Wednesday, November 06, 2024

A Disgraceful Day in American History.

 

Today is a disgraceful day in American history. It is not shocking to me, because we have been here before experiencing disappointment in certain segments of Americans who care more for ego and bigotry than the betterment of America. Trump is a person who was found legally liable of rape, disrespected many women, slandered Vice President Kamala Harris, and glorified the Nazis (according to one General). Therefore, we realize that Donald Trump has been elected President according to the Electoral College. Yet, we will not surrender our fight for justice. Trump won most of the popular vote. The following is a true story. Before the election was over, something in my spirit mentions the phrase, John Henry. I didn't know what that meant until that day. That meant that Kamala Harris ran the best that she could, but she ran out of steam. It  is not Kamala Harris' fault that she lost the election. She did the best that she could. She gave eloquent speeches, refuted Trump in a debate, and gave details about her policy positions. My state of Virginia voted for Kamala Harris which I am thankful of. My state of Virginia is the most progressive state of the South who will continue to shine bright. Trump is no victim. He was legally charged with many felonies and convicted of many felonies. He was born into privilege who lies habitually, and the MAGA movement is the largest cult in American history. Many Democrats must do self-searching to appeal to a wide spectrum of Americans, but this election proves that America is not a liberal country or even a center-left country.   

This country of America is very conservative filled with theocrats, misogynists, and racists plus xenophobes who hate democratic freedoms, who hate black people, and who hate diversity. Many of them believe in the Apple pie myth that only white men are superior to all other people, and Trump is a near Messiah who can solve problems. This lie has been embraced not only by many white men (and many white women), but many sellouts of color who embrace MAGA instead of human liberation. I also want to acknowledge the people of every color who oppose the views of Donald Trump. Their work shouldn't be omitted. The political results of Florida and Texas should shock no one. Many historical firsts have been made in Congress, but the Senate belongs to the Republicans. 

This is a new era of American history with fascism could be on the horizon. The majority of black people voted for Harris, the majority of white people voted for Trump, the majority of young people increasingly voted for Trump, most Latina women voted for Harris, and most Latino men voted for Trump. The economy was a motivating factor for voting along with democracy and immigration. The problem was that the House blocked any progressive legislation to deal with these important issues, and the Senate had an issue with massive Republican opposition too. Authoritarian policies from Trump will exist, and this fascism must be opposed. Trump said that he wants to heal the nation, but he refuses to apologize for his nefarious views. He is an evil person.


There are only 2 options for the future of America now. Either we will improve our democracy or fascism will exist in America. If the wrong person is elected President, then before I became 50 years old, I saw the end of democracy in America as we know it. It's that real. The good news is that tons of Americans reject fascism and will continue to fight for freedom, regardless of the 2024 Presidential election results. Exit polls show democracy and rights being heavily used as motivation for voting.

The 2024 election has been filled with twists and turns. It is the most important election in American history with the world in the balance. Trump has made vulgar remarks about Vice President Donald Trump, threatened violence against the press, and slandered legal Haitian migrants. Kamala Harris have shown a more positive message, more women are turning out to vote, and Iowa polls have Kamala Harris leading Trump by a few points. There has been massive misinformation sent by MAGA extremists, Russian agents, and by other nefarious forces. Yet, the truth is always superior to any form of misinformation. We hope for the future and prepare for the worst. We know that our future is at stake and we desire democracy to prevail in America plus the world.

Monday, November 04, 2024

Cultural Information.

 

 


