Social Commentary

All posts tagged Social Commentary

America’s Latest Mass Shooter

Posted by THEJNSREPORT on May 18, 2022
Posted in: Social Commentary. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

So it’s been a couple of days since the latest mass shooting by yet another young racist Caucasian/”white” coward targeting “Black” people as the source of everything wrong with his life. Is it me or do these mass shootings seem to be on the uptick to where we as a collective nation are hearing about them just about every other day? The mass murdering cowards list of goons just added the name Payton Gendron to its infamous list.

An 18 year old racist/white supremacist who wrote a manifesto explaining why he targeted a “Black” neighborhood and specifically a soft target such as a grocery store “Tops” in Buffalo, NY. I don’t even want to start with his ideology before addressing his parents and relatives. This murderer’s actions can be laid directly at their feet. There’s no way I will be convinced that he didn’t learn his hatred and racism of “Black” people at home. His parents birthed that evil cowardly monster. I don’t think we should even read his manifesto which he published online because it would be giving him attention he doesn’t deserve.

There’s no point in trying to understand the mind of a monster who isn’t mentally ill. It’s clear he wasn’t mentally ill at the time he planned and carried out his mission of murdering innocent “Black” people at a grocery store because of the meticulous planning involved. The location being 200 miles from his home. The fact that he wasn’t shot dead immediately by law enforcement responding to his killing spree is also telling. In one account a witness claims a Caucasian shopper was screaming for his life and this evil goon apologized to that person and didn’t shoot him but purposely went after “Black” people as targets for his bullets from his bushmaster rifle which had the N word written on it.

The racist’s patterns of behavior are of a historic nature in terms of the constant attacks on us as a people ie “Black” people in this nation built by our ancestors of the past and us today. Everything good about this nation, has been achieved because of our excellence, our stolen labor, our bodies, our ideas, our inventions, our creativity, our ingenuity, our indomitable will to not just survive but thrive despite all of the evils we have faced and continue to face. Just think about it, anything that adds to the lives of mankind at large comes from us. We are the first and original people on the planet. There can be no doubt this realization is the real reason behind the hateful mindset of white supremacists.

Perhaps the realization that demonic hateful people by and large will have short life spans and low reproductive numbers due to their inherently evil nature is another reason for this unspeakable wickedness. The irrationality of racists attacking those who have no power or control over their anything and yet we thrive is yet another reason why so many of these young cowards grab the gun so easily. The majority of them can’t fight, can’t compete, can’t create anything without stealing it from somebody else first and on top of that project every horrible character trait they have onto those whom aren’t protected nor have a system tailor made for their success.

Mainstream news media downplaying this latest hate crime filled mass murderer shooting that directly targeted “Black” people is not surprising. The writing has been on the wall for a long time now. We are at war. This has to be a call to all of us to wake up and arm ourselves. We have the right as does any living breathing human being to defend our lives when attacked. Law enforcement at every level is rife with the same kind of people as one Payton Gendron “Loser for life”, who threw his life away over something he can’t change… The will of God.

Video Test: This Is America Episode:1

Posted by THEJNSREPORT on May 21, 2020
Posted in: Art, Social Commentary, Video. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Introducing a joint video presentation in association with http://www.frozenropephotography.com. This is the very first white board video by Steve Dzaba.  Is it clear to you?

Video credit – Steve Dzaba

Video is courtesy of http://www.frozenropephotography.com (c) 2020.  All rights reserved.

Spring 2020 (The Black Period, Covid19 aka Coronavirus)

Posted by THEJNSREPORT on April 24, 2020
Posted in: Nature - Environment, Social Commentary. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Welcome to THEJNSREPORT’S: Spring 2020: The Black Period (Covid19 aka Coronavirus)

by:

THEJNSREPORT

So it’s April 23rd, 2020.  Everything except essential businesses have shut down.  Last day of work was more than a month ago.  A deep sadness grips our family at the passing of our father on Easter Sunday.  Dad’s now counted among the many deaths attributed to Covid19 aka Coronavirus.  He was in a nursing home as well as at high risk for elderly persons who preexisting conditions.

All I can say is when I received the phone call that my dad was rushed to the hospital with shallow breathing I thought he’s been through a lot but God will see him through.  I wanted to go check on in at the hospital but due to restrictions because of the Corona virus neither myself or any of my family members was allowed to be there by his side.  I hadn’t been able to see him once the nursing home said they had shut down all access to residents because of the pandemic a few days after my last day at work.

Surreal disbelief came over me when less than an hour after hearing my dad was admitted to the hospital my sister calls to give me the horrible news that our father had passed on.  Even now it’s so sharp and fresh in my mind I feel like this is all a dream like in the Matrix.  How incredible it is that with all of the health issues my dad battled with it was Covid19 that was his undoing according to doctors who tried to resuscitate my dad.  The timing of everything as it unfolds is just remarkable.

