Stangled By Debt
Strangled By Debt
Junious Ricardo Stanton
“One of the most damaging effects of rising debt is
rapidly growing interest costs. Under current law, CBO projects that interest
payments on the debt will triple over the next 30 years, climbing from 1.8
percent of GDP in 2019 to 5.7 percent in 2049. In 30 years, CBO projects that
interest costs alone could be more than twice what the federal government has
historically spent on R&D, nondefense infrastructure, and education combined.” The Fiscal and Economic Challenge https://www.pgpf.org/the-fiscal-and-economic-challenge
While
the media and the Democrats hyperventilate, shriek and scream about Trump’s
phone calls to Ukraine
President Volodymyr Zelensky, the US fiscal condition worsens daily.
Trump’s tax cuts, his trade wars and his benighted approach to economic policy
are a far greater threat to US
security, our personal and household financial well being than the Russiagate
and Ukrainegate nothing burgers being hyped by the corporate media.
Americans
are conditioned and programmed to have short memories so we’ve forgotten how
inept George W. Bu$h was, how the worst handling and responses to a criminal
event (9-11) happened on his watch. During his time as president there were no
serious investigations of what happened (the 9-11 Commission Report was a sham
and a whitewash), no firings or demotions of any military or civilian personnel
who were in a position to know or thwart the “attacks”, nothing.
Let’s
not forget Bu$h’s reckless fiscal policies, his bone headed tax cuts based on
the bogus notion of a trickle down theory and his handling of the Wall Street
caused financial implosion. Bu$h and Trump like Ronald Reagan were able to use
the US
propaganda apparatus to promote their foolhardy fiscal policies of tax cuts for
the rich that all resulted in massive government deficits.
Reagan’s blunders created massive government revenue
shortages which cost George H.W. Bu$h his shot at a second term because he was
forced to raise taxes to offset the damage done by Ronald Reagan’s economic
policies. Ironically Bu$h called Reagan’s ideas “Voodoo economics” when he ran
against him in the Republican presidential primary. Republican and right wing historiography
tout Reagan as a hero, and economic genius, but in reality he was a dim witted ideologue.
“As
projections for the deficit worsened, it became clear that the 1981 tax cut was
too big. So with Reagan’s signature, Congress undid a good chunk of the 1981
tax cut by raising taxes a lot in 1982, 1983, 1984 and 1987. George H.W. Bush
signed another tax increase in 1990 and Bill Clinton did the same in 1993. One
lesson from that history: When tax cuts are really too big to be sustainable,
they’re often followed by tax increases.”
https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2017/12/08/what-we-learned-from-reagans-tax-cuts/
Even though Bu$h and his successor
Bill Clinton were forced to raise taxes to undo Reagan’s damage, the dye was
cast. Trickle down economics would become a rallying cry for the Republicans and
the 1% ers for years to come.
What Republicans failed to do in
conjunction with their massive tax cuts was cut government spending. You can’t
diminish revenues while increasing your spending and think you will balance your
budget or gain a surplus; its impossible! Regardless of the reasons for increased
government spending: unnecessary wars, emergencies like floods and hurricane
relief or just plain cronyism and corruption, when you do this after cutting a
main source of government revenue (taxes) you are courting disaster.
The ruling class finds itself in a bind
but we also share responsibility for this mess. Their unhinged fiscal policies
and our own foolishness for spending beyond our means, falling for their pervasive
spend, buy, consume media campaigns and their promotion of crass materialism
and hedonism are the reasons we are in this predicament. Only by reversing these trends can we avoid
the consequences our actions are creating.
-30-
Bill Pickett Rodeo Celebrates 35 Years
Bill Pickett Rodeo
Celebrates 35th Anniversary
Junious Ricardo
Stanton
When you
think of Cowboys, the West and rodeos do Black people come to your mind? If you are like
most people the answer is no. But the fact is in the West following the War
Between the States one in four people were Black and Blacks played a major role
and exerted an important influence on the territory whether it was through the
legendary Buffalo Soldiers, the hundreds of cowboys who worked the ranges,
farms and ranches, travelled the cattle trails, served as lawmen and in even in
a few cases as outlaws. U.S.
history books and Hollywood
have ignored the Black presence in the West.
