The “Black Vote”
There is no such thing as the “black vote”. The Leftists’ attempt to herd us all into a category and try to select words to sway the lot of us at once is a trifle, a lollygag, and an irreverence. I am offended by them and their kind; however, I do not reject them. The only path forward is the path of Thomas Jefferson and Frederick Douglass: the path of discussion, debate, and adult idea sharing.
Undoubtedly, the Democrat machine will attempt to thread the needle between racism, sexism, and myriad other isms, phobias, and other malarkey. They will thereby miss the lesson. The data is the data; and, the numbers are the numbers.
If we look at all the places where blacks are objectively doing the worse on every measure (income, death rate, fetal mortality, mother mortality, education, criminal justice, health, etc...) they all have blue city councils, blue mayors, blue commissioners, blue sheriffs, blue representatives, blue senators, blue everything. The numbers are the numbers; and, they are the same whether a blue or red is in the Presidency. This has been the case for decades. Local government should be our focus and the Democrats have left local control and local politics to the wayside for all of recent memory.
Here, in Texas, 34% of voting black men voted for Trump. There is something to be learned here that the "blue no matter who" people will miss if they continue down the same path they have been marching the last few decades. If the Democrats do not sit down and do some real introspection and a real post mortem regarding this red wave, it will never be rectified. So, rather than cherry picking the bad out of a 4-year-long political career (Trump) maybe Democrats should fix the bad out of a 60-year-long Democratic Party machine that has seen black male outcomes get worse, and worse, and worse.
I wish these discussions could air themselves in public view. We likely have reached a point in Democrat Party mechanics that wouldn’t allow for such conversations. It would appear that no one on the Left is willing to discuss things honestly, openly, and without vilifying their opposition. Everyone has much to learn and everyone has much to teach. Bill Nye is credited with saying, “everyone you will ever meet knows something you do not know.” Let’s all take a step back, bring the temperature down, and listen to one another. Last I checked, we were still a Federation of independent states, let’s be helpful to one another rather than obstructive.
The Dust Settles
People I know who share with me a bond of mutual respect have been asking me why I would vote for Trump. (Well… Those who have the common sense and decency to debate like adults.) The reasons are long and complex; however, I attempt to give some idea of my thinking nontheless. The first thing one must understand is my life is long and storied although I may not be much advanced in age. All of these experiences have shaped me into what I am today, and I quite enjoy myself, so there is little chance for change. Without an understanding of what pathways have driven me to my current sociopolitical location, it will be impossible to understand my choices - vice versa would also apply.
In response to a friend, I wrote the following:
Trump is predictable. We already had 4 years of him and I was not killed, lynched, or battered. Trans people still roam about freely (one is a manager at a local store here, I live in a deep red city, county, state). Women still exist outside the kitchen. Poor people still have housing and food. The list goes on... I am not buying the media hype.
He passed dozens of laws that affected me positively. He gave sweeping healthcare reforms. He cut taxes for everyone (not just the rich). He bolstered care for recovering addicts. He gave HBCUs the largest endowment of all time AND made that endowment permanent (Obama's HBCU money had an expiry). Most importantly many of the people I trust trust him (Candace Owens, Maj Toure, Larry Elder, Brandon Tatum, RFKJr, Kari Lake, Lily Tang Williams, Scott Pressler, Hotep Jesus, Royce White, some family members, etc...). Of course it is not all good news: he did warp speed which I think was a total disaster. Also, some people I trust do not trust him (some family members). I grew up in NJ in the 90s: I do not trust him, but he did get my vote.
He is the Unity Candidate. RFKJr, Tulsi Gabbard, Vivek Ramaswamy, the Hoteps, etc... all support him.
Kamala was offensive. Megan Thee Stallion has a degree in Health Management, instead of calling on her to speak about the state of healthcare in this nation, Kamala called upon her to shake her ass and act like a whore on stage. Trump, the very same day, spoke with black executives in the same city to discuss black business leadership.
While Harris was talking about collard greens, Trump talked about taxes and regulation rollbacks. When Harris went on interviews she discussed her middle class upbringing and what her mother did, Trump talked about policy, what he had done, what he will do.
Harris is a prosecutor and DA. With my history under the system, you must know I could never back a prosecutor or DA.
Trump won his primary. Biden won Harris' primary. Harris was installed like an oligarch. Which is less Democratic?
So many more reasons. I might write a post on my site about it soon. No one is perfect, Trump included, myself included. Based on what I know, I believe Trump was the better pick this election.
To another I responded:
I am always up for conversation and will never vilify anyone. I genuinely believe in the Jeffersonian vision that was furthered by Douglass and still further by Malcolm X which currently takes us to my politics: Hotep. I was a never-Trumper then voted as a bloc with Hotep Nation.
