Tell President Obama To Issue An Executive Order Mandating Federal Contractors Disclose Their Political Activities

The link for the petition is here: http://signforgood.com/contractors?sp_ref=156333265.270.16277.o.1.2

Joe Biden's Decision

In a lot of ways it was easy to tell that the Vice President wasn't going to run for President. One of the earliest signs was when he was on the Late Show, saying he & his family were just drained having seen Beau Biden die of cancer. No question it's sad to hear that he chose not to run, but it's no surprise either.

New Flare-Up In Mideast

The Russian military campaign against ISIS, while important to note, is not my biggest concern in the Mideast. There's a much bigger concern, another Intifada by both Israeli and Palestinian extremists.

Both Prime Minister Binyamin (Benjamin) Netanyahu and President Mahmoud Abbas need to do whatever they can to rein in this latest round of extremism displayed on both sides, but it's important to note that President Abbas has little influence on Palestinian extremists. Many Palestinians have become drawn to the extremists due in part to the collapse of the peace talks. They're disillusioned by being stymied and humiliated at the peace talks, and by Israeli announcements of further settlement construction. 

On the other hand, Prime Minister Netanyahu really needs to show he means business by cracking down on Israeli extremists, extolling them on the fact that there can be no one-state solution. He can also put out the order to remove all settlements so that the peace talks can resume. The problem is that this will not happen if Prime Minister Netanyahu remains in office. He's shown time and again that he's not interested in peace.

If another intifada does spring up, it will be the Israeli side that caused it by attempting to hijack the talks and railroad the Palestinians into submission. It's a failed strategy with deadly consequences.

Jim Crow's Last Stand And How To Stand Against It

It should come as no surprise that the final generations that lived under Jim Crow will try to resurrect it yet again. It's important to remember the sheer determination it took to rid us of that ugly stain from our society, and how many people lost their lives to see that happen.

As more time passes on, the more desparate and aggressive the defenders of White Supremacy become. Never forget that the racism that brought about Jim Crow is also taught in some form or another to the Milennials. Luckily, though, we as Milennials have the opportunity to learn from the past and take its lessons for how to assert more strongly that Jim Crow and racism (overt and covert) will no longer be the determiners of our day-to-day life.

Thoughts on the Democratic Debate

It seems as though there's been a few splits on who won the Democratic presidential debate. While many in the mainstream media will proclaim that Hillary Clinton won, a lot of polls and straw polls showed that Bernie Sanders was the winner. For both of them, it was a very good showing, and for the others (Jim Webb, Lincoln Chafee, Martin O'Malley) it was a very poor one.

What holds true is that we need a go big and go bold approach to tackling our country's problems, especially when it seems that the Republicans have no ideas that can feasibly do so. Their policy prescriptions have not changed for 3 decades, and it seems that they're now tripling down on their failed ideas instead of adopting new ones.

I'd have to say that out of all the people who've put forth ideas, the one whose ideas are the most in line with our current state of affairs is actually Bernie. More than anything, what he's calling for is what we need to get our middle class back to its former status, and he's got the track record to show that he's willing to take on the powerful interests who don't want to see that happen. I'm a little concerned about Hillary's willingness to take on Corporate America, as she's become reliant on them for campaign donations. Think about the fact that some campaign contributors are big banks like JPMorganChase and Blackstone. This is not a comforting fact, as it makes it look like she's not going to push for a re-instatement of Glass-Steagall Act (Banking Act of 1933). If she does, however, it won't have the same teeth that it did between 1933 and 1981.

How the Bern and/or the Donald will shake up Establishment Politics, and my plans on voting if Hillary becomes the Democratic nominee.

From what I understand about the CNN hosted debate for the GOP, Donald Trump really painted himself into a corner that he's not going to be able to get out of. One of his cute comments was on people with autism, which for me hits a little close to home. In some ways I'm not surprised to hear this coming out of him, as he's been making comments that have offended a lot of people, but this is only strengthening my resolve to make sure he isn't the next President of the United States. But even then, I wasn't planning on voting Republican anyway. I would only plug my nose and vote for the Republicans if Hillary Clinton got the nomination, only because she's even less likely to get anything done and the fact that we really need someone from outside the beltway in the Presidency.

Out of all the people who've proven that they get the struggles of the American public, it's Bernie Sanders. He understands that there needs to be radical change and he's not afraid to stick his neck out to do it. In addition, he's got the ability to recruit people from all over the political spectrum.

Now if both the Bern and the Donald got their respective parties' nominations, I think the stark contrast between the Republicans and TheDemocrats will appear very clearly. The Republican Party has become the tool of the ultra-wealthy to distract the American electorate from the real issues they face, and as an outlet for White Supremacy.

If anything, Donald Trump has been an embodiment of the disatisfaction with establishment politics as usual for the Republicans. The same can be said for Bernie Sanders for the Democrats. If anything, people on both sides of the aisle and all walks of life agree on 1 thing, we need radical change. Establishment politics and economics are clearly not working for the rest of us. From what I understand, Trump's plan will only add to the overall debt hiking it to levels not seen since the Reagan Administration, while Sanders' plan is completely paid for and has specifics of what he plans to do about making sure the wealthiest individuals and corporations pay their fair share of taxes.