Few people
know that it was a Black man named Bill Pickett who created and mastered the
sport of bull dogging (steer wrestling) a mainstay of modern rodeo performing.
Pickett who grew up on a ranch in West Texas the descendant of Native Americans
and enslaved Africans, he lived and worked around animals all of his life. He
made a name for himself doing tricks and a rodeo entrepreneur spotted him and
Pickett gained fame and stardom touring with the 101 Ranch Wild West Show.
Pickett was a pioneer with his unique style of performing.
Black
cowboys continued that tradition and an all Black travelling rodeo competition
was created and named after Pickett in 1984. Twenty-nineteen marks the
thirty-fifth anniversary of the Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo. The rodeo founder
Lu Vason from Denver Colorado had a vision of creating a Black
rodeo association. Vason blended the cowboy skills, lifestyle and traditions
with the idea of a national touring company that has survived for thirty-five
years. It has been difficult over the
years but Vason and his supporters made it happen. Since Vason’s transition in
2015 the mission has been carried on by Valeria Howard-Cunningham.
Black
horsemen and women are avid fans of the Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo. They
love horses and are serious about maintaining the tradition of riding,
horsemanship, keeping the tradition alive and passing it on to a new
generation. The BPIR travels around the country and provides a unique
opportunity for the public to see Black cowboys, cowgirls, horses and the rodeo
lifestyle up close and in person and find out about the legacy of Black cowboys.
My brother in law Adrian Harmon is a horseman in Georgia and
last year he invited us to Atlanta
to see the rodeo there but something came up and we weren’t able to go. This
year he urged us to see the championship in Maryland and we made arrangements to go. My
wife suggested we go on Friday, as it turned out when we went over to get
tickets Friday evening the box office was closed. But we were able to meet some
of the behind the scenes people, a sound engineer and the venue manager who
were Black. They told us to come back in the morning around 10 AM when the box
office opened.
The
championship competition is where cowboys and cowgirls compete for points, prize
money and the national championship. This year it was held at the Show Place
Arena in Upper Marlboro Maryland.
The facility is the Prince George
County Equestrian
Center, an ideal location
for the rodeo. Horse lovers, long time riders, horsemen and women as well as
first time attendees came out in droves. The Friday afternoon children’s
educational performance, the Saturday afternoon matinee and the Saturday
evening performance were all sold out. We were able to get tickets for the
Saturday evening show.
People came attired in cowboy hats,
cowboy boots, jeans to enjoy the festivities and see the action. There were busloads of people from all over
the Maryland, D.C. and Virginia area. Outside the arena in the
stable and open areas there were Black folks relaxing near their trailers, RV’s,
Bar-B-Quing, line dancing and a camaraderie and friendliness that is part of
the cowboy rodeo, horseman tradition.
The rodeo is an inter-generational event. I
interviewed Catherine Hamilton a one hundred year old woman who was a first
time attendee. Her niece who owns three horses brought her. She was in the
thick of the action and when I mentioned to her that she seemed comfortable
around the horses the D.C. native said, “Sheila follows them and when she said
she was coming I told her I’ve never been to one and she said ‘I’ll take you’.
I always had dogs and cats at the same time I always loved animals.”
There were Black youth groups like
the Hope Riders out of Clinton Maryland
who participated in the Grand Procession during both the matinee and the
evening performances. Hope Riders teaches youngsters how to deal with horses,
how to treat the animals, grooming as well as ride from ages five to eighteen. One
member, Rayna Martin thirteen, has been with Hope Riders for only two months
but has always rode horses and has three horses of her own. “My uncle told me
about Hope Riders. My dad is a Vet tech and I’ve always been around horses. My
dad introduced me and I wanted to have horses of my own.” Rayna shared that she
wants to be a veterinarian.
