Category Archives: News & Politics

Just my rants, raves & reflections on things that happen around the world.

Cussing & Writing

I just realized that I’m cussing more in my posts.

Now, I cuss like a sailor on a regular basis, LOVE the F word, but it not something I normally spell out.

With all the writing I did in college, it seems to take away from the point you are trying to convey.

But with this attack on our democracy….gggrr

I can’t seem to get away from it.

ONE bright point, when I wanted to do “fking” my iphone auto corrected it to “fuck” instead of going to “duck” LOL

I HATE it when it goes to duck…LOL

That is both funny and sad…funny that my iphone is finally “trained” & sad that I’m pushed to write it out so much….just to try and get some of my frustration out.

Society and Women’s Sexuality

Working back in brick and mortar takes some getting use to again. Not just the fact that you are no longer setting your own schedule from home, doing your own thing, and depending on what you are doing you can get isolated from having to deal with people that have hang ups about women.

When we worked from home, the group of people we worked with online had very different views, no doubt about that, but not so contradictory as some of the ones I have encounter recently.

What is it with some men not being able to handle women having sexuality and wanting to express it? Why do they have to make comments as if when a woman expresses her sexuality that it is unacceptable?

It is messed up.

I have meet repressed people that they can not seem to handle it if their female partner’s dress shows her shoulders. I am like, wow, really?!? Yet, they are fascinated and make comments on other women’s pictures when they are showing off.

Just like every other person that I have meet that has stated that they are conservative on sexuality, it does not stop them from expressing it in their comments and discussion. It is either very hypocritical or they are trying to expand their own boundaries of thought.

They are same ones that outlaw porn yet spend the most on money on it. Some of the biggest freaks I have meet are self described conservatives (nothing do with politics).

I get so tired of the issues that society has with women enjoying their sexuality. They should not have to hide it, they should not have to apologize for it and it sure in hell does not mean that they are asking for it.

Those attitudes about women’s sexuality is what leads to the victim blaming rape culture that we have today. Leads to rapists getting off on probation, getting suspended jail sentences. While the victim tries to rebuild their life, while living in fear and PTSD.

And it is not good enough to know what consent means and practice it yourself, you also have to call out your male friends for their non-consent ways/jokes, call them to the carpet, don’t just laugh it off. Let them know that it is unacceptable. If you do not, you are part of the problem.

Baffled By People

With this election, I just really do not get people. I do not get how people can not see the racism from Trump? The sexism? How much he hates everyday Americans in how he refuses to pay for services renderer? How he has put so many small businesses out of business? The small businesses that are the backbone of this country? How he disrespects Veterans? How do they not see that he is a major part of the problems in this country with his conning and lies?

There is so many issues with him, but the issue that keeps coming to mind is his racism. The dog whistles he does for the racist and white supremacy groups.

I do not know if people are just that racist, ignorant or knowingly blind?

I had shared a meme on facebook showing a black man being chained to a tree. The meme stated that the picture was from 75yrs ago. I stated that I wasn’t sure if it was, but that you do not tell African-Americans to get over slavery and jim crow when you do not tell people of the Jewish faith to get over the Holocaust.

One of the comments I got was that people are still alive from the Holocaust and the excuse that it was Africans that sold other Africans into the slavery.

My responses from the thread (edited for grammar corrections and actual paragraphs since replies on FB doesn’t allow that):

People are still alive that saw the lynching and seen their family torn out of their beds by men in hoods. One guy I work with never meet his 7 uncles because they were lynched.

The excuse about Africans selling them into slavery is that, an excuse That does NOT make what the US did the right or the fact that the system is still set up to support white supremacy. That is the reality of our laws that are in the blood of our history.

You know how the law came about not allowing intermarriage between black slaves and white indentured servants? Because the child carry the status of mother and they didn’t want to call a “white” child a slave. And because indentured servants (which wasn’t much better then slavery) were natural allies of the black slaves. The slave/indentured masters couldn’t have that.

So by treating one worst then the animal and bringing up a person that is in the same boat but is white and you tell them that they are better because they are white. You start a system of white supremacy.

White and black children, identical in everything but color are treated differently in school. That is how more children of color get stuck in the school-to-prison pipeline. They have done studies where the exact same resume is turned in and the “white” sounding name gets called and the “black/latino” name does not. Those are the facts and the reality of our society.

And you wonder why people of color are pissed off? My husband was pulled over while driving while black. Because they saw his best friend who was black, as soon as they saw that my husband was white, they made excuses that they thought he was someone else. Yeah, they thought they were going to get 2 black navy men and instead got a white one thrown in the mix.

I remember my best friend in 7 & 8th grade, who was black, tell me stories of living in a small town in Texas. And how her family members got beaten for just “crossing” the tracks to the white side of town. I didn’t even know that happened when I was in 7th grade.

Things haven’t changed as much, it isn’t gone, it is just under ground. With scum like Trump using “dog whistles” too all the racists that know exactly what they meant. The birther movement….that was all about race plain and simple…..can’t have a black man get to “uppity” must tear him down and delegitimize him.

**Then they brought up riots and burning of neighborhoods.

My responses:

Not acknowledging that our system is set up to keep the racism going is what keeps it going.

Hopelessness, poverty and anger is what creates the circumstances that neighborhoods burn…it has nothing to do with color…riots have happened in white neighborhoods during the depressions.

http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2011/10/riots-during-the-great-depression.html

Current white/upperclass culture doesn’t want to acknowledge that. As long as they don’t have to see the despair and deal with the “unhappy angry negro” they are content to sweep it under the rug. It freaks them out to see people upset the race/class status quo.

Current white/upperclass culture don’t want to acknowledge that they are part of the problem and with their ignorance are not much better then the slave masters.

At least the slave masters were upfront about their racism. The hidden racism is the most dangerous.

The only good thing that Trump as done has brought the racists upfront so they can’t hide and you can call them for what they are…..bigots and racists.

I think most of the reason why our system is still so racist is because of ignorance and not wanting to deal with the reality that non whites face.

When I asked a black staffer years ago at the women’s shelter about how she was doing in Lafayette and she said that she didn’t see many people that were actually racist, but were ignorant in how they were acting racist or how the system was racist.

They are afraid of acknowledging that they have racists parts to themselves. What is sad, is no matter what, we are ALL racist….society teaches us that in even when we know better.

It is when you don’t acknowledge that part of you, don’t exam where you learned it and don’t do anything to change it….that is what keeps the racist system going.

*This article sums it a lot about our society : http://www.huffingtonpost.com/christy-degallerie/its-time-to-call-out-nice-racists-white-fragility_b_11939196.html?

**I really just do not get how they do not see it. It is like 3 monkeys, one covering their eyes, another their ears and another their mouth. They do not want to see the truth in front of them.

Patriotism And Love of Country

With it the combination of it being the 15th anniversary of 9/11 and an election year, it really gets me thinking about how some people view how you should be patriotic.

I love our country, but I acknowledge our bloody history, the damage we have done and still how far we need to go. To me, being a true patriot is wanting our country to make amends for our past, build on our future and really put the true meaning of “with liberty and justice for all” to work. Because honestly, we do not have equal liberty or justice in this country.

Our country is built on classism and white supremacy. Police forces were not started to help the every day people, they were developed to protect the rich. It shows in the laws and courts.

Freedom has to mean more than words, it has to mean that even if you do not agree with someone’s actions you defend their right to do it….ie, burning a flag, protesting…..that is their right. You cannot give lip service to our freedoms and then get upset when someone exercises their constitutional right. Then you truly do not believe in the freedoms that you speak about and are a hypocrite and only want what you believe in expressed.

I may detest the KKK and neo-nazis but I’ll defend their right for rallies and protest.

I do not get blind “patriotism”. That has got be most potentially dangerous form of the patriotism there is.

That is what gave us Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini….strong men….fascist and communist….murders. They were able to use blind patriotism to get to power. Feed their people the lines that they wanted to hear and then murder those who disagreed….Putin does that now. And Trump thinks that is how it should be done with as much as he praises me. I am NO fan of Reagan but he would be rolling in his grave over that.

Blind patriotism is un-American. It closes you off to what needs to be addressed, it closes you off from what fellow Americans are going through. Just because you haven’t seen or lived it, does not mean it does not happen and it is not true.

It is our duty as Americans to question the status quo for how the rich keep getting richer and the poor gets poorer, how they are destroying the middle class. How our “representatives” are in the pockets of big business and are millionaires, how they still get paid when they are not doing their job, while we would have been fired.