I won’t belabor the fact of where this pandemic originated.  However, I’ll say this is definitely a cyclical judgment falling on the whole world.  This “world time out” has caused everyone to stop and reflect and take a very deep breath because of what’s to follow.  Daily and systematically we are being tested as citizens, as civilians, as workers, as human beings with what we do when crisis occurs.  News outlets we depend on for information are on 24/7 Corona virus reporting.  As I start to tune out the white noise and ludicrous statements of the “Joke in chief” sitting in the White House something else comes to mind to focus on while the world has slowed down enough to take a breath albeit with much trepidation.  What have we been seeing?

Erosion of the protections of the Constitution continue at break neck speed while the economy is suppressed, big businesses receive the lion share of taxpayer funded bailouts and tens of millions of us file for unemployment.  Who would have thunk this just 6 months ago?  I think this is a pivotal time period.  I say that because in our life time we as a planet have never seen something like this pandemic.  We’ve only heard of them in history. Pandemics like the Bubonic Plague, the Spanish Influenza, and numerous others.  These are scary and precarious times.  Death appears all around us and we’re reminded daily through news briefings and social media about social distancing, masks, face shields, PPE shortages, lack of testing, and total unpreparedness with the douche bag in chief at the White House in charge.  Just to think he and his administration willfully dismantled the team of experts whose job it was to plan and prepare for events such as this current pandemic.

Who to believe and what to believe tugs at us daily.  I’m hearkened back to a line from the Devil’s Advocate where Al Pacino aka Satan tells his son Kevin played by Keanu Reeves to “consider the source”.  The problem is can we believe everything or anything we see on mainstream media these days?  Picking out the truth from the lies isn’t as easy as it sounds.  You have people spreading misinformation.  You have “TV doctors giving advice” as if they’ve ever dealt with a pandemic of this magnitude before.  Then you have people who want to just go out and do whatever they want to do in spite of the Covid19 outbreak.

Things I never thought we’d see have happened. Losing one’s livelihood literally overnight is beyond jarring.  It’s like being suddenly awakened from a deep sleep where you are dreaming a pretty good dream and then it’s over while you have someone angrily waking you up.  It’s a weird feeling not having to get up daily and go to work, or go to a bar, or restaurant or movies, or bowling or anything that we do socially as human beings.  NYC still doesn’t sleep but there isn’t much to do these days other than eat, drink, exercise at home or outside briefly these days.

Ordering take out for me is not going to happen.  Why? How can anyone trust food from any restaurant that has people working in it where they could potentially have Covid19 and be around food prepping it for others?  Even if we assume the highest cleanliness standards, just the thought that I don’t feel it’s worth potentially getting sick from take out is enough to deter that idea especially when I can cook for myself and my family.  Having to stay at home and cook daily reminds me of childhood home economics class and household chores I hated doing as a kid with my siblings.  Now present day this isn’t anything I can’t adapt to.  I’m finding it fun to actually shop for healthy (or in some cases not so healthy) ingredients and make a tasty meal I wouldn’t mind eating more than once.

The question on everyone’s mind is how long will this last and how do we as a world collectively move forward from this pandemic?  How much corruption will come out when this is all over? How will the economy recover? Are we going to have to wear respirators to go outside next?  Already to even enter a grocery store you must be wearing a mask which I have no objection to but this is today’s new normal.  latex gloves, masks and at least six feet of separation when out in public.  What I hope never becomes the new normal is a mandatory vaccination or some other way to usurp the 4th amendment using the guise of public safety.  I’m hoping for a better tomorrow but trusting in the most high and not man is what is key for me.

 

The Stand Your Ground Law & It’s Implications

Posted by THEJNSREPORT on July 21, 2018
Posted in: Social Commentary. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Welcome to THEJNSREPORT’S: The Stand Your Ground Law & It’s Implications

By now everyone in the U.S has probably heard of the Stand Your Ground Law (unless you live under a rock) which was brought to public consciousness with the high profile murder case of George Zimmerman who gunned down 17 year old Trayvon Martin in his father’s neighborhood in Florida back in 2012.  George Zimmerman a disgusting excuse for a human-being whose prejudice & racist attitude coupled with the use of the “Stand Your Ground Law” allowed him to basically get away with murdering an African American kid.  Make no mistake, a 17 year old is still just a kid.  This was a grown man with a hatred of people of color and the desire to become law enforcement who failed to become an officer of the law despite his numerous attempts.

