America has
lost one of her greatest freedom fighters.
Longtime Congressman
Elijah Cummings of Baltimore died last night
from what his family called years of various
health issues. He was 68. The son of
sharecroppers who were preachers, he first
served in the Maryland House in 1983 and
became a US Congressman in 1996. He served
as a chair on the House Oversight Committee
and was one of its most-fiery voices.
Many praised Cummings
on social media today, even Drumpf, whom
Cummings was trying to impeach. Cummings
appeared in Michael Moore's "Capitalism: A
Love Story" and Moore himself paid tribute
to Cummings, saying that "he was a fighter
for those who weren't allowed a seat at the
table".
Cummings represented a
part of America that was heavily black and
had its issues with crime and poverty. As a
matter of fact, Drumpf even told Cummings to
worry more about his city than him. But
that's the point. One huge reason why
there's lots of impoverished areas in
America is because of the Repukes and how
they manipulate people into thinking that
most black folks simply don't want to work.
To make matters more embarrassing, there's
more WHITES on government assistance than
African-Americans and more poor cities in
America that are heavily white than black.
On Facebook today,
most pages reporting on Cummings' passing
were responded with a sad face or a heart.
It bothered me that people on the page of
UpNorthLive - the FB page of Sinclair owned
TV stations WPBN 7&4 (NBC) and WGTU ABC
29&8 - responded with laughter. One
person bitched about Cummings being a crook
and other calling Baltimore a "liberal
garbage dump". There were even a few folks
who responded with the laugh emoji on CBS
station WWTV 9&10's FB page. At least
the comment section on 9&10's page was a
lot more respectable, with some even calling
for karma on those who thought that it was a
funny thing that a man who worked his ass
off for not just his district, but ALL the
have-nots in America.
Sometimes, I feel
angry that over 40 years ago, my Dad's
cousin came down to Detroit with a U-Haul
and moved my parents to BFE. I was always
upset that my cousins in Detroit had
everything while I got stuck with people who
had no redeeming qualities. When I saw the
laughing icons on the northern Michigan TV
station FB pages, it hearkened me to when
the planes crashed into the World Trade
Center. At the time, my mother worked at a
tool and die and one of her co-workers
thought it was all hilarious.
That tool and die, BTW
was near the town of Mancelona.
I love it how many
move up to northern Michigan from Detroit to
get away from black people. They think of
crime and poverty when they think African
American. Yet, there's towns up north that
-- SURPRISE! -- are more impoverished than
Detroit. Twenty-odd years ago, Mancelona's
downtown was loaded with abandoned
buildings. A fire wiped out one block, which
is now a park. Legendary morning radio DJ -
and former announcer to MadTV -
Bill "The Captain" Vogel of 106 KHQ
allegedly commented on the fire that it did
$37 of damage. The town's high school was
once condemned and - at least when I was in
high school, thankfully not in Manceltucky -
about one out of ten high school seniors
were pregnant.
Even more, there's
towns up north that are food deserts. Towns
that even though they have a population of
over a few hundred can no longer support a
grocery store. Manton has not had a real
supermarket in 20-odd years. Ellsworth's
former Viking Foods store has had trouble
staying open and has had many failed owners
for years. Empire lost Deering's Market and
Lake City lost Foster's - both SpartanNash
stores - last year. Reed City grocery
landmark Vic's Supermarket closed two years
ago, but a couple is rehabbing a old, tiny
gas station next door that will serve as the
town's sport for light grocery items and
produce. If you think food deserts are a
ghetto staple, think again. Some cities up
north have no real grocery for over 10
miles.
Of course, I can touch
on drug problems and some of the schools
where kids are barely even passing. Yes,
there's nice towns where tourism reigns and
the downtowns are loaded with t-shirt shops
and stuff that's outrageously expensive. And
where restaurants have to close because the
greedy-ass owners won't pay their workers a
living wage. I can go on.
The point is that it's
sick when people see Mr. Cummings as an old,
angry black man from a town that's not the
world's greatest place to live. But let's
remember: this is what happens when unions
get busted, the wealthy get tax breaks and
good-paying jobs become sparse. Rep.
Cummings didn't just fight for blacks, he
fought for the middle class and protected
them from losers like Drumpf who do nothing
but tell those who work hard to stand in the
corner and sulk.
Folks, this is why I
have this site and this blog. I know how it
feels to be excluded. I worked hard to shame
those who need to be shamed for being the
scum of the Earth. Originally, this site was
designed to persuade northern Michigan
broadcasters to start airing Howard Stern.
Of course, it never happened. Hell, one
broadcaster even sent me a cease and desist
order. But at the end of the day, Howard won
and so did the people up north thanks to
SiriusXM. And as a result, northern Michigan
now has several stations that are struggling
under a two share. The one station that
SHOULD have aired Stern and adjust their
music format so us born in the 80s could
actually enjoy it, KLT is now tied in the
ratings with the station, Rock 105 and 95-5
that did it for them.
I know, I should step
away from this blog sometimes, but until I
have a woman to give me an excuse to do so,
ain't gonna happen. Until we all get a
respectable share of the pie, you'll see me
updating Bee-otch of the Day on an almost
daily basis. After all, as George Carlin
once said, "it's one big club, and you ain't
in it!"
Thank you, Rep.
Cummings. Rest in power.