The Bern And The Donald

First off, let me say that Bernie Sanders has successfully overtaken Hillary Clinton as the front runner for TheDemocrats' presidential nomination race. This isn't a major surprise as Bernie's gaining steam on Hillary for quite some time and with the ongoing saga of Servergate, it was a matter of when not if. If anything, Bernie's been refusing to go negative and that's been somewhat refreshing for many of the rank-and-file in the Democratic Party, and also for some it's more core elements as well. First off, Hillary's losing major support from organized labor, especially the AFL-CIO. My guess is that its endorsement will end up going to Bernie.

The fact that Bernie's campaign has been gaining steam has a lot of the Democratic Party's leadership very worried. They were hoping to get these other declared candidates out of the race before the nomination process starts. They feel that Hillary is their best option to retain The White House. I'm seeing this as an almost mirrored replay of 2008. This is why they're really getting scared as they've been largely disappointing the base with many center-right decisions as they've been trying to close the distance between the Democratic party and the GOP. I just don't see Hillary effecting change with any great ability and I think she'll just carry on the same trend that's been going on in the Democratic Party ever since Bill was president back in the 1990s and early 2000s. The fact remains that we need radical action and I think Bernie's the only candidate who will be able to do it. He's got some really creative ideas to help move this country forward and to level the playing field.

As for the Republicans, Donald Trump has been really gaining more and more momentum. This has the effect of possibly marginalizing the Republicans as a regional rather than national party, or it could potentialy catapult the Donald into the presidency and cause a boatload of havoc. By havoc, I'm talking about the return of White supremacy on steroids. 

He's been spouting positions that many of the racial harmony redeemers have been waiting to hear. Meaning that he's more than happy to take us back to the 1830s, with Blacks being shoved into the position of forced servitude (aka slavery), along with trying to take us back to the 1920s in terms of economic policy with a few caveats (he is for taxing the hell out of the wealthy, which is one plus). Moreover, I recently saw some video on The Young Turks' channel on YouTube that described his disdain for racial minorities and his real hatred of Blacks in this country.  As you'll see in the video, he really doesn't think of them as being high-end and that their place is to be out of sight. Nice!

Here's a real contrast between the front runners. One is a guy who actively fought for Blacks and other minorities to have the same rights as Whites (Bernie) and another who is content on letting leaving them behind because they're less deserving (Donald). Your decision next year, but really keep this contrast in mind.

The Need To Fully Fund The Disability Mandates In California

One of the things I've found out about in terms of difficulties facing people with disabilities is that the programs meant to help us are chronically underfunded. We're bascially being told that we're on our own. This is completely absurd, as those places should be helping us instead of turning us away to protect their limited resources. However, it comes down to their lack of funding. I'd like to take the time in this post to make people aware of this issue.

This is especially true with regional centers around the state of California, as they're very badly underfunded. The reason behind this is the state legislature not being able to raise enough revenue to cover these mandates through taxes, and because of the state Republican party in California. The main problem I have with the CA GOP is very simple, they don't bother to invest in anything and insist on giving our tax dollars to the very wealthiest individuals and corporations here in the State of California. How much sense does that make?

We need to overturn the odious law known as Prop 13, it's making it so that people with disabilities can't get the services they need. And we need to call upon Jerry Brown to get the state legislature to pass some measures to raise more revenue. 

Violence in Roanoke

Anything to allow a shooting like the one outside of Roanoke, VA is a signal that we need to do something to stem the rising tide of gun violence. It's nuts to think that we should allow this type of activity to continue with almost no limitations. Where and when does it end? What is our continued rationale behind solving our disputes through loaded firearms? It just doesn't make any sense. I have to say that both Barack Obama and Terry McAuliffe  are right to be saying we need drastic action. This is reaching the point of becoming a public health crisis.

Hillary and the Democratic Nomination for President

From watching TheDemocrats' presidential nomination race, I can say with some degree of certainty that Hillary Clinton's email server controversey has basically killed her chances to grab the nomination, especially among rank & file Democrats. I've highlighted this in my last Youtube video, and it's becoming more and more apparent that she may not win. She's in a bad place now politically. As I mentioned in my video, I'm aware that Hillary was trying to be as honest and transparent as possible, given that her emails were being picked apart by the State Dept and the CIA.

She came out on ABC News earlier today apologizing for her lapse in judgment in using a private server, especially when it became known that 2 emails had classified information pertaining to North Korea (or one may have, I'll have to look at the article on ABC News' website) and its illegal nuclear weapons program. While Hillary's right in saying that what she did previously was not technically illegal, but she is consciencious of the fact that it would have been smarter to just use the State Dept.'s server for official emails rather than a private one. That and she realized she should of used a second mobile device given to her specifically by the State Department itself. She would've spared herself the massive headache she's finding herself in today.

If that wasn't enough of a headache, an article on The Hill mentioned that she's losing support among labor unions as well. That's a major blow to Hillary's campaign and it shows how cautious some factions in the base have become in backing her up. In fact the union mentioned in the article, the AFL-CIO, has become a moving target for her, and it's becoming apparent in how infuriated labor has become with Hillary, especially after waiting until the last minute to take a stance on the issue of the Trans-Pacific Partnership's Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) or Fast-Track Bill's eventual passing in Congress. Hillary's flip-flopping while they were campaigning heavily against the TPA Bill was seen by them as a means of throwing them under the bust. So that's a couple of factors working against her during the campaign.

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