Iran, Coming to a State Near You

The Missouri lead GOP legislature finally recognized

the danger of unregulated arms in their state.

They, therefore, decided to pass new legislation,

saying that female legislators can’t expose their arms.

Yes, Republican men are taking away the right to bare arms.

In Missouri you can openly carry a firearm,

designed to kill or maim, without a license. 

But if a female lawmaker exposes a bare arm

she just might see the business end of a firearm.

This follows a Montana GOP lead legislature

which also forbid bare shoulders on female legislators.

These conservative legislatures lost their minds

over the suggestion that they should wear masks

during a pandemic to respect the safety of others.

are now focusing on what women must wear.

Remember the uproar over Michelle Obama’s arms?

Which was odd after conservatives said that Obama

was a Muslim who would impose Sharia Law,

that would make American women wear burkas.

The Missouri ‘Murrikan Talibangelicals have now made

The Show Me State the, Don’t Show Me Your Bare Arms State.

The conservative legislature fears bare arms

might just lead to evils such as dancing.

If you think this is all about controlling women, 

you certainly have hit the male on the head.

This is patriarchy attempting to reestablish itself.

These conservative men want woman barefoot

and pregnant and back in the kitchen.

These men won’t control themselves,

so, they try to control everyone else.

Bare arms is just too much sexy for them.

Them wimmens also need to cover their hair and ankles,

lest some Republican man becomes aroused.

These Red States supported a man for president

who bragged about groping women’s private parts.

Now, they claim to find bare arms objectionable.

GOP lawmakers in Missouri and Montana have time to worry

about women lawmakers attire instead of passing actual laws.

That happens when your party has no platform or future vision.

These Freedom Caucus politicians talk about ‘woke’ and ‘cancel culture’

but the irony is lost on them as they are the ones

 banning books, woman’s rights, unions, and healthcare.

Missouri should spend time creating some gun control laws

 as just last year, fifteen mass shootings happened in the state.

If you didn’t see shit like this coming after Roe

was struck down, you’re just not paying attention.

Republicans have decided to use Orwell’s 1984 as a manual.

These conservative legislators aren’t going to stop at dress codes.

They’ll go full MAGATaliban if they get their way.

Don’t be a complacent American who looks back and says

“First they came for the bare arms. I did nothing, for I wear long sleeves.”

Women need to organize Lady Godiva protests throughout Missouri.

It is after all “The Show Me State.”

“Conservatism discards Prescription, shrinks from Principal, disavows Progress; having rejected all respect for antiquity, it offers no redress for the present, and makes no preparations for the future.” ~ Benjamin Disraeli

. 

Rewarding Shameful History

You Get a Fort, You Get a Fort and You Get a Fort

Confederate General Robert E Lee was willed 189 slaves by his father-in-law. The will stated that they would be set free in five years. Lee did not honor the will. After the Civil War, Lee told a congressional committee that Black people were “not disposed to work” and did not possess the intellectual capacity to vote and participate in politics. Lee also said to the committee that he hoped that Virginia could “get rid of them,” referring to Black people. He was known to use violence against his slaves. In 1917 he got a fort named after him, Fort Lee in Prince George County, Virginia.

Confederate Gen. Benning declared that he would rather be stricken with illness and starvation than see African Americans liberated from slavery and be given equality as citizens. The Confederate brigadier general was widely known as a “vocal advocate” for secession. He said that the white race, is superior in every aspect. Some Historians say he was “devoted to slavery.” He did after all own eighty-nine slaves. In 1918 he got a fort named after him. Ft. Benning in Columbus, Georgia.

Confederate General John Brown Gordon had slaves on his plantation. He held white supremacists’ views on race, his whole life. He opposed Reconstruction and endorsed violence and restrictions on freedoms to preserve white-dominated society. He is believed to have been a leader in the Ku Klux Klan. In 1917 he got a fort named for him. Fort Gordon in in Augusta, Georgia.

General Bragg owned a sugar plantation with 105 slaves in Louisiana. In 1918 he got a fort named after him in North Carolina. Fort Bragg is the largest military base (by population) in the world.

