We can do both... We can support good cops by Backing the Blue!
We can support Black Lives by saying black lives matter!
It's not one or the other!
Good cops want to protect and serve everyone!
Systemic problems do exist in many of America's police forces. No one of any color should have to worry that a traffic stop will turn deadly! We support good cops, heroes who try to keep us safe every day. We support peaceful protests, not looters or rioters. We can all do both!
I have been making a lot of political and cause-based T-shirts lately I thought I'd share my Etsy store on this page.
It's called Liberal By Design, and of course with the election coming it is focused on soon to be the single term, President Trump. Check it out and let me know what you think below.
A few of the Trump Shirts are below but check out the entire store for more... And of course, they all come in multiple colors - the blue is just an aesthetic
American Horror Story - Donald Trump
It's Like Watergate - But With Morons
Donald Trump - Nope Shirt
I also have mugs, tumblers and other products added all the time. If you are looking for great Liberal Progressive Democrat gifts and merchandise please check me out.
If you happen to be a conservative though it would really really bother me if you went and bought a few items and then burned them in protest. That would definitely show me!!!!
I graduated in 1985 from Robert E. Lee High School in Midland Tx. I didn't know anything about Robert E. Lee when I attended the school other than the romanticized version found in Texas textbooks. It never occurred at the time to learn about Lee and it never occurred to me that the idea of naming a school after a confederate general might be hurtful to my fellow students. While this blog is about my school there isn't a doubt in my mind that most of this blog is going to be applicable to many of the schools in this country named after confederate generals.
Before I get into the history of why the school is named after a confederate general I want to get one of the most popular (and weakest) arguments for keeping the name out of the way. It's a quote by George Santayana (often falsely attributed to Winston Churchill or others)...
Do you know who Benedict Arnold was? Of course you do... because you were taught who that was. Changing the name of a school or removing a statue will NOT make people forget the past. Glorifying the past is not the same as remembering it. Teach the past. Put it in museums and classrooms and make sure people learn real history. Naming schools after someone is an honor. Naming a school after someone who fought against his country is whitewashing. Would you feel comfortable with a school named after Benedict Arnold? Like it or not, it is exactly the same with regard to members of the confederacy.
People claim again and again that Lee fought for the south because he was a patriot, that might be 100% true, but it doesn't change the fact that by fighting for the south he was ipso facto fighting for the right of people to own other people. He took up arms against his country and Lincoln wanted him tried for treason but was talked out of it for the good of the country. After taking office in 1865 (after the assassination of Lincoln) Andrew Johnson pardoned most of the confederates who took part in the war, but not Robert E. Lee. Lee requested the pardon and swore the amnesty oath but Lee was not pardoned and his citizenship was never restored in his lifetime (it was eventually restored in 1975 by President Ford, 14 years after the school in Midland Texas opened in 1961.
Robert E. Lee was not pardoned and his citizenship was never restored in his lifetime...
Do you know how the various schools ended up getting named after confederates in the first place? Because that is an actual story about forgetting and changing history.
The war ended in 1865. After it was over Lee himself asked that there be no statues or commemorations of him (which means that this whole argument is ignoring HIS wishes). It was that way until 29 years later in 1894 a group called the United Daughters of the Confederacy came around spent all kinds of money to whitewash history. They were the first to claim the war was about states rights, but if you go and read the various Declarations of Secession of the southern states they all talk about two things, and two things only... the right to own slaves and the failure of the northern states to return runaway slaves. Those are the causes as listed in the actual texts that were used to succeed.
The Daughters spent money all over the country passing off a revisionist history of what happened in the war and glorified the south as if it was some noble cause. So when you look at where these statues and many of the schools come from it is not in any way remembering the actual history that was, it is honoring a lie... and as I said General Lee himself asked that it not be done.
“As regards the erection of such a monument as is contemplated,” Lee wrote of an 1866 proposal, “my conviction is, that however grateful it would be to the feelings of the South, the attempt in the present condition of the country, would have the effect of retarding, instead of accelerating its accomplishment; of continuing, if not adding to, the difficulties under which the Southern people labor.”
His own relatives still say he wouldn't want them and that they should be removed! Whether you admire Lee or not his wishes have been dishonored with every school name and every statue.
But what about our own school? It wasn't founded or funded by the Daughters like the Lee High in Tyler was... no, it was founded in 1961 as an all-white school after the supreme court had already said ruled that such schools were illegal in 1954. It wasn't until the civil rights movement that all-white schools started once again being named after confederates (I honestly don't think it was a coincidence).
