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Maxine Waters, Senior House Democrat from California is my shero. She takes no crap, she says whatever is on her mind, and I am beyond here for it. There is no other member in the House of Representatives that sparks political interest within me more than her, she speaks I listen, she throws shade I catch it. She gives me life!
Mrs. Waters was 1 of almost 70 Democrats to boycott the inauguration. She's called some of the people closest to Trump "scumbags," she's been one of the leading Democrats to call for Trump's impeachment, and she boycotted Trump's Address to Congress this evening. She said she wouldn't be able to control herself, so she'll just stay home. ...snaps and claps... Instead of going into an environment that she knew may have the potential to take her out of her center, she decided to remove herself from the situation. If only some people who have attended these speeches in the past had the same decorum, i.e. the "you lie" moment. Maxine Waters, I salute you.
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Actions speak louder than words....and executive orders. Trump, under the guidance of Omarosa (rolls eyes) signed an executive order today to increase support for HBCUs from the gov't. The order will move the promotion of HBCUs from under the Education Department directly to the executive office of the White House. Pause, before we go any farther, so we're going to move these important institutions from underneath somebody who knows absolutely nothing about education (Betsy DeVos) and place them under somebody else who knows absolutely nothing about education (Trump)...makes sense in the Trump era.
The goal of the order is to make these precious institutions a priority by creating partnerships with gov't agencies. The HBCU leaders that gathered @ the White House hope the order will provide them with @ least $25 billion for infrastructure and to recover from decades of under funding, they're calling for college preparedness programs for high school students, financial aid programs, job opportunities once students graduate from these HBCUs, etc. This all sounds fantastic right? Of course it does, HBCUs are staples in not only the African American community, but in America period, don't be fooled and think only black folks attend these colleges and universities people! Here's the problem, according to Republican lawmakers (remember they're in control of the House and the Senate for right now) there's no concrete plans for increased funding. Ahh yes, this makes sense in the Trump era as well. Let's throw these executive orders together, let's have no idea how we're going to accomplish the things laid out in these orders, let's just say things that make people feel good and make people feel like we give a shit when we already know they don't. Rightfully so, Democrats believe the order has no substance and guess what...they're right! There's no substance, there's no plan, he had this meeting because all presidents have these meetings to discuss HBCUs. I would like to hope that changes will be made to help improve HBCUs, but do I think it's likely, hell no. All this male has done so far into his inauguration is sign these orders with nothing to back them up. He's all talk, no action, he runs his mouth, to some it sounds good, to others like myself it sounds like bs cause it is bs. Helping HBCUs in no way shape, form, or fashion will benefit him and we know he's only in this thing to benefit himself. Plus, we all know the money that would be beneficial in helping HBCUs, among all the other problems that need to be fixed in this country is going to that "fake" wall. "You deserve far more credit than you get, and know that beginning today, this administration is committed to making sure that our historically black colleges and universities get the credit and the attention they deserve," Scary Pence said. Sounds great, now let's see some action. UPDATE: the $25 billion isn't going to happen and during the meeting Trump referred to the leaders in attendance as "you people." The leaders in the room brushed it off as Trump just being Trump...and that's part of the problem. Alrighty everybody, brace yourselves, this one is a real head scratcher. Betsy DeVos, the Education Secretary...just the mention of her name is an automatic head scratcher, eyebrow lifter, and face scruncher. Lemme take a deep breath before we even get started with this one...deep breath...ok, Betsy DeVos released a statement about HBCUs and how they're "real pioneers when it comes to school choice." My first thought, when I read this was, "what choice did we have to begin with," but that's a topic we'll discuss a little later.
