President Obama renamed Mount McKinley Denali Mountain to hour the indigenous people of Alaska who consider the mountain a sacred place. Of course the racist Republican Party objected and have mounted a defense of McKinley our twenty-fifth president. I wonder how many people know the illustrious history attributed to Mc Kinley. He is rated as one of America's worst presidents. Consider this from Raw Story.com:

When most people think of William McKinley, our 25th President, they are most likely to think of America’s fattest president. Weighing in at over 300 pounds, McKinley was a mountain of a man. He also was a man with blood on his hands, the blood of hundreds of thousands of Filipino people. At the conclusion of the Spanish-American War in 1898, in which the United States defeated Spain, McKinley found himself with the question of what to do about the Philippines. The Filipino people had expected to be given their independence, which they had fought with Spain over prior to the war. Instead, McKinley decided, “that we could not leave them to themselves – they were unfit for self-government – and they would soon have anarchy and misrule over there worse than Spain’s was; and…that there was nothing left for us to do but to take them all, and to educate the Filipinos, and uplift and civilize and Christianize them, and by God’s grace do the very best we could by them, as our fellow-men for whom Christ also died.” Thus, under McKinley’ mandate, the U.S. brutally put down the Filipino insurrection in a war that lasted until 1902. “I want no prisoners. I wish you to kill and burn: the more you kill and burn, the better you will please me,” said one of McKinley’s generals, General Jacob H. Smith. Tens of thousands died in direct combat in the guerrilla war, and hundreds of thousands more from disease transmitted in the concentration camps where Filipino prisoners were herded.


Is this guy really someone to be proud of? In fact for citizens of Ohio whom I doubt even know the history of this man they should be ashamed that he was borne in Ohio. But in a country where willful ignorance seems to be the cultural norm, it is not surprising that McKinley is honored, after all when did the Confederate flag become infamous?

Two days Donald J. Trump gave a highly publicized press conference where he argued with Jorge Ramos of Univision. The pathetic main-stream-media (MSM), of course, had that confrontation as the main story overlooking, naturally, what DJT actually was saying. Trump was arrogant and bombastic as usual but if you listened carefully and ignored the miss-stated facts (lies) and the incoherent policy positions, Trump was delivering a clear message which neither the MSM or his mostly brain-dead audience of racists, gay-bashers, anti-intellectuals, and idol worshipers did not get. 

Trump has no respect for his fellow candidates for the GOP nomination and he probably has good reason not to. I would would wager everyone of them has come crawling to him for money or support to be on Faux News like pathetic Sen. Lindsay Graham. He knows they are all bought-off, lack courage, morality, or integrity. He knows who is giving them money and who owns them, and what their agenda will be if given a chance to exercise it.  He has them on a string and each week he dangles a new outrageous proposal in the public domain  and watches his lowly competitors jump out their skin to match. His main focus has been immigration policies because he knows, and knew before ever entering the race, that it was one of the weakest policy areas for the Republican Party, which he also has no respect for. He started his campaign by saying most illegal immigrants were rapist, etc. and watched his competitors coward in the corner or rush to claim they believe the same. Then comes denying the 14th Amendment is legal, etc. and again watched them mimic his position. 

So what is Mr. Trump doing and saying? Mr. Trump is telling/demonstrating just how pathetic our current system of governing really is. He talks about the $1.4 trillion deficit (which is another lie but remember his followers are stupid and don't know anyway), he rails about pass trade policies, China taking our jobs, Ford Motors building a plant in Mexico, the Iraq war, and that he is too rich to be bought like other politicians. Well, the answer is simple. Mr. Trump is telling the American people that for nearly two decades they have allowed themselves to be governed by two pathetic, sleazy political parties that don't have the "balls" to solve America's problems or one of them obstructs the other's attempt to solve the problem. He is saying that the public because it is lazy, stupid, and apathetic has allowed the lowest form of vermin to take control of the reins of government. Trump's candidacy appeals to the lowest common denominator of White America and his success is showing the world that American Exceptionalism is a lie.

Periodically, I have to check-in on the GOP presidential candidates, otherwise known as TURDS, to see what great moves/policies they have put forth to show the American public that they are America's savior. To date they are all in favor of killing Obamacare which would lead to more people dying, but then that is really not important. Also they are totally against the Iran Nuclear Deal which Obama and six other allies have finalized to prevent a possible war with Iran. The Turds are all on their knees to the Jewish lobby and Netanyuhu who by the way has been lying about his own intelligence on Iran. Also, the candidates all favor eliminating the 14th and 15th Amendments so that America can get rid of those pesky low skilled immigrants and their American borne children.