There were young people
working, grooming, feeding and tending the horses who seemed to be one with the
animals. Malik Pearson, nineteen, is a Baltimore native. He says
horses saved his life. “I’ve been riding horse since I was four years old. When
I was about three or four years old my grandfather used to babysit me and he
bet horses. He took me to Pimlico Race Track to bet on the horses, I found
horses out here in Prince George County and I’ve been riding ever since. I met
a Black man named Mr. Don who runs a non-profit program in Baltimore called City Ranch and I started
riding there and as I got older I started riding with Hope Riders out here in
PG County.”
Malik also rides in the local
competitions. “I do barrel races, I do cow sorting, next year I will do relay.
I’ve trained for it but I don’t want to do it until I’m really ready.”
While the D.C. area competition was
a national invitational event they allowed walk on registration and
participation. David Tubbs, twenty-eight, came to participate in his first
rodeo. He was born and raised in Youngstown Ohio, his family subsequently moved to Washington D.C.
and he became a cowboy in 2001. One of his mentors at the church he attends
owns horses and David started riding and interacting with other horsemen and
cowboys.
“He introduced me to riding, I
started dressing the part, buying Western gear, riding horses and three years
ago I started riding bulls. This is my
first rodeo (competition). I don’t travel with them; they allowed me to walk
on. It’s in my blood I don’t know if anyone else in my family is into rodeo, I
know I have people in Mississippi
who have farms, I always wanted to be part of a Black rodeo.”
A Black rodeo is a sight to see the
beautiful horses, the other animals and the skill of the sport are awe
inspiring. Being around the cowboys, cowgirls, horsemen and horsewomen is a
unique experience. They are serious animal lovers, they carry themselves in a
confident manner but they are friendly, open and welcoming. I spent several
hours at the venue before the show and got a chance to see them preparing for
the matinee performance.
Malik invited us to the cook out
and we mingled with the rodeo performers, riding club members and tailgaters
who openly welcomed us, feed us and allowed us to get a feel for what this
culture is all about.
When the Bill Pickett Invitational
Rodeo comes to your area in 2020 make sure to attend, you will not regret it.
-30-
Nine-Eleven Eighteen
Years Later
Junious Ricardo Stanton
Last week
we commemorated the eighteenth anniversary of nine-eleven. I don’t refer to
them as attacks because there has been no thorough investigation to determine
if they were attacks by a foreign government, isolated “terrorists” or
something far more nefarious and wicked.
Having
witnessed first hand controlled demolitions in Philadelphia when I saw the Twin
Tower buildings and later Building 7 come down, I know something was fishy
about what we were told happened. I, like most Americans, watched television
all day and night. I went to work that morning and I was at an institution that
had the TV on when I arrived. By then the first plan had already struck one of
the buildings and shortly thereafter the second building was hit.
Early on, I watched as a US congressman
who was being interviewed openly called for an immediate investigation. He
called it a major military failure. I thought to myself someone is in trouble,
how could this have happened with all the military bases on the East coast,
what about NORAD and the other agencies protecting the air space over the US,
how could something like this happen?!
You know how the 24 hour cable and
over the air stations continuously loop their breaking stories, interviews and
videos over and over again, well by the afternoon, that particular interview
and sound bite of the congressman was scrubbed from all the stations and
probably completely wiped out. That was my second clue that something was
amiss.
The very next day the government
was saying Osama bin-Laden was responsible for the “attacks”. How did they know
that? They never produced one shred of evidence then or since to prove
bin-Laden was involved, let alone the mastermind of the events of that day. To
this day the FBI’s own Website does not link Osama bin-Laden to 9-11.
