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Editorials/Columns
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‘There Will Be Blood In The Streets’
hose were the words used
by a Donald Trump supporter during an interview she gave after a Trump rally. It was delivered as an ominous threat to the rest of us that, if Trump doesn't win the upcom- ing presidential election, Trump's minions are, appar- ently, prepared to act out vio- lently.
Her statement echoed the call for a revolution that's being circulated by other Trumpites across the country who, believ- ing the rhetoric being spewed by their orange-haired puppet master, have been convinced that the election is rigged and that a Trump loss would occur only if he was cheated. To them, the fact that Trump is viewed by half the country as a racist, male-chauvinistic, lying, swin- dling, attention-starved, class- less, buffoon, doesn't even register.
This kind of reckless talk, that has even come from elected officials like the sheriff of Mil- waukee who tweeted that it's
"pitchforks and torches time" and a congressman from Illinois who actually said he's going to grab his rifle if Hillary Clinton wins, is proof that Trump's school yard bullyism is begin- ning to rub off on anyone who lends him an ear. Then again, maybe these are just the kind of individuals who are drawn to Trump's flute.
Either way it seems sort of ironic that Trump, who's run his entire campaign on the con- cept of making America great again by defeating, so-called, Is- lamic terrorists and deporting "rapist" Mexicans, would use his soap box to agitate people into a frenzy that could ultimately re- sult in making our environment even less safe than he claims it already is.
As ridiculous as the promise of social unrest sounds, coming from the mouths of white farm hands and factory workers who live in places like Idaho and Ohio, it still may not be wise to take what we're hearing lightly. After all, when they talk about
"spilling blood in the streets," whose plasma do you think they envision painting the sidewalks red?
What is being said is danger- ous because it invokes images of the "race war" that groups like the Ku Klux Klan and Neo-Nazis have been dreaming about for years. With Trump's followers stirring the pot of hate, and Trump allowing it to boil, it's not a question of if it will spill over and spark a flame, but when?
For the minorities who have been identified as "enemies of the state" by Trump this is al- most a lose-lose situation. We already know that nothing good will come our way with a Trump victory. But, even if Clinton wins, it could still mean dealing with a nation of heavily armed and delusional white people looking for a ficti- tious score to settle.
Of course, this could all be much ado about nothing, more "stay tuned" hype generated by the media. But, just in case it's not, when the headlines declare a Clinton victory on the morn- ing of November 9th, be pre- pared to keep your head on a swivel because, at that point, anything is liable to happen.
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A Final Plea To Harry Hippy
’d like to help a man when he’s down. But how can I help
you, Harry, when you’re sleepin’ on the ground?” Bobby Womack recorded that line years ago, as part of a song “Harry Hippy.”
Today, we’re borrowing the spirit of that song to appeal one last time to some Brothers and Sisters who need to wake up and smell the coffee before the pot runs dry.
So, Dear Harry Hippy: By the time you read this editorial, if you read this or any editorial at all, it will probably be one day, two days or fifteen minutes before the presidential elec- tion polls close for the year 2016.
And once again, those days, hours, minutes or seconds may find you doing what you have done every election day for the past twelve years: Election day found you sitting out- side on your front step, sunning yourself and watching the people pass by on their way to the voting polls at the library or the church across the street from where you live.
And the only thing you did was drink your Bud and wave. So, let us tell you to your face, YOU ARE A COWARD WHO DOES NOT DESERVE THE BENEFITS OF THE BLACK EX- PERIENCE.
Are you mad? We doubt it. Nothing makes you mad . . . not your children’s future or your mother’s blood. Indeed, you’re a widow’s child who has no home nor hope to guide you as to the right thing you should do to help save your own humanity.
In other words, you care for nothing or nobody, least of all, yourself . . . which is another reason we end this piece you probably will not read with the following line: “I’d like to help a man when he’s down. But how can I help you, Harry, when you’re somewhere out of town?”
We would pity you, Harry Hippy, except for one thing. You are us.
Strange Days
trange Days! Just as the
1995 American science fiction thriller explored themes such as racism, abuse of power, sexual assault and voyeurism (spying), so too does the 2016 presidential elections about which I am sure someone is al- ready writing the screenplay. For art does indeed, imitate life. By the way, make sure you, your family members and friends vote soon.
After marching and picket- ing during the 1960s in down- town Baltimore and the suburban Northwood Shop- ping Center for the right to eat in their restaurants; after being spat upon by irate whites who challenged our right to do so; and after more than a half cen- tury of fighting on the front line and behind the scenes to attain civil rights, access to public ac- commodations and racial and religious harmony, we now find ourselves reminding our chil- dren, grandchildren, and great grandchildren that they will
have to pick up the gauntlet for the next half-century to teach their descendants our history and to turn it over to them.
I have affirmed for decades that old racists never die; they just raise young ones as indi- cated by the hate and threats from white supremacists circu- lating today on Facebook and other social media. Thus, the road to peace and racial har- mony will be just as long as it has been for the past 151 years. Teaching our children their his- tory in Africa and America is even more important.
Oftentimes, so-called Black leaders and estranged whites attempt to influence Black vot- ing trends by raising questions about what the Republicans or Democrats have or have not done for Blacks during the time their party held a majority of seats in Congress and the White House.
And, if you don’t know your history, you will believe any- thing hotshot perpetrators say,
and you will end up regretting your failure to do research and fact-finding on your own.
Take, for instance, the myth that Democrats haven’t done anything for Blacks in the past 30 years. Of the past 30 years, 1986---2016, Democrats occu- pied the White House for 16 years while Republicans occu- pied the White House for 14 years.
In the House of Representa- tives, Republicans held the ma- jority for 18 years compared to 12 years for Democrats. Thus, if Republicans had equal time in Congress and the White House, they could have implemented progressive policies equal to or greater than the Democrats.
Since that is not the case, then it stands to reason that Black Americans have gained less under Republicans. Con- sidering that Ronald Reagan used race-baiting language dur- ing his campaign; opposed the Civil Rights Act, The Fair Hous- ing Act, and Affirmative Action for eight years; and Richard Nixon’s War on Drugs re- sulted in mass incarceration of Blacks for eight of those years, the picture becomes clearer: Blacks fared better under De- mocrats.
Go vote knowledgably. Har- rambee.
Obamacare Isn’t Breaking Health Insurers
t’s just not so. Health Insurance companies are not losing
money overall. But their profits are not as high as they would like for them to be, and some of the “Big Six” health insurance companies are indeed, making healthy profits from Obamacare. In fact, according to Fortune, The Center for Public Integrity and healthinsurance.org, as health car- riers blame losses on Obamacare, their stocks gained near historic values with stock price increases of 1,410 percent for WellPoint, 1,010 percent for Humana, 814 percent for United Health Group, 628 percent for Aetna, 1,113 percent for Cigna, and 469 percent for Anthem.
Believe it or not, some insurers have actually managed to profit from Obamacare, Medicaid, and Medicare Advantage combined while others claim six-figure losses. It is projected that the health insurers will receive 95 billion dollars in gov- ernment payments to health insurers for tax credits and sub- sidies to low and middle income people.
In turn, health “insurers rewarded their shareholders in 2014 more than practically any other company.” Indeed, ex- orbitant executive salaries and lucrative payments to stock- holders drive up the cost of healthcare more than anything else.
Consequently, there’s no CARE in healthcare, and those two items are among reasons why Obamacare requires in-
surers to spend at least 80 percent of premiums they collect from individuals and small com- panies on actual medical care, limiting their overall profit to no more than 20 percent . . . get it?
While United Health Care Group made a $10.2 billion profit in 2014 and its executive CEO Stephen Hemsley earned a $66 million salary, the company plans to stop participating in Oba- macare. Aetna is reducing Obamacare participation down to four states even though the com- pany earned $2.4 billion.
Why?
We suggest our readers research the health insurance industry to learn the real truth about profiteering in the name of good health.
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