourself who has a more compelling/accurate argument.

“This is the most important moment in Black American history. Not Martin Luther King, not Frederick Douglass, not the Civil War, not the end of Jim Crow — none of that — not Brown v. Board, the most important thing is that Chadwick Boseman puts claws on his hands and a mask on his face and runs around jumping off cars in CGI fashion.”

Alright, first and foremost Ben, you are purposely being dense. You are acting as if it’s simply the fact that a superhero movie has a black protagonist that had black Americans so excited. No dumbass, it’s the acknowledgement that we are rarely represented as anything other than savages and criminals in movies, so to have a black man as the hero shows that we too can be the good guy who all children look up to (as evidenced by the number of white kids who dressed up as Black Panther for Halloween last year.) It’s also about the fact that all of those people and events you named are events children read in history books, not something they could ever see for themselves. Black Panther was a modern day representation of black excellence, and that is what bothers you Ben.

“We heard this about Barack Obama when he was elected, too. ‘Now that Obama has been president, Black Americans will feel like they too can be presidents. It’s a transformative moment.’ Yet, all we hear now is that America is deeply racist and that Black people are still systemically discriminated against and that Black people are still victims in America society. So, it turns out it didn’t mean anything.”

Ben, both things can be true at the same time. Is it true that Barack Obama becoming the first Black American President gave hope to hundreds of thousands of young people of color that they can do anything they dream? Yes. Is it also true that man white Americans let their bigot flag fly? Of course, how do you think Trump became President (remember he got his major political start as the main champion of the birther movement)? Having a black President did not “fix” America’s racial issues, it simply magnified them in a way to show we haven’t come as far as we all would like to think. Also, it’s PROVABLE that black American’s and other people of color are systematically discriminated against. 

“How about the idea that if you’re black in America there’s a white supremacist hierarchy that is keeping you down? 

(Continued) The idea that black people in the United States are disproportionately poor because America is racist; that’s just not true, at least not in terms of America’s racism today keeping black people down. It’s just not the case.”

Oh? Let’s look at some numbers and see if that’s the case. 

According to NPR, “The Federal Housing Administration, which was established in 1934, furthered the segregation efforts by refusing to insure mortgages in and near African-American neighborhoods — a policy known as "redlining." At the same time, the FHA was subsidizing builders who were mass-producing entire subdivisions for whites — with the requirement that none of the homes be sold to African-Americans.” 

So, in other words, black people returning from the armed services were not given the same economic opportunities as their white counterparts. No property to pass down, therefore no wealth to build on. And also considering the fact that between 35-45% of all wealth is passed down generationally, you can probably see why the previous acts of discrimination have created challenges that we still face today. 

Then of course we have the ACLU, who found that “Blacks are 3.73 times more likely than whites to be arrested for marijuana.” 

OR the fact that currently (rather, as of July 2018) there are 1135 black death row inmates, compared to 1153 white death row inmates. Also, in multiple studies (here, here, and here) show that A. Black people are more likely to receive the death penalty than white people for the same crime, and B. When the victim is white and the criminal is black, the criminal is way more likely to be sentenced to death than the reverse scenario.

And lastly…

“Freedom of speech and thought matters, especially when it is speech and thought with which we disagree. The moment the majority decides to destroy people for engaging in thought it dislikes, thought crime becomes a reality.”

Now go read everything he’s said about Rep. Ilhan Omar on his Twitter. I rest my case. 

Hypocrite to the max, and egotistically stupid.

#JUSTICEFORANTONIO

The following videos were taken at the #JusticeForAntonio protest at Tempe City Hall. Antonio was 14 years old and was shot in the back as he ran from the police. He had a toy gun that he may or may not have stolen.