It is our duty hold our elected officials accountable and call them to the carpet. A prime example on 9/11 is how they all give lip service to “never forget” but do NOTHING to help the first responders that are still suffering. It is twisted that they have to be shamed and even that does not always work. They want to use the legislation to help the 9/11 first responders for their own gain with riders. That is not patriotic, that is disgusting.

It is our duty as Americans to fight for justice and social equality. It is our duty to speak up and not be lead like sheep. It is our duty to practice what we preach on the freedoms of this country.

Patriotism is loving your country, while acknowledging it’s faults while you try and make it better for the next generation.

NFL & Domestic Violence

I’ve been mulling the Rice video and the NFL’s horrible response to it over the last week or so.

First, Domestic Violence is a SOCIETY issue…..not an NFL issue. NFL players are no more likely to beat their partners then the general population, it is actually less common. In fact, POLICE are the worst abusers of DV (power & the blue code of silence enables it) :

Police Have a Much Bigger Domestic Abuse Problem Than the NFL (Must Read)
http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2014/09/police-officers-who-hit-their-wives-or-girlfriends/380329/?single_page=true

Yet, they get to keep their guns and that is how most women will die in a DV situation.

Second, I believe that Ray Rice needed to be punished, but I don’t believe in banning him where he can’t work. I don’t know if he is a serial abuser or if it was the first time something like this has happened, we won’t know. I believe he and his wife should be helped. Because when you punish him that extensively, you are punishing her.

The NFL has totally screwed up on how they have handled it in todays social media and videos, but if it happened a few years ago….they handled it like they have always handled it…look up the history for both college and NFL football programs and how DV abusers were handled. And like majority of society has handled it, the history as been to ignore it…..it is nothing new, as this article states :

“Violence is tolerated as long as the player performs well and the act doesn’t become a public embarrassment”
http://www.jconline.com/story/sports/nba/pacers/2014/09/12/domestic-violence-advocates-george-failed-realize-impact-domestic-abuse/15511281/

The NFL needs to educate their people and help them, you can’t just punish, you need both. They need to be given a chance until they blow it.

I use to volunteer at a Women’s Shelter in Indiana, did it for almost 10yrs. You learn that it isn’t as simple as “why doesn’t she leave”, you learn that it is more complex, you learn that it can effect anyone, no matter of race, gender, money or social standing. Some just hide it better then others. You think “I won’t put up with it” and then learn that it can be more gradual, more stealthy then an obvious hit.

Stories to help you understand :

#WhyIStayed Stories Reveal Why Domestic Violence Survivors Can’t ‘Just Leave’
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/09/whyistayed-twitter-domestic-violence_n_5790320.html

‘Why Didn’t You Just Leave?’
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/12/why-didnt-you-just-leave_n_5805134.html

It takes an average of 7 times before a victim will leave their abusers and that is if they survive leaving them, some do not.

The emotional and mental abuse will do more damage in the long run then the physical, giving DV victims PTSD.

The pros out of this is that it may be finally shifting the conversation about DV, getting people to acknowledge it, fund the programs that need it, get help. With focusing on the NFL, a highly visible part of society, maybe it can set an example for country and perpetrators of DV that it isn’t acceptable and easily ignored like it use to be.

The cons is the focus is too much on the NFL overall, what about the Police and what about poor women and women of color (who experience DV at a higher then the general population)? Military spouses, made worst by PTSD and when I grew up on Army Posts, it was always worst on pay day due to the drinking.

I’ve seen former wives of high ranking military officers, women of high company executives and poor women a like come through the shelter. I’ve seen a little boy no more then the age of 6 yelling and screaming at his mom, calling her all sorts of names because that is what he grew up seeing. I’ve seen girls getting tied to their abuser in their teenage years and never being able to get out.

And yes, men can be and have been victims of DV, not just women.

This is complex society issue that needs to finally be addressed and not just swept aside as it has been in the past.

An Exit Action Plan For Leaving An Abusive Relationship
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/18/leaving-an-abusive-relationship_n_5840504.html

How To Stay Safe After Leaving An Abusive Relationship
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/18/safety-after-leaving-abusive-relationship_n_5840826.html