Controlling Our Communities and Because DC is Black
Browsing: Opinions
    Yeah, I said it, not abstractly or politically, but personally. Itâs not simply that âpeopleâ are going to die, or âyouâ are going to die. Iâm going to die. I donât know when. Iâm full of determination, just shy of age 79, to stay alive and functional, but doing so ainât what it used to be. Ouch. Simply standing up now takes the sort of effort I once exerted walking a mile. Our Hero (as I call myself) is functionally ebbing.
    If Iâm completely honest, I canât recall all the twists and turns of 1984. I probably read it in high school or maybe as an undergrad, somewhere alongside Animal Farm. Theyâre the kind of books teachers press into young hands to spark critical thinking, to push us to look beyond the surface, question the official story, and spot the sleight of hand in politics and power. What has stayed with me isnât the fine detail of the plot, but the feeling it left behind: that the words on the page were not just fiction, but a warning, one I wasnât sure I needed at the time, but which feels uncomfortably relevant now.
    Nebraskaâs Congressman Mike Flood had just gotten a tongue-lashing from constituents at a town hall meeting, facing tough questions and ultimately chants of âvote him out!â by Democrats angered by his support for Trumpâs policies.
     For 80 years, since the atomic bombs were dropped over Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the world has stood at the brink of nuclear war with the potential for catastrophic loss, threatening all of humanity. Former Defense Secretary Robert McNamara said in the years after the Cuban missile crisis that indeed sheer luck was what prevented nuclear war, not superior weapons, brinkmanship, or knowledge. There have been multiple other times where nuclear launch countdowns have begun from misinterpretation, human error, or technological glitch. In the end, like Las Vegas gamblers, the question is how long will our luck hold out? The odds are not in our favor. The only way to prevent nuclear war is by the complete elimination of these weapons.
    The use of atomic bombs was rationalized after-the-fact using myths that transformed the burning of children into a positive good. President Truman and government propagandists justified the attacks claiming they âended the warâ and âsaved livesâ ⸺ stories still believed today ⸺ but, as historian Gar Alperovitz has demonstrated in The Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb, and the Architecture of an American Myth the pretext of âsaving livesâ was fabricated.
Cornered: Why Black Americans Are Always Expected to Pick a Side
   I hope this message finds you well. I am writing to express my deep concern about a disturbing trend in our Federal Courts: the increasing number of litigants who file false pleadings, motions, and evidence-often based on entirely fabricated materials-in an effort to gain an unfair advantage.
      âConfusing God and Government.ââ That was the actual name of a sermon by Trinity United Church of Christ, Pastor Emeritus, Jeremiah Wright.
  The Founding Fathers, in their infinite wisdom, understood that change was inevitableâeven for the Constitution. Thatâs why they included Article V, which outlines how amendments can be added, revised, or repealed. Its purpose was clear: to ensure that no amendment would become a âsacred cowâ immune to challenge or reconsideration. This includes the 22nd Amendment, which limits a President to two terms.