Category: life

Posted on

The Secret To Staying Alive…

“Apparently the secret to staying alive is to be an obnoxious asshole to everyone.”

Some of my peers were saddened about the passing of liberal/mainstream feminist Gloria Steinem (who was once involved with the CIA associated/anticommunist Independent Research Service as a young person). It will always frustrate me that people like Steinem have always been the face of feminism; that said, i am far from surprised. i have to remember that how people perceive and/or support feminism isn’t necessarily anti-patriarchal. If one is going to imagine a world free of gender-based violence and full of gender equity, they must also resist capitalist notions of those very things. They must actively work to resist capitalism itself. Replacing men for women in a system that still favors institutional oppression across the board is not going to resolve anything; what it is going to do is uphold the currently existing hierarchical paradigms, with a different face.

Instead of the need to recreate more Ms. magazines or ‘girl bosses’, we need to advance the legacies of those who were on the front lines of the liberation for colonized and oppressed people- the Combahees, the Carlotta Lucumis, the Ella Bakers and June Jordans of the world.

Also while not surprised (for obvious reasons) it still frustrates me how many others who have passed (like Janie Bradford, Michael Wright, Curt Bedeau (aka Curt-T-T) and Cassandra Wilson) don’t receive as widespread of coverage.

But i digress…

Well, not really, because to this point about being acknowledged (and the degrees to which said acknowledgement is acceptable to the status quo/mainstream society); amid a conversation we had about the passing of public figures, a friend said, “Apparently the secret to staying alive is to be an obnoxious asshole to everyone.”

This is a statement i see echoed often, and one i struggle with. My response to her: “Assholes die too, all the time. Isn’t Lindsay Graham dead?”

The one thing which is inevitable for us all, regardless of what class status or area of political marginalization has been societally placed onto us; regardless of where we were hatched in the world… We are all going to leave this earth. Because a person you don’t like hasn’t been snatched up by the grim reaper at the time you prefer does not mean they’re not going to physically transcend.

We have to be mindful of the varying conditions as to why someone might actually leave: environmental conditions (aka lack of access to fresh air, water, etc.), genetics, tragic accident, lack of holistic medical care, genocide, sanctions and blockades- there are a bevy of reasons as to why this is a thing. The recent spate of deaths due to cancer could be a combination of things i named above.

This idea that ‘the bad people should die first’ doesn’t sit right with me, because it largely encourages us to evade responsibility in creating a better world. The concept of society being improved if right wing people were to somehow disappear is not only problematic, but ahistorical, as it discourages people from wrestling with the fact that apathy or inaction are larger culprits to the larger struggles we face. Similar to the ‘girl boss’ argument; it was assumed that if Kamala Harris were president, things would be easier- but for whom?

If she were president, cop cities would still be constructed in African and poor communities. Imperialist violence would still be imposed upon countries working toward socialism (or at the very least, nationalizing resources). Israel would continually enact violence onto Palestinians (with the economic assistance of the U.S.). Haiti would still be reeling from continual neocolonial policies imposed by the U.S. and Europe.

For whom would a Harris president be better for?

Who is ‘bad’, and who is ‘good’? It’s not often we think of these qualifications as being constructs of individualist morality we have been conditioned to accept as the correct position.

The proposition that ‘the bad people’ should die before the ‘good’ ones is another construction. Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro and First Combatant Cilia Flores were abducted by the current U.S. administration on January 3, 2026; while echoing imperialist talking points, liberals and right wingers (and some who claim ‘leftism’) call Maduro a ‘dictator’. We must wrestle with why someone can, without question or research (because let’s keep it real, most people who do this are not doing deep research) bestow the title of ‘dictator’ onto someone, while simultaneously claiming to protest U.S. imperialism. it’s again, ahistorical.

Frankly, all one needs to do is read, in full, the memo penned by Lestor Mallory (the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs at the time of the memo’s writing), in which a plan was laid out to destabilize Cuba by establishing a blockade, which persists to this very day. This same energy was given, to varying degrees around many other parts of the world, over the course of many years. Does one not think the same objectives exist for destabilizing Venezuela? Does one think the Monroe Doctrine has simply dissolved?

Or is it just that you’re upset the administration you didn’t like abducted them?

Does one think that when Trump finally shuffles off this mortal coil, that things will be better? We have an example as to why this is not the case: war criminal Henry Kissinger left in 2023, and the damage he caused still has far-reaching consequences.

The anger at these politicians is also selective, because right wing Mitt Romney was praised by (again) liberals, right wingers and people who claim to be leftists, simply because he opposed Trump on particular policies. The Spice Girls (who claimed ‘Girl Power’) praised neoliberal, racist and anti-union Margaret Thatcher. And when Joe Biden goes (and it may be sooner than later, given he (apparently) has metastatic prostate cancer), people will continually praise him upon his death, despite his very well-documented history of covert and overt racism and white supremacy (since his time as senator), his support of destabilizing democratically elected governments (Ukraine), his upholding of the blockade on Cuba, Palestine’s genocide being on his watch, his construction of the ‘1994 crime bill’ (signed into law by Bill Clinton), which still has ramifications today, and more.

