Ron DeSantis – bendingtheneedle

Penny in a Pan

If I had a dime for every “Penny in a pan” abortion survivor story, I’d have ten cents.

That said, how long before Penny in a Pan becomes the next Joe the Plumber presidential campaign sideshow?

How long before other farfetched family folklore and fables seep into the lexicon of Republican presidential candidates?

How long before we listen to Tim Scott on a debate stage relay an incredible Debby in a dumpster or Terry in the trash abortion survivor story?

How long before hundreds of “abortion survivors” pop up across America in a weird parade of zygote zombies and pro-life Presidential hopefuls?

What’s the “over-under” of these scenarios?

Just asking.

Meanwhile, political leaders (especially Republicans) refuse to confront genuine problems or propose solutions to issues affecting people, like the high cost of healthcare, housing, and education, the changing climate, gun violence, sky-rocketing anxiety and depression in children and young adults.

There’s such a deficit of decency in public service today.

Public service, where public servants look to make a difference in the lives of others, is on life support in America.

Public service today is a bunch of self-serving politicians constantly pushing cultural hot-button issues and fostering petty grievances to catapult themselves into positions of power, wealth, and authority.

Meanwhile, our world and our sense of safety erodes and crumbles around us.

The Sunny Side of Slavery

I’m stunned but not surprised at the number of Americans promoting the notion that many slaves were happily indentured, treated nicely by their owners, and benefited from their involuntary servitude.

Do you know what enslaved people couldn’t do? Leave.

Do you know why? Because they didn’t have the freedom to do so.

Creating a counter-narrative to absolve America of the sin of slavery and then instituting that narrative into public education is the very definition of White fragility and privilege.

I don’t give a flying fuck if the enslaver’s behavior ran the spectrum from humanistic to violent rapist; the fact is America kidnapped human beings from another country and forced them to provide free labor.

Suppose I was arrested for snatching a young woman from the street, locking her in my basement, making her clean and cook for me, and using her sexually. Should I be spared a harsh judgment at sentencing because, while enslaved by me, the girl developed and sharpened her culinary skills?

Instead of whitewashing and minimizing slavery’s impact by saying enslaved people learned valuable skills, we should condemn it uniformly, formally apologize for it, and never suggest a positive aspect (and then espouse that positive impact in our textbooks).

Fuck Florida for doing so.

What Shining City?

When did it become Ok

In America

for snickering governors

to play politics

with the lives of tired

and desperate human beings?

When did the light

from that shining city

on the hill

become a trick candle?

When did America

erect its Darwinian dome

of indifference towards

the tired and the suffering?

When did we drift from the

Give me your tired and poor

to a cold and callous

Let me show you the door?

When did we

start to fear and hate

the huddled masses

detesting them

while casting a cold

and stony shoulder?

When the humane

treatment of others

takes a backseat to

cheap political stunts

it’s time to look at

the soul of our nation