Then, she goes on to say, "They saw that the system wasn’t working, that there was an absence of opportunity, so they took it upon themselves to provide the solution." Ma'am, they saw a system where there was no place for African Americans...period, end of discussion, we were 3rd class citizens and how dare we try and better ourselves and the situation we were forced in through education! (sarcasm) The part she said about there being an absence of opportunity and taking it upon ourselves to provide the solution is the beauty and magic of black people. You tell us we can't do something, we find a way to do it, you don't want us in your fancy white colleges and universities, fine we'll create our own. You can't hold and keep us down, we're resilient, we bounce back, we make a way for eachother, why? Because since the beginning of time in this country we've had no other choice. Since the beginning of time in this country, we have been all we've got, nobody else looked out for us, so we had to make our own way. Are we really supposed to be surprised that this overly privileged billionaire, never stepped foot into a public school, insults teachers, would be fine if the department of education just vanished, had US marshals escort her into a public school like she was in Iraq somewhere, wants to do away with public schools, woman is uneducated when it comes to the history of segregation in schools and the rise of the HBCU? I'm not and neither should you. She doesn't live in the same world that we live in, she lives in that fantasy land of alternative facts right next door to Trump. I mean, come on now! Lemme break it down in terms maybe Betsy DeVos can understand, black folks didn't have a choice of where they could go to school. Why? Because we weren't good enough to sit in a classroom with white kids and receive the same level and quality of education. If black folks had a choice, do you really think they would choose to go to schools that were falling to pieces, using textbooks with incorrect info printed in them, and school that were severely underfunded? Hell no! You bitch, moan, and complain that the critics are out to make you look bad...sighs...ma'am just like with your boss you're doing a damn good job of that yourself especially with statements like this. You know what would be a good look for you Betsy DeVos? Go to an HBCU, take your little US Marshals with you if you must, but go have a seat in an African American studies class @ any HBCU of your choosing (see how I went back to your idea of choice to make you comfortable Betsy), sit there, listen, learn, engage, write a statement on what you learned, and come on out of that white privilege bubble you've been living in. Another day, another palm to forehead moment. I'm sure by now most folks have seen the photo seen 'round the world of senior adviser Kellyanne Conway with her feet on the couch in the oval while trying to take a picture of the leaders of HBCUs and Trump. In case, you haven't it's above for your viewing pleasure.
Now, do I think it's a big deal, sort of, as big as people are making it, not really. When I saw the photo, all I could think about were the flashbacks of my mom and grandma getting after me when I thought I had the audacity to put my feet on their good couch that they paid good money for. My 2nd thought after finally getting past the trauma of my childhood, was why didn't she stand, put her shoes on, and take the picture infront of the group? According to Conway, the room was packed full of press. Ok, fair enough, however tell them to make room just for a second so you can take a picture for Trump and his other advisers, then after you get your picture, you move out the way so they can get theirs. Now here's where the jokes come in. Conway was quoted as saying in an interview with Fox Business Network, "I certainly meant no disrespect, I didn't have my feet on the couch." Umm, ma'am, your feet certainly weren't on the floor. "I was being asked to take a picture in a crowded room with press behind us." "I was asked to take a certain angle and was doing exactly that." Omarosa (insert eye roll here) came to her defense and asked her to get a better angle, kept asking her if she got the shot, blah blah blah. She was also captured saying that the focus should be on the actual visit of these leaders...sighs... Here's the bottom line of it all to me, does it look bad, yeah. Does Conway have a lens on her @ all times just waiting for moments like these from her, hell yeah. She blamed the media saying the photo came from a journalist who's not happy with Trump...yeah, she really said that. Umm, if you weren't in that position to begin with there wouldn't have been a photo to take of you and the focus could have been on the meeting. Also, there's criticism out there of Pres Obama with his feet up on the desk in the oval office. In my opinion, that's completely different, if the President of the United States wants to put his feet up while governing this country, who the hell is gonna tell him not to? Not me. The difference to me is, I'm sure when meeting with a group of important people, he would have some sort of decorum to plant his feet on the floor and show some respect. If that's how you all sit around when you're in the oval with just Trump and his advisers, I don't see a problem with it, but there's always a time and place for everything, and this wasn't it. Today, I stumbled upon the greatest source of comedy and I wouldn't be doing my civic duty if I didn't share it with you all. I've heard here and there about those that voted for Trump regretting their vote on the radio and saw a couple posts on Instagram. But today, Februrary 27th, I have found my direct source of entertainment for the next 4 years. There's this page on Twitter and it's called Trump Regrets and it's fabulous! It's exactly what the name implies, it's a page compiled of tweets from people who you guessed it... regret their vote.
Maybe by living in VA, which has gone blue in every election since 2008, I don't encounter very many Trump supporters. I'm fortunate to live in a pretty liberal area where folks share the same ideals as me, I think I only know of 1 open Trump supporter and he's very...touched, but that's neither here nor there. Coming across this Twitter account was like gold to me! Now, I don't know how many of these folks are just talking outta their asses and just venting, but regardless of that, I think it's worth a scroll or 2. There are thousands of tweets, but here are the highlights that tickled me the most:
Somebody, anybody please explain to me why these people are sooooo surprised that things are going the way they are? He already told you and showed you how things were going to be before election day! Moving forward in life, you all better keep that Maya Angelou quote in the back of your mind and make better choices! SMH a million times! The age old saying is true, you never really know what you had until it's gone. I know some may automatically think this is going to be about Pres Obama, sorry to disappoint, but it's not. It's actually about Pres Bush. I know what you're thinking why the hell are we talking about 43, where is she going with this, and say what now girl? I thought all these same things while I was watching Dubya's interview on the Today Show. Let's go back a bit 1st before I get to my point. 2008...the recession, stock market plunged to the depths of hell, auto industry was on the brink of collapse, govt had to take control of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Lehman Brothers filed bankruptcy, unemployment was sky high, and we were still @ war with Iraq...good times (sarcasm). All of these things occurred under Dubya and just when it felt like America as we knew it was going to break away from the North American continent, the American people went out and voted in scores for someone completely different to rescue this country, then by the everlasting grace of God, we were given Mr. Obama.
