Manns Medium

  We all have heard this term batted around like it was something to behold and a true compass by which to live and thrive. Some have even used it as an excuse to justify their dominance and their oppression of others, but let’s be real and ask ourselves this question. Could those who claim to have mastered this “natural selection” thing should be always seen as the ruling class and thereby granted all of the privileges that comes with the title? I ask you to consider this question because if your agree with it, then my only argument is, would the current class of privileged individuals retain that title if they had to endure the true trails of those that they wish to reign supreme over and/or suppress. Consider the following.   Survival of the fittest is “also known as “natural selection,” a simple statement of the fact that in dangerous circumstances, only those individuals most adapted to their environment survive—and the world, with its limited food supply, fearsome ...

  According to an article titled “The Conversation- A concise history of the US abortion debate, by Treva B. Lindsey, Professor of Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies, The Ohio State University, Published: June 10, 2019, https://theconversation.com/a-concise-history-of-the-us-abortion-debate-118157 . History has again been totally ignored and the lesson lost.   This being the case, it bears out the great need for educated people to finally diagnose history as it happens and make the necessary changes to ensure that this particular piece of history is not constantly repeated. Consider this, “While many may think that the political arguments over abortion now are fresh and new, scholars of women’s, medical and legal history note that this debate has a long history in the U.S.   It began more than a century before Roe v. Wade. As of 2019 “around 1962 the Food and Drug Administration approved the first commercially produced birth control pill, Enovid-10. Although various ...

A unanimously passed bill through their committee including co-sponsorship from two Democrats and no one noticed the language until it hit the floor of the full Senate.  This bill could have passed and been signed into law by this president only to have it later used against not only him but any other Democrat that runs for any office and no one caught it until it was nearly too late.  Either our elected officials have too much vacation on the brain, are too busy jockeying for camera positions or have hired the most inept staff known to man, whichever it is, they need to wake up and realize that maybe this was how so many State Governments got so many draconian laws passed and made the Koch Brothers the happiest men in America. This comes via an article titled “ GOP Quietly Inserts Anti-Abortion Provision In Human Trafficking Bill ” by Sahil Kapur for Talking Point Memo reporting “It may be the quintessential story of the 114th Congress: An overwhelmingly bipartisan bill ...

This is a question that many of us will differ on but let me lay it out basing it on the many different decisions made by the majority on the Supreme Court and you can make up your own mind. In case many of you think that I might want to make up these things, I am going to use the information provided by the article titled “ Obama Administration Calls the Supreme Court’s Bluff In Hobby Lobby ” written by Ian Millhiser for ThinkProgress.  In this manner, you still may not believe but at least you will have plenty of other choices to find out more to better inform your decision, perhaps.  Let’s start at nearly the beginning. , “For most of the last year, the Supreme Court has forced the Obama Administration into an elaborate dance, where the Court hands down orders casting doubt upon the administration’s efforts to ensure that all women have access to affordable birth control — while simultaneously implying that everything would be fine if the administration just designed ...

Today’s ruling as reported by Adam Liptak in his article titled “Supreme Court Rejects Contraceptives Mandate for Some Corporations”, “Justices Rule in Favor of Hobby Lobby” has done nothing for advancing the cause of women and their rights and in its swift action to play politics with women bodies, they have done nothing but doom the closed corporations and family-owned businesses.  Mr. Liptak reports that “The Supreme Court ruled on Monday that requiring family-owned corporations to pay for insurance coverage for contraception under the Affordable Care Act violated a federal law protecting religious freedom.   The contraceptive coverage requirement was challenged by two corporations whose owners say they try to run their businesses on Christian principles: Hobby Lobby, a chain of crafts stores, and Conestoga Wood Specialties, which makes wood cabinets.  The requirement has also been challenged in 50 other cases by almost 200 for-profit groups, according to the Bec...

Many of those who follow politics for a living has been caught by surprise of the most prominent defender of the CIA, Diane Feinstein has now taken to the floor of the Senate to openly blast this same agency.  Many cannot seem to understand how it happened even though it is being said to have something to do with the Senate Committee investigating torture being bullied by the CIA.  They may be right but I have a different take. I say that this is more about the weary Democrats being so very tired of those who block this president at every turn and cannot seem to let go of the Benghazi and IRS bone.  These Democrats see this as a way Republicans are using to gain control of empty seats and are looking for a way to counter that.  What better than tying them to torture and George W. Bush.  Since President Obama made the decision not to pursue criminal charges against those who may have had something to do with this, Democrats felt that Republicans should have ...

Yesterday I was quite dismayed to learn that one of our largest states within this United States of America has reduced the number of abortion clinics from 44 to less than 20.  I found that disturbing because I was wondering who or what entered the minds and heads of those in charge to believe that they had the power to dictate the actions of others  minus rules and laws designed to prevent the loss of life.  I wondered where in the heck was the mother, sisters, daughters, aunts and grandmothers who sit idly by and watched this happened.  I wondered where were the “real” men who stood by and allowed another person to take away the rights of his wife, mother, daughter, aunt or grandmother.  I wondered this because unless I am sadly mistaken, if you take all of the rich folks and placed them on one side of the road, then take all of the rest of us and placed us on the other side, the rich would never have as much voice, power or influence as we would. I remai...

