I have to revisit that jump rope ditty of elementary school. Cinderella dressed in yellow; went to town to see her fella; How many kisses did she get? I think in this yellow dress, she got all the kisses she wanted!
Do children today know how to make jacob’s ladders? I remember being so proud of myself when I got it right. Now, I wouldn’t know how to make one if my life depended on it. My teacher who taught grades 1-2 taught us how to take a length of string and have fun with it. Was that part of their training back then? When one had more than one grade in a room, the teacher had to know stuff like that to keep the class that wasn’t being taught quiet.
Today, I saw maybe three or four tiny bumblebees flitting among the flowers of the monkey grass. I wonder if this was one of their first flights from the hive to forage? I tried to get a picture, but they were too fast for me!
“Neoliberalism’s proponents promised it would create widespread prosperity, but instead, it transferred more than $50 trillion from the bottom 90% of Americans to the top 1%. As the middle class hollowed out, those slipping behind lined up behind an authoritarian figure who promised to restore their former centrality by attacking those he told them were their enemies.” “On Wednesday, former president Bill Clinton noted that since 1989, the U.S. has created 51 million new jobs. Fifty million of those jobs were created under Democratic presidents, while only 1 million were added under Republicans—a striking statistic that perhaps will put neoliberalism, or at least the tired trope that Democrats are worse for the economy than Republicans, to bed.” Excerpts from Heather Cox Richardson Letters From An American August 24, 2024
The current Republican Party is not the “Party of Lincoln”. The Republican Party as a progressive inclusive party was dying during Reconstruction and was laid to rest when Reconstruction ended. Jim Crow put even more nails in the Republican coffin that was already buried more than six feet deep. However, nostalgia kept the designation “Party of Lincoln” alive and it has taken more than one hundred years for some of us Black citizens to rid ourselves of this nostalgia that like most memories had only a tiny tiny basis in our lived reality. We cannot hope this toxic iteration of the Republican Party to be what it is not and vehemently denies is part of its beliefs and principles. I have come to realize that hope feeds on tangibles. You know your situation can be different because either you have seen or heard that your situation is not set in stone. (One reason that book learning was denied to the Slaves.) Since the end of Reconstruction, the Republican Party has only descended more deeply into the depths of hatred and non-action toward anyone who is not a white male.
The United States has a very good idea of its collective worse; but is too individualistic to embrace its collective best–Me
It’s time for the tyranny of the patriarchy to be over. We see, in this year 2024, the cumulative toxic effects of patriarchy. It’s sad and sickening to hear males, in their narcissistic infantilism, rant about women who have the audacity to seek out education, fulfilling careers, loving partners, wholeness. Males need to realize that they are not owed anything because they have a penis. Privilege for any person should be as a result of that person’s character and not because of biology. As I’ve written before, males must be provided incentives through a cultural environment to mature into decent humans. Unfortunately, patriarchy provides no such incentives.
All a culture steeped in patriarchy provides are puerile games which cater to the toxic fantasies of the adolescent male.
I don’t know how much it costs to finance a campaign, but I think it is too much. That money could be better spent to make this country a better place to live in. There is homelessness, food insecurity, underfunded schools, and so many other needs that could be alleviated with that money. All for a dog and pony show… If this were a mature society, the candidates would present their positions, we would read and discuss their positions, and make our decision. End of story…no drama.
What do you say to the ignorance that would cite the 1857 Dred Scott decision to support their argument that VP Harris is not a citizen and therefore cannot be president? I read the platforms of the National Federation of Republican Assemblies, the Christian Nationalists, and Project 2025. All draw from the same well of white supremacy, theocracy, and fascist despotism. All have a streak of cruelty.
Excerpt from https://www.alternet.org/constitutional-apocalypse/—
…Alexander Hamilton explained in Federalist No. 78 the rationale for the Founding Fathers giving judges the power to strike down laws enacted by the legislature. He said the following:
The courts were designed to be an intermediate body between the people and the legislature, in order, among other things, to keep the latter within the limits assigned to their authority. The interpretation of the laws is the proper and peculiar province of the courts. A constitution is, in fact, and must be regarded by the judges, as a fundamental law. It therefore belongs to them to ascertain its meaning, as well as the meaning of any particular act proceeding from the legislative body. If there should happen to be an irreconcilable variance between the two, that which has the superior obligation and validity ought, of course, to be preferred; or, in other words, the Constitution ought to be preferred to the statute, the intention of the people to the intention of their agents.
Nor does this conclusion by any means suppose a superiority of the judicial to the legislative power. It only supposes that the power of the people is superior to both; and that where the will of the legislature, declared in its statutes, stands in opposition to that of the people, declared in the Constitution, the judges ought to be governed by the latter rather than the former. They ought to regulate their decisions by the fundamental laws, rather than by those which are not fundamental.
What if we had a Supreme Court that only decided cases where there was a irreconcilable difference with the Constitution? Or the will of the people was considered paramount? We do not. The 2024 Supreme Court is intent on doing its part in implementing Project 2025. The Supreme Court cares nothing for the will of the people and its decisions exhibit the same cruelty toward “we, the people” as set forth in the above cited platforms.
There is a little over two months until Election Day. Will sanity prevail?
“Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.” Frederick Douglass
“As long as heaven allows me to do this work, I will do it with my voice, my pen, and my vote.” Frederick Douglass
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