Once we were on the rebound, I'm sure people thought we would never go back to having a leader that was described as less than smart (Mission Accomplished), oil hungry (invasion of Iraq), spineless (allowing others to make decisions for him instead of standing up for what he wanted as Pres), racist (Katrina), etc. Welp, we were wrong, cause we got that and a touch more all over again for @ least the next 4 years. But I do believe in some ways Dubya isn't as bad as our current situation. If we had to do this God awful election all over again and these 2 were our only options, I would pick Dubya over Trump any day. Hear me out... While on "Today," Dubya said, "It's critical for media to hold accountable people who abuse their power." Not much, if anything I can agree with him on, but this right here! This is the Dubya I can get behind, we all have witnessed Trump attempting to abuse his power by trying to bypass the law and ban an entire group of people who practice a certain religion from entering our country. When called on this he lashed out like a child and deemed the media was trying to spread "fake news" and they were out to get him. While on the topic of immigration, 43 also had this to say, "I am for an immigration policy that's welcoming to uphold the law." Again...claps...another thing I can agree with Dubya on. Although I am a hardcore Dem and I do believe in come one come all, I do agree that we should have some policy in place to make sure nobody ever attacks us again on our own soil as well as abroad, however, that doesn't mean you ban people from coming in who just want to better their life and actually better our country. Sure Dubya had his shortcomings, made a shit ton of mistakes, and wishes he could do some things over again, but I would gladly take somebody who can own up to their mistakes, own up to their lies, has @ least held public office in some way, and even when he can recognize within himself that he has limited knowledge in what it means to run a country, he surrounds himself with people who have had some sort of experience dealing with the different aspects of American govt and international affairs. I genuinely don't think that 43 was or is a bad guy. I'll take that any day of the week over somebody who is a known disgusting human being and somebody who makes us question our own intelligence and humanity day in and day out. (sighs) Kinda miss ol Dubya...my God what is this world coming to?? And the jokes keep rolling in. I was scrolling through my usual CNN, NBC News, Buzzfeed News, ABC, just to see what was going on in the world today cause I like to be informed and want to see what's out there that would make me say my usual mantra, "what the hell," and boy oh boy did I find it. When I got to Politico, I came across this headline, "Trump: Nobody knew that health care could be so complicated." I read the headline and immediately and subconsciously rolled my eyes. Before I could even dig into the article, I found myself shouting out and startling my dog, "everybody with just a hint of common sense knew, that's why it took so long to get to this point!"
So, then I dig into the article after preparing myself to lose a couple brain cells along the way. The quote that stood out to me the most-->"Let it be a disaster, because we can blame that on the Dems that are in our room -- and we can blame that on the Democrats and President Obama," "But we have to do what's right, because Obamacare is a failed disaster." Pause, I'm confused as to what the Dems and Obama are going to be blamed for? They did a good thing by making sure the American people that wouldn't have insurance otherwise got it. I always heard about universal healthcare growing up and could never understand why it was such a big deal or why it was such a problem to want to make sure all the citizens in your country get the affordable help they need. But, then as I got older and really started to understand the differences between Republicans and Democrats, I realized it all comes down to the mighty dollar. It's always been disgusting to me that the power of the dollar was more important than a child getting the necessary medical care it needs to make sure him/her grows up with minimal to no medical issues, a woman gets the necessary medical screening to reduce the risk of her getting breast cancer, or a man going to have his vitals checked to make sure he's not a walking talking heart attack time bomb waiting to happen. This male keeps harping on the idea that this is policy is a disaster. How sway? 20 million people that more than likely didn't have health insurance before ACA came out would lose their insurance should these Republicans go along with repealing this policy. Those with common