Far be it for me to cast dispersion on anyone, Lord knows I have plenty of skeletons in my closet but when I hear any story about a child not being allowed to mature and grow because of some idiotic lunatic and their supporters, I cannot sit quietly.  This is the case with what has been reported by one of our local television stations WREX (Rockford, IL). The article is quoted as saying “A 40-year-old Rockford man has been found guilty in the beating death of his girlfriend's three-year-old daughter.  Duran Johnson was found guilty of two counts of first degree murder Wednesday. He was also found guilty of concealing a homicide and intimidation. However, he was found not guilty of aggravated battery toward victim Kaitlyn Head's two surviving sisters. He faces a maximum of 100 years in prison.  Head's mother, Melanie Grant, pleaded guilty earlier this year to beating her daughter but claimed Johnson was the one who ultimately killed her.  A forensic pathologist s...

In The Book of Revelations, it is written that a new king will arise and this new king will bring the people together with their new ways of believing.   Their actions will make all those who may have strayed from the group re-think and re-connect because finally the group will be saying and doing the right things.   I call your attentions to the recent words of Pope Francis who has now taken reign of the Catholic Church and spreading the feelings of good will and grace all over the place.   He might not have changed the policies of the Catholic Church on their stances like abortion, gay marriage and the use of contraceptives but his actions, thus far has gone a very long way to bringing back all those who left before.    Not to mention the recent revelations from the new president of Iran President Hassan Rouhani who has been discovered as exchanging letters with President Obama and saying things like no nuclear weapons in the country and yes, even the n...

If you have been listening to politicians in both Washington and the numerous states within the United States, you have heard that many proclaim their disdain for Sharia Law and some have even went as far as to make it against the law to use sharia Law here in the United States. While this can be understood by many of us, it appears that these same die-hard  opposers  of Sharia Law are now going far and beyond to make sure that Americans follow some of the same principles as depicted in that law.  Many politicians and religious scholars freak out when anyone mentions homosexuality and run around like a chicken with its head chopped off.  They look for ways to insure that those who participate in this are never made whole and welcomed into this widely diverse and divided world.  Same can be said about Sharia Law.  It is reported that Sharia Law homosexual sex is illegal under most interpretations and even though the penalties may differ sect to another...

There used to be a feeling in America, that a few groups would never have to fear having their earned benefits threatened.   These groups included but were not limited to veterans, the poor and women.   History now shows that this is no longer the case. You would have had to be blind, deaf or dead not to hear the rhetoric about congress’s assault on women.   The small government people pushing legislation which may not put government in your business but does place government in your bedroom, home and now in a woman’s womb.   You see congress, not only federal but state as well, voting to allow males to decide what kind of health care women should be allowed to get while hoping no one notices how quickly and smoothly they passed Viagra coverage for themselves.   How some religious communities are all up in arms over contraception but completely quite about the choices men are free to make about preventing unwanted pregnancies, not to mention the avalanche...

Did you know that the EPA has designated about 164 different military installations that were discovered to have cancer causing agents mixed into its water supply?   What this means is many who severed on these installations and those living around it may have been exposed.    You have to go to http://www.epa.gov/fedfac/ff/nplstates2.htm and see if any base, on which you were stationed or resided around for a minimal of 30 days, appears.   For me personally, it was surprising and quite frightening to see that I had served or operated from 7 of them.   Two years ago in August   2011, President Obama signed legislation mandating VA health care for this and that’ s a great step but its only one step of the many more we need to take.   All veterans appreciate the love most Americans shows us but what we really need is to know that once the fight for freedom is over, we do not have to fight to survive.   Many leaders knew about this long before and...

There is a cry that can be heard all around this nation and it goes totally unheard.   This cry is from the mothers, wives, sisters, daughters, nieces and aunts of every single male out there and being a male when we claim to always be there for the most important people in our lives, we fail greatly when it comes to those previously mentioned.   How you ask?   We fail because we minimize, ignore and refuse to try and understand the real crisis they faced when it comes to their reproductive rights and decisions. No man knows better than any woman what is best for them when it comes to what they should do with their bodies and all of us need to get back and support their decisions when it comes to this.   The majority of us would be pitching a fit if women were making decisions about what we should do with ours.   I guess by now some of you are asking the question of what is I talking about and it is an medical procedure called a hysterectomy. A hysterec...

