Mind Over Matter

My grandson learned how to break boards with his fists and hands in karate class this morning. Spectators were allowed to join in on the fun so, much to my surprise, I broke a board and my hubby did too!

It's Too Hot! 💯 #WeatherRant 😓

#GoodbyeGeoffrey ❤

TOYS-R-US: THE END OF AN ERA

I have so many memories of shopping in this store for my daughter when she was growing up, I almost feel like I was a Toys-R-Us kid too. I was actually a Kiddie City kid (Remember them?), but both of us knew that "I Don't Wanna Grow Up, I'm A Toys-R-Us Kid" jingle backward and forward. Then, years later, I shopped there for my grands and I'm glad we had the opportunity to take all of them to the Toys-R-Us Superstore in NYC twice before it closed in December 2015. It was really something to see. So, as a parent and grandparent, thank you for my two generations of toy shopping memories!

Jackson Family Patriarch Has Passed Away...

R.I.P. Joseph Walter Jackson (July 26, 1928 - June 27, 2018)
Photo: Michael Jackson with his mother, Katherine, and father Joseph.

The Unofficial Time Magazine Cover

Origin Unknown
But, wouldn't it be nice to have a president who understands again.

Here We Go Again! Meet #PermitPatty

WASHINGTON POST
8 Year Old Black Girl Tries to Sell Water For a Trip to
Disneyland and a White Women Threatened to Call Police

MASHABLE

Everything You Need to Know

About Alison Ettle aka #PermitPatty

HEAVY NEWS

Just like her predecessor #BBQBecky, click here to see

the various memes created for #PermitPatty on social media.

Selling Water While Black

This country has a long way to go before it can claim racial equality and freedom for everyone. I guess now, we're expected to believe that every child who ever set-up a stand and sold Kool-Aid, lemonade, water, etc. in front of where they lived actually had a permit to do it. I don't think so!

It's 2018 and this foolishness doesn't make any sense, even when it comes to the "threat" of calling police. It places us at risk for loss of life at the hands of those who are supposed to protect and serve. It's also a clear misuse of the emergency system to make these calls over such trivial matters. 

Put Racists On Blast

We must continue to call attention to these things when they happen. Whatever economic and/or social consequences the caller experiences afterward is their own fault and they brought it on themselves. And, I'm tired of them turning the whole situation around, crying during interviews (or when the police show up like #BBQBecky did), and playing "the victim" after they initiated these confrontations.

I have grandchildren who sell candy from time to time to raise money for their schools and I don't want this happening to them or anyone else's children.

Update 07/01/18

It seems that #PermitPatty actually lied when she claimed she only 'threatened' to call the police. CNN posted the audio of her 911 call, which has been released to the public. Click here to check it out. Again, whatever fallout she experiences behind this incident, she brought it on herself.

As for the young girl, a good samaritan who heard about the incident has offered to pay the cost for her and three family members to go to Disneyland. Click here to check it out. I praise God for any and all blessings that come her way from this unfortunate situation.

Meme of the Day

Orange Belt Bound!

Sensei Kyle gave my grandson 2 stripes in karate class today because he has been working hard to get to the next belt level. 2TU and keep up the good work! 

Fashion Tip & Meme of the Day

#EpicWardrobeFail 😵 #IReallyDoCareDoYou

You knew this blog post was coming, right? This is definitely 'what not' to wear if you're going to visit children held at a detention center in Texas because of your crazy husband's "zero tolerance" madness! 

Just file this under #ThingsThatMakeYouGoHmmm

And, here's something else to consider regarding the issue of immigration. I will never understand people who migrated to this country themselves, and then want to deny others the opportunity to do the same.

"I Want My Mommy!" 😢

The Story Behind Time Magazine's

Trump 'Welcome to America' Cover

Update 06/22/18

It is now being reported that the father of the 2 year old girl on the Time Magazine cover said that she was never separated from her mother and you can read about it here. The photographer who took the original photo that was used for the cover assumed that the little girl was on the verge of being separated from her mother and by the grace of God, it didn't actually happen.

In spite of the discrepancy, Time has decided to stand behind its cover and this blogger stands behind it right along with them. I refuse to remove it from my blog (or anywhere else I posted it) because the fact still remains that children were 'indeed' separated from their parents during the implementation of that ridiculous "zero tolerance" policy (which Trump has since rescended), and don't even get me started on how this country has a fact-based and undeniable history of separating children from their parents.