I started doing some research and I
came to the conclusion the government and the media were lying to us. And when
I started looking for precedents and antecedents of the US government lying to its citizens
particularly about attacks that led to wars, there was ample evidence. For
example the Mexican American War the president said US
troops were attacked on the Texas
side of the Rio Grand when in fact US troops were deep inside Mexican territory
provoking them when the Mexicans fired on them. The same thing with the Spanish
American War; the US claimed
the Spanish targeted the USS Maine and used it as a rallying cry for war
against Spain.
Investigations proved the Main exploded due to
internal issues not a torpedo or canon! President Lyndon Johnson used the non-existent
Gulf of Tonkin
“attack” to justify escalating the war in Southeast Asia (Vietnam, Laos
and Cambodia).
But there was no attack on the US Navy ship at all, it was a lie!
Following 9-11 President George W.
Bu$h claimed Osama bin-Laden was hiding in Afghanistan
and demanded the Taliban rebels turn him over to the US. The Taliban merely asked Bu$h
to supply the evidence or proof bin-Laden was the culprit. Bu$h told the
Taliban we don’t have to give you anything and if you don’t turn him over we’re
coming after him. Bu$h used that as his
excuse to invade an innocent, uninvolved sovereign nation. No Afghanis were
involved in 9-11 the culprits were Saudis, Egyptians and a few others. The US sided with the Northern
Alliance in their conflict with the Taliban and for a brief time
drove the Taliban underground.. The US came in wrote a “constitution” for
Afghanistan and installed a Quisling puppet in Kabul, Hamid Karzai a man who had worked for Unocal the oil
consortium that wanted to build pipelines across Afghanistan to transport oil
and natural gas to Western markets..
What we weren’t told was during the
spring and summer the US was
telling its allies in Europe they were planning to invade Afghanistan in October of 2001. The
BBC even did a report on the planned invasion in September of 2001. At home, we
were given a steady diet of the sex scandal involving Congressman Gary Condit
and an intern named Chandra Levy who the police knew was dead by the US corporate
media. (They found her body in Rock Creek Park
in Washington D.C.)
9-11 was used to push through the
USAPATRIOT ACT which, by the way, was written way before 9-11 occurred. That
legislation established the legal foundation for the police state we presently
live under. Anthrax was used to intimidate the Democratic Senators who were not
going along with Bu$h’s program.
The US
invaded and occupied Afghanistan
which was the linchpin of its bogus Global War on Terror and it has been
occupying that country since October 7, 2001! Since then the US has invaded or instigated direct military
action/intervention against: Iraq,
Libya, Pakistan, Somalia,
Yemen, Syria and sent troops into parts of Africa! This doesn’t count covert support for the so
called “color revolutions” in places like Egypt,
Morocco, Ukraine and now Hong Kong.
Under the guise of being the policeman
for the whole world, the US
has expanded its empire. Now Venezuela
is in their crosshairs.
If you look at the natural resources under the
ground in these places, the geostrategic significant of these countries you
will see it is much deeper than going after terrorists. The US Empire is
flexing its muscles trying to establish global hegemony. This is what the
economic sanction on Russia,
China, and the threats
against the EU, Mexico and Canada
are really about.
Since 9-11 the US ruling class has gone completely
mad and despite their noble sounding rhetoric and propaganda have revealed to
the whole world their megalomania and hubris.
-30-
What Is Epigenetics?
What Is Epigenetics?
Junious
Ricardo Stanton
“Epigenetics is
the study of changes in organisms caused by modification of gene expression. ‘Ep’
means above- epigenetics means above the genes…Epigenetics proves that our body
has the incredible ability to adapt and stay in health no matter what genes you
have. This is the gift of God- that we are not victims of our biology but we
are in control of it!” Epigentics How Your Mind Can Reprogram Your
Genes https://renewingallthings.com/spiritual-health/epigenetics-how-your-mind-can-reprogram-your-genes/
We are
constantly being brainwashed, conditioned and subjected to mind entrainment by
the corporate media which is owned by a select few, whose agenda is to control
the flow of information and determine what we believe, what we buy and how we
behave. They attempt to sell us foods that are not good for us and promote
lifestyles that discourage optimal health. We are told we are helpless to alter
our condition and our health is something we cannot affect, but this is not
entirely true. There is hope; there is a branch of study called epigenetics
that shows we can alter our DNA and health through our thinking, emotions and
eating nutritious foods, that we are not victims of our ancestry or family
health histories.