There is an important matriarch of my family tree who is Nettie Turner (1900-1986), who was my 1st cousin. She is the great-granddaughter of Millie Woodson Turner (1830-1910) and Morefield Hurst-Turner (1827-1918). She married Percy Sugars (b. 1899) on February 6, 1921. The couple had many children, including Romine Turner (1921-1944), Eunice Mae Sugars (1923-2001), and Annie Sugars (1925-2024). Annie Sugars was my 2nd cousin who lived from March 18, 1925, to October 11, 2024. She was born in Courtland, Southampton County, Virginia. She was a housewife for many years. She married Frank Junior Smith (b. 1926). Annie Sugars and Frank Junior Smith had the following children of: Evelyn Smith (1945-2011), Anthony Smith (b. 1947), James Smith (1948-2001), Melvin Smith (1950-2024), Rodger L. Smith (1952-2017), and Janice Smith (b. 1953). My 3rd cousin Evelyn Smith married William Samuel Beavers from August 25, 1967, to February 21, 1984, in Virginia. Their son was William Samuel Beavers Jr. (1968-2021). Evelyn Smith also had the children of Deangelo Smith (1964-1996) and Sophia Denise Smith (b. 1966). My 3rd cousin James Smith married Melvina Noel (b. 1951). My 3rd cousin Melvin Smith Sr. married Angela Alpha Hill, and their children are Tara Smith and Melvin Smith Jr. Melvin Smith Sr. lived to be 73 years old from July 19, 1950, to January 22, 2024. He was raised in Norfolk, Virginia, graduated from Booker T. Washington High School in Norfolk, and was a Merchant Seaman. He worked for the International Longshoreman Association (ILA), Local 1248. He loved to fish, bike riding, crabbing, and swimming. He was married to Angela Hill Smith for 44 years. His grandchildren are Brittani, Kierra, and Ahslee. He has five great-grandchildren. Rodger L. Smith married Carlette Laverne Brooks (b. 1952) and later Sharron Louise Murphy (1962-2013). My 3rd cousin Janice Smith married Percell Sherood from 1973 to 1979. She has 2 children who are Allen Alexander Sherood (b. 1977) and Negus Negesti (b. 1972). Negus Negesti is an engineer and my 4th cousin. 



My 2nd cousin Eunice Mae Sugars (1923-2001) married Willie F. Burke Sr. (1924-1990) on November 17, 1941, in Princess Anne, Virginia. Their children are James Allen Burke (1944-1944), Ashton Burke (1945-2006), Herbert Dangelo Burke (b. 1954), Willie Burke Jr., and James E. Burke. Herbert Burke is married to Lisa Lucas Burke. 

 

We will always fight for justice. One of the biggest deceptions in our time is about the MAGA movement. Trump on November 3, 2024, said that he wouldn't mind if somebody had to shoot through the "fake news" to get to him. For the longest time, Trump supporters promoted the lie that Trump doesn't promote violence, but his speeches and his recent statements prove that he regularly shows violent rhetoric. His recent comment is evil and derogatory. He made these comments at Lititiz, Pennsylvania. Trump said that he wants retribution against the news media if he is reelected, and he called reporters the "enemy of the people." Democratic Vice Presidential candidate Tim Walz talked with black students in Atlanta, Georgia. Kamala Harris on November 3, 2024, mentioned that the people have the power to decide the fate of this nation to churchgoers in Detroit at an African American church. Trump said that he shouldn't have left the White House after he lost the 2020 election. 

 

There can be no full understanding of World War II without understanding about The League of Nations. The League of Nations desired world peace and international cooperation among nations to stop conflict. Such a goal was promoted by Immanuel Kant in his 1795 work of Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Sketch. Lord Bryce and Jan Smuts promoted The League of Nations system. It was created on January 10, 1920, by the Paris Peace Conference, which officially ended the First World War. It ended completely by April 18, 1946, when many of its components were sent to the United Nations. It has many Secretaries-General with French and English used as its official languages. Its headquarters were in Geneva, Switzerland. The first Secretary General was Sir Eric Drummond. The League of Nations wanted disarmament and collective security. It expanded its role by dealing with labor, human trafficking, drug trafficking, the arms trade, global health, and the prisoners of war. In 1919, President Woodrow Wilson won the Nobel Peace Prize for his role as the leading architect of The League of Nations. There were many weaknesses of The League of Nations. A growing isolationism in the world caused many nations to not adhere to the provisions found in The League of Nations. During the Second Italo-Ethiopian War, the dictator Benito Mussolini ignored The League as the League of Nations accused Italian soldiers of targeting the International Red Cross and the Red Crescent Movement medical tents. One major failure of the League of Nations was that it should stop the rise of the fascist Axis Powers found in Japan and Germany plus Italy. America also never joined The League of Nations officially. Japan and Germany left in 1933, Italy left in 1937, and Spain left in 1939. The Soviet Union was in it in 1937 and expelled in 1939 after invading Finland. The League of Nations lacked the action of use further sanctions for fear of decreasing its power. The League of Nations failed in many respects, but it set up a foundation for the creation of the United Nations. It caused more international discussion about solving foreign policy matters in a multinational way. It helped to increase the awareness of consciousness about epidemics, slavery, child labor, colonialism, refugee crises, and working conditions in its commissions and committees. It helped to promote statehood and the mandate system. 