It remained all-white until 1969. The only black people at Lee in 1968 were the cleaning staff. (if you doubt this the yearbooks are available online at classmates.com - I had been given the wrong dates once and as I want to know REAL HISTORY I went and checked the yearbooks to verify them myself).
Lee High literally had to be forced to integrate. It was named Robert E. Lee High, not as some honor to General Lee (who I have pointed out at least twice DIDN'T WANT it) but as a direct dog whistle. It's a fake history and whether I or anyone else finds it hurtful or offensive shouldn't matter... it is hurtful and offensive to those whose family were once slaves and know they go to a school that daily glorifies a man who fought and killed his countrymen in order to keep it going.
If it was really about history, we would all already know this information. It's never been about history. It's been about cleaning history. It's been about whitewashing. I loved my school. I'm proud of my accomplishments and the friends I made there, changing the name would not change those feelings, not even a little.
Feel free to leave your thoughts, I have tried to be respectful, I hope you will do the same.
If change is such a bad thing why'd they ever get rid of smoker's corner?
That this can happen is crazy.... I live in Texas, crazy is normal here.
MY WIFE WAS FIRED On
April 6th of this year my wife was fired from her job for obeying our
Governor’s stay home order in regards to the coronavirus, also known as CovId-19.
My wife is was an administrative assistant for a small oil field company. A company whose personal department is run by one person who has completely refused
to take the Pandemic Seriously.
WE WERE FOLLOWING THE GOVERNOR'S ORDERS My wife and son are immunocompromised and we have several people over the age of
60 in our lives. She also had foreknowledge that her boss was not following
shelter in place orders on her time off (the person in question actually lives
down the block from us and we could see the activity at her house). Feeling she
could not risk the exposure she told her boss that she was going to obey the
stay in place order. She let her employer know she would be willing to do what
work she could at home and would come in after-hours with her own personal
protective equipment and take care of her duties then. This was not good enough
for the employer and she was terminated.
WAS THE ORDER LEGAL? I have seen conservative after conservative claim that the Governor's orders were illegal because they didn't go through the legislature. One friend going so far as to post a message on Facebook that is supposedly from a constitutional lawyer (although no names or credentials are ever listed - I thought these guys hate anonymous sources) Everyone is a constitutional expert on Facebook, however, a quick search of Texas law shows the legislature has specifically granted the governor those powers. Emergency orders carry the full weight of the law. WHAT GETS ME IS THE SUPPORT As I said above a Go FundMe set up for Shelly Luther has raised over $500,000 dollars... for a $7000 dollar fine. It's an incredible amount of support for someone who broke the law and put people in danger. People like my wife, who was fired for following the law don't get that kind of support. Or, if they do, I haven't seen it. We set up a GoFund once to get about 20 stray feral cats fixed... I couldn't find any support at all.
I JUST WANT OUT OF TEXAS
It's crazy here. The support for a president who claimed there were 15 cases and soon there will be none back in March is literally insane. He verifiably botched the handling of this pandemic and in Texas they still love him. Someday we will find a way to get out of Texas. We were going to try to sell our house but it dropped $75k in value after the oil field crash and by the time we fixed it up enough to sell we wouldn't have enough left to move. I have to find a way out of this state though, I don't belong in a place where someone is handed $500k for breaking the law.
I don't write in this blog nearly enough, especially with everything that is happening in our country today. I'm an oilfield truck driver and really just don't have enough time. It might also be because no one actually reads my blog.
But my Republican friends and family are circulating a post on social media called Impeachment Trial Summary. It's full of errors, so I thought I'd fix it! My corrections are in red.
Before I begin I just want to remind you regardless of the Senate Outcome - Trump will always have IMPEACHED on his presidential record!
Impeachment trial summary:
Dems: We have an airtight case against the President
Reps: Ok, go ahead
Dems: Trump and his staff came up with a plot to withhold
funding to Ukraine contingent on the announcement of investigations into Joe
Biden's son. AN ABUSE OF POWER, then he obstructed our investigation!
(We know this because Guilliani sent a letter to Ukraine also asking
for the investigations in which he made it clear this was for private citizen
Trump not president Trump)
Reps: Oh gee that sounds bad.
Dems: It gets worse, he also withheld a meeting with the new
President of Ukraine unless he complied.
Reps: WOW. That poor man, when will they get the money?
Dems: Oh, they already got the money. A few weeks before the
deadline (because
TRUMP found out about the whistleblower)
Reps: Wait, he got the money? Are they going to withdraw the
investigations?
Dems: He never announced the investigations, but Trump asked
them to investigate in their meeting. (We have
Les Parnas’ note now pushing the investigations, or at least for them to claim
they had started investigations, at Rudy’s behest)
Reps: Wait, THEY HAD THE MEETING?