He will be praised because his political experience was not considered to be egregious, unlike a Trump… because he was not considered to be right wing (despite his very real right wing policies).

We cannot control when people die. But we CAN control (on some level) the world we want.

The true secret to everyone staying alive is to actively change the paradigm we’ve all been conditioned to accept.

Posted on

Joe Biden Has Prostate Cancer.

This post is going to be fairly quick.

i have seen discussions pop up regarding Joe Biden’s cancer diagnosis; however, i saw something within the last week or so about him getting checked for a tumor. Interestingly, i did not see many discussing this at all. It’s possible that some news circuits picked up on it, but they kept the news (in general) on the low until they had an actual diagnosis- i have no idea.

What i envision happening though, is that any coverage of Biden regarding his illness, whether by mainstream/legacy or social media, is going to gravitate towards certain qualifiers for him, as if he is now among the ‘middle class’, or the masses. He will be simultaneously lionized as a former president, while also having his role as a president expunged in the annals of time- particularly under, and in comparison to this current, more mask-off administration.

i do not wish harm or death upon any individual, because honestly, regardless of who we are, we are all going to meet the same fate. Also, long after these evil politicians leave this earth, the ideologies they adhered to (and the policies they enacted) still reverberate. We must organize to destroy the systems which undoubtedly harm us, as opposed to focusing on putting new people in the place of the same system(s). That said, i do not mourn for those who’ve actively and willingly aimed to do harm.

While i do not wish Joseph Biden harm- cancer is a hell unto itself; i am not sad for him, nor will i mourn him when he leaves this earth.

i cannot mourn for a neoliberal who, as senator, has consistently/predominantly supported anti-bussing measures, saying that it would be “a rejection of the whole movement of Black pride”– a quote that seemingly echoes support of African liberation struggles, but with even a cavalier study of his policies understands that the quote is vapid, and a very tricky level of dog whistling. This is a man who also said that “the Black community will walk over coals for me,” and that for any Africans who did not vote for him: “You ain’t Black.” While he claimed to be opposed to some aspects of the finalized version (like the ‘three strikes’ law, or an increase in the funds he proposed to build more prisons), The Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (which Biden drafted, Bernie Sanders voted in favor of, and Bill Clinton signed off on– it was also known as ‘Biden’s Crime Law’) undoubtedly negatively impacted African and poor communities in particular, via its ‘war on drugs’, among other things.

No one who was in support of Africans having ‘Black Pride’ would draft a bill (and with little regret, remain proud of that bill) negatively impacting said community. Biden sees Africans as a mere political accessory, as he plays with our lives.

Biden’s other clear anti-African policy is the perpetuation of imperialist and colonialist policies toward Haiti. Many emphasize the current administration’s anti-immigration policies; lest we forget that the Biden administration has perpetuated interventionist, antidemocratic policies, through its support of Prime Minister Ariel Henry (which the masses were opposed to); it also notoriously turned people away who were seeking asylum from the oppression rooted in U.S. imperialism- most famously exemplified by a photo of a border patrol worker on a horse, whip in hand, grabbing a young man.

i cannot mourn for a man who, in 2014 (as vice president) supported a coup which destabilized a democratically elected government in Ukraine, knowingly replacing it with a stronghold of right wing/fascist/neo-nazi factions, still existing to this day.

i cannot mourn for a man who presided over the continual blockade of Cuba.

i cannot mourn for a man who continued to oversee the militaristic interventions which subjugate Africans at home and in the imperial core of the U.S., through AFRICOM and the 1033 Program.

i cannot mourn for a person who has perpetuated and presided over a genocide, saying in 1986 (and repeating it over the years), that Israel “is the best $3 billion investment we make. Were there not an Israel, the United States of America would have to invent an Israel to protect her interests in the region.”

i cannot mourn for a person who either voted for, or heavily supported the destabilization/destruction (via NATO) of Syria, Libya and Serbia, among other places, while continuing to negotiate and refusing to see a ‘red line’ with Israel.

i cannot mourn for the textbook liberalism of a man who tolerated the open white supremacy of people like Robert Byrd and Strum Thurmond, and spoke of them positively.

i cannot mourn for a man who stayed spouting gems over the years such as this:

  • “We’ve got to recognize that the kid wearing a hoodie may very well be the next poet laureate and not a gangbanger.”
  • “In Delaware the largest growth in population is Indian Americans. You cannot go to a 7-11 or a Dunkin Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent. I’m not joking.”
  • About Barack Obama: “I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. I mean, that’s a storybook, man.”
  • “They’re saying, ‘Jeez, the reason I was able to stay sequestered in my home is because some Black woman was able to stack the grocery shelf.”
  • “Poor kids are just as bright and talented as white kids… Wealthy kids, black kids, Asian kids.”

And getting back to Biden’s opposition to busing, instead opting for an “orderly integration of society”; of course in a statement that can be taken as a literal example of the white moderates’ ‘appeal to reason’ Martin Luther King Jr. lamented in his Letter from Birmingham Jail, he says that “I am not just talking about education but all of society.”

