Winter has Come

Hola mi gente,
I had to write this quickly. Welcome to Trumpland, welcome to twilight of the Empire.

(Note: As always, all links open up in a new tab/ browser)

Winter

Clinton, along with other white, neoliberal feminists, attempted to manipulate the illusion of herself as a trailblazer for all women in her grab for power. This despite the fact that every policy she has advocated has disproportionately caused immeasurable harm to women the world over -- especially marginalized Black, Brown, and Indigenous women.

And she lost... And the fault is hers and hers alone.

For over a year I have been warning that so-called “pragmatic progressives” had this election all wrong from the get. This election was about a legitimate and profound disappointment with a status quo that is crushing the working class. Trump manipulated that disappointment by playing to the crowd and offering a bait-and-switch scheme.

The out of touch, spectacularly ineffective Democratic Party thought they could offer someone who could manage this dysfunctional state of affairs and the people, rightfully so, rejected it. The tragedy is that if the Democrats had the cojones and foresight, they could have tapped into the same middle class and working poor angst by getting behind a wildly popular, ground-up movement. 

Imagine what today would’ve looked like had the vast sums of lucre and resources had been poured into a genuine people’s movement? Imagine if the DNC had gotten behind those enormous rallies happening across the nation -- tens of thousands of people from all walks of life clamoring to get behind a people’s power political platform. Imagine a platform that addressed concerns about a rigged economy, crushing student debt, a bloated and cancerous military budget, and corrected an insurance (not health) reform law that came straight out of an extreme right-wing think tank.

What the DNC did instead was to rig the primaries and then spit on that burgeoning movement. What the Democrats did was try to use fear of Trump to win an election. In the meantime, they stood for  nothing and got nothing. This demonstrates that the DNC cannot be reformed or counted upon. This demonstrates the need for a movement that creates its own party that is responsive to the needs of the people.

But that will never happen with the DNC because Trump is right: the DNC (and RNC) are totally beholden to their corporate masters. Shit, cockroaches poll higher than these congress critters.

So what’s next? 

I plan to tackle that tomorrow. 

My name is Eddie and I’m in recovery from civilization… 

Sunday Sermon [When Doves Cry]

Hola mi Gente,

First Hill-Billy Clinton, and now Barry Obama are attempting to brow beat the rabble in order to get them in line. Barry has no business checkingthe Black Lives Matter movement, especially seeing as his former top aide and now Chicago mayor, RahmEmmanuel, who most likely colluded to hide crucial evidence in a police execution in Chicago. Oh, yeah, then there’s the Chicago police operatingan off-the-books interrogation house rendering Americans unable to be found by family or attorneys while locked inside what lawyers say is the domestic equivalent of a CIA black site.

And we’re supposed to stop “yelling”? And what, go to the table got get what Obama got by groveling to the GOP? You know, like95% of the wealth generated since the Great Recession to the richest 1%? No thanks, neoliberals need to take several seats.

The following is an adaption of sorts of a Buddhist teaching story I heard many years ago…

* * *

When Doves Cry

A pair of doves, male and female, decided to share a nest together. In autumn, when the nuts were ripe, they worked hard to gather them and fill their nest. After some time, however, the nuts dried up and shrank. This caused them to take less space and give the appearance that there was less -- filling up only half the space. 

Well, when the male dove noticed this, he got pissed off and said, “After all that hard work we went through gathering these nuts and now you've gone and eaten half of them you greedy slob!”

The female dove, hurt by the accusation, answered, “I didn't eat them! All the nuts are here, they've just become smaller.”

The male dove could not be persuaded and he became even more furious. “If you didn't eat them,” he said, “then why are there less?! Don't get all brand new on me, bitch!” Then in his rage, he pecked at the female dove with his sharp beak until she was dead.

Several days passed and a heavy rain fell, then nuts got wet, reconstituted, filled up, and again there was a full nest of nuts. When the male dove saw this, he was ashamed and thought, “She didn't eat them after all. I killed her for no reason.”

Throughout the forest, you could hear his cries of grief, “Where are you, where have you gone?”

* * *

There are many among us who are lost in a cloud of confusion. They pursue pleasure as if it could last forever and don't understand that life -- by its very nature -- is impermanent. People often do as they please, in the process breaking important boundaries and prohibitions, and later they feel remorse and grief. What purpose does that achieve? They are like the dove that mistakenly killed his mate.

My name is Eddie and I’m in recovery from civilization…

Moral Conformity

Hola mi Gente,
I probably shouldn’t share this, since it could come back to bite me in the ass in my job search, but -- fuck it -- I’m going to share it anyway…

* * *

HillBilly & de Blasio

Moral Conformity

The opposite for courage is not cowardice, it is conformity. Even a dead fish can go with the flow.

 -- Jim Hightower

Some years ago, before he was mayor, Bill de Blasio was a Brooklyn politician. At the time I was the program director for a re-entry project offering supportive services to the men and women returning to their communities after incarceration.

At the time, the organization that housed my project was looking to develop transitional housing for the elderly and people with mental health needs. A very few may have had some criminal justice involvement, which isn’t unusual since cages have become the norm for addressing the needs of people with mental health issues (same with poverty, lack of education, structural racism -- well, you get the idea). In any case, I had created a poster that said, in part:

Have You Ever Been Convicted of a Crime? Do you need help with education, employment, substance abuse treatment… 

These posters were distributed in a gentrified neighborhood in Brooklyn which will remain nameless. Enter Bill de Blasio who was lending his support for the development of supportive housing, again in a much gentrified community in Brooklyn. Somehow, a merchant got a hold of one my posters offering to help formerly incarcerated persons and used it to rally other merchants to protest developing the supportive housing project. 

Now, mind you, whether you help those coming home from prison or not, the fact remains that these human beings (not super predators) are going to be in the neighborhood. You cannot keep people away from their communities. The real issue is whether the community will support giving these people the services they need in order to reintegrate and become fully functioning members of their communities.

Mistake one was committed by my then executive director who, a terrible public speaker, fucked up during a community meeting. No shade meant, but she’s just not a good public speaker. I heard she stood up to those “liberal” merchants and landed gentry, but… She should’ve had me and the people who had gone through my program representing. I believe she had issues with me because I spoke easily about structural racism and racialized social control.

Anyway, she didn’t want me near the meeting and the campaign by the merchants became very ugly. Eventually Bill de Blasio, who had initially supported our project very publicly, not only withdrew his support, but did a 180 and sided with the merchants. Yeah, the phrase moral cowardice comes to mind. I never spoke to him again. I mean, he doesn’t know me from a whole in the wall, but every time he would visit our offices, he would shake all our hands and act as if he was down.

We were able to get approval for the project and today it’s one of the better things in that gentrified community. No crimes have been committed by any of the residents of the supportive housing project and the property has enhanced the values of the surrounding real estate.

Years later, I ran into de Blasio shaking hands at a Sunset Park subway train station when he was running for mayor. I went up to him and asked, “Mr. de Blasio, are you for criminal justice reform and for offering supportive services to the many men and women returning to our communities?” Of course, de Blasio said, enthusiastically. That’s when I looked him in the eye and asked, “Then why did you abandon us at the Organization-which-will-remain-nameless when we needed your support? Remember?”

I wish I could have taken a photo in order to preserve the look of shock on his face. I mean, the man was at a loss for words. By now there was a small crowd gathering and I kept at it: “You haven’t answered my question, Mr. de Blasio. How do I know you won’t flip flop again when I need your leadership on criminal justice reform? Will you change your position if too many constituents put pressure on you, or are you truly committed to combating racist practices such as stop and frisk and the mass incarceration of mostly blacks and Latina/os?”

By now, some in the crowd, sensing blood in the water, were echoing my concerns. That’s when one of his goons tried to steer me away. I let it go because I just wanted to see the coward squirm.

Now, you might say that all politicians are cowards but that’s just not true. I have worked with some really courageous politicians who have been true allies in the cause for years. Velmanette Montgomery and Jeffrion Aubrey come to mind. But bill de Blasio? We Puerto Ricans have a technical term for people like de Blasio. He’s what we call a come mierda. I don’t vote for come mierdas or conservatives.

My name is Eddie and I’m in recovery from civilization…