Dems: Well yeah, they had a meeting
Reps: So let me make sure I have this right, Trump gave them the
money before the deadline (Because he was found out about the whistleblower), they
didn't announce any investigations and they got the meeting.
Dems: Yes
Reps: And you investigated this?
Dems: Of course we did, we had to, the president clearly has bad
motives.
Reps: and you found proof of this?
Dems: Absolutely, one guy overheard someone else on the phone
talking to Trump about the whole scheme. (We also have Guilliani’s
admissions on not just CNN but on Fox News)
Reps: Like on speaker phone?
Dems: Not exactly, more like across the table in a crowded
restaurant, not on speakerphone.
Reps: I see, I suppose he destroyed all the evidence, thus the
obstruction.
Dems: Well no, first he declassified the meeting transcripts,
BUT then he said he had executive privilege or some nonsense. (Not
actual Transcripts, the way Trump “remembers” them)
Reps: What did the court say?
Dems: What court?
Reps: Didn't you take him to court to get the records?
Dems: There was no time, we can't have a president extorting
foreign countries. LOL MAN, are you crazy?
Reps: Just a second, let me catch my breath.
Dems: Shocking isn't it.
Reps: To recap, Trump gave Ukraine a meeting, the funding, no
investigations were launched, declassified the meeting, and offered to go to
let the courts decide on executive privilege, and you impeached based on an
overheard phone call and the fact that you were in a hurry?
Dems: Well... when you say it like that it makes us sound silly.
But you'll see when we call new witnesses during the Senate phase.
Reps: YOU HAVEN'T EVEN INTERVIEWED ALL THE WITNESSES YET? (Because
all of Trumps allies who claim he is innocent refused to show up and defend
him)
Dems: Well, no but we did interview a few low level staffers. (Wait,
the Ambassador to the European Union is a low level staffer? The Ukraine Envoy Kurt
Volger was a low level staffer?)
Reps: *looks around*
Dems: *grins confidently*
Reps: You're *** crazy. (Puts head in sand, refuses to hear or look at evidence and literally hides from facts)
In 2018 Americans spent $3.65 trillion on medical expenses.
That’s an increase of 4.4 % over 2017 according to a report by Axios. Also,
from the report under private health insurance, spending per person rose 4.5%
between 2017 and 2018, even though the same number of people were enrolled.
That’s for one year and it is expected to keep going up (In 2016 it was $3.4 trillion)
In contrast, conservative estimates put the cost of Medicare for all at $3.3
trillion per year… or as they like to exclaim $33 trillion over 10 years!
I don’t know, that looks like a savings of $3.5 trillion a year based on their numbers
and it covers everyone. That seems like a deal to me, but it won’t to them…
because uh’m socialism, and as we all know socialism is bad. Always bad. Even
where it works.
You know what’s not working for me though? The current for-profit medical system
we live under in the United States of America. It’s not working for me, or for
you, or even for most of these blue-collar Trump-loving guys who think it’s
working for them.
Some of the most common complaints I hear about socialized medicine are that
the Government will decide what test can be done, what doctors you can go to
and what treatments you can receive. All these things are already controlled by
the big insurance companies. They outright decide when and what tests they pay
for, they make you pay extra for a doctor out of network and god forbid you
want a medication that isn’t on their approved list. Somehow this doesn’t occur
to them. Somehow, they think they would be giving up their perceived freedoms by
having a government take the place of big insurance.
I have always believed we would be better off with a system
that covered everyone all the time. I believed this from a distance though. I
had an employer who gave us the best insurance and healthcare possible. I could
see a doctor free of charge for the littlest boo boo you could imagine and it
was awesome. Unlike many of my colleagues, I felt like everyone should have
treatment available like this. This is how you should take care of a society.
This is what the greatest country on earth should do for its people. But, as
they say, all good things must come to an end and right now my family and I are
at the opposite end of the spectrum. No insurance and no options.
Let me start with some background until the end of December in 2018 I worked
for an employer with what has to be one of the most generous medical benefits packages
anywhere in America. They paid 100% of the cost of not just the employee, but
of the employee’s entire family. Pretty mind-boggling. It was basically a $21k
raise for everyone from the lowest-paid to the highest. It didn’t stop there though;
they had their own fully staffed free clinic in the parking lot of the downtown
branch. Once again, 100% free to employees and family. Tell me that was not an
amazing thing to have access to?
Unfortunately, at the end of 2018 the company decided to sell the division I
worked for another company. They would still pay the employee portion of the
insurance, but now we were responsible for our family (I have three kids and a
wife, I need my insurance) which came out to about $800 a month. The free clinic,
gone! It was a huge and unexpected pay cut even though my salary was
technically the same, and it didn’t cover as much but hey, at least we still
had some insurance. We adjusted.