We have huge problems with Trump (police, project warp speed, shitty on 2A, etc); however, we are diametrically opposed to the Democrat party. I was considering voting for RFKJr., then he dropped out and endorsed Trump too. Candace Owens, Vivek Ramaswamy, and a host of other characters I trust have all gotten behind one man.
I am also a paper Republican. The Republican party is dead. It has been replaced by a coalition of MAGA, MAHA, Libertarian, Hotep, and others. I do take pause with the morality but none of the candidates are moral characters. They cannot be moral characters. Only an amoral person would take a billion dollars and spend it on a campaign rather than feeding impoverished families. No one moral could become President. It is a position reserved for our most megalomaniacal.
Elections are hard choices. All of them. Bar none. I cannot agree 100% with anyone; I have also found that I cannot disagree 100% with anyone. So, I have to narrow the scope to the 3-5 issues I care the most about and choose thereby. Simple as that.
The thing that strikes me the most is that no one can refute the facts. Sure, they have their own facts regarding the Democrat Party, but they cannot refute the positive work done by Republicans. It is clear that everyone has their reasons for voting the way they vote. It is even more clear that, when we all act as adults would act, we can debate ideas and come to a mutual understanding. The goal is not to agree with one another, the goal is to understand one another. Screaming into one’s phone in selfie mode is not the way (this is the modern-day Narcissus story); the way is discussion, respect, learning, and dignity.
What strikes me the most is how easy it is to be civil with one another. All it takes is a willingness to listen and a willingness to speak. I do admit, that it is easier for people with a dark complexion to forge this path. Liberals at least allow us space to speak; they would never allow a white person to say some of the things I say. It is a step in the right direction. Another notable development is that 34% of voting Texas black males went Trump. Democrats have to take a long, hard look at why that might be; the facts are the facts, and they have to make sense of them - same as everyone else.
Things have been a lot less hectic regarding the election today than the 3 days just thereafter. This is a great sign for national unity. We don’t know what will shake out of this administration; let’s all give it a chance before condemning it wholesale.
Trump Won
With over 300 electoral votes, Trump has won the 2024 US Presidential Election. Further, Cruz has won the Senate race here in TX. On top of all this, there has been a red wave throughout the nation! This is fantastic news, and I am eager to see what our representatives do with the new found political atmosphere.
An interesting thing to note is the racism and sexism of leftists.
A black man who did not vote for Kamala Harris in November is sexist, but a black woman who did not support Cornell West in March is not?
A white man who did not vote for Kamala Harris is racist and sexist, but a black woman who did not vote for RFK Jr. is not?
An Indian woman who fixes collard greens in the tub is black, but a black man who uses a crock pot is not?
No one can make this make sense.
Further, their assumptions about me are staggering. I have had multiple leftists approach me and talk to me about their pain from this election and how I must share it. One even brought his son to me, and explained to his son that he should keep his voice down around most people, but I am cool so he can express his feelings freely with me. These people clearly know NOTHING about me; yet, they assume my political leaning none-the-less. White all of them; Liberal all of them; Leftist all of them. If this isn’t the very most basic form of racism - to literally assume my thoughts and feelings by the colour of my skin knowing nothing of me - I don’t know what is.
I am a GOP precinct secretary. I stomped pavement and knocked doors for Ted Cruz. I have written tons of pages describing exactly my thoughts and feelings. I am an open book. Are these people interested in me, the person? of course not. They have asked not a single question about me, my life, my children. Nothing. I have never seen this kind of wonton disregard of my personhood from anyone in the GOP. What an electorate the Democrats have. What an electorate indeed.
I did not scoff at these people; they are not worth the saliva. I simply listened to them tell me how people like me are the worst people ever and we are going to kill them and kill Democracy. They are still alive, and we still have elections… Go figure…
President Trump’s first term gave me the greatest gift any Government could give me: my health and sobriety. Signed into law was a sweeping reform of healthcare in the US. Some of the points were:
Finalized a rule to allow the importation of prescription drugs from Canada
Ended the gag clauses that prevented pharmacists from informing patients about the best prices for the medications they need
Signed first-ever executive order to affirm that it is the official policy of the United States Government to protect patients with pre-existing conditions
Improved access to tax-free health savings accounts for individuals with chronic conditions
Finalized requirements for unprecedented price transparency from hospitals and insurance companies so patients know what the cost is before they receive care
Finalized the Most Favored Nation Rule to ensure that pharmaceutical companies offer the same discounts to the United States as they do to other nations, resulting in an estimated $85 billion in savings over seven years—$30 billion in out-of-pocket costs alone
These along with other rules and laws protected me when I went to rehab. I was making much less money in the beginning of my sobriety and because of the new law, it only cost me a few hundred dollars over 4 years to pay for my outpatient treatments. This literally saved my life and saved my children from growing up without a father. For this single signature, I will be eternally grateful to Mr. Trump.