General George Edward Pickett of Virginia owned forty-two slaves. He fled to Canada after the war. He was avoiding prosecution for the hanging execution of twenty-two captured Union Army soldiers. The soldiers were from North Carolina but chose to join the Union Army. After Pickett’s death in 1875, his widow, LaSalle, spent the rest of her life promoting her husband’s role in the war by lecturing and publishing three books on his career. She was a leader in the “Lost Cause” movement that romanticized the Confederate army and worked to obscure slavery’s role in the conflict. In 1941 he got a fort named after him. Fort Pickett in Blackstone, Virginia.

Lt. General Leonidas Polk a cousin of 11th US President James Polk, is thought to have had as many as four hundred slaves on sugar plantations in Tennessee. In 1941 he got a fort named after him. Fort Polk in Vernon Parish, Louisiana.

Confederate General Edmund Rucker was responsible for enforcing martial law in east Tennessee, punishing people who attacked Southern troops and forcing others to join the Confederate Army. Rucker was in General Forrest’s cavalry at the time of the Fort Pillow Massacre in 1864 when hundreds of African American troops were killed by Confederate forces. In 1942 he got a fort named after him. Fort Rucker in Dale County, Alabama.

Confederate Gen. John Bell Hood was a career military man and did not personally own slaves, but he freely admitted slavery’s role in the conflict. “Regardless of all other causes of difference,” He said in a speech after the war, “slavery … was the secret motor, the mainspring of the war.” In 1943 he got a fort named for him. Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas.

Confederate General Pierre Gustave Toutant-Beauregard was born on a sugar plantation outside New Orleans. He grew up in a slave-owning household and later rented slaves for himself while in the military. He started the Civil War with an attack on Fort Sumpter. He got a fort named for him in 1917. Camp Beauregard in Pineville, Louisiana.

Confederate Lt. General Ambrose Powell Hill owned eleven slaves. On one occasion he gave orders to procure thousands of slaves – demanding the ‘services of 4,000 negroes’ for his army. In 1941 he got a fort named for him. Fort A.P. Hill, Bowling Green, Virginia.

Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest was a plantation owner and slave trader. He was the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. He played a leading role in the massacre of several hundred Union soldiers at Fort Pillow, most of them black. The slaughter of the soldiers has been called “one of the bleakest, saddest events of American military history.” Troops under Forrest’s command slaughtered the union soldiers who had surrendered. After the war Grand Wizard Forrest used violence and the threat of violence to maintain white control over the newly enfranchised former slaves. The Klan, with Forrest at the lead, suppressed voting rights of blacks in the South through violence and intimidation during the elections of 1868. From 1942-1946 Forrest had a fort named for him. Camp Forrest in Tullahoma, Tennessee was the largest training camp during WWII.

The Army did not name any posts after Confederates until 1917, an era of American involvement in Europe’s ‘Great War’ that coincided with a resurgence in the Ku Klux Klan. The Klan, the United Daughters of the Confederacy and Southern newspapers, were all for the naming of forts after Confederate war leaders. They felt it restored Southern pride. It was stressed that there were good people on both sides. Doesn’t that sound familiar?

It is hard to understand why Southerners would feel proud of these Confederate leaders.

After all Lee was commander of the Southern Army when the South lost the war. Hill was criticized for his ineffective performance during the first two days of the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863. In 1864 he was leading Confederate forces in defense of Atlanta against Sherman. How did that work out? Not very well. Polk, blundered by ordering troops into neutral Kentucky. That made border state Kentucky ask for Northern help and brought it closer into the Union fold. He was famous for disobeying orders. So, why would you want to name a military base after someone who disobeyed orders? Military historian Steven E. Woodworth described the shell that killed Polk as “one of the worst shots fired for the Union cause during the entire course of the war”, as Polk’s incompetence made him far more valuable alive than dead: “Polk’s incompetence and willful disobedience had consistently hamstrung Confederate operations west of the Appalachians. Why would you name a fort after Bragg who is considered among the worst generals of the Civil War? Most of the battles he engaged in ended in defeat. Bragg was extremely unpopular with both the officers and ordinary men under his command for his poor battlefield strategy. His own men tried to assassinate him twice. The losses suffered by Bragg’s forces are cited as highly consequential to the ultimate defeat of the Confederacy.