sense, should know that's the disaster right there. Our male in chief can't provide one clear reason why ACA is such a "disaster," although again those of us who are smart enough to peep and see through things, know it's because somehow it's hurting his pockets, bottomline. He's only in this presidency so that he can change, manipulate, and lie his way into benefiting himself financially. THAT'S HOW HE'S BEEN RUNNING HIS BUSINESSES FOR YEARS! He's a businessman, that's all that matters to him @ the end of the day, not the health of those around him and the health of those that voted for him. Now, let's say these people do repeal ACA? Then what? What's the plan that would replace it you may be asking. Good question, wish I had an answer for you, but clearly still 2 months in, there isn't a clear answer. This male and his followers will jump and say they have things in place with the quickness, but they won't dare say what exactly these things are....hmm, interesting. Wanna know why they won't dare share what they've come up with? Because there is NO plan! I do have a guess though, hear me out, they're going to replace it with the exact same thing we already have in place. It's genius, it's brilliant, mainly because it's already working, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Listen, the idea of universal health care has been passed around since Teddy Roosevelt was in office and maybe even before then, of course there have been some presidents since him that took it more serious than others. As long as it took us to accomplish what we have now, a replacement plan is gonna be created and pop out of thin air with the snap of a finger? Come on now! We're gonna have the exact same thing that we have now, the only difference is that President Obama's name won't be attached to it anymore, that's it! That's the only change that's going to be made, they'll sell and spin it as this brand new fabulous policy and law, but those of us who will do their research will find out that it's the same exact thing, it'll just have this male's name stamped on it, which is the real American tragedy and disaster. Here's the thing, in a relationship, when you get to the point where you have to check your partner's phone, you should know there's a problem. Keep this analogy in mind for later on down this post. In case folks have been living under a rock for the past 2 months, there's been nothing but a slew of problems @ 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Brace yourself for the latest one cause it's pure comedy, seriously you can't make this crap up. Ol PERIOD Sean, has been requiring that his staff members hand over their personal and government phones, so he can check them and make sure they're not leaking information to the "fake news." ...deep breath... I won't deny that there is such thing as fake news, in this digital and social media era we live in, anybody can log online and spew any fake shit they can think of. However, if the things that you are saying can be proven to be untrue, it's not fake news, it's called lying. Your boss has you stand behind a podium, lie to the American people everyday, and piss away any and all credibility that you may have left.
You're going to ban the news outlets that don't bow down and kiss your ass for honestly and morally doing their jobs, for calling you out on your bullshit, and for the fact that you are doing a piss poor job already? In life you either fix the root cause of the problem or you decide to live with the problem and do nothing. Back to my relationship analogy, if you recognize that you have to go through your partner's phone to see what they're up to, you either choose to live in the land of denial or you get the hell outta dodge. In the case of ol Sean, you can either continue to lie your way through the next 4 years and live in your own world of alternative reality (see what I did there) or you and your boss can simply just tell the truth, then you wouldn't have to ban these people for just trying to do their jobs, and you also wouldn't have to invade people's privacy by going through their phones. But that would be too much like right and common sense apparently ain't too common. It's only the beginning and foolishness surrounds us each and everyday, initially I thought I wanted to do separate posts for all the bs that has occurred, but I would be up for days and nights trying to catch up, on top of trying to process the next round of bs that no doubt will be hitting the fan soon enough. Thus far, there was an inauguration that virtually nobody attended although Sean Spicer wants us to believe otherwise, ok sir, #facts and numbers don't lie. We live in the age of Photoshop, but there's no denying the photo above.