Individually, Ben Carson hosted a Latino Outreach in South Carolina and no Latinos showed up. I wonder why. Maybe it has to do with "anchor babies". Scott Walker, clearly the least intelligent of the Turds, took three different positions on the amendments and told the Black Lives Matter activists to go to hell. While Ted Cruz and Chris Christie were criticizing former President Carter after he announced he was suffering from brain cancer, real classy guys those two. 

The only female, Carly Fiorina, showed her extreme ignorance when she declared that Planned Parenthood was a federal agency. Also she questions how the Department of Education spends it budget even though the budget is public record. Maybe she cannot read a budget spreadsheet.

Finally, Rick Perry's campaign is broke and he can't pay his staff. Rand Paul's campaign staff is on the run from the FBI. And last but not least, Donald Trump held a campaign rally in Alabama and embraced the Ku Klux Klan and became a favorite of former Klan leader David Duke.  

Well, folks that is it. I hope you have gained further appreciation for the Turds and remember only one of them will float to the top after you flush.

For the past few months we have watched the Black Lives Matter (BLM) groups participating in marches demanding justice for murdered blacks by the police in Ferguson, Mo., New York, North Carolina,  etc. They have brought needed attention to the injustices and white supremacy permeating American society. I recently went to their website to read their mission statement and was struck by the lack of a coherent strategy/agenda for correcting these injustices.

What I found was a lengthy statement of the importance of minority, homosexual, and labor rights but I did not see an agenda. They stress the importance of bringing justice through activism but where is the activism applied? Interrupting Bernie Sanders and HIllary Clinton speeches with shouts and slogans does what? Going on MSNBC and explaining how BLM is important to all does what? Holding marches and yelling at local police accomplishes what?

They speak of transforming black lives and the ending of persecution of LGBT peoples. But how are you going to do that? Educating the abused and victims is great but what does it accomplish. They believe that activism as an end but as Hillary Clinton said recently when confronted by a member of BLM. What is your plan/strategy/agenda for accomplishing what you want? 

Well, I have an idea for one agenda /strategy they can apply. How about voting drives to increase participation at the local level. As an example, lets look at Ferguson, Mo. A city which is two-thirds black and has a white republican mayor and at one point an all white city council. There was even an ex-police officer who was under investigation for killing an unarmed black man on the council. How does this happen? How does a police force of fifty plus officers in a predominantly black city have only three of four black officers. Why are blacks there content to sit on their asses and not vote thereby enabling the racists to take charge of the city and essentially enslave the black population through traffic fines and fees. 

So in my view BLM should focus on local politics first. Promote voter registration drives and increase voter participation in cities like Ferguson to overturn the racist elected power structure which has a direct impact on the lives of the very people that BLM is concerned about. Yelling and screaming at national politicians makes for good national exposure but those politicians are not shooting black men, they are not firing LGBT people from their slave wage jobs, and they do not pay your slave level wages. Politics is local get busy doing something that really impacts the lives of real people.    

Could you ever imagine that South Carolina textile workers earn less than Chinese workers today? Well, according to the New York Times (8/2/2015) wages increased for Chinese manufacturing workers from $4.35 per hour in 2004 to $12.47 per hour in 2015. Now of course the Times did not specifically say these were Chinese textile workers wages but I suppose the egalitarian Chinese believe all workers deserve the same wage regardless of job type. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), SC textile workers make an average of $12.05 to $14.21 per hour as of May 2014. This wage differential is prompting Chinese textile manufacturers to invest millions of dollars in the South Carolina textile industry. 

Of course these investments rely on SC government's collaboration as in Lancaster County's Indian Land, S.C. The Keer Group's Cotton mill opened in April and is training U.S. workers to do what the Chinese workers have done for years. According to the Times:
 "Textile production in China is becoming increasingly unprofitable after years of rising wages, higher energy bills and mounting logistical costs, as well as new government quotas on the import of cotton.
At the same time, manufacturing costs in the United States are becoming more competitive. In Lancaster County, where Indian Land is located, Keer has found residents desperate for work, even at depressed wages, as well as access to cheap and abundant land and energy and heavily subsidized cotton." 

Chinese manufacturers see a bright future in SC due to stagnant wages and government policies which  promise subsidies, tax breaks, and a population of poorly educated, low skilled workers. New textile workers will bear the brunt of picking up the tax shortfall, non-union working conditions, minimal opportunities for advancement, etc. just so a dysfunctional state and local government can say they are providing jobs and benefits for the people. Slavery officially ended over 150 years ago in SC just to be reincarnated in its 20th century form with government support.