Now That That’s Over…

The most heated and anticipated election has finally come to a close. It didn’t go without wild antics, personal insults and scandal. In the end, Donald Trump is able to say that he’ll be the 45th President of the United States.

The 2016 election was marred with inept candidates. Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump were bottom of the barrel picks. We were forced to choose from vomit or diarrhea; both options stunk. However, that ship has came and sailed. We can’t rewind time and re-select the candidates. There’s no going back.

Trump’s antics were are outrageous. I think most can agree with that. Those outrageous antics, fear tactics, blunt unfiltered views and separation from being a politician were probably reasons for his triumphant Tuesday night/Wednesday early morning.

Now we’re faced with the question of “What Now?” It’s the same question we would ask ourselves if Hillary was named the winner. We can all concur that the next four years will be interesting to say the least.

What now? What’s going to happen? Many minorities are already fearful of the repercussions of Donald Trump becoming president. With his disparaging comments towards Hispanics and Muslim Arabs it’s obvious why they are fearful. Trump’s support of the Stop-and-Frisk proposal, which (in my opinion) is an indirect way to racially and even class profile. His support of this proposal, alone, is grounds to be wary of the new POTUS. African-Americans will be targeted, let’s just be honest. Arabs, Hispanics and even those people who are of the low income class will be profiled.

I think the realization of the election hits minorities much differently than to whites. We cannot say for sure, just yet, if Donald Trump will go through with all the things he spoke about during his campaign. Think of if the roles were reversed. What if an African-American, Indian-American, Arab-American or Latino-American was campaigning around the United States, speaking illy of whites actually won the election. Whites would probably have a sick feeling in the pit of their stomach the day after the shock set in.

It’s unfortunate that in this day and time, racial prejudice is still a pertinent issue. If things were to get any worse, we’d be inching closer and closer to the 1960s. An era plagued by civil rights injustice. We’ve come a long way since then. Things are still far from perfect, but the times have changed and any indication that we may be heading backwards in ideology is worth being worrisome about.

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What people can do, whether you’re black, white, yellow, brown, tan or blue, is come together and let your voices be heard. Destructive protesting and violence won’t solve the problem. Neither will shunning someone simply because of the color of their skin, religion or disability. If those who are against Trump and feel that he is unfit to have control of our control do not effectively speak out and become vocalist for change then we’re stuck with four years of head scratching and “what’s next?” questioning. The only way we can promote change if not changing how things are altogether is to put our First Amendment right to use and speak out. Unless you’re content with the outcome, that is…

 

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Its Been Awhile…

It has been awhile since I last posted something. I’ve been dealing with a lot but finally feel inspired to write again. With all the current events going on, there’s a lot to comment on. The upcoming election, police shooting blacks, Terrorist bombings and even Ford moving small car production to Mexico are all topics that people have an opinion about. Including me.

Waking up and hearing news of all the turmoil going on is depressing. It’s already depressing enough that we are faced with incompetent presidential candidates who fail to address the real problems going on in the United States. Both candidates have lied, misrepresented themselves and ultimately aren’t ready to run the country. Donald Trump has divided the country. He has talked about building walls, his dislike for Muslims and his “perfect” plans to lead America. I’m just waiting for someone to come out to tell Donald Trump, “You’re Fired!”

I feel compelled to give my opinion. Just as I enjoy hearing others opinions. Close mindedness results from not hearing other sides of the problem. Keeping a tunnel vision solely on your own beliefs.I like to keep an open mind, since that’s what America was built on. Our freedoms of speech, press, assembly and religion. Yet, we don’t want to grant those freedoms. People object against the freedom of speech. If it isn’t what everyone thinks then it’s wrong (i.e. Colin Kaepernick). We speak illy of Muslims and when people protest, things get out of hand.

So, having said all of that. I plan to return to my blog and give my insight on what’s going on in the world, my personal struggles and uplifting post because honestly in this day, we need more feel good stories. I will give MY opinion. It may not be the favored opinion but it’s what I think and the great thing about humans is that we were created to all think differently. It’s time to open minds and get away from having tunnel vision. There can’t be change unless we are able to step outside our comfort zones and maintain an open mind.

-Josh Blake

The Wonderful Election of 2016

Please excuse my political informalities. I’m not big into politics but I do have eyes and ears. Everyone is entitled to their opinions, which makes America so great. It’s funny how this country was founded to escape the tyrannical hand of the British government. People traveled across the Atlantic searching for freedom. Once Independence was won, those who won their freedom turned the tides onto the other people living in the country and subjected them to years of being more-or-less a prisoner.

