Friday News

One recent great news is that Tonya Boyd became FDNY’s 1st Black woman Deputy Chief. She has made history and it's glorious news. She has worked in emergency services for decades in order for her to save lives literally. “I’m so excited and I am so blessed,” the EMS officer told the Daily News. “After hearing about the promotion, I couldn’t believe it. I feel like I’ve knocked down a door and opened it for a lot of EMTs just starting on this job,” said Boyd. “African-American women will see someone who looks like them as a deputy chief and they will know more is possible — their careers won’t top out at paramedic or even lieutenant,” said the captain of Station 39 in Brooklyn. She has worked hard throughout her entire life and this news will inspire more human beings to follow their dreams and aspirations. Congratulations to Sister Tonya Boyd. One of the most inspiring stories of our generation is of the story of Sister Ida Keeling. She is a runner and she is 102 years old. She lives in Harlem, NYC. She holds Masters records in 60 meter and 100 meter distances for women in the 95-99 and 100-plus age groups. Keeling's story was featured in a segment in the Carl Reiner-hosted documentary If You're Not in the Obit, Eat Breakfast, on aging over 90, which premiered on HBO in June 2017. She started to run at the age of 67. She also gives secret s on how she lived so long on this Earth too. These secrets are the following:
-Escape drama
-Ally with positive people
-Promote positivity.
-Sticking it out on accomplishing your goals.
So, she is a great role model and an inspirational human being.

Today is the late Birthday of the hip hop artist Russell Tyrone Jones or ODB. He was a gentle person and he was part of the group Wu Tang Clan. He was born in 1968 in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, NYC. He loved hip hop. He had his own unique musical style. He inspired people to be their own individual selves. He also collaborated with many well known artists from Mariah Carey to Pras plus Mya. His life wasn't a crystal stair. The police shot at him 8 times when he had no weapon. He survived miraculously. He did many good things in his life and he made mistakes. There are no justifications for his errors. Yet, he loved his family and his children. Those, who really cared for him, helped him. He was a man who suffered hurt and he passed away very young at the year of 2004. I was in my early 20's when he passed. Today, we realize his life, so we recognize the value of human life in general.
RIP ODB.

In Jamestown, I saw a picture of a Bible verse from a recreation of a church in Jamestown. Back in the 1600's, most English settlers were Anglicans (or part of the Church of England). Back then, it was mandatory for settlers to go into church and worship as Anglicans (or face punishment). It would be years later, where Virginia and areas nationwide would legalize religious freedom (or the right to worship God as we desire). This is what the freedom of religion is all about (or believing in God as we desire without oppression). The verse in the picture looks elegant. This was also a re-enactor in Jamestown too. He spoke about how the English settlers used a specialized method to fire muskets. Muskets are old school guns that takes up to 2-3 minutes to fire one bullet. He fired a blank gun. He spoke about how the Native Americans originally had the upper hands in battling the English, because the Native American knew of the territory and fought readily in guerrilla warfare. The British used forts and provoked the Native Americans to fight in open lands. The metal helmet that he was wearing was used by the English back then. I also saw the top of a Native American Powhatan settlement (in a recreation). The top is open in allowing smoke to come out of the location. I have been inside of this location and it is sturdy and strong. You have to walk into a small opening and the inside is tall. It is filled with wood. It has baskets to preserve foods and it has animals skins for clothing and sleeping purposes.



The U.S. House passed a multitrillion dollar tax break for corporations and the wealthy. If this bill is passed by the Senate and signed into law, this will give corporations and the very wealthy trillions of dollars in tax cuts. It will increase the deficit and promote more assaults on basic social programs like Medicare and Social Security. The oligarchy benefits from this bill as the oligarchy influences both major parties. The military industrial complex allied with the intelligence community plus the oligarchy is real. The stock market has increased, which means that Wall Street is growing in its power. The bill is called, “Tax Cut and Jobs Act.” It was approved on a party line vote of 227 to 205. No Democrats voted for the measure and 13 Republicans voted against the bill. Many Republicans who voted against the bill came from high tax states like New York, New Jersey, and California. These states will suffer harshly because the bill ends federal income tax deductions on state and local income and sales taxes. This plan is a tax cut for billionaires. The Trump administration is desperate to support this legislation. The tax cuts will not benefit the majority of the poor or the middle class. These tax cuts will go to the large corporations and super rich according to multiple analyses. U.S. corporations are sitting under $2 trillion in cash and they refuse to invest in new plants, housing, schools, and infrastructure. Some of them want more cuts in wages and benefits.

Wall Street is salivating because the tax rollback for the rich—the corporate tax rate under the bill will be the lowest since 1939 and the estate tax will be eliminated in 2025—will enable the financial aristocracy to further pad its bank accounts and lord it over the bottom 90 percent with even more obscene displays of personal wealth.  The House and Senate tax bills currently working their way through Congress both slash the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 20 percent. The Democrats are proposing a cut in the corporate rate to between 25 percent and 28 percent.  So, both parties want corporate tax rate cuts. According to Congress’s nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation, the House bill would increase the federal deficit over ten years by $1.4 trillion as a result of lost federal tax revenues. The bulk of that loss would come from the cut in the corporate tax rate, accounting for $1.5 trillion. Another $696 billion cut would result from the elimination of the alternative minimum tax, which applies to households with incomes of $200,000 to $1 million. We need progressive solutions instead of this tax bill.

By Timothy