To understand the Revolutionary War, you must understand about the history of the Americas. The first human beings in the Americas were Paleo-Native Americans. They came from Siberia about 15,000 - 40,000 years ago during the end of the Ice Age. When the sea level dropped, a land bridge allowed Native Americans to go from Siberia to the Americas hunting massive mammals like Mammoths, mastodons, and giant bison. Native Americans saw a more diverse environment and fauna. They created diverse cultures with tons of languages, civilizations, and spiritual beliefs. There were distinct languages from Algonquian to Siouan. Corn, squash, and beans were grown by many Native Americans. Complex civilizations grew like the Mayans, the Olmecs, the Aztecs, the Incas, etc. There were the Mississippi River Valley cultures too with their own temples and agriculture. Many Native American chiefs had decentralized power, many Native Americans held sacred animals, trees, rocks, and other items, and they owned little private property. As time went on Europeans came into the Americas as early as the time of the Vikings in 1000's A.D. More Europeans came by the 1400s. Europe in the 1400s had chaos and new movements like the Black Plague disease, the Crusades, the Renaissance, warring kingdoms, and their goal of expansion. Many European Empires would promote colonialism, imperialism, and slavery to make their profit grow, advance racism, and seek control over the world's resources. They wanted new trade routes. The Portuguese created the modern day international Maafa among many continents. Slavery existed for millennia among the human race, but many Europeans expanded it to the point of making it completely global, stripping Africans of their language, religion, culture, and family structure. The Maafa lasted from the 1400s to the 19th century. Christopher Columbus came into the Caribbean, and the Spanish Empire expanded into the Americas to conquer the Aztecs too. 


Both Africans and Native Americans were slaves, and as time would go on, the majority of the victims of the Maafa would be black Africans. By the 1500's, Spanish explorers expanded North into the Midwest and the Southwest. Also, France and England competed for more resources in America too. Many in the French Empire would have cordial relations with some Native Americans in dealing with trade, and some didn't. Many French explorers and colonies would settle in Quebec, New Orleans, Louisiana in general, and in other places of the Midwest. By the 1600s and 1700s, the New France has expanded. The British Empire tried to make a colony in the 1580s in Roanoke in North Carolina, but they created a sustaining one in 1607 at Jamestown, Virginia. These colonies grew at the expense of the human suffering and exploitation of black slaves. Wars happened as Native Americans resisted the goals of the English colonists to gain their lands and resources. There was Powhatan and her daughter Pocahontas (who was captured by the British, converted to Christianity, and married a colonist John Rolfe). The English colonies grown from Georgia to Virginia and all the way to New England. Bacon's Rebellion existed in the 1670s. Both sides were wrong for different reasons. Bacon was wrong to want to exterminate Native Americans in his rebellion. Royal Governor of Virginia William Berkeley was wrong to harm a free press and public education for the common people (as he represented wealthy interests). The Middle Colonies, the Southern Colonies, and the New England colonies grown rapidly in the 1600s and 1700s. 


Nations from Sweden to the Netherlands have slavery and colonies in America plus in the Caribbean too. William Penn was rare being a Quaker who promoted religious freedom and tolerance in setting the groundwork for forming Pennsylvania as we know it. At this time, black Americans and Native Americans were in revolts to stand up for their human rights. The American colonies formed a new culture, distinct from Europe. Black people, white people, Hispanic people, and other groups of people in America back then had banjos, literature, and inventions. The movements of the Great Awakening, the Enlightenment, increased trade, and the English Bill of Rights of 1689 inspired many colonists to promote independence from the British Empire. England relief on the American colonists financially via mercantilism. The French and Indian War changed everything. The American colonists, even George Washington, were heavily used in that War. The French and Indian War was about the British fighting the French with France's Native American allies for lands outside of the Appalachian Mountains. There was the Pontiac's Rebellions, but the British won that war. The colonists after the war wanted more freedom and representation in the British Empire. The British Empire refused to do so in causing more burdens on the colonists to pay down the war debt. Future harsh tax measures by the British Empire contributed to the existence of the Revolutionary War too. 