Well lookie here, the GOP may have finally found it’s “extremely literate conservative African-American.   Who says that wishes do not come true? According to Jonathan Karl of ABC News in his series Spinners and Winners he profile Mia Love of Utah as a New Kind of Republican?    He reports that “ Mia Love is unlike any Congressional candidate ever -- she is African-American, she is Mormon, and she is conservative. Republicans have deemed her race in Utah's newly drawn 4th district one of the top ten most important races in the country, vowing to spare no expense to get her to Congress. If she wins, Love would be the first black Republican woman ever elected to the House of Representatives.”   Her major concerns as reported in the piece is debt and deficit and do not see any need to raise taxes even though it was pointed out in the interview that she did raise property taxes while serving as mayor.   My only wish was that while she was so visible and w...

I have been shaking my head a lot lately, wondering just how one party could claim to work for voters while making so many fatal mistakes when it came to political decisions.   Last night, it finally donned on me why. Conservatives are clashing over what positions that their party should take and because they are not as organized as they want people to believe, their chosen representatives are being pulled in several directions at once.   Take for example Grover Norquist and his “No Tax Plan”.   Here this one person cracks the whip and get’s his GOP ducks in a row swearing never ever to raise taxes in any manner, shape or form.   The only problem with that is another group riding in wants a smaller government and the deficit fixed.   To believe that you can fix the deficit without increasing revenue is about as smart as spitting into the wind.   So the representative promises to fix the deficit, arrives in Washington and realizes that in order to do th...

This commentary comes in direct response to an article written by Mr. Mark Whittington as a Yahoo Contributor titled Obama Helps the Muslim Brotherhood's War on Egyptian Women .   In this article Mr. Whittington makes some very good points but do not offer any possible explanation for the Obama Administration seemingly stands except that it is a “bereft of shame”.   While I am sure that some of my commentary could be found to lack the same, I am still compelled to answer his charge.   Now make no mistake, I am not privy to any inside information from the Obama Administration which makes me an expert into their thinking but as with all other Americans I too have my opinions. In an effort to address each point of Mr. Whittington’s commentary, I will provide a picture of the other side of the argument after repeating his.   The first of which is “President Barack Obama has hit upon a re-election strategy, according to Reuters , by wooing working women and accusi...

On Tuesday night Show Rachel Maddow brought this story to us about the Republican controlled State House and Senate passing a bill which would require doctors to perform a transvaginal ultrasound on any woman seeking an abortion without her approval.   That means that doctors will be allowed to ram an object into a woman’s vagina without her permission legally.   How ignorant is that and why was it allowed to even get this far? Up until she expanded her coverage with a segment in tonight’s show, this seemed too farfetched to believe.   I could not believe that veterans like I was prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice so elected officials could take away freedoms earned on the battlefield.   But what truly makes my blood boil is that it seems the voters of Virginia is just sitting by and allowing this to happen.   It makes me quite sad that Virginia voters care so little for the blood, sweat and tears that veterans spilled so they could have the freedom of ch...

We all should be familiar with the phrase “judicial activism” by now since it has been used several times in recent memory to determine if any judge should be allowed a seat on any bench by those in political offices who are tasked with that decision.   I submit, that this has now become an epidemic not because it is necessary but because in order for those without to get justice they deserve, the “go-to” governmental offices established to protect the average individual’s rights no longer do so. Case in point is the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).   As an individual, I had filed a complaint regarding a prominent radio-talk show host who used his status to give rise to a movement touting that there were an “institutional hatred of America being taught” in African-American households.   This was more than offensive to me as an African-American single father but more so as a former US Marine.   Thinking that government affords even the average citizen protect...

Riding around in a bus, telling the family it’s a vacation while bathing in the glory of herself on the dime of those who support her is all that Sarah Palin will have the heart to do.  While many may wish to go broke trying to support her and others wish to place her atop the entire Republican Party, the majority of Americans are acutely aware that she is not ready for prime time. Even if she undergo years of study to get the history of this nation more correct or expand her current knowledge of current events, she will never be ready.  Mainly because it takes more to become President of the United States than just the ability to point out the wrong in others thinking.  It takes an even hand and one who is not only willing to admit when they are wrong but learn from each and every situation.  This will never be a place where Sarah Palin will reside because even when faced with overwhelming evidence that her interpretation could use a little bit of adjusting, she re...

A large part of the media is spinning this win by the Democratic challenger Kathy Hochul as a referendum on Paul Ryan’s Budget Plan and while that appears to have a great deal to do with it a larger lesson is available for consumption.   That lesson is the message that was sent by those Republicans voters who chose Hochul over Republican state Assemblywoman Jane Corwin and just how strong the Tea Party may really be in the Republican Party. Lesson one is that Democrats, Independents, a good number of “real” Republicans and even a few Tea Party members no longer feel like they can trust the campaign promises and words of Republicans.   This was brought about when the current office holders promised to bring jobs back but instead spent all of their time concentrating on assaulting women’s reproductive rights and made no clear effort to fulfill any of the promises made.   The call for a smaller government while voting to increase government’s role in all pregnancies, the...