So, let the chips fall where they may and I applaud Time for their decision to move forward with the cover on the magazine's upcoming release date of July 2, 2018. Go for it and nuff said!

Photo of the Day

Just a little reminder for people who are under the mistaken impression that The Trump Administration is the first to 'ruthlessly and unapologetically' separate children from their parents. Where was the outrage when this was going on? #ShameOnYouAmerica

I Couldn't Have Said It Better Myself...

A Must Read: Michael Moore's Facebook Status
Regarding America & The Immigration Controversy 

Scripture of the Day

Happy Heavenly Father's Day Dad

Roosevelt Williams
October 9, 1936 - May 2, 2002

I thought of you with love today, but that is nothing new.
I thought about you yesterday, and days before that too.
I think of you in silence, I often speak your name.
All I have are memories, and your picture in a frame.

In life I loved you dearly, in death I love you still.
In my heart you hold a place, that no one could ever fill.
It broke my heart to lose you, but you didn't go alone.
For part of me went with you, the day God took you home.

No farewell words were spoken, no time to say goodbye.
You were gone before we knew it, and only God knows why.
A million times I needed you, a million times I cried.
If love alone could have saved you, you never would have died.

Gone yet not forgotten, although we are apart,
your spirit lives within me, forever in my heart.
Nothing can ever take away, the love a heart holds dear.
Fond memories linger every day, remembrance keeps you near.

A gift for such a little while, your loss just seems so wrong.
You should not have left before us, it’s with loved ones you belong.
Your memory is my keepsake, with which I’ll never part.
God has you in His keeping, I have you in my heart.

If tears could build a stairway, and memories a lane,
I’d walk right up to heaven, and bring you home again.
Our family chain is broken, and nothing seems the same.
But as God calls us one by one, the chain will link again.

Happy Father's Day Hubby!

Stepfathers Are A Blessing From God

"Color Him Father" Performed By The Winstons

There's a man at my house, he's so big and strong.

He goes to work each day, stays all day long.
He comes home each night, looking tired and beat.
He sits down at the dinner table, and has a bite to eat.

Never a frown, always a smile,
when he says to me, how's my child.
I've been studying hard, all day in school.
tryin' to understand the golden rule.

I think I'll color this man father.
I think I'll color him love.
I'm gonna color him father.
I think I'll color the man love, yes I will.

He says, education is the thing if you wanna compete,
because without it son, life ain't very sweet.
I love this man and I don't know why,
except I'll need his strength, till the day that I die.

My mother loves him and I can tell,
by the way she looks at him, when he holds my little sister Nell.
I heard her say just the other day,
that if it hadn't been for him, she wouldn't have found her way.

My real old man, he got killed in the war,
and she knows she and seven kids, couldn't of gotten very far.
She said she thought that she could never love again,
And then there he stood, with that big wide grin.

He married my mother and he took us in,
and now we belong to the man with that big wide grin.

I think I'll color this man father.
I think I'll color him love.
I'm gonna color him father.
I'm gonna color him love.

Footnote: In 1969, this song ranked #2 on the R&B charts and #7 on Billboard's Hot 100; the composer, Richard L. Spencer, won a Grammy Award for Best R&B song in 1970. Click on the record label for a link to YouTube and listen to this classic gem, the only one of its kind, which pays tribute to all of the stepfathers holdin' it down out there. And, always remember, as my pastor so eloquently pointed out in a sermon once... Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ was actually raised by a man who played the role of a stepfather and his name was Joseph. So, never underestimate the importance of the part you play in God's divine plan. You are loved and appreciated much more than you know. May God continue to bless all of you!

Take The Father's Day Challenge

AARP: How Much Do You Know About Father's Day?

Click on the image or this text link to take the quiz and find out!

God Is In Control By Rick Norman

Another School Milestone

Congrats to My Youngest Granddaughter! YGG!

Trading One Form of Racism For Another

COLOR OF CHANGE PETITION
Click on the image or this text link to sign!

This is urgent. Pennsylvania is moving quickly to implement a racist data tool that will send more Black people to prison and for longer--but we have a chance to stop it.

Next week, the Pennsylvania Commission on Sentencing (PCS), the governor-appointed body responsible for sentencing guidelines, will vote on implementing the use of a racist data tool called a “risk assessment,” