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.

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…

Source For Featured Image

Jesse Williams’ Speech Sparks Debate

062816-show-bet-breaks-Jesse-Williams-As-New-Harry-Belafonte-jesse-williams-speech-1.jpg — Jesse Williams during his speech

It seems as if there has been some backlash to the recent speech by actor and activist, Jesse Williams. Justin Timberlake took to social media and provided his thoughts on Williams’ speech, praising the actor and activist’s comments. However, “tweeters” weren’t as accepting to Justin Timberlake’s comments.

Jesse Williams received the BET Humanitarian Award on June 26th, 2016. His acceptance speech was deep and served as a wake up call to African-Americans and to light a fire underneath the racial issues ongoing in America.

The video was difficult to find on the web and there was an alleged “Facebook deletion” of this video. Users who shared and posted the video were surprised to see that the video was magically missing from their timeline. Suspicious… Anyways, below you will find the video of his moving speech.

(Sorry about the quality- full video was hard to find, working on putting up improved video)

What do you think about it?

Cleveland’s Resurgence

Following two double digit loses in Oakland, Cleveland had some answering to do when they arrived back in Ohio. And they answered! LeBron James became “LeBron James” and took a more dominant approach to game three. With Kevin Love out of the lineup, the Cavaliers were without one of their key players. That didn’t stop Cleveland from jumping out to a commanding first quarter lead which they never let up from.

LeBron James shot the ball more than he did in game one or game two. Kyrie Irving played a key part in the win. He demanded the ball and made his shots count. J.R. Smith was back at it, hitting contested jumpers. Cleveland played like a team whose backs were against the walls. Game three for Cleveland was just as important as a game seven. It was a must win for them.

The Cavs were able to contain Stephen Curry. He ended the game with an un-Stephen like box score. Despite his 19 points, he had 6 turnovers, 3 assist and 1 rebound in 31 minutes. The glaring stat here…six turnovers!

At times it looked as if Curry had “checked out”. Most people who have played basketball can attest to times when they’ve “checked out”. For Curry, it’s the equivalent to having a bad day at work. You’ll have your days when you’re in the “zone” but there’s always the exact opposite to that.

We can lament on the fact that Curry had a bad game or praise the Cavs for their play in game three. They attacked on offense and their defense was the stingiest it has been in these three games. The Warriors couldn’t find the bucket early on while the Cavs were full on the home cooking. In this game the Cavs were just more prepared.

Draymond Green wasn’t the same person who went off for 28 in game two. He was unable to make the same moves, make the same passes and have the game tilted in his favor. For those who thought the series would be done in four games, you were very wrong.

It should be a rule: “If LeBron is healthy, you cannot write his team off.” Simple as that! Everyone saw what LeBron and his minions did last year in the finals without Irving or Love.

Cleveland essentially has been the black hole for sports. The Browns have struggled year after year. They are just getting from underneath the whole Johnny Manziel saga. The Indians have not been legitimate contenders for a while (correct me if I’m wrong). Cleveland’s last triumph in the sports world may have been when Shawn Porter beat Adrien Broner in an unanimous decision. With one game in the win column for the Cavs their fans have reason to be excited, but should not forget that it is a seven game series.

Expect to see Golden State come out much differently. Like I said previously, this series is about matchups. It seemed as if Richard Jefferson tapped into his New Jersey Nets days. He looked like the better fit in the starting lineup compared to Kevin Love. It would be interesting to see how head coach, Tyronn Lue, has his lineup for game four. Kevin Love will either be back or very close to returning. Do you stick him in the starting lineup or do you keep him out? That is the question.

Come, Friday June 10th at 9 pm each team will be faced with many questions which they’ll be responsible for answering to. The big questions being, Can Cleveland continue playing like they did in game three or will Golden State wake-up and shake off the jet lag?

*pictures taken from http://www.cleveland.com/cavs/index.ssf/2016/06/lebron_james_cavs_warriors_gam_1.html. I do not own these pictures, Thank you!

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, 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.

20th March 1922: Members of the white supremacist movement, the Ku Klux Klan standing by an aeroplane, out of which they dropped publicity leaflets over Washington DC. (Photo by General Photographic Agency/Getty Images)

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.

Jobs 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). 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.

Hilary 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.

Trump’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!

Can Cleveland Rebound?

Down two games to none, the Cleveland Cavaliers are facing an uphill battle. In the two games played at the Oracle Center, Golden State had Lebron James and the Cavaliers’ number. I foresaw the Cavaliers losing in the Bay Area but not in the type of fashion that they did. The Cavs lost back-to-back games by a total of 48 points. With the possible loss of Kevin Love for game 3, the Cavaliers are in a bit of “pickle”.

Before the series, I kept saying that matchups would be key. A mismatch can provide for some big advantages. Last year, Cleveland was without Kevin Love and lost All-Star point guard, Kyrie Irving in game one. LeBron put on his superman cape but despite his valiant efforts his team fell two games shy of hoisting the O’Brien trophy.

This year, Lebron didn’t have to wear that cape (or so he thought). Love and Irving were healthy and ready to go. They added deep shooter, Channing Frye to potentially tap into his inner Robert Horry. Their head coach, David Blatt, was let go in favor for Tyronn Lue. Everyone saw as Cleveland dismantled the Detroit Pistons, whacked the Atlanta Hawks and gave Drake and the Toronto fans something to cheer about as they gave up two games in the six game series. At the end of the day, Cleveland made sure to take down their foes from across the border.

Golden State was supposed to be here. They won 73-games, best regular season record in NBA history. Oklahoma City Thunder had Golden State on the edge. Reminiscent of Oklahoma City they choked. Giving up three straight games to bow out of the Western Conference Finals.

With the added man power Cleveland has this year, they should be able to put up a fight. Like, Muhammed Ali and Joe Frazier in ’71 – “The Fight of the Century”. Instead, the Golden State Warriors are looking like Ali in the Sonny Liston rematch.

Before we get ahead of ourselves, we must remember that this is the NBA. This is the Cleveland Cavaliers with the best all-around player in the world in LeBron James, uber-talented guard Kyrie Irving and the man they traded their #1 draft pick (Andrew Wiggins) for in Kevin Love. They are going back home to the “216”. There’s no place like home! It could be a whole other story by game 4.

I’m no Charles Barkley, Kenny Anderson, Mark Jackson or Jeff Van Gundy. It doesn’t take an expert to see that Cleveland is in matchup hell. While James is being hounded by Andre Igoudala or Harrison Barnes, Klay Thompson is handling Kyrie Irving. Kevin Love continues to channel in his inner shooting guard and linger around the perimeter making it easy for Andrew Bogut to man the paint against Tristian Thompson. Stephen Curry handles the other guard and Draymond can concentrate on taking advantage of his matchup against Kevin Love.

Then comes the bench. The Warriors bench has been able to manipulate Cleveland. Shaun Livingston’s length is wreaking havoc while Iman Shumpert’s hair struggles to resemble a hair-do. The Warriors are so hot right now that it’s making everyone thirsty.

So what does Cleveland have to do to beat Golden State?

LeBron…be LeBron!

When you’re the best player on the court you have to act like it. Game 1 of the 2015 NBA Finals, LeBron shot 38 times. Game 2, he put the ball up 35 times.

What about this year? Game 1, he shot the ball 21 times and game 2 only 17 times. Simply put, LeBron shot more times in game 1 of the 2015 NBA Finals than he has in the two games in this year’s finals.

What’s the difference? Last year, Cleveland was without Love and Irving. Timofey Mosgov had a bigger impact but ultimately, Cleveland was tied 1-1 in the series last year and the games were much closer. Either LeBron takes over or his team will falter…yet again.

Limit Turnovers

The more turnovers you have the less likely you are to win. That wasn’t the case in game 2. Despite, Golden State’s 20 turnovers they were able to do more than squeak out a win. If the Cavs want a legitimate chance at rebounding from being 2 games behind they can’t turn the ball over as much. Twenty is a lot of turnovers but so is 17. The Cavs had 17 turnovers in game 2 and LeBron had 7 of those! You simply can’t do that especially when going up against the reigning NBA champs and arguably one of the best teams in NBA history.

Where’s the bench?

Richard Jefferson is the grandfather of the time. At 35-years-old he’s an old man in the NBA world. That didn’t stop him from being the best player off the Cavs bench. Surprisingly (so far), he’s the leading scorer off the bench. Where’s Shumpert, Frye, Dellavedova? Maybe put Shumpert into the starting lineup to try to have some fire power off the bench in J.R. Smith. He was the Sixth Man of the Year in 2013. Obviously he thrives coming off the bench as he did last year with the Cavs. They simply don’t have the production off the bench to compete.

No love for Kevin

Kevin Love has been beaten, battered and bruised during his short stint in the NBA Playoffs. The playoffs were a mirage in the distance for him while he was in Minnesota. In his two years with Cleveland – he’s made it past April but staying on the court has been his biggest hurdle. Last year, he was injured in the Boston series. This year, the “power guard” has been able to keep on the court but still hasn’t played like his former Minnesota Timberwolves-self. A blow to the back of the head by a Harrison Barnes elbow might leave Love out of the lineup for game 3. A very IMPORTANT game 3. Kevin is going to have to find some love in the playoffs if Cleveland is to challenge Golden State.

It’s all about the GREEN!

Draymond is the X-factor. Cleveland shut down the “Splash Brothers” in game 1. They still suffered a loss. Golden State’s bench was far more superior. Game 2, Draymond went Draymond. He’s not the same Draymond he was last year. He might be even more effective this year. He has the staunch defensive poise and put his offensive skill on display in game 2. His energy is contagious and he’s a workhorse on the court. Taking a page out of Dellavedova’s 2015 Finals Handbook when he was the pest on the court. If the Cavs can’t contain him then they’ll be looking forward to June 23^rd earlier than thought.

With the Cavaliers heading back to Cleveland they’ll be working out the kinks. Tyronn Lue is a new coach, so was Steve Kerr last year. Cleveland got the players they needed and now that everyone’s (mostly) healthy there can’t be no more excuses. I’d hate to see a sweep after such a great series in the last round. I’m not looking for the lack of sports on TV until football rolls around if this series becomes a short one. Luckily, I’ll have the Olympics to watch after the Warriors give Tyronn Lue and the Cleveland Cavs the Allen Iverson Treatment.