Why It's Important To Listen To President Obama On The Recent Deal With Iran

Take this opportunity to listen to Barack Obama's explanation of the recent deal with Iran. Besides the deal being historic, it was the best opportunity we had to really place comprehensive limits on Iran's nuclear program to ensure that it would never come close to building a nuclear bomb. The GOP, together with the Prime Minister of Israel and AIPAC, will continue to lie about several key aspects of the deal, ranging from we need to go to war to ensure Iran has no nuclear weapon to this deal doesn't go far enough by not disallowing Iran to have the program in the first place. Both of these assertions are wrong on their merits, and on a political level as well. Iran was looking for a means of curbing the need to import oil despite having the world's 4th largest reserves, and by attempting to obtain a nuclear program, it was a means of freeing up many of its reserves for export. The White House has placed a graphic on its website outlining the key elements of the deal and what's at stake if this deal was never reached at the outset. It makes more sense to simply give the President the thumbs up to implement it as soon as possible following the 60 day review.

I also want to point out that Benjamin Netanyahu made an appearance on Face the Nation this morning and parroted the same talking points that the House Republicans and Senate GOP have done all week. It's important to note that he's colluding with them in their treasonous acts so that the President has no ability to implement this. Go ahead and watch his commentary, guaranteed what he's telling you is utter bullsh*t. It's better to let yourself hear what both Secretaries John Kerry (Foreign Secretary/Secretary of State) and Ernst Moniz (Energy Secretary) have to say, as they were at the negotiating table with Iran, so they have the specifics of what's at stake. Bibi was never at the negotiating table nor were the Congressional Republicans. They're looking to distort anything and everything that has to do with this deal. Whatever fear-mongering and war-mongering they do, don't buy into it. Our national interest is not to prosecute a war with Iran. The fact is that Iran has more to lose from this deal than we do.

I mentioned this on my YouTube channel (subscribe) in a video, in addition to my blog, and I'll say my bottom line about the deal here.

Here's what I need you folks to do:

1. Get on your phones and call your representatives and senators, telling them to approve this deal. Our national security is at stake with this.
2. If you can't call, email them.
3. Hit them up on social media (Facebook, Twitter, Google+, etc.).
4. Lastly, do the same steps above for the President to let him know you're behind him with implementing this deal.

The bottom line is that we need to make clear that we want this and we're not going to allow the Republicans to scare the living crap out of us, scaring us into a war we don't need.

Lastly, hit me up with comments here on my blog, or on my Youtube channel. Also hit me up on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+. 

Iran Deal And How It Plays Into The Republicans' Lusting For The White House In 2016

It's incredible for me to think that whenever the GOP talks about the prospects of it taking The White House in 2016 (your's truly will be working his ass off to make sure that they don't), that one of their first orders of business would be to tear up the Iran Deal, that is before repealing Obamacare. For what? These people are delusional unless their intention is to start a new war in the Middle East, in which case that should be enough of a reason not to elect a Republican President next year, but knowing the political winds, that's all but a done deal.

Speaking of all Republicans running for President, the one I'd say has the most recognition and is the preferred candidate of the establishment is none other than Jeb Bush, although the base is clearly with Donald Trump as of right now. Then again that's no surprise, Trump is selling White supremacy, which is a real hit with the bigoted portion of the base. In fact even his wealth flaunting is not hurting him, which means that at this point the mainstay of the committed Republican base is either uninformed, or so incredibly dumbed-down that they don't really pay much attention to that because of the race-baiting Trump sells. I can see where this is going, and it's not a pretty picture.

Going back to Iran, this is where it gets exceedingly dangerous. By ripping up the Iran Deal, that's the fastest path to war. This is entirely what the chickenhawks of the GOP want, a new war to give them boners (I remember writing on that topic a few times: here, here, here and here). I'll never understand this war-lust or governing-by-crisis, as it does nothing to help anyone. In fact, it makes them out to be bullies, by constantly scaring the hell out of everyone.