The purpose of this post is not to argue about racial injustice or anything in that matter. It’s about the upcoming elections and the wonderful candidates we have running. These candidates are so wonderful that many have even entertained the idea of moving out of the country. What’s comical about it is that Americans have been adversed about allowing political refugees into our country but we are so quick to disperse when faced with any type of political headache.

donald-trump-has-surged-to-the-top-of-2-new-2016-pollsDonald Trump, the infamous real estate mogul who created his empire from a small loan of a million dollars. He’s the same person who wants to build a wall to keep the “Mexicans” out and would like to identify Muslims by having them wear some type of identification. Sounds a bit crazy if you ask me. Before I start bashing Mr. Trump, I’d like to say that his outspokenness is one trait that I admire in him. I’m not saying I love the guy, but his ability to speak his mind despite it not being the popular idea is a very commanding trait to have. We are required to have tact today’s society. People are sensitive creatures and words have power. Although, I like the fact that he can voice his opinions and thoughts so openly, there is a time and place for such a censor-less person. As a political candidate running for president…I’m not sure that this is the right position for such a person.

America is a melting pot. It’s full of African-Americans, Arabs, Asians, Latinos, Whites, Indians, etc. We have to learn to live together. Shielding away a group of people because of their beliefs, culture, race or color is ludicrous. Is America’s real problem the amount of illegal immigrants taking these heavily desired jobs? Or is America’s issue the terrorist? Because everyone knows all Muslims are terrorist right?

I find both these issues to be a cover up for what the real issues are. I don’t know all Muslims, but I know quite a few. There are bad Muslims and good Muslims. Same as there are good and bad Christians. In America (and maybe in the world in general) we are subjugated to stereotypes. You can thank the media for that. Mexicans are either migrant workers or in the cartel. Arabs are terrorist or womanizing pigs. African-Americans are thugs and criminals, Asians do martial arts and excel at math and Whites are stuck up and arrogant power hungry people. Right? Wrong! Have the media tell it, that’s what you’ll see.

I guarantee there are no Muslim, Ku Klux Klan members. The Ku Klux Klan terrorized the minorities for their own gain in attempts to “Make America Great Again” in their eyes.  I’m sure many Ku Klux Klan members owned a bible or attended church. They were are a domestic terrorist organization. If some can be identified as Christians does that make all Christians domestic terrorist? If all Christians are not domestic terrorist then all Muslims certainly cannot be terrorist. It’s uneducated ideology that brings us to these assumptions. That and close mindedness.

outsource1Jobs being given to illegal immigrants is not the issue. These illegal immigrants aren’t occupying high ranking positions or in lucrative careers. They are doing the work that Americans simply don’t have a desire to do. What about the thousands of jobs being outsourced to Mexico, China and India? What about the international workers who are being brought in by large companies to work for them? A wall is superficial barrier that exudes power and authority. Kingdoms in the Medieval times created walls to keep their enemies at bay (i.e. Game of Thrones).3909148-world+war+z  It’s not like the movie World War Z where like the zombies, the immigrants are trying to compromise the gates. It’s just not like that. I wonder who would be working on the wall anyways? Immigrant labor? Who knows?!

Donald Trump who probably do best in a time when closed minded thinking was far more acceptable. Maybe in the 40’s or 50’s his ideology would of sufficed but in today’s more progressive society when need to learn to get along and co-exist instead of excluding and targeting on a few minority groups. No one can say for sure what Trump’s impact on the government would be. However, one can hypothesize that if Trump does become president that we’d be in far worse shape than we are now. Then again, most candidates would put us in far worse shape than we are now. The ideal Utopia is not realistic.

Trump is the easy scapegoat. The easy target. With an unfiltered mouth, terrible hairdo and absurd suggestions, it makes sense that he’d be the one with the large KICK ME sign. What about the Democrats? I don’t want you to think I’d give them a pass either.

hillary-clinton-thumbs-upHilary Clinton…a name synonymous to Bill Clinton (our 42nd president). Bill had a love/hate relationship with the citizens. Some loved him for what he did in office while some hated what he did in office. On one hand I’m happy to see that over 9o years after the passing of the 19th Amendment that we have a real chance at seeing a woman being elected as president. While on the other, Hilary may not be the right woman for presidency.

Hillary has many of her own issues. On the plus side of things she has a political background, however, her stance on issues may leave proponents and those on the fence to scratch their heads. Then comes the whole e-mail scandal. I’m not a hundred percent knowledgable about the whole ordeal but when it comes to our national security and the measures put in place to insure it, there’s no wiggle room for misconduct. With threats looming all over the world, it’s important to have a candidate that we can trust. We don’t need a president handling TOP SECRET documents from their personal account. I could go further in depth on Hillary’s political stance on various topics but that’s not what I’m addressing. It’s simply about who we have running for president.

I’m not rooting for either candidate. I’m lost in this whole political “show” going on. The next four years will be quite interesting to say the least when either Trump or Clinton takes office. Each candidate feels like their just chomping at the bit for the power the presidency entails and not in a good way. I didn’t forget about Bernie Sanders either but is he still legitimately in the running? We’ll speak on ol’ Bernie later. For right now I’m just focusing on some of the outlandish things I’ve heard.

kanye-west-dead-serious-about-running-for-president-2020-ftrTrump’s antics are a bit overboard when compared to Clinton’s. No one knows what the outcome will be in November. Why worry?  Just think – in 2020, we will be honored to have Kanye West running for president! This whole political thing is becoming a joke!