By Timothy



Friday, November 01, 2024

The New Era of November 1, 2024.

 


The historic October 29, 2024, speech by Vice President Kamala Harris will go down in history as a powerful closing argument address at the Ellipse in Washington, D.C. Ironically, this is the same location where Trump gave his hate-filled speech on January 6, 2021, that agitated a mob to have an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Kamala Harris wanted no vengeance against his political opponents. She wants to reject hatred and division in American society's political atmosphere. She said she would have a to-do list if elected President to help build up America. While Trump called America a garbage can, Kamala Harris wants to make the lives of the people better. Kamala Harris is welcoming more Republican support. Vice President spoke at the rally for about half an hour. She said that she would expand Medicare to cover home health care, and Trump wants to try to cut Medicare. She said that democracy isn't about everyone agreeing on everything, but it does mean that we have a good debate without calling people the enemy within (who disagree with you). Vice President said that her mother raised her to protect people and hold accountable those who use their wealth or power to take advantage of other people. Kamala Harris has led an incredible 2024 Presidential campaign in such a short span of time.


Trump wants to have Robert Kennedy Jr. work on women's health. RFK Jr.'s ex-wife committed suicide after she found his diary where he wrote about his affairs in graphic detail 37 different affairs. He had a numerical scale in his journal about them. RFK Jr. is a hypocrite and a sellout who supports Trump who is representative of being anti-woman. Robert Kennedy Sr. wanted to bring people together, supporting voting rights. He desired a total change in society, but RFK Jr. allies with a person who wanted the military to jail dissenters and wants Liz Cheney to be killed by 9 rifles. Trump threatening Liz Cheney with death is evil, illegal, and sick. Steve Bannon is out of prison and is attacking Marc E. Elias, because Marc E. Elias is an expert lawyer who has won cases to support voting rights for years. Currently, Kamala Harris and Trump are touring the West Coast to gain votes as this 2024 election is ending. Kamala Harris spoke in Nevada with Jennifer Lopez supporting her in Las Vegas. Trump called Harris allies scum and garbage on September 7, 2024.  

People should vote. Authorities have investigated a South Carolina person assaulting voting workers. The person doing the assault was a MAGA person. This is the mentality of many Trump cultists. The assaulter called one black woman the b word and assaulted another black woman. Yet, many in the corporate media are silent on this incident, because many in the media either are afraid of Trump or are low-key Trump supporters. The Trump abuser refused to obey the rules against wearing campaign paraphernalia in the polling place. Trump hides behind religion to promote his agenda, but he admitted that he never asked God for forgiveness. Trump has bragged about grabbing women by their privates, made offensive comments, was found legally liable for rape, and was convicted of 34 felonies. So, people know about his evil character and actions. In the end, the truth always wins.


There is a double standard in the 2024 campaign. Trump is allowed to say everything under the sun and many voters still agree with him. Trump can threaten to abolish the Constitution, make misogynistic remarks, go about to bash the military, and lie about legal Haitian migrants, but he is treated as Trump being Trump. When Kamala Harris speaks, some in the corporate media and other people want her to be perfect in analyzing every syllable in her statements. Even when Biden said the word garbage which Biden said was taken out of context (and Kamala Harris said that he won't call people who disagree with her garbage), some in FOX News and Trump believe in the lie that Kamala Harris called all Trump supporters garbage. Therefore, Kamala Harris has grown her ground game to get as many voters as possible in trying to be the first woman President in the history of the United States of America.



The political news is coming up fast. The Supreme Court allowed Virginia to purge suspected noncitizens from voter registration rolls which is a policy that I disagree with. In less than one week, democracy is on the ballot. Kamala Harris wants to help first-time home buyers, help first-time homebuyers, and invest in the middle-class and working-class American people. Trump wants a cruel mass deportation of undocumented workers. Trump wants to target the "enemy within" who are Adam Schiff and other people. Trump wants mass tariffs too. The Biden/Harris administration is cracking down on shady landlords, like Kinghtvest, who have used Real Page pricing software to allegedly cheat their tenants.

By Timothy