It's not even a decade ago that these tactics caused them to lose control of Congress. Think about it, for the first 5 years after 9/11, the Republicans continued scaring us with bullsh*t terror alerts and doing so around the time of elections. This was no accident. The response was the expected one, people voted in Republicans to Congress to push through the Bush Administration's illegal mass-surveillance program's funding. To bring that back online would be the dream of the Neo-cons, as they would like nothing better than to spy on everyone uninhibited and scare everyone into accepting that. I got one word for that: bullsh*t!

It's their lusting for war that's making their statements to rip the Iran deal up in its entirety. Besides being exceedingly stupid, it's also exceedingly dangerous. Even though Iran has no confirmed nuclear weapons, it will have a stronger incentive to build them to deter us from attacking much more heavily if the GOP has its way, along with the Prime Minister of Israel. The lack of a deal will also encourage an arms race in the region, besides between Israel and Iran, also the gulf Arab states (with the exceptions of Iraq and Syria) and Iran. Specifically, we need to watch Saudi Arabia, who has threatened to get the bomb to blast Iran to the stoneage. 

Why I'm For Bernie Sanders

The more I hear Bernie Sanders talk about the need for further radical change in America, the more I like what I'm hearing. Here's an example of what I'm talking about.

In this video, Bernie is clearly conveying the point that unless we band together to tell both Charles Koch and David Koch that our government and nation is not for sale, we'll continue to see the destruction of this nation we call home from within. Unemployment is still unacceptably high, and even with Barack Obama's signature legislation, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare), we're still seeing too many people going without healthcare due to lack of insurance or having insurance with premiums and deductibles that are too high for them to afford/pay down. He's also right in saying that we ought to quit dragging our feet and join the rest of the world in ensuring healthcare is a right for everyone, not just a privilege for those who can afford it.

Bernie's also spot on in saying that we need a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United and for a disclosure law that forces people like the Koch brothers to actually place their faces on messages they approve of. He's also correct in saying that the middle class is disappearing thanks to economic and social policies enacted over the last 40 years. Think of education, as one clear example, there's a pitch among leading GOP Senators and Representatives, as well as Governors and Legislators, to push for more of our tax dollars going to private schools, both secular and religious, in the form of vouchers instead of simply funding public schools. Like Bernie, I think this is absurd. Just like trying to give megachurches and other religious institutions our tax dollars to do their charity work. Look, the government doesn't need to create more middlemen and create a church-state collusion, but don't bother arguing that fact to the Republicans as they'll simply cast you off as an idiot by saying whole-heartedly that church-state collusion is in the constitution and that this was what the founding fathers intended to happen (yeah, whatever).

To say these points are radical is beyond absurd, as Claire McCaskill certainly did on msnbc. This isn't to say that Claire doesn't agree with Bernie's message, as she acknowledges that it's the clearly the right one, but I also can understand her worry given that Bernie may seem too liberal to some parts of the country. Bernie's the absolute underdog and is gaining on The Democrats' front-runner, Hillary Clinton, but I think Claire and some supporters of Hillary miss his very real point within the campaign: He's not trying to win! Bernie's more aware of the fact that he's possibly not going to get the nomination, but I think his point in running is to make people aware of what's really happening, and that we need to really fight to keep our rights, especially from the people who would love to take them from us and/or deny us them altogether. He cites the Civil Rights Movment, the Women's Rights Movement, the LGBT Rights Movement, and the Disability Rights Movement as a way to demonstrate how we can effect change by uniting together to demand and to force it. More than anything, Bernie's running in the race to start a national conversation, and by all means, that's a good way to do so, especially to help guide Hillary to champion policies that she'd like to see as national priorities if she's elected as President.

I look at what he's saying also through an historical context, and by more counts than not, he's right! By all counts I'm aware that it may be a wasted vote in the primary next June, but I could care less. Since based on the polls Hillary's practically got this locked up provided she doesn't screw up royally, or get too dragged down by Republicans in Congress on the hunt for new conspiracies to waste our tax dollars investigating. The good thing about Bernie in this instance is, other than his potential lack of political support among Democrats thus far, has far fewer skeletons in his closet, and he's not very widely known in most national circles. Not to the extent that Hillary is, after all she is married to the nation's 42nd President, Bill Clinton.