His unhealthy obsession with becoming a police officer drove him to study criminal justice and self defense in particular because he wanted to have a legal means of killing people of color.  Despite all the facts of the case America’s stubborn racist mindset and rigged judicial system along with “Lord Voldemort” himself Mark O’Meara convinced a jury that only one person was allowed to use the Stand Your Ground Law when the confrontation occurred between George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin.

Due to his death at the hands of George Zimmerman, Trayvon Martin was unable to testify that he was stalked, attacked, wrestled to the ground as he fought valiantly for his life and ultimately shot at point blank range by George Zimmerman in the dark of night while rain fell.

Without rehashing all the details of that night the implications are clear.  If you are a person of color and in particular an African American male/female child or adult, young or old, your life can be taken (without remedy) by anyone be it an ordinary citizen or a police officer.  Open season was declared with the not guilty verdict.  How did America allow this to happen? The answer is America has always allowed this to happen.  Her soil is saturated and drunken full with the blood and bodies of innumerable African American people while the judicial system regards their lost lives as foot notes not worthy of mention and rightfully taken by anyone who sees fit to do so.

People can point to the “holocaust” it’s survivors and the descendants of survivors with empathy and remembrance along with monetary compensation for them to help with their recovery from those concentration camps.  Under former President Obama, America gave $12 million dollars to “Jewish” holocaust survivors and/or their descendants.  What do people point to when it comes to the innumerable number of African/Afro – American lives lost to slavery, rape, murder, public lynching, Jim Crow, & convict leasing programs not to mention the mass incarceration of Afro-Americans brought on by the Clinton era? Nothing…not a peep.

“Stand Your Ground” is just another legal affront to African American people and should be stricken from the law books.  One should not be afforded the protections of Stand Your Ground” when initiating a conflict and then claiming self defense to justify murder.  Do you notice when a person of color tries to use “Stand Your Ground” that defense isn’t allowed?  What are we to do?  As it stands we’re currently damned if we do, double damned if we don’t.  Perhaps with backs to the wall the answer is (if there is no legal recourse or protection for African-American people) to arm yourselves anyway.  Personally, I think it better to have a chance at self defense than no defense at all.  Fuck a system that doesn’t give a shit whether you live or die so long as money can be made off your talents, your labor, your physical body, your life, your property, and your intellect.  This onslaught can’t go on unchecked and unchallenged.

What I know from experience is that it’s only when you stand up for yourself that people respect you.  What incentive is there to change anything if the people affected aren’t willing to fight for the change?

 

The Higher Education Game

Posted by THEJNSREPORT on March 31, 2017
Posted in: Politics, Social Commentary. Tagged: , , , , . Leave a comment

Welcome to THEJNSREPORT’S: THE HIGHER EDUCATION GAME

Years ago when my siblings and I were growing up, we were told that the way to get ahead in life and avoid jail was to follow the paradigm of go to school, get good grades and a good education.  This would lead to a decent if not well paying job in order to support yourself and your family.  College was something I heard mixed reviews about.  Some said that it was too expensive and the focus of our generation should be on learning a trade skill where one could earn an average to above average salary working with one’s hands.

Others said studies show that a college degree would allow it’s holder to earn upwards of 4 to 10x the earnings of a non college graduate over the course of a career.  It seemed like the logical choice was clear unless you took into account the socio – economic background of the person seeking upward mobility.  America is the land of opportunity no doubt, but there are rules and systems in place that don’t necessarily allow for a level playing field where the brightest, or best, or most talented thrive.

The trap or dilemma I thought about most as a young adult preparing to enter the world of the working class was based on what industry I wanted to enter and knowing there was an opportunity cost.  The opportunity cost basically said “If you choose this path, this is the amount of debt you will owe which inherently makes you a slave to whichever profession you choose.  This is because unlike unsecured debt, a student loan has to be repaid and can’t be gotten rid off simply by declaring bankruptcy.

The way I see higher education today it’s nothing more than a giant racket and the costs continue to sky rocket.  What happens when a student assumes too much debt and decides the career path they had chosen previously they no longer want to pursue? There’s a huge decision to be made no doubt. Either enter the profession chosen and spend the first five years (at least ) of your immediate future repaying student loans until you can actually start saving all those payments and interest, or choose another path and potentially owe for the rest of your life a massive student loan debt that follows you everywhere you go affecting everything you have a need to apply for be it housing, a car, or anything requiring a credit check.

Thinking down the line it became clear that once you become engrained in a culture five or even ten years in, the likelihood of you switching careers or the desire to leave would be lost to routine, comfort and being settled.  This doesn’t mean that change won’t happen.  It can happen whether we’re prepared for it or not.  A company can go out of business or an industry can relocate over seas.  Either way it will force those of us affected to pick up the pieces and figure out the next phase of life.  One thing I’ve come to understand is this, no matter how educated or prepared we think we are at various stages of life, things can and do change.  I think we can never stop learning and never stop looking for ways to gain knowledge without paying through the nose for it.

