#BlackLivesMatter

I have privilege as a white person because I can do all of these things without thinking twice:

I can go birding (#ChristianCooper)

I can go jogging (#AmaudArbery)

I can relax in the comfort of my own home (#BothemSean and #AtatianaJefferson)

I can ask for help after being in a car crash (#JonathanFerrell and #RenishaMcBride)

I can have a cellphone (#StephonClark)

I can leave a party to get to safety (#JordanEdwards)

I can play loud music (#JordanDavis)

I can sell CDs (#AltonSterling)

I can sleep (#AiyanaJones)

I can walk from the corner store (#MikeBrown)

I can play cops and robbers (#TamirRice)

I can go to church (#Charleston9)

I can walk home with Skittles (#TrayvonMartin)

I can hold a hair brush while leaving my own bachelor party (#SeanBell)

I can party on New Years (#OscarGrant)

I can get a normal traffic ticket (#SandraBland)

I can lawfully carry a weapon (#PhilandoCastile)

I can break down on a public road with car problems (#CoreyJones)

I can shop at Walmart (#JohnCrawford)

I can have a disabled vehicle (#TerrenceCrutcher)

I can read a book in my own car (#KeithScott)

I can be a 10yr old walking with our grandfather (#CliffordGlover)

I can decorate for a party (#ClaudeReese)

I can ask a cop a question (#RandyEvans)

I can cash a check in peace (#YvonneSmallwood)

I can take out my wallet (#AmadouDiallo)

I can run (#WalterScott)

I can breathe (#EricGarner)

I can live (#FreddieGray)

I can sleep in my own bed (#BreonnaTaylor)

I CAN BE ARRESTED WITHOUT THE FEAR OF BEING MURDERED (#GeorgeFloyd)

White privilege is real. Take a minute to consider a Black person’s experience today.

#BlackLivesMatter

My writing partner @LakersGold needs your help!

Michael was diagnosed with cancer last year and went through chemo and was given an all-clear. However,  toward the end of October, he started coughing. He thought it was just a cold until he got to the point where he could hardly breathe.  He was told he had a pleural effusion and cancer had not only come back, but it had spread.

As I type this, Michael is in the hospital because he is unable to live alone. He needs to go into a rehabilitation facility while he is receiving chemotherapy. His insurance isn’t enough to cover the costs and he needs our help immediately.  In addition to the cost of the facility, he’s going to need help with the mounting medical bills. If you can donate, please follow this link: Help Michael.

I LOVE @IceCube’s new song, Arrest the President. @RealDonaldTrump

 

What do you think?

Hocus Pocus Parody to @Lizzo’s Truth Hurts. @BetteMidler

For some reason the video isn’t posting. If you don’t see it here, follow this link.

 

Warner Bros. From Humble Beginnings To Powerhouse.

Did you know that production powerhouse Warner Bros. Entertainment got its start in Youngstown, Ohio? My hometown has a rich history that deserves to be told.

From Ohio History and Wikipedia

The Warner Brothers were exhibitors, distributors, and producers of motion pictures.

The Warner Brothers were Harry, Sam, Albert, and Jack Warner. They were the sons of Polish immigrants. Their father arrived in the United States in 1887. The rest of the immediate family, with the exception of four children who had died in Poland, did not arrive until 1895. The family settled in Youngstown, Ohio. Members of the Warner family sold bicycles, soap, and ice cream and later opened a butcher shop.

By the early 1900s, the family had invested in a movie projector. They traveled across Ohio, Pennsylvania, and neighboring states, showing movies in tents. In 1903, they purchased a movie theater in New Castle, Pennsylvania. They invested in other theaters in Youngstown and in the surrounding area. In 1907, the brothers began to produce movies. They established a movie production company in California in 1918, and they created the Warner Bros. Company in 1923. The brothers continued to either purchase or build movie theaters. Among them was the Warner Theater in Youngstown in 1931.

Designed by the prominent theater architects Rapp and Rapp, Powers opened as the Warner Theatre on May 14, 1931, part of the massive chain of theaters operated by the Warner Brothers film company. The structure was built as a memorial to the late Sam Warner, who along with his brothers, resided in Youngstown before embarking on a career in film production. The Warner Theatre operated until 1968 when it was scheduled to be demolished to make way for a parking lot. A public outcry prompted the Edward W. Powers family to donate $250,000 to preserve the structure. The theater was preserved and renovated in 1969. Many items in the theater were auctioned off, and the auditorium underwent extensive acoustical renovation in order to make it a suitable concert hall. In September of that year, the building was re-christened as Powers Auditorium with a performance by the Youngstown Symphony.

 

Warner Brothers Marker

Warner Brothers Marker

Michigan School Has A New Take On ‘Old Town Road’ And It’s GREAT!

Triple Spiral of 15,000 Dominos!

Father’s Day isn’t happy for some.

When I was a little girl, I looked up to my dad, I lived with him until he molested me. I had just hit puberty and was developing breasts. I was one of the lucky ones, so to speak. I had a family that rallied around me, supported me, and showed me that what he did to me was not fault. I had felt guilty for a long time because it “felt” good.

I was sent to live with my aunt and uncle. They helped me through the most difficult time in my life. They gave me stability, showed me what a functional family unit looked like and I thrived. I felt normal again. However, the time came when I had to go back and live with my mother and her new husband.

He was nice at first, provided for my mom and me. He didn’t seem like a bad guy. Little did I know that my view of him would change over time. I went from a home with sexual abuse, to a stable home, to an emotionally abusive one. He treated me like I was broken.

I’m not complaining, I’ve learned well. I’m outspoken, strong and will not put up with someone talking to me like I am less than nothing. My “step-father” was the type who would be great around people, but be a total asshole to my mother. Who calls someone a whore when they are in the grips of vascular dementia brought on by COPD? My mother’s time was short and he told her to get out of his fucking house, but when I wanted to move her in, he wouldn’t give up control.

The whole point of this post is for those of you that haven’t had a father figure in your life, those relationships aren’t always blood-bound. My uncle is my uncle by marriage, but he has shown me what a real father is supposed to be like. The two years I lived with my aunt and uncle really gave the foundation that I needed, the inside view of what a father-daughter relationship looked like, I watched what a loving, healthy marriage looked like, and I while I did get married and divorced, I still knew what I wanted out life.

So, on this father’s day, and all the holidays to come, I will celebrate my uncle as my father. After all, he is the one consistent man in my life. He’s been there since before I was born and to this very day, he is still there. He doesn’t treat me like I’m broken. He never had. I just can’t thank him enough. He took on a role without complaint. I owe him so much,  yet he never holds that over my head. He is one in a million.

So on this Father’s Day, I want to honor my uncle Dave. I love you, Dad.

Leslie “Dracarys” Jones @Lesdoggg is saying what every woman is thinking.

The Double Standard of Abortion.

Much to the dismay of women, several states over the last few months have enacted stricter regulations on abortion.

So what does this mean? Well, in the state of Georgia the current law reads:

(a) A person commits the offense of criminal abortion when, in violation of Code Section 16-12-141 , he or she administers any medicine, drugs, or other substance whatever to any woman or when he or she uses any instrument or other means whatever upon any woman with intent to produce a miscarriage or abortion.

(b) A person convicted of the offense of criminal abortion shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than one nor more than ten years.

This law will follow anyone who helps a woman in obtaining an abortion, even if it is out of state.

Alabama’s abortion law seeks to punish the doctors or other medical professionals who perform an abortion with up to 99 years in prison, while an attempt can be punished from one to ten years. It states the woman would not face charges.

 

Ok, with all these facts, there should also be a massive overhaul of our healthcare and welfare systems.

What I mean by this is there should be mandatory child support put in place for the expectant mother at the moment of heartbeat detection and if the man defaults, he should face jail time. She should get mandatory paid maternity leave from her employer, free day-care so that she is able to continue to work, food stamps and free medical care until the child is 18-years-old.

I can already hear the cries about the hand-outs and this is too much! Honestly, this should be mandatory for all women of our country, but instead, women are forced to keep a baby they don’t want, and then shamed for seeking food stamps when they can’t afford to care for the child. If you are truly pro-life, then you should also think of the lives of the mothers who gave birth, some will have complications that will change their lives or some won’t make it through childbirth. Also, if you’re truly pro-life, you should actually care about the child AFTER it’s born, and not shame anyone for seeking assistance.

Now, to the men who think these bills are ok. How would you feel about a mandatory vasectomy until the age of 21? Or for older men, Viagra is now illegal because if pregnancy is “God’s will”, then so is erectile dysfunction.

Perhaps we need a license to have sex? Sound extreme? So is telling a woman what she can do with her own body.

If you haven’t read or seen The Handmaid’s Tale perhaps you should. Women are more than just cattle to be bred.

We deserve to have the choice to do what we want with our bodies.