When people say that Trump will end this, or destroy that, or kill the other thing, they show their ignorance. We don’t vote for Trump for destruction and hate; we vote for Trump for life and liberty. Anyone who is unable to see that is too far gone to help and I wish them well. This is why I sit back and accept the vitriol of those who despise me and other Trump voters. They require forgiveness, for they know not what they do.
TEA Local Reporting Requirements
Today, TEA informed us that the time for public comment on a proposed rule opened today. Being given no real advanced notice is most unfortunate, but par for the course. If the TEA Commissioner had to put rule changes through a lengthy process full of reporting requirements that ensured the public would be informed, how could he possibly do his job? How, indeed…
This is a small change but an important one (a pdf just in case). My public comment for consideration follows:
The current system gives parents and community members a definitive time for requesting the local accountability plan from a district (first week of July). If timelines are to be set by the Commissioner, then a further reporting requirement upon the Commissioner's office must also be set so that parents may have confidence that the practices and policies of a district are in keeping with the reporting requirements imposed by the State.
Two immediate questions come to mind:
With these changes, how would anyone know when an accountability plan is to be submitted and made available? What are the requirements for the TEA Commissioner reporting to parents what the new timeline might be on a case-by-case basis?
I do not take issue with the rule change. I only take issue with how it ignores the needs of children, parents, and community members. We currently have very clear guidance regarding local accountability plans and their reporting requirements. What the Commissioner now proposes removes clarity from the system; this is always bad. If a system is too murky or too complex, the people cannot be fully serviced by that system even though we pay for it with our hard-earned treasure.
The Commissioner needs to ensure we are informed at all times, of all things; he simply is moving too far away from the goal.
Maximum Compressed Tax Rate
This is an incredibly important concept yet it is almost never spoken about by our so-called “leaders”. This rate is the maximum rate allowable by law without a vote. This rate is set by Texas Education Agency. If you want to dig, you can find the complete basis therefore here:
The documentation is effectively page-after-page of dense legalese. The important parts follow, and as always, a fact checker need only read the links provided to verify what is written herein.
First and foremost, this tax rate does not directly govern the tax rate in any school district. What it does is allow the bureaucratic regime known as TEA to near-silently raise taxes without input from the public. The process is devoid of mandatory inputs and hearings before the voting class. The broad strokes are:
School Districts inform TEA of taxable property data end of July
TEA computes a rate
School Districts may appeal the rate
Once a rate is settled a School District is able to raise taxes to that new rate without a vote
If the MCR for a district is computed to be less than 90% of the greatest school district in the State, that MCR is increased to equal 90% of the greatest.
The TEA Commissioner can ignore the rules however and whenever he wants
That is not a typo: the rules states, “The commissioner of education may waive a provision of this section if necessary to ensure the appropriate MCR calculation.” (See Commissioner’s Rules on School Finance). Effectively, we have a system where school taxes can be artificially inflated through willful ignorance of the rules. The rules state both: that a district must inform TEA of taxable property data and that the Commissioner may waive a rule to expedite the calculation process.
These tax rate increases are given irrespective of outcomes and irrespective of performance. Further, a Voter Approval Tax Rate Election is only necessary if a District would like to increase past this MCR. This is a slight of hand; it is a way for unelected bureaucrats to get a tax rate increase while keeping people feeling like they “won something”. If a District wants to adopt the MCR, it only needs to propose a rate higher than the MCR and let the voters select the MCR instead. Voters feel like they won, and the District gets its pay increase. Everyone’s happy??? Right?
The media, too, are not our friends in this struggle to keep what we earn. The media loves the phrase “increasing district revenue” when they mean “siphoning hard-earned money from the public”. Do not be fooled; we are moving backward into a pseudo-slavery situation as a society.
Slavery is a process whereby the people do the work, and the spoils go to the intelligencia and the gentry. In slavery, the keepers of the spoils tell the slaves that all needs have been met, so none should be upset. This is the picture of taxation albeit more extreme. Taxation is a process whereby the people do the work, and a portion of the spoils go to the intelligencia and the gentry. In taxation, the media in conjunction with the intelligencia and gentry tell the public that we have roads, parks, and schools, so none should be upset. How does paying a superintendent 10 times what a teacher makes helping anyone? How does inflating bureaucrats’ salaries artificially while children continue to underperform in reading and mathematics help anyone?
The picture painted by the MCR is not a good one. It reaks of bureaucratic self-aggrandizement and voter ignorance. Get informed, get out, and get voting. Our salaries, lives, and children’s futures depend upon it.
Patriot’s Revival Appearance
I was recently interviewed by the Patriot’s Revival Podcast regarding TEA and my desire to make its Commissioner position an elected one. Check it out: