I should be euphoric for Kamala Harris as a Vice President candidate. Not really! After going over the record, another Reagan Democrat who stepped on the bodies of People of Color to make her way to the top. Another follower of the “Tough on Crime” mantra, code for put more people in jail. Her infamous record of prosecuting parents of school delinquents left a bitter taste for many families in California.
Contrast this with the prosecutor’s record on going after banks during the 2008 housing crisis. Not a single prosecution. Would it have been difficult to have made a token effort of legal, moral outrage?
Kamala only got 2% of the Democratic primary vote. African Americans did not line up behind her candidacy. Unable to reach the top tier candidate ranks, Harris quit the campaign race in December 2019.
This Democratic ticket is part of the establishment that drove the country into the ditch. In conclusion, nothing will change.
I will not support Kamala Harris’ efforts to obtain the highest office in the land. As a willing accomplice of judicial oppression, she obediently pursued power while ignoring what it was doing to her people.
Girl’s just want to have fun! But in Cardi B’s world,,,it is a more explicit. Normally I do not post about social media trends on music. But “WAP” caused a stir on its release. I can see why. The single leaves little to the imagination about what Cardi and Megan Thee Stallion expect and want in the bedroom. Come loaded or go home!
Back in my neighbourhood we knew people like Cardi. We would shake our heads, say a pray for her but love her to come around. Just make sure your man is away when she comes for a visit.
Friday, June19th. After 90 days of not going to the gym, I finished my first week working out indoors in the New Normal. March 12thwas my last training session before the lockdown. Thankfully in Berlin there was not a complete closure. I managed to run everyday in the streets and the local parks.
Weigh In
I did the dreaded a weigh in after 3 months. Facing a firing squad would have been less frightening. The scale read 84.6 kilos. The previous one came in at 83.5 kilos. A small gain. Considering I visited South Germany for a week living on Bavarian Cuisine and drinking, a minor relief
I belong to a gym chain with multiple locations in the city, walking to the nearest branch or biking to the bigger one 15 minutes away. On the website the new protocols included: no shower, no changing of clothes, 3 meter distancing, and disinfecting equipment. Also, going to the gym, I have to walk through the mall, making a mask the new requirement instead of a gym bag.
Check First
Before going, I have to check online for gym crowd member status:
Green=Go
Yellow=Maybe
Red=No More People allowed inside.
Walking in, there are arrows to guide me to the check in. The same trainers stand at the desk. We greet each other but they are behind plexiglass. Hands in the sanitizer spritz. Skip the locker room, head to the cardio area. The distancing rules translates to every 2 machines taped off.
My past routine was A muscle, then B muscle: A Muscle 12 reps times 4 sets, for B, 12 reps, 3 sets- Sometimes I would double rep or jump from one machine to another. Today, that is not possible. New protocols mean taped off workout areas for each piece of equipment, all spaced apart and moved. I was lost in a place I visited 5 days a week for the past 3 years.
No classes, no work out mats, no steps. The free weight zone only allows 8 people at a time. The trainer is now a room monitor. The atmosphere has that “New Normal Feeling”: little conversation, no laughing, suspicion in the air.
Returning
Initially, on my gym return, it was grab a space or machine that became available. I had trouble putting together a program, biceps, triceps, lats. Chest mixed with shoulders, not today! Out with old ways! I am at 60% were I left off in March. My legs and stamina benefited from the outdoor running routines.
Devising a new way forward required visits to the larger gym with more space, more equipment. Forging a new routine, one based on practical situation, focusing on one muscle group at a time: 4 to 5 sets, 15 reps. I have to forget about a chance to move to another machine in between also, the hygiene rules, wipe down the equipment after each use.
After 5 days, I am getting the hang of it, making progress, feeling the difference with a more focused program.
As the George Floyd Uprising continues in the United States and around the world. I can look and wonder how a tragic video of man slowing having the life choked out him became a movement. This is not the first time such a video has been seen. Why did this one hit home? A combination of many of the perfect storm. An African American man hunted and murdered in Georgia. A Bird watcher in New York threatened by a woman. Tired of being tired. Too much in a short period of time. Who’s next?
Protect and Serve?
Police in America are to “Protect and Serve” is a great slogan but not the reality. However if you are a person of color law enforcers are a kin to Henchmen. An apparatus of a State oppression no different from the Gestapo in many ways. I lived in Los Angeles. The feeling of oppression hangs in the air.
The brutal scenes of police forces combating protesters has shocked all the world. For those of us who know the ugly side of the the policing techniques, not so much. Now White America experiences the repressive structure it has built over the centuries. An organization used to terrorize to “keep them in line” has now turned on those who it was “supposed” to protect. A hit over the head with a baton for those whose impressions of policing comes from CSI.
The mainstream news media deserves no credit, late to the game. Most commentators are lackeys wanting access to keys of power thus asking no hard questions or research or at the narratives. They use the word “Riot” instead “Uprising”. Commercial media even want to us to forget their role in the Police State we find ourselves confronting. Ferguson gave us clues of what was to come- a militarized police force with utter competent for the citizens it was meant to serve.
What A Class?
What have we done to to deserve this political class? Our so called representatives are the real Charlatans living in a disintegrating detached reality. Suddenly, public officials are attempting to rewrite their history hoping we will forget their past criminal judicial policy positions this election year.
President Trump continues to show his ineptitude as a leader. An “American Ceausescu” had to take refuge in the White House bunker. Then he dreamed up an Orwellian enemy, is the best enemy for yet another endless war. I.E. Who or what is ANTIFA?
And where were McConnell, Pelosi, and Shummer? Beside Trump in the bunker. At their only press conference over the past few days, the 3 congressional leaders looked as if they were preparing for the crowd to storm Capital Hill.
The trio acted as if they were unaware the police were killing Black Men. REALLY! What was unexpected; the ferocity and expansiveness of the public revolt, from Minnesota to New Zealand.
UH ! HUH!
The real Tragic Greek figure in this, is Obama, his platitudes to nowhere, smooth sermons, and empty words. During While his 2 term Presidency, were there any policing policy changes?
A hollow media slogan , Mr. “Change We Can Believe In” spoke from his Martha’s Vineyard $12 million mansion, underscoring how important it is get out and vote in November. UH! HUH!
Sorry to tell you this, real change comes from the streets.
My advice for the former President concerning commenting on the protests would have been: get better pr advisors or go back to Billionaire Richard Branson’s private island for long surf trip. You were not needed or called.
Biden in 2020. No Thanks! This man made a career of Boogey Man Politics, scaring his voters, “Predators on the Street”. Bided signed on to every crime legislation bill over the past 40 years. He lobbied for special protection for policemen.
While there is no enthusiasm for the former Vice President. Desperations plays in his favor. A win but a poisoned chalice awaits.
The coming days, weeks, and months will radically define America one way on another.
Yes. I am watching the news from America. I wish I could say I am in a State of Shock! Nope. I saw the LA Rodney King protest. Decades later, the same triggers, the police force is not to protect serve segments of the population but repressed them. Now, the world sees it on Social Media. Mainstream now has a different view of the American justice system.
America has fallen into a state of becoming a 3rdworld country, of henchmen on the street, our elected officials controlled like puppets on strings.
In a raging Pandemic there are protest. The first of the month, 40 million without jobs, how will they pay rent? Curfews have been imposed. Very short term solutions.