Pickett is no military hero. His charge at Gettysburg was a disastrous bloodbath for his men. More than half of his troops were killed, wounded, or captured, including his three brigade commanders and all thirteen regimental commanders. Pickett survived because he positioned himself well to the rear of his troops. Forrest and his massacre of surrendered Union soldiers was major news in the Union press. His inhumanity strengthened the North’s resolve to win the war. As you can see the South really does not know its own history. This is just more US history that should not be hidden. It is history that should be taught in every school. It is way past time to speak truth to power when talking about history.

Also, Ft Benning should be closed as since 1984 it has trained death squads for Third World dictators. That training helps make the Third World “friendly” to US and Global corporations. Never mind, the rapes, torture, and murders of those countries’ citizens. Seems to me when people flee those countries and come to the U.S. that we owe them citizenship.

It is way past time that we get rid of things commemorating the Confederacy. They are symbols of racism that we should not allow in public places.

‘I think it wiser not to keep open the sores of war but to follow the examples of those nations who endeavored to obliterate the marks of civil strife, to commit to oblivion the feelings engendered.” ~ General Lee when asked about a Gettysburg memorial.

The Easy Life on Cruise Control

Life is so damn easy for me.

I don’t have to plan for the future because

Pat Robertson says Armageddon is coming.

Until then, I don’t have to hear any dirty language

what with radio having ten second delays,

and the Christian Coalition censoring network TV.

The Motion Picture Association

is rating all the current movies.

I’ve got convenient stores making sure

I don’t have access to X-rated magazines.

I’ve got corporations like Walmart

making sure I can’t buy CD’s

with offensive song lyrics

or negative comments about Walmart.

Facebook will monitor my posts so that

I don’t violate any community standards.

Like negative comments about Mark Zuckerberg.

Twitter will ensure that I don’t point out

what an utter clown Elon Musk is.

I’ve got televangelists like Jim Baker

and the late Jimmy Swaggart telling

me how to be a great husband.

I’ve got Hershel Walker and Nick Cannon

to show me how to be a great dad.

I’ve got the Kardashians to reveal how

a good American capitalist family behaves.

I don’t have to worry about the economy

because we have that trickle-down economics

that has been working so well for the middle-class.

I don’t have to worry about my kid’s safety

because their classroom displays the US flag

and the Ten Commandments.

The school board will also make sure the

students don’t learn the real racist history

and the genocidal nature of our country.

The school library will also protect my kids,

from immoral books like; Huckleberry Finn,

Alice in Wonderland or To Kill a Mockingbird.

Politicians have realized that education and facts

are kryptonite to American citizens.

I don’t have to follow world events.

I’ll just get an unbiased view of them from

FOX News, OAN, infowars or QAnon.

I’m sure former drug addicts like

Rush Limbaugh or Glenn Beck

will give me the truth on right-wing radio.

I don’t have to fret about clean air or water.

As, I’m sure that the corporate CEO’s that own

our politicians and make up every president’s cabinet

have the people’s best interests at the heart of every policy.

With the Supreme Court protecting Citizen’s United,

corporations can buy our political representatives even easier.

That’s a good thing as I don’t have the funds to purchase any.

We don’t have to waste time voting anymore.

The Supreme Court Injustices can select our presidents.

That is great as redistricting eliminated so many

polling places, long lines and the need for bottled water.

Afterall, the idea of elections was getting too controversial.

An ex-president wants to simplify our life even further.

He wants to suspend that pesky old Constitution

and just make him ruler for life.

That president’s first executive order

made the life of my financial adviser easier.

That adviser can now push any investment

that enriches his firm instead of benefiting clients.

Evangelical ministers now support the evilest candidates.

That has made it easier for Christians to ignore

 the peace and love teachings of Jesus Christ.

The answer to violence and death by guns.

is simplified by just saying thoughts and prayers.

Everything is simple and on cruise

and the destination is Armageddon.

Enjoy the ride as the trip will be short.

“We’re all going to die, all of us, what a circus! That alone should make us love each other but it doesn’t. We are terrorized and flattened by trivialities, we are eaten up by nothing.”
― Charles Bukowski

True Working-Class Heroes

Staughton Lynd was a friend and mentor to me. That could be said about anyone that ever met him. He and his wife, Alice are the kind of people, my wife said I am better for knowing. He passed away November 17, 2022. I like many others feel the world will be emptier without him. This article in the New York Times will tell you more about him. Below that I have written a poem for Alice and Staughton. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/18/us/staughton-lynd-dead.html

Working Class Heroes

Staughton and Alice possess attentive ears,

that listen quietly and respectfully.

They hear the needs of minorities,

the incarcerated, and the oppressed,

the poor and all those who feel powerless.

They take on people’s pain

and honor their scars.

They expend all their energy,

to help with endless needs.

Offering compassion and courage.

They stress that we must not be divided.

They look at history from below,

and teach that we are all leaders.

They preach solidarity, justice, and equality.

They think those things should

be just part of human nature.

Giving of their time and wisdom,

nourishes their very souls.

That nourishment never fills them up

because they have bottomless

pockets on their hearts.

No dollar amount can respect

such humble giving people.

They are liberating specialists,

who could never just be spectators.

They found nothing was that difficult,

when you put your whole heart into it.

We need more teachers

like this all giving pair.

This is a couple that truly,

lessens the pains of the Earth.

I thank them both for making

a better planet for our families to inhabit.

Rest in well-deserved peace brother Staughton ~ In Solidarity Jim

Undoing Lies

The Trump lies at a recent Pennsylvania rally: https://www.factcheck.org/2022/09/trump-distorts-facts-in-pennsylvania-rally/

You are not endanger from an army of IRS agents: Fact check: Will middle-class taxpayers really face an ‘army’ of IRS agents? (yorkdispatch.com)

Sen. Scott overstates tax increase in Inflation Reduction Act: Scott Overstates Tax Increases in Inflation Reduction Act – P7 Tech

Pelosi and Biden have called for the GOP to return to a normal party that cares about things. They have never been a party of the people in my lifetime: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2022/09/it-didnt-start-with-trump-the-decades-long-saga-of-how-the-gop-went-crazy/

Hillary Clinton was not the most qualified person to ever run for president: Is Hillary Clinton really the most qualified candidate ever? An investigation. – Vox

No Social Security is not going broke: No, Social Security Isn’t Going Bankrupt – Forbes Advisor

Republicans are always looking for another Ronald Reagan. No thank you: 21 Reasons Why Ronald Reagan Was a Terrible President – Soapboxie

Conservatives lie that the planet is not warming: Scientific Consensus | Facts – Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet (nasa.gov)

The lie that cold weather disproves the planet is warming: Cold Weather Doesn’t Disprove Global Warming. Global Warming is Why It’s So Damn Cold. – The Daily Banter

The Obama Phone lie: The Obama Phone? – FactCheck.org

“The truth is messy. It’s raw and uncomfortable. You can’t blame people for preferring lies.”
― Holly Black, Red Glove

Fighting Back Against Lies

Recently, I’ve been listening to a few different talk radio stations. I can’t believe the lies I’m hearing from these stations. I want to correct some of the lies.

Lies about migrants and Fentanyl: Sizable numbers of Americans are believing lies about migrants and fentanyl, so-called open borders (dailykos.com)

Lies about undocumented immigrants commiting more crimes: Sizable numbers of Americans are believing lies about migrants and fentanyl, so-called open borders (dailykos.com)

Ten voter fraud lies debunked: https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/10-voter-fraud-lies-debunked

Lies about public welfare: https://www.brennancenter.org/issues/ensure-every-american-can-vote/vote-suppression/myth-voter-fraud

The lies from the right about Critical Race Theory: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/many-americans-embrace-falsehoods-about-critical-race-theory-2021-07-15/

Lie about Nancy Pelosi stopping the National Guard from coming on January 6: https://apnews.com/article/fact-checking-235651652542

Lie about the FBI spending more time investigatin January 6 than 9/11: https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2022/aug/30/facebook-posts/jan-6-capitol-attack-investigation-nowhere-near-le/

Lie that Monkeypox is fake: https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2022/aug/26/facebook-posts/podcast-host-falsely-claims-monkeypox-governmental/

Lie (heard it just today on KDKA talk radio) that crime is at an all time high: https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2022/aug/23/ben-kral/nc-trooper-wrong-about-violent-crime-hitting-recor/

Dr. Oz lie (heard this lie repeated on KDKA talk radio today) about John Fetterman’s stance on crime: https://www.factcheck.org/2022/08/factchecking-republican-attacks-on-fettermans-crime-stance/

Lie that 96% of climate data is corrupted: https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2022/aug/19/facebook-posts/fact-checking-talking-point-about-corrupted-climat/

Trump lie about President Obama keeping classified documents: https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2022/aug/12/donald-trump/why-trump-wrong-suggest-obama-personally-kept-33-m/

Lie that Pennsylvanis sent out 1,832,148 mail-in ballots and got back 2,589,242: https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2022/aug/11/viral-image/no-pennsylvania-didnt-send-out-more-mail-ballots-w/

Lie about electric cars bought for French civil servants abandoned because battery replacement was too expesive: https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2022/aug/11/viral-image/no-pennsylvania-didnt-send-out-more-mail-ballots-w/

Lie that the Senate Democrat’s reconciliation bill will “strip $300 billion from Medicare”: https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2022/aug/11/viral-image/no-pennsylvania-didnt-send-out-more-mail-ballots-w/

Lie that President Biden wants to give illegals ID cards so they can start collecting American benefits: https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2022/aug/11/viral-image/no-pennsylvania-didnt-send-out-more-mail-ballots-w/

“Politics is the art of promising heaven and delivering purgatory, and claiming hero status for saving your country from hell.”
― Bangambiki Habyarimana, The Great Pearl of Wisdom

Angry Whitemanistan

Collective delusion.

Science deniers,

climate change deniers,

history deniers.

Misogynists, racists,

white nationalist.

Oath Keepers,

Proud Boys,

FOX fascists,

Christian zealots,

MAGA cultist.

Immigrant hatred,

minority hatred,

homophobic hatred.

Handmaid’s Tale.

Orwell’s 1984.

Regressive reactionaries.

Banned books,

forced birth,

formula shortage,

mask shortage,

bleach injections.

Hatred and superiority.

Vicious fascist cruelty.

Kids in cages.

Guns over kids.

Russian bot farms.

Talk radio spin

and alternative facts.

Corporate lobbyists pimps,

owning politician whores.

Wall Street greedheads.

Big pharma monopoly.

Deregulation and pollution.

Mega church hellfire.

Bible thumping hypocrites,

concerned with money

not your salvation.

Stolen state secrets.

A war on pronouns

and Mr. Potato Head.

Corporate funded propaganda.

Dark money groups.

thriving on fear,

grifting the marginalized.

Prejudice exceeding intelligence.

White privilege victim identity.

Kool-Aid drinking insurrectionists.

Trump protects the economy,

by lying about Covid.

Half a million bodies,

stacked in refrigerated trunks,

while Potus busily tweets

about the Bachelor TV show.

The Medical bill solution,

is a go fund me page,

or center console change.

A Supreme Court with an agenda,

supporting corporations not people.

Unscrupulous right-wing pundits,

tell Trumpers to be

proud of their ignorance.

They make it permissible

to now hate aloud.

Racist cops doing beatdowns,

or firing eighty rounds.

Gerrymandering and voter suppression.

Thoughts and prayers answers.

A sad growing need to create,

burn proof books and bullet proof kids.

Welcome to Crazytown USA

Welcome to Angry Whitemanistan.

MAGAts wanted four more

 years of this madness.

Living proof for the need

of a national healthcare plan

that includes mental help.

“Selfishness and greed, individual or national, cause most of our troubles.”
― Harry S. Truman

Lather, Rinse and Repeat Politics

Grover Norquist the anti-tax lobbyist

is called the “billionaire’s best friend.”

He keeps the GOP in line and makes sure

they protect tax breaks for the wealthy

and give billions in federal subsidies

to America’s wealthiest corporations.

He stated, “My goal is to cut government

 and get it down to the size where

we can drown it in the bathtub.”

The GOP uses tax cuts for the rich

 to increase the national deficit.

When the GOP gets us in debt

and tanks the economy, they say

we need to cut social programs.

They want to drown policies like;

Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security

and policies that aid the general welfare

of the needy and the average American.

Norquist and Republicans do not want to drown

government policies benefitting the greedy rich

or their corporate donors.

When the Democrats get in power

they cut the deficit significantly.

The voters then go back and put the GOP

in power and it becomes lather, rinse, and repeat,

all over and the GOP suffers no consequences.

With no consequences we get no change.

The “prosperity gospel” flipped Christ’s teachings.

Now we have the message that greed is good

and that we should blame the poor for their plight.

Many Americans have taken single issue bait

and vote for the party of the wealthy.

A large percent of our citizens don’t bother

to vote in any of our elections.

The GOP looked at that and has decided

we do not care at all about Democracy.

They have decided to make voting

as hard a process as they can.

Will you finally decide to vote,

or let democracy commit suicide?

“The vote is the most nonviolent tool we have.” ~ John Lewis

Choices 2.0

Secret you almost told your neighbor

white nightgown

dawn dabbler

new moon

whisper of parchment on a full moon

harvest of parchment

wheat before harvest

cream of wheat

Jersey cream

butter on toast

toasted marshmallow

hint of vanilla

almond

almond cream

meringue

iced frost

frost before morning

morning dew

dew drops on edelweiss

toasted snow

whisper of snow

snow before it melts

slightly melted snow

total blizzard

white out

eye of the hurricane

swan

swan’s down on newly mown lawn

pinch of white pepper

scrimshaw

sails on the seven seas

baby’s breath

cloud

white you wish you’d never seen

etc.

etc.

I needed white paint, and these were a few of my choices

out of five hundred chips in the “white” section at Sherwin Williams.

Overwhelmed, I struggled for a long time making up my mind.

This is what is referred to as a “first-world problem.”

“Blessed are the poor, for they shall have very few choices.”

I think Jesus said that.

“I think that in modern America, we have far too many options for breakfast cereal and not enough options for president.”
― Barry Schwartz, The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less

Black Sky, Blue Thoughts

Possibly wrongly accused

cop killers Mumia and Leonard,

rot in prison after decades.

Cops who kill unarmed minorities

still patrol and accumulate pensions.

You’re entitled to a lawyer

but money buys freedom.

Front page blaring accusation

eighth-page innocent blurb.

Soldier are heroes one minute,

homeless veterans the next.

The huge taxpayer funded,

billionaire football stadium owners,

laugh at those who footed the bill.

Wall Street earnings rise or fall

over the slightest rumors.

It illustrates how fragile

the Capitalist system is.

The nightly sound of gunfire

has replaced crickets and frogs.

Political candidates give us,

fast talk and promises.

When the shit hits the fan,

when war is at hand,

when racism is fanned,

when mass shootings fill the land,

when books and history are banned,

we find politician man

has no game plan

and offers up,

thoughts and prayers.

Thoughts and prayers will not

stop a war, stop a bullet, stop racism,

stop an overdose, stop a bankruptcy

from medical bills, stop homelessness

pay the rent or feed a family.

Yet, pray we do.

We pray we don’t get laid off

or lose our jobs.

Jobs that don’t even keep up with inflation.

We pray that our children will be safe

and have better lives than us.

Only the rich have time to live,

as, the rest of us are too busy praying.

Complacency has replaced voting.

And the electoral college

has replaced the majority vote.

Many say Agent Orange’s stay

in the White House,

poisoned our lives with hate.

But political hate was apparent when

JFK, RFK, MLK and Malcom X,

were stopped in their tracks.

Hate for political opponents

gave Nixon an enemy’s list.

Hate for working people

showed when Reagan busted unions.

His hate for children was apparent

when he declared ketchup a vegetable.

Profits before people was realized,

when the Supreme Court ruled

that corporations are people.

We have, lots of humans but no humanity.

Lots of Christians but no Christianity.

The biggest thieves don’t use a gun

and there ain’t no referees.

It’s always starkest

before the yawn.

Wham bam, time to wake up man

and upset the establishment apple cart.

I’d like to at least see the seeds

of a better world in my lifetime.

 

“To be wealthy and honored in an unjust society is a disgrace.” —Confucius