When I was growing up, if my memory is correct, there were maybe two popup lilies in the yard. They never spread like in some places. Usually they spread in a circular pattern like in the above picture. The lilies were always a dusky pink color. My mother speculated that the lilies were the gift of the birds–the seeds were in their droppings–that’s why the lilies popped up in random places. The lilies in our yard came back for many many years and then one year they just didn’t.
Freedman’s Bank Forum…(t)he Treasury Department hosted its seventh annual Freedman’s Bank Forum, an event designed to highlight racial and economic inequality in America and outline possible policy solutions. … Named in honor of the Freedman’s Savings and Trust Co. — also known as the Freedman’s Bank — founded in 1865 for Black Americans recently freed from slavery, speakers at the forum discussed well-intentioned policy goals. Excerpt from article by Justene Hill Edwards. A You Tube Video about the Freedman’s Bank Forum caught my attention.
The You Tuber obviously had an agenda and it was anti VP Harris. A quick Google search would have provided the You Tuber some substantive points and not the head-scratchers that apparently concerned her. A substantive comment might have been–why name this conference the Freedman’s Bank Forum? Yes, the Freedman’s Bank was created to serve the former Slave population. However, the Bank failed as white grifters stole the deposits of those former Slaves. Grifters aided by a Congress that did not protect the interests of those former Slaves. What else is new?
Maybe, the name was chosen because the Freedman’s Bank was created with the cooperation of public and private interests. And that really was the point of the conference–how governmental and private funds are now being invested in underserved communities. So, VP Harris’s comments were on point about the investments in underserved communities.
This conference should never have appropriated the name “Freedman’s Bank”, but by doing so, it sets up some confusion–like when the Christian Nationalists say they are Christians. Freedman’s Bank should conjure in our minds a failed bank as a result of white grifters and a bank whose depositors were never reimbursed by the government that should have protected them. But this You Tuber, seemingly, could not wrap her intelligence around the fact that the Freedman’s Bank Forum has absolutely nothing to do with the Freedman’s Bank of the Reconstruction era.
Black Farmers are now getting some compensation for the years of discriminatory practices by the USDA. https://www.22007apply.gov/home.html (page for info only as all awards have been granted.) One of these days, maybe, I will understand why white people scream unfair if Black people are compensated even minimally for the discrimination we have endured at the hands of the government and individual white people. Black people have endured over a century of taxation without representation, but we are supposed to accept it because the “good” white people will see to it that we get a crumb to shut us up or, and this is more likely, they think we are too ignorant to understand our status. But white people were entitled to revolt against the government that taxed them without representation. Makes no logical sense. By the way, with gerrymandering, Black citizens are still being taxed without adequate representation.
I have come to understand that a well-educated middle class is a barrier to autocracy, theocracy, oligarchy, etc. One of the first things that corporations do when targeting a country as ripe for pillaging is destroy the middle class. Part of destroying the middle class is destroying unions. Then, the courts and any safety net the country has in place. The middle class is also the enemy to the corporations in another way…the middle class will demand reasonable wages for work performed. Corporations need labor, but corporations do not want to pay a reasonable wage. If people are desperate, the corporations are able to hire labor for penurious wages.
We should remember the song about company towns.
You load 16 tons, what do you get?
Another day older and deeper in debt
St. Peter, don’t you call me ’cause I can’t go
I owe my soul to the company store Sixteen Tons by Tennessee Ernie Ford
A company town or its equivalent is corporate nirvana. Here’s an article about company towns that I found informative–https://porchscene.com/2018/08/28/i-owe-my-soul-to-the-companhy-store/. Without a middle class that is invested in a country based in the rule of law and opportunity for all, this is a past that we could return to. But as VP Harris says…We are not going back! We must be informed about the Corptocracy that is also a part of the Republican plan and resoundingly vote against such a future. Caveat: The U.S. is capitalistic and individualistic. Therefore, the middle class is a fickle barrier against corporate hegemony.
Private Equity–seems like these firms are buying municipal water providers. I have heard about private equity firms, but did not really pay them too much attention until these firms began buying medical practices and hospitals. These firms’ raison d’etre: to achieve returns on investment that may not be achievable in the public market; to achieve those returns in a short amount of time; to boost profitability and, to do so, these firms often carry out drastic cost-cutting measures: layoffs, reductions in worker benefits, scaling back operations, etc. Modified excerpt from Understanding Private Equity (PE) found here: https://www.investopedia.com/articles/financial-careers/09/private-equity.asp
As these companies care only for profit, they will gouge the consumer who has to pay for this necessity while lowering the quality of the water flowing to the consumer and not prioritizing system maintenance. How is privatizing water a service to the consumer? Reminds me of either a book or a movie, I don’t remember which or whether it was on Earth or a colony in space somewhere, but air…one had to pay for breathable air. Now, that I think about it that colony was set up like a company town. And, as we know, a company town never works out well for the residents.
When is it beneficial for a public necessity to be owned privately? Makes no sense to me. Why should a country allow a few to become rich or richer by abdicating its responsibility to its citizens? Some services are considered “public” for a reason. Those services benefit we the people and should not be monetized.
Greed will turn a sow’s ear into a silk purse. One just has to suspend belief in what is actually before them and affecting them. It appears we humans have no problem suspending belief, especially if our emotions are stimulated.
My pineapple is doing its thing! See the leaves on top–just like the pineapples I buy in the store. I still can’t believe I am actually growing a pineapple which might be edible!
I was listening to a video and, for the first time, I heard what I think every time I hear MAGA. MAGGOT. Now, the commentator may not have actually said “maggot”, but that is what I heard.
Funny, some Republicans are saying that they agree that some of the policies and procedures they advocate are extreme and unpopular, but the checks and balances built into the government will foil any damage. But, that is not true and they know it. Look at the three branches: The Supreme Court is a majority of ideologues who have been bought by corporate interests and believe that Project 2025 should be implemented. The Congress is dysfunctional with MAGA adherents who do nothing but gaslight about issues that have nothing to do with actual governance. The Executive Branch is actually trying to do something for we the people. Two branches are against we the people and one for–guess what–little gets done to enact policies that positively affect we the people. Well, put in place a corrupt executive branch, a bought Supreme Court, and a dysfunctional Congress. There would be no checks and balances. Corruption would be rampant. There would be no protection for we the people.
#45 and his VP have settled on the old tropes of ad hominen attacks on VP Harris’s intelligence, physical features, ethnicity while demonizing VP Harris through the use of imagery. The Republicans are not even creative in their attacks–all have been seen and heard before. But, in their small minds, if it worked in the past, it will surely work now. I, like I suspect many others, don’t care. Showing your pettiness, misogyny, fear of the “other”, ignorance, white supremacy, fascism, pseudo-christianity, cruelty, lack of human decency, money hunger, and just lack of character will never win my vote and I think there are many others who feel the same way.
Mind your own damn business! Tim Walz
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