My Thoughts on Elizabeth Warren

So, let's talk about my 3rd favorite candidate for President (number 1 of course being Bernard H. Sanders, and number 2 being Tulsi Gabbard), Elizabeth "F-ck Fox News" Warren. She's a mixed bag to say the least, similar to how I feel about Barack Obama (although to be fair, she seems to be a little better overall than our first black President.) 

From an economic standpoint, she's maybe the best when it comes to going to war with the corporations and being a champion for the people. She created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which held banks and other various large companies accountable for their practices, and in turn, helped to rectify some of the misdeeds that were done to the public. For example, credit card companies had a scheme where they basically sold you "indentity theft protection" for $10.00 per month (give or take depending on the credit card company), but the payments weren't actually going towards any protection. People were quite literally just donating an extra $10 per bill cycle to these various companies, and it went uncheched for a while....until the CFPB popped up and started poppin off. 

Warren also seems to genuinely be on the correct side of social issues, at least rhetorically. She supports women's healthcare rights, same-sex marriage, understands the issues regarding the criminal justice system and favors reform, supports the DREAMers, supports common sense gun legislation, supports legalizing weed, she's basically all the way righteous. 

BUT.....

She voted to increase our current military budget. By 80. Billion. God. Damned. Dollars. 

You know, for someone who regularly exchanges battle rap bars with Donald Trump on Twitter, you would think she would vote to give this lunatic, mad man of a President MORE military power. You can't talk shit about him making his "military industrial complex buddies rich" while at the same time voting in favor of him obtaining an ADDITIONAL $80,000,000,000 to give to said buddies. Of that, $65,000,000,000 could pay for all adults to attend college. Let alone what we could do with the current $700,000,000,000 (look at how many zeroes that is) which is roughly the same amount as the next 10 top military spenders on the planet, most of which are our allies. You can't continue stating that Iran is our enemy, but then getting upset when the Clown in Chief makes threats towards them. You can't have it both ways.

I will also very quickly mention the whole Native American fiasco, when her and Trump basically had the pettiest argument of all time regarding a DNA test, where according to Maury Povich standards, the Cherokee Nation is NOT the father. 

So Liz, although I will say if you are the nominee against Trump, you'll get my vote, there is still a reason you are in 3rd place on my list. Bernie didn't vote for that increase, neither did Tulsi. They don't call foreign countires our enemies just because they buy into the framing of the media and the right wing, and most importantly, they fight back almost exclusively thru policy proposals and discussions, rather than thumb thugging on Twitter with the President of People Who Dance to the Words and Not the Beat.

Impeachment Equals President Mike Pence

We have to start preparing for President Mike Pence guys.

I know, I know. It’s trash. He’s Donald Trump minus the mean tweets, plus the Christian fundamentalism. He’s a war mongering, a free market over everything, healthcare isn’t a right, everyone should own guns, and keep those damn Mexicans out of my country kinda guy. However, he’s way nicer about it than Trump….so yay?

Anyways, it appears that Impeachment proceedings are getting closer and closer, and looking at this from two different perspectives, I have come to two conclusions, neither of which is really that great.

1. Donald Trump most definitely has committed and is continuing to commit crimes. I always said from the second he was sworn in that he was violating the emoluments clause of the constitution. Now, after the Mueller report, a lot of that stuff has come out. Having an open criminal serving as President is terrible, and if we allow this to continue, we are setting a precedent that essentially makes the President a dictator. If the President is allowed to straight up obstruct justice, tell people to ignore subpoenas and court appearances, or telling them to flat out lie on the stand, then what is to stop future Presidents from doing so, and thusly destroying the checks and balances of government? These are all good and principled arguments to use if you are pro-impeachment.

2. Mike Pence will become the President of the United States. You know all the crazy horrible shit that Trumps has done and wants to do? Mike Pence will be able to get it done, because he’s calm and most republicans like him. They fall in line with Trump, but they don’t like him as a person. Since that’s the case, some of his insane agenda isn’t getting passed, such as repealing the ACA, when John McCain gave him the epic thumbs down vote. This was really done out of spite because of the wild shit Trump said about McCain in the past about being captured in Vietnam. So if we impeach Tiny Hands, Mike Pence will push thru the rest of the draconian agenda and continue destroying the country for everyone who isn’t rich.

So, what do we do? From purely a strategic point of view, I say leave the President of Unseasoned Chicken Eaters in there and let him keep digging himself a hole so we can stop some of the insanity. Mike Pence will not be as visible in the public eye, so a lot of his policies would quietly be implemented. Very scary for all of us.

However, from a principled point of view, the dude is a criminal and if any of us got caught doing the stuff he’s been accused of in the Mueller report, then he’s gotta go. We can have the top cop in the country as one of the biggest mob bosses also. I think overall, my take leans towards impeachment. But we MUST stay active as we have been since 45’s been in office, and fight Mike Pence on everything too. If we can do this, then all of this won’t be for nothing. Because trust and believe, if we impeach Trump and he is removed from office, the republican base is gonna go DUMB in 2020, and hit the booths harder than Ice Cube’s mean mug. So we have to prepare for that.

Commonly MisUsed Political Terms

Just want to break down some basic definitions for you guys, in the event the constant smearing in politics causes confusion. For example, republicans tend to call ANY policies proposed by Democrats a “socialist/Marxist/communist” policies. They called Obamacare a form of socialism. This is just one example, but there are countless. So, without further ado, let’s discuss some commonly mis-used words, with a special focus given the current week’s political news regarding our Alabama peeps. According to Dictionary.com:

Murder = the unlawful premeditated killing of one human being by another.

Abortion = the deliberate termination of a human pregnancy, most often performed during the first 28 weeks of pregnancy.

Zygote = a diploid cell resulting from the fusion of two haploid gametes; a fertilized ovum.

Embryo = an unborn or unhatched offspring in the process of development, in particular a human offspring during the period from approximately the second to the eighth week after fertilization (after which it is usually termed a fetus).

Fetus = an unborn offspring of a mammal, in particular an unborn human baby more than eight weeks after conception.

Baby = a very young child, especially one newly or recently born.

Socialism = a political and economic theory of social organization which advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole.

Communism = a political theory derived from Karl Marx, advocating class war and leading to a society in which all property is publicly owned and each person works and is paid according to their abilities and needs.

Welfare State (AKA Social Democracy) = a system whereby the government undertakes to protect the health and well-being of its citizens, especially those in financial or social need, by means of grants, pensions, and other benefits. The foundations for the modern welfare state in the US were laid by the New Deal programs of President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Fact = a thing that is known or proved to be true.

Belief = something one accepts as true or real; a firmly held opinion or conviction.

My point in creating this post is to show that the reasons words have definitions and exist in the context they do is to describe different things. Sometimes similar things are still quite different. Nuance is always important, and I think some of these over-used political terms (mostly incorrect) need to be shown as a reminder to the people. Just because you really want something to be true and you in your heart of hearts BELIEVE that it is, that doesn’t make it so. Just because you want abortion to be considered murder, doesn’t mean that it is. Just because you believe life begins the moment you shoot her club up, doesn’t mean there are 3 people in the room. Words still mean things. Embryos and zygotes are not babies, a welfare state does not equal socialism, and Noah didn’t get 2 of every animal on a boat to save the world. 

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.