General Commentary
Steve’s prized possession is a picture of him shoulder to shoulder with trash talk-show host Maury Povich, taken on set after Steve finished a cringe-worthy guest appearance any sane person would spend a lifetime trying to forget. But he didn’t. He bragged about it, and often. It was his 15 minutes. After Steve married into my family in the late
On March 22, 2020 COVID-19, Wuhan Flu, Corona Virus, whatever you want to call it, went from invisible to having a face to me. A young, beautiful, vibrant, full-of-life, life face. No matter your religious persuasion, it is not possible this young, beautiful, vibrant, full-of-life, life is not looking down over us all taking on an epic proportion battle against
In eighth grade, my English teacher asked my class for something no one had ever wanted before; she asked for our opinions, and I don’t mean our opinions on what we thought Johnny meant when he told Ponyboy to “stay gold”. She wanted to know how we felt about the world around us – abortion, gun rights, police brutality, climate
Being the victim of a federal crime is not how I expected to get my 15 minutes of fame. In October of 2018, my husband was running for the state legislature and I was managing his campaign. Three weeks before the election, he received threatening emails insisting he drop out of the race. Attached to one of those emails was
At the very early stages of the Trump administration, a little known band from Milwaukee, Happiless, cut a prescient pop song which eerily predicted the dark path America has taken since the 2016 election. Called “Hopscotch Town”, the song is about a place which is willing to ignore all kinds of inhumanity as long as the economy is humming along.
They say that those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. But, that presumes that those who do remember the past, and those who do not, wish to avoid a recurrence. President Trump routinely evokes two phrases from the past: “fake news” and “America First”. The phrase "fake news" is strikingly similar to Adolf Hitler’s “lugenpresse”, German
Trump's #PublicCharge rule is motivated by racism & intended to deny healthcare to vulnerable families. That's what Rep. Chu & leaders of the The Black Caucus, Hispanic Caucus, & CAPAC have told courts in a brief filed this week to stop the rule from going into effect. Below is the amicus brief that was submitted on behalf of the tri-caucus yesterday
I met Ken Mejia-Beal at the pizza restaurant where folks gather after local Township Democrat meetings. I took a seat across from this handsome African American man who had an infectious laugh and a slight Southern accent. Ken Mejia-Beal immediately struck me as an authentic, "what you see is what you get" kind of guy. He is intelligent, warm, and
During my grad school days in the early 2000s, when I was just learning to teach, I used to lie to my students quite a bit. For example, on the first day of class, I often introduced my married self to my class using the word partner instead of wife. I thought I might learn something about my students by
By way of introduction, I used to be a Republican, am now an Independent, and intend to vote for every Democratic candidate in all upcoming elections until the Republican Party regains its moral principles (if ever). I have a modest proposal about which I am entirely serious but which has zero chance of being adopted. Here's what the Democrats should
A two-party system has the unfortunate side-effect of reducing nuanced approaches to multi-faceted issues to simple binaries: us vs. them, or right vs. wrong, Christian vs. non-Christian. Fundamentalists have exploited this tendency for years, staking out labels like “Christian” or “evangelical” in popular media, and thereby pushing a narrative that the other side is the one opposed to Christianity and
I am writing a letter to request to speak in front of the house chambers as a concerned American citizen and a former Trump supporter and voter. I have been a Conservative Republican for so many years, until this past year when I registered as a Democrat. I have witnessed firsthand how dangerous conservative propaganda can be, especially how it’s
Let’s get this out of the way: Donald Trump has committed impeachable offenses. It’s clear that Robert Mueller believes Trump obstructed justice. His disregard for the constitution is evident in his steadfast refusal to allow his staff to comply with Congressional subpoenas. He refuses to remove staff who violate the law like Kellyanne Conway. He uses his bully pulpit to
When people think about Alabama and what it's famous for, of peanuts, college football and Lynard Skynard come to mind. Many would like to think that it would welcome progressiveism to overcome its terrible history of Jim Crow laws. However, recent legislative actions in the state have proven that no matter how much good comes out of the actions of
I would like to officially endorse Senator Elizabeth Warren as the next President of the United States of America. This decision wasn't easy, especially with the candidates running in the Democratic Party. Her story, and her values in what she is fighting for got to my heart the most, because her values are what I envision a liberal Democrat should
Now that Special Counsel Mueller has spoken publicly about his findings, the time has come for a discussion about what know. While the understanding of what we know and don’t know might become clearer as we move forward, a number of facts have been pretty thoroughly established. For example, we know the Trump campaign courted assistance from a hostile foreign
This is a question I ask of Speaker Pelosi and democrats who oppose common sense border security simply because the President is Donald J. Trump. Let me put this in context. Despite countless examples of icon democrats: B Clinton, H Clinton, Obama, Pelosi, Schumer, and more -- voting for and speaking on the problem of illegal immigration more aggressively than
While wealth is seen by most as a good thing, as a strength in both the individual and in society as a whole, we do ourselves a serious disservice when we ignore the weakness that wealth, especially concentrated wealth, creates. In a time of abundant wealth in the United States, wages are stagnant for working people, poverty is on the
I was raised on the Southside of Chicago - 79th and Hermitage to be exact, in a community called Auburn Gresham. Over the weekend of August 3rd, 2018, 74 people were shot in Chicago. Two weeks later, 58 more. Many of these victims were shot in my old neighborhood. This great city is the victim of many social injustices. It
Racism in the United States, patriotism, and the United States Military
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