There were Women's Marches all over the country and on just about every continent. Millions of people, not just women, but men, and kids banded together to inform this male that we see him for exactly who he is, as Maya Angelou taught us, "when someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time." I would like to believe that majority of the women there were smart enough to see through his bs the first time, but even if they weren't we'll accept you with open arms now. This male and minions attempted to block an entire religion from coming into this country. I'm all about making sure as a country we're safe, but there's 2 major problems, among others with what he wanted to do. 1. He denied entry from Muslims coming from 7 countries: Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen.....NONE of these countries have attacked us since 9/11. All terror attacks on US soil since that day, have been home grown, should worry and focus on home before further pissing off other countries. and 2. There's this governing document called the Constitution and according to the document, these actions are surprise...illegal. Can't expect somebody who has the same level of knowledge of how government works as a high school student, and that might be pushing it....side eye. He's attempting to repeal Obamacare with no plan aka just going to keep everything the same and remove Pres Obama's his name. Made it more expensive for 1st time home buyers to obtain mortgages, but I thought we were supposed to be making America great again, isn't an American obtaining a home loan and purcahsing their 1st home apart of the American dream? Still trying to put up this wall that's going to cost tax payers billions. Billions that could go towards fixing Flint's water crisis that unbeknownst to many is still going on, could go towards after school programs and facilities to help curb the crime problem in Chicago, could go towards making sure vets that served to make sure you and I can safely lay our heads down @ night don't sleep under bridges and beg for change on the corner, but who's counting the many problems we could solve in our own backyards with billions of dollars. We have new buzz words, i.e. alternative facts to add to or vocab. Although the word "lie" has been a known word since the beginning of time. If something isn't true, it's a lie Kelly Conway. And he's moving forward with the Dakota Access pipeline. Of course he is because he has financial stakes in it and those of us with common sense know he's only interested in things that benefit him and he could give an entire damn about the rest of us. Sure other things have happened along the way, but these are the major highlights that stand out to me....and it's only the very beginning...smh. Welcome everybody,
I suppose this is where we all sit around in a circle and introduce ourselves. My name is Rosa, I'm new to this blogging thing, but with the current climate of this country I've felt compelled to start this for some time. The idea and reason to come out of my shell and really do this became perfectly clear on November 8, 2016. I, like a lot of Americans, paid close attention to this election because it was supposed to be history making by way of further breaking through another glass ceiling. After spending 8 years being proud that a well spoken, highly educated, family loving, scandal free, black man was leading this country, I was confident going into that day that not only could I do anything in this country that I set my mind to as an African American, but I would also have the confirmation that as a woman anything would be possible as well. Another bonus of this election was Tim Kaine. If you're connected to Virginia in any way, you know who Tim Kaine is. Being born and raised in VA, it felt like a win win, I was going to help elect the 1st female president AND I was going to help elect a man with so much respect surrounding him to be vice president. I attended rallies held in VA, walked miles in the blazing summer sun to a rally held @ a local high school and sat in the blistering cold for hours to attend a rally held @ RIC. Turnout for both was phenomenal, further heightening my confidence that this thing was gonna go our way. I went to my new local polling place (I had just moved), people flowing in and out, optimistic about what the day and night would bring us. After doing my civic duty, I went back to my apartment, let my dog out, and turned on my TV to watch something that would take my mind off of the uncertainty of what was to come. I had already told myself I wasn't going to watch the results because I like many others thought we already knew what the outcome was going to be...but something in my gut told me that I needed to watch and witness this. So, the TV somehow found itself switching back and forth from CNN to MSNBC. The results started rolling in, confidence was still high, however there was a single gut wrenching point of the night when reality started to sink in. All of those, who like me voted for Hilary, know this moment all too well, and even months down to line, the feeling from that moment is still fresh and still a little painful. The results kept rolling in, things increasingly not going in our favor, until it was the end and it felt like the world had ended....he did the impossible... he won. I can remember watching the entire night, messaging back and forth with my girlfriends, when the final results came in, I received multiple messages all at once, all with the same reaction...disbelief. We all shed some tears that night because it became abundantly clear that we have to wait a bit longer to smash through that firm glass ceiling, but that also maybe we haven't made as much progress in this country as SOME would like to believe. Now granted, we've already known this to be true with the increase in visibility surrounding police shootings of unarmed people of color, now let's be perfectly clear, these shootings have been going on since the beginning of time in this country, the lens being focused on them and being broadcast for the entire world to see is increasing, as it damn well should. I believe the pill that was the hardest to swallow was that some 50 million people voted for a celebrity with no public servant experience, a known sexiest, a known racist, a known ableist, a known homophobe, a known anything and everything you can think of to the highest office of the land, and it seemed and still seems that they could care less about the disrespectful and disgusting things that this male (I can't call him a man, men don't do that) has done and said. My reaction ever since that November day has been the same....what the hell...and I've been in a constant state of confusion...hence the name of the site. I shudder every time a news alert pops up on my phone because all I can do is roll my eyes and mutter to myself..."what is going on now??" My vision for this site is to be a platform where human beings of all nationalities, ethnicities, and genders can be informed about what's going on in not only this country, but also the world because the events that are occuring in America, don't just affect America, surprisingly alot people don't realize that. Current events as well as politics will be discussed here, I'm more than aware the opinions, topics, and view points that I share won't be accepted and understood by some and that's perfectly fine, wanna know why? Wait for it...BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT AMERICA IS ALL ABOUT PEOPLE! I'm open and receptive to hearing opinions that differ from my own, that's how we learn, all that is required is people be respectful as you would want somebody to be respectful of you. Age old saying still holds true "if you can't say something nice don't say nothing @ all" (thanks Thumper) is in full effect here....damn shame you still have to tell people that...smh. This is gonna be an interesting 4 years, let's begin shall we.... |
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