My wife sees a doctor for chronic pain, I see one for an
inherited condition. We both have maintenance prescriptions as do a couple of
our kids. It was a hardship but, as you can imagine, we were glad to have any insurance
at all.
Then the layoffs came. I was laid off.
Very suddenly we have no insurance.
I’m a CDL driver. I figure in this economy I’ll find a job
really quick. For three months I can’t find anything that can even cover my
mortgage payment. I have to borrow to make ends meet, so much so that when I
get my severance from the old job (which was nice) it is eaten up pretty
quickly. We pretty much all have to stop taking our medications. It feels like
we are getting close to the end of our rope here and then suddenly I finally
get a job.
I accept a freight delivery job that is only about 10k less a year then what I
was making. I need a job and I need to keep a roof over my head. So, I accepted
the position. I’ll be eligible for their insurance in three months, and this
employer gives no sick days. If you miss a day you have to get a doctor note or
be written up and forget being paid a cent for that day.
And this brings us to the entire point of this article. The real reason that
Medicare for All (or single-payer system, or socialized medicine or whatever
you call it) would really benefit everyone. Something is wrong with my left
eye. It’s gotten very blurry recently and nothing I have found over the counter
has helped. I get no sick days and I can’t afford a doctor even if I had them. I
am a CDL driver out on the roads of this country daily. A CDL driver who can’t
see out of his left eye. Think about that.
I'm driving one of these and I can't see in my left eye!
All over this country we let people go to work sick or in dangerous states. Many
times they literally have zero options. Go to work sick or don’t get paid. Don’t
see a doctor because you can’t afford it. These people are a danger to
everyone, not just themselves. 90 days until I can get insurance, and only then
if I can afford it.
I'm not a math whiz. Not be a long shot.... feel free to correct me if I am wrong.
Universal healthcare. $3.2 trillion a year. Big ass scary sounding number. Even scarier when they call it $32 Trillion over 10 years.
A trillion has 12 zeroes, so...written out as a big scary number $3.2 Trillion is $3,200,000,000,000
Mind officially boggled.
Okay... pack it in... that's a shit ton of money, no frickin' way we can afford that kind of cash grab.
You know what, just for shits and giggles, lets run some numbers. Big numbers... Im'a use a calculator.
There are approximately 170 million taxpayers... but about 76 million of them wont pay any federal income tax so that leaves about 94 million actually paying taxes.
That looks like this $94,000,000.
Should be a simple matter of dividing $3.2 Trillion by $94 million... but you know what, I feel like adding another .1 trillion, just in case... and I'll subtract 4 million, once again... just in case.
So $3,300,000,000,000/90,000,000 = $36.6K
Jebus! Holy shit, they are right. That is a literal shit ton of money. DAMN! I do hate when conservatives are right. I gotta be missing something here...
Hmmm, my employer paid $24K in premiums for me and my family last year. (I had a great employer by the way, almost no one pays for the employee and the family.) I paid an additional $8k in prescriptions, co-pays and things that were not covered (but I'd assume most have a forth of that), then I also paid about $1500 into Medicare.
Nope... anyway I look at it this shit is more expensive. It would be nice to cover everyone and all but I'll be in the hole about $8k-$10k more. That would seriously suck ass (actually I wouldn't care if I paid more and it covered everyone - righteous indignation and cussing is for illustrative purposes only).
If only we had a progressive tax system in this country.
Wait... we do have a progressive tax system. Awesome, almost forgot.
Okay... so this is going to be hard to explain. The top 10% of earners pay 71% of the taxes collected in this country. This does not mean that that pay 71% income tax, it means they make so much money that even paying a lower tax rate then the rest of us they account for a bigger share of the revenue collected. So don't stress about their burden. They can afford it, I promise.
It would be pretty safe to assume like most of our taxes this would be a progressive tax. It would actually cost most of us a lot less. Even if the middle class portion was 30% of that cost we'd all be seeing savings and everyone would be covered.
Think about what that means. Right now people without insurance can't afford to get preventative treatment. Some will wait until a problem can't be ignored anymore. Then the go to an emergency room for care. Something that could have been treated or prevented now costs thousands of dollars. That money will never be paid back and that cost gets spread out to the rest of us.
By the way, in 2016 we spent $3.4 Trillion on medical expenses in this country. It was slated to increase in both 2017 and 2018, but I can't find newer figures. If the conservative's number of $3.2 trillion a year hold true that's a saving of $2 trillion per decade. Just sayin'.
We are paying more and getting less right now. It's time for a change.