 

 

 

Power Dynamics A Hypothetical Exercise

Posted by THEJNSREPORT on March 15, 2017
Posted in: Politics, Social Commentary. Tagged: , , , . Leave a comment

Welcome to THEJNSREPORT’S: Power Dynamics A Hypothetical Exercise

Recently, while having a brief discussion about the roles of the sexes in society and throughout history, a question was posed in which it was asked what would happen if roles were reversed between men and women in a corporate environment with women as the predominant sex and in every key position of authority?

What effect would that have on men? I immediately thought the results would be the same as when men are the predominant sex.  All the negatives that come with a corruption of power would be the same as they are with men.  This is because I fundamentally believe that all human beings are fallible.

Not a single one of us is above reproach or incapable of corruption.  It is what it means to be human, to make mistakes, to become seduced by power.  My friend who posed the question, suggested that I’d be wrong and that it’s more likely that women would have the ability to get men to tap into their feminine side more and be more compassionate and thereby would be better leaders in the roles traditionally held by men.

I admit it sounds appealing to wholeheartedly believe that.  However, it’s not practical because power in anyone’s hands male or female is capable of corrupting them more often than not.  I asserted I knew this from personal experience working in a corporate environment in which I, as a male was the sex in the minority employed there.  I saw power exercised when wielded by women was in fact no different than how it is wielded in a male dominant corporate environment.

Would there be sexual harassment in a women dominant office? Yes. Would there be targeting of one of the few males working in the entire office?   Yes. In my opinion power is transcendent of sex.

What do you think? Would women do better than men if the roles were reversed?

Perspectives: Racism & Ignorance Are They Here To Stay?

Posted by THEJNSREPORT on October 28, 2016
Posted in: Politics, Social Commentary. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Welcome to THEJNSREPORT’S: Perspectives: Racism & Ignorance Are They Here To Stay?

freedom-tower-wide-angle-ii

Image is the property of http://www.thejnsreport.com (c) 2016. All rights reserved.

Written by Akan Bosemann

In short my belief currently is yes racism & ignorance are here to stay.  For as many people as one reaches or attempts to educate about how upbringing, long held cultural, and historical beliefs, coupled with institutional racist systems and policies shape how we as human beings interpret our existence amongst each other, there appears to be an endless ocean of those caught holding onto the centuries old mentality that they are figments of the imaginations of those of us who live day in and day out under the burdens and plights of racism.

Humanity is flawed and can never be perfect.  We will choose to do the wrong things at times even with the absolute knowledge that what we choose to do or not do is either right or wrong and ultimately has consequences that affects us all.

I find it almost comical to approach a conversation as complex while at the same time as simple as explaining to someone who may not have necessarily experienced racism or prejudice or injustice to the same degree as some others might have, what it’s like to get those who haven’t experienced the same things to understand the perspectives of those on the receiving end of injustice & racism.

There is often an apathetic victim blaming mentality I seem to constantly come up against. This gnaws at me to no end partly because I have I guess a certain unrealistic belief that if you approach people with logic and basic common sense reasoning they would see exactly what it is that is being said and come to the same conclusion.

How wrong I’ve been but I guess such is the battle of winning hearts and minds.  Experience is the best teacher.  As weird as it may sound or unlikely to occur, I really wish that the same people who have apathy or don’t want to have uncomfortable conversations, or who want to ignore what’s been happening (due to privilege) could be somehow transported back in time to relive the same atrocities and injustices they so easily dismiss or make light of.  It’s because they haven’t lived the same experiences that they are either unwilling or unable to appreciate how evil and corrosive racism, inequality, and injustice are to a human being and the human spirit.

I have flash back moments to the show Quantum Leap with Scott Bakula & Dean Stockwell wishing that you could plug and play police officers who have a history of brutality or unarmed shootings being transported back in time much like Quantum Leap into the bodies of not necessarily historical icons or figures but people who lived during those time periods receiving the harsh treatments of slavery, Jim Crow, Civil Rights, up to present day the difference would be that now they are the ones receiving the abuse, the violence, the injustice when the courts turn a blind eye to the lives being lost.

The more we think we as a society have progressed and become more civilized the less true I find it to be.  How can we as a nation tell other nations how to govern or treat their citizens without examining the history of how America has treated it’s own citizens from its beginnings right down to modern day? I suggest the viewing of the documentary 13th by Ava Duvernay as a good place to start examining what we have and continue to see as the heritage of American society.  What it means to be a person of color in America and what it means to be white in America.