"Epigenetics is a branch
of biology which studies how the development and
functioning of biological systems are influenced by forces that
operate outside of the DNA sequence. Within the past few years alone,
remarkable discoveries have been made which demonstrate that our thoughts,
emotions, feelings, and overall perception of the world/environment around us
can actually have physical/biological effects on our DNA. Adding further
complexity to our often mystifying genetic code, research from Emory University
School of Medicine in Atlanta,
Georgia has
shown that it’s possible for information to be inherited biologically through
our DNA. More specifically, their research shows that behavior can be
affected by events in previous generations which have been passed on through a
form of genetic memory." Researchers Discover That Memories Can be passed
Down Through Changes In Our DNA. Arjun Walia http://www.collective-evolution.com/2015/11/12/researchers-discover-that-memories-can-be-passed-down-through-changes-in-our-dna/
We
are more than mere flesh and blood; we are spiritual beings. There is a complex
relationship between our thoughts, feelings and our physical wellbeing. “
In his book, The
Biology of Belief, Dr. Lipton explains the foundation of epigenetics, and how
the true secret to health does not lie within your DNA. Dr. Lipton explains that you have
cell membranes and the DNA are inside them. The cell membranes ‘read’ all
external signals coming from your environment and changes the genes inside
accordingly. The external signals it reads are: thoughts, emotions, food/water,
movement, air, noise, etc. So this means that what we eat, what we think, and
how we feel CONTROLS how our genes are expressed- for better or for worse. Epigenetics proves that our body has the incredible
ability to adapt and stay in health no matter what genes you have. This is the
gift of God- that we are not victims of our biology but we are in control of
it! Thinking affects gene expression in cells of the Brain and the rest of the
Body. This in turn affects the structure, function, and the health of the
Body. Toxic thinking harms the normal functioning of the Body.” https://renewingallthings.com/spiritual-health/epigenetics-how-your-mind-can-reprogram-your-genes/
This is not new. Our African
ancestors knew this eons ago! That is why they placed such high value on living
in harmony with the spirit world, the physical environment and each other. (Read Self-Healing
Power and Therapy, Old Teachings From Africa by Kimbwandende Kia Bunseki
FU-KIAU 1991 Vantage Press ) Spirit was
a major factor in their lives. They realized subtle energies/vibration/frequencies
permeated every facet of the physical world. To them the goal of life was to
resonate harmoniously with the higher energies (spirits) so our lives and
relationships are healthy, productive and fulfilling. This is huge, it means we
can generate optimal health of our own volition!
Western science is now telling us
what ancient Metaphysicians, mystics, shaman and traditional healers have known
for centuries, that we can alter our current condition by taking action. "Over
the past decades, epigenetic studies mainly have been focused on embryonic
development, aging, and cancer. Presently, epigenetics is highlighted in many
other fields, such as inflammation, obesity, insulin resistance, type 2
diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular diseases, neurodegenerative diseases, and
immune diseases. Because epigenetic modifications can be altered by external or
internal environmental factors and have the ability to change gene expression,
epigenetics is now considered an important mechanism in the unknown etiology of
many diseases. Such induced epigenetic changes can be inherited during cell
division, resulting in permanent maintenance of the acquired phenotype. Thus,
epigenetics can provide a new framework for the search for etiological factors
in environment-associated diseases as well as embryonic development and aging,
which are also known to be affected by many environmental factors."