Tale Of A Pissed Off Blue Shield Of California Customer

I can think of nothing more aggrivating than having my health insurance pulled out from under me. Let me say this, Blue Shield of California has a terrible problem with lining policies up, particularly policy numbers and the payments for them. If someone's paying them to provide them with basic coverage for their medical expenses, it should be a common knowledge that they should be able to keep track of those payments and not denying people coverage because of a clerical on their end. That was experience I had, and I can tell you, this is completely unacceptable. I can't think of any reason why a company like Blue Shield can't line up 2 pieces of paper, but apparently they can't for the life of them. I'll be happy when Open Enrollment comes up in November, as that's the first chance I'll get to switch carriers to Blue Cross of California. i'm not saying that Blue Cross is any better than Blue Shield, but it should end this nightmare that I've been having with them since last year.

Confederate Flag's New Destiny Post-Charleston

I have to say that I'm very heartened to hear about South Carolina's decision to get the Confederate Battle Flag flying at its statehouse removed for good. That flag belongs in a museum, so people can learn about what kind of divisions it helped to sow for so many years. If the state and other states in the South want to make a region-wide heritage and history museum with it on display, fine. I won't argue that its a symbol of American history, but it's a symbol for all the wrong reasons. First off, it was the flag of Southern treason during the Civil War, when the South fought to retain the right to retain humans as property (African Americans). Following that 4-year debacle, which the South came out very poorly, for the next 150 years or so, it was a symbol of hate and a symbol of subjugation of both the Blacks and their White allies, and also of poor Whites, by more prominent Whites through the Ku Klux Klan and other organizations.

I understand that many in the South see the Confederate flag as part of their heritage, but they need to quit displaying it, as it's got other symbolizations as mentioned above. As I said above as well, it's good to see that South Carolina, along with Mississippi, North Carolina, Virginia and Texas, is beginning to wake up to the fact that there's more than Southern heritage in that flag and that there's an equally long history of it being associated with White supremacy. In Mississippi's case, there's a movement to craft a new state flag that doesn't resemble the Confederate Stars and Bars. Somehow, Dylan Roof's shooting spree at Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church really drove open the effects of racial hate that the Confederate flag long symbolized, and now the nation is seeing the post-shooting evolution taking place across the region. I'm not sure if it'll lead to anything in terms of gun-control, but I do think that it will definitely make the National Rifle Association's position of loose-gun laws at all costs that much harder to defend.

Update:

There's movement in South Carolina's state legislature to finally get rid of the Confederate flag flying above the statehouse in Charleston. There's a bill on its way through the state legislature and should be on nikkihaley's desk by December, at least that's the hope. The reality is, it's going to be a loud and contentious debate in that state. These are the words of Nikki herself in the call to remove the flag from the statehouse and possibly place it in a museum. I'll agree to digress with her on letting people continue to fly the flag, but then again, if it's on their homes or private property, there's not a lot we can do as it's private not government speech. I'm aware of this reality and so I'll concede the point, albeit reluctantly, that she's right in one sense. I just hope that people will begin to educate themselves on how the Confederate flag has become a divisive symbol in many respects, and a symbol of racial terrorism and of White supremacy.

I think Cenk Uygur, from The Young Turks, makes the point very clear that there's some coded language in the overall message that the flag must be lowered and be displayed elsewhere. But all in all, it's very heartening to see what's happening in South Carolina after the disgusting display of overt White supremacy and anti-Black racism in Charleston on Monday, June 15, 2015.

Mass Shooting In South Carolina & The Ugly Return Of White Supremacy

I can't express my sadness at hearing about how 9 African Americans were murdered in cold blood and at their place of worship in Charleston, South Carolina. Who does this? Then again, it's only the mind of a bigoted individual. 

Luckily, the terrorist behind this dastardly act has been arrested and is in police custody. Now by piecing together what he did in Charleston is making the case very clear that what happened was a hate crime. The individual was shown in a jacket with the flags of Apartheid South Africa and White supremacist Rhodesia. I'm aware those 2 patches in the perp's possession is no crime in itself, but it does explain his ideology when firing his gun in Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston.

Emanuel AME Church has seen its fair share of White supremacist violence, going all the way back to the Antebellum era of South Carolina's history. It was a safe-haven for Blacks both in slavery and after its abolition in 1865. It was a continual target even during the lead-up to the Civil Rights Era after Reconstruction ended in 1877. 

It was a place to congregate and worship, a pillar of the community. The church was originally founded in 1822, at a time when places of worship for African Americans were illegal in South Carolina. It was a place that Blacks could get away from Whites. This didn't mean that they were always safe from the wrath of Whites lusting for blood, the reason usually being just because, or to make an example of what could happen if there was a slave revolt.

Because of the Church's long history, it's not much of a shock that it was targetted again in 2015. Still, it's enough to wake us all up to the fact that we're going to have to hold the uncomfortable discussion of race relations and how each racial group experiences them. It should be a learning experience for us all.

The more I learn about the perpetrator of this ghastly act, the more I see the ugly return of White supremacy and how it's not ever going to disappear. Its ties to both our nation's gun culture and its law enforcing is apparent to the point of wanting to throw our hands in the air in utter frustration.

In no way can we allow White supremacy to take hold in this grand nation of ours. The only outcome will be that of a race war, which is exactly what these racists want. 

For many who see the Black community as inherently inferior and subhuman to this day are proving that even though the last shots Civil War shots were fired 150 years ago, the war has never ended. If anything, the war has found a new home to fight in, our political discourse via the Media. One of the biggest arenas I see this happening in is in Congress. Specifically among Congressional Republicans.

Congressional Republicans have shown themselves to be willing tools for organization pushing for these kind of terrorist acts. That organization is the NRA, who's been cowing everyone in Congress, and this has brought a number of Democrats under their control. 

Let's be clear on 1 thing here, some of these extreme voices in the NRA are also tied to White supremacy.

The region with the loosest gun laws is the South, and the reason is obvious. With a strong belief in White supremacy in parts of the region, many Whites take it on to themselves to hunt and exterminate Blacks before they come to rape and plunder White women or other poor scared White folks. This thought pattern is total bullsh*t, but it's how many people think. Add that to loose gun laws, and there you have it. It's open "n****r" season.

Saying that if Blacks don't mind their place as second-class citizens, they'll be a target is no empty threat. Just like Blacks saying they'll arm themselves in defense is not an empty one either. However, this is not the exchange to follow. The one to keep tabs on is on why Whites have the sole right to exact revenge on minorities and why they can be exterminated at any time. That's the exhange to follow as it's the common denominator to puck up on when recognizing White supremacy's self-expression and the vestage of White privilege.

The violent expression of White supremacy is a direct by-product of this nation's gun culture. That's what happened in Charleston, and that's why we need gun control.

Admission For Bringing Back Jim Crow

I have to say I've been expecting this, some right-wing blow-hard calling for the return of Jim Crow's voting regulations. As the article from Addicting Info makes clear, this is entirely expected for the right to say. My only question is, what took you boneheads so dang long? I have to admit, even I'm amazed that the circular firing squad that the GOP's base has turned into has really taken this much time to really let the most overt demand for racial discrimination out and through vote disenfranchisement. In fact in my last post, I said something about it, how there seems to be a massive push by the right to bring back Jim Crow in some aspects. This just proves my point in its entirety.

Current Vote Suppression and Falling of Race Relations

It's weird; by listening to people like Sean Hannity and Ann Coulter, I'm almost taken back to the time of the Nadir of American Race Relations, given the number dog-whistle political attacks and physical attacks on people who aren't White. However, what really gets me is the number of expression of White supremacy and display of support for Social Darwinism's style of Eugenics. This is a testament to the fact that what we're seeing by the advancement of vote suppression on a scale not seen since the Gilded Age and the Progressive Era (basically the enactment of the extreme ends of the Jim Crow Laws). Think about it, how many more stories do we need to hear about how Blacks (or anyone else as the "Other") are inferior and they deserve to be exterminated from being a pestulant infestation? Here's what we hear from outlets like Fox News and Newsmax, as well as others.

I've been finding that the number of hate-based attacks and threats of violence have gone up since Barack Obama took office in 2009, but his assuming the presidency is not the cause of the recent uptick. It's a testament to the Southern Strategy employed by the Republicans to prevent Blacks from really exercising any real political power, and now they're making sure that no such uptick happens again. 

NSA Reform - What The USA Freedom Act Means

Upon hearing that the Senate GOP and Senate Democrats passed the USA Freedom Act, I'm kinda mixed about it. Yeah, in some cases it does something to curb some of the most egregious abuses by the National Security Administration, but doesn't really go far enough to ensure that domestic spying doesn't happen on the same magnitude again. For the most part it did allow the Patriot Act to finally expire in some sense, thus ending part of the insidious legacy that the Bush Administration left behind. I still give Edward Snowden a ton of credit for having the balls to speak out on these abuses back in 2013 and he does deserve the title of patriot, not traitor. Hearing about the disclosures back then made me understand that we were heading back to the days of J. Edgar Hoover (the first director of the FBI) where he along with other intelligence agency heads directed their subordinates to spy on the American people. If anyone can remember Frank Church (the powerful Democratic Senator from Idaho [1957-81]), he warned of the consequences of an all-powerful intelligence apparatus that had the tendency to run amok if left without vigorous oversight. Snowden reminds me of him, and of those who leaked the Pentagon papers back in 1971.

The USA Freedom Act is a symbolic law in the sense that it proved Snowden right.

Stupid Season Returns

For a lot of reasons beyond my comprehension, it seems like "stupid season" is back again. By stupid season, I'm talking about the run-up to the GOP's presidential primaries, of which are guaranteed to be quite colorful and in some cases heavy on the stupid factor (the second one is 100% guaranteed).

I can't quite tell yet if he's running or not, but Rick Santorum has certainly done some good work in making himself look like a complete dumbass as you'll see in this video. As you can clearly see, not only is he making some insanely racist commentary, he's also flat-out got his facts wrong and he ought to rethink how immigrants are stealing jobs here. Xenophobia doesn't cut it, Rick. You ought to open a history book sometime, brother, and you'll see that embracing xenophobia actually hurts the economy more than it helps. You'd think the Gilded Age would have let that lesson be known, but apparently you missed that lesson in high school or lecture in college. (Video credit to Right Wing Watch) You can find the original article about this here and why Rick's completely being a moron who's off-target here.

Anyway, remind me why I'm here correcting the mind of a simpleton, again. Not worth the wasted paragraph, but truth be told, there's not much else you can do, when stupid season fires up. Such is the way with Republicans, it's always a race to the bottom. Somehow, they pride themselves in getting F's on everything that requires a modicum of intelligence and/or knowledge of what the heck they're doing (don't count on them having that ability).

At least in Rick's case, he's harmless, albeit dishonest, but harmless as he's not likely to get the nomination in 2016, just like he failed to do so in 2008 and 2012. I've got in mind people who are actually more dangerous than he is. Take Ted Cruz for example, this guy is a nuclear apocalypse waiting to happen, and that's just on foreign policy. On domestic policy, this guy wants to take away all of our rights and silence us to the point that we dare not have any independent thinking. This guy is an absolute lunatic and he's the most dangerous from the fact that he's the leader of the last government shutdown (October 2013). Ted's been engaging in several conspiracy theories about President Barack Obama and on the Democrats destroying the country, along with the Democratic base. The fact is that if Ted's president, or any of the other extremists are president, expect a massive uptick in the harassment of Democratic voters. I'm talking African Americans, Young Americans, Spanish-speaking Americans, Middle Eastern Americans, Women, etc. Of these groups, African Americans would bear the worst of any Republican administration's wrath.