He adds: “Unless we do something about this, my children are going to grow up in a jungle, the jungle being a racial jungle with tensions having built so high that it is going to explode at some point.”

Joseph R. Biden will leave this earth eventually, like any of us. The difference between him and the majority of all the others whose lives he has negatively impacted through his policies, is his legacy of genocide, subjugation and mass death.

Therefore, i will not mourn him.

Posted on

A Miracle Happened Yesterday: The Left And The Right Unified On A Thing

There’s a burgeoning annual tradition that lay before us- an event so visceral that it unifies the populations, ideological or political position be damned. Last year, it was the television show Velma.

This year, since people were upset at the so-called Supreme Court of the U.S. essentially giving carte blanche to the president, you would think the same response would be afforded to Joseph Biden, upon the news of him pardoning his son. YOU WOULD THINK, but no- there were some who actually defended this act, based on the rationalization of, ‘Well Donald Trump pardoned folks, and if Kamala won, he wouldn’t have done it.’

As poor as that rationalization is, that’s not why we’re here. The event that has unified the masses is the death of Brian Thompson, the CEO of United Healthcare. The person who had a direct hand in said death supposedly has yet to be found (at the time of this writing). That said, not only is the $10,000 reward for finding this person deemed incredibly minuscule to the thousands who have had claims denied by United Healthcare, thereby being forced to pay tens of thousands more out of pocket; most people said that even if they were a witness, they would not snitch.

Capitalism conditions us to battle over low-hanging fruit differences among ourselves, diverting attention from the actual enemy. Instead of unifying on the realization of our material conditions being fueled by capitalism, there’s a focus on the components of a so-called ‘culture war’- the drag queens, the ‘immigrants’, the poor, rural farmer, assumed to be a republican. The masses fight among each other, while the handful of those who own the means of production laugh and amass more wealth.
_____________________________________________________________________________

Having experienced United Healthcare at one point through a job; i can attest that a comprehensive mental health plan was virtually nonexistent, when i was signed up with the company. The networks in terms of what doctors you were able to see were also fairly limited.

My experience with the ‘marketplace’ was also traumatizing. On a phone call, when explaining my financial struggles at the time; i was told very plainly by the person on the other end that they were sorry i was struggling between paying rent and meeting the deadline for the insurance payment, but essentially that was not any of their business, and i needed to pay them, regardless. This person was adamant that they were not willing to work with me, in terms of formulating a payment plan.

In more recent times, i discovered that the insurance i received through my job did not cover my hospital stay, after the near-fatal accident, where i got ragdolled by a truck and lost a leg. Due to this, i had to sign for alternate insurance through the state (or else i would have no coverage at all, and i’d be paying upwards of a million dollars in bills out of pocket, as i was in the hospital for two months, twice during that period in the ICU). After leaving the hospital, i stayed at a rehab center, in which there was a cessation of coverage after two weeks. i had to eventually stop receiving physical therapy at a center, as well as any tools which would have been helpful for my legs, because insurance stopped outright covering those things.

i am but one person, in a sea of thousands, affected by an inhumane system which denies a range of care for its most vulnerable. As your labor is less likely to be exploited in desired or intended ways, you are of no use to society. There have been countless, heartbreaking stories of people being denied coverage for life-saving procedures and mental health care. The pre-authorization periods that United Health Care (and other major insurance companies) is known for, have had life-altering consequences, due to the constant delays which occur.
———————————————————————————————————

We are certainly in some interesting times. We are seeing the mass protests in south Korea, calling for the impeachment of (U.S. backed) president Yoon Seok Yeol; we are seeing several international businesses remove their facilities, finances and support from Israel, as the resistance continues to surround the IOF; we are seeing most countries around the world supporting the end to the blockade on Cuba, as well as the recognition of Palestine to have self-determination. Make no mistake- the U.S. empire, its allies and appendages are in the process of falling, but we must remember that this is a protracted struggle. The actual end is not going to happen in my- or perhaps your- lifetime. That said, the process is certainly, again, interesting to see.

But i once again, digress. The unity on predatory corporations and their executives is leading to a greater analysis on the root cause of our conditions. i at this moment am not going to begrudge anyone for potentially having that ‘light bulb moment’ only now. We all get there in our own time. As i keep saying, none of us born into the imperial core came out of the womb with knowledge of what ails us.

This does make me think of the story in 2013, where a number of computers were returned to the San Bernadino Sexual Assault Services Center, a note included: “We had no idea what we were takeing. Here your stuff back. We hope that you guys can continue to make a difference in peoples live. God bless.” When i first heard this story, i automatically thought of the concept of ‘crime’, and who determines that.

Brian Thompson performed thievery on a consistent basis, and yet his job was considered valuable or virtuous (to those who determine what crime is, under a capitalist society). When you ask a cross-section of people what crime is, that concept tends to be reserved for people who face the largest class disparities, and not bosses, landlords, CEOs or other executives. Statistically, when material needs are met, you have less crime; so this connectivity should inform all of us…

And perhaps that is happening now, because unity across a spectrum of interests has occurred. Lets’ hope this unity becomes more commonplace.