Epigenetics A New Bridge Between Nutrition and Health- Sang Woon Choi and
Simonetta Frisco http://advances.nutrition.org/content/1/1/8.full
Our
healing, redemption and transformation are up to us. We are the only ones who can
accomplish it. We can heal ourselves by changing our psychic/energetic
environment, by raising the energy and vibrations in our immediate surroundings
from negative to positive. This means being aware of the messages and energy in
the music, televisions, movies, games as well as our daily conversations and
interactions. We have to change our lifestyles by eating healthy foods,
drinking clean water, getting adequate sleep/rest, meditating, redefining
ourselves by realizing we are spiritual/energetic beings, and that giving up our
maladaptive unhealthy behaviors is healthy not just for us but future
generations. When we do this we’ll reverse the deadly pathologies permeating
our communities.
We can do this we have innate power,
intelligence and energy residing in us that can/will assist us, support us and
enable us to transcend our current condition. We can save ourselves and our
progeny. We just have to activate and actualize it.
-30-
Labor Day and the Decline of Organized Labor
Labor Day and The
Decline of Organized Labor
Junious Ricardo
Stanton
It
never ceases to amaze me how people in the United States fail to see what is
going on around them, how they fall for the proverbial okey-doke time and time
again. The first Monday in September is a national holiday called Labor Day; it was created in 1894 to
celebrate the hard fought advances organized labor has made on behalf of
American workers and to encourage unions in their struggle for fair wages and
improved working conditions. Today Labor
Day is a mockery of why it was originally created and an insult to working
people.
But
no one seems to care or grasp the implications of the fact US union membership
is in steep decline. “In 2018, just 10.5% of American workers
were members of unions, according to recently released data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s the lowest rate of membership
since the bureau began collecting statistics in the early 1980s. Most analyses
of pre-1980s union membership suggest it was close to 30% in the 1940s and
1950s. The drop has been particularly steep in the private sector. Just 6.4% of
workers in the private sector are unionized, compared with 16.8% in
1983. On the other hand, government employee unions, like those for
teachers and postal workers, have remained fairly strong, with a small decline
from about 37% of the workforce in 1983 to 34% in 2018.” https://qz.com/1542019/union-membership-in-the-us-keeps-on-falling-like-almost-everywhere-else/
American unions are declining in membership, influence and
effectiveness. Some politicians still attend parades; give speeches and ramp up
their campaigns around this time of year, but for all intents and purposes
organized labor is comatose. This is not just because of the shift of economic
activity away from industry and manufacturing to a more service oriented
economy, hospitality and tourism, restaurants, healthcare etc. Today the US
political climate is basically anti-union.
When Ronald Reagan decertified the Air Traffic Controllers
Union and the national AFL-CIO leadership stood passively by and allowed him to
do it, that sounded the death knell for union power and prestige. Unions were
not seen as the heavyweights they once were and from then on both political
parties all over the nation started to look elsewhere for campaign financing
(aka bribes).
State legislatures around the country rushed to pass “right
to work” laws that have effectively curtailed union membership and organizing.
Right to work laws do not forbid unions, they provide a way for non-union
employees to work and not have to pay union dues while still being covered by
the collective bargaining agreement between the unions and management and
ownership. https://www.thebalancecareers.com/right-to-work-2071691
Why buy the cow when you get the milk for free?
So while both major political parties increasingly depend
on corporations to fill their campaign coffers and they respond to the lobbying
with favorable anti-union legislation, organized labor has literally been
kicked to the curb. Clinton began this policy
when he was governor of Arkansas
and continued it when he was elected President. https://www.lawcha.org/2016/11/23/bill-clinton-remade-democratic-party-abandoning-unions-working-class-whites/
Under Clinton
and his Democratic Party successors the party became Republican lite, especially
when it came to working class polices and legislation.
Both political parties have ganged up against unions, both
have effectively undermined organized labor and organized labor is in rapid
decline; but Americans still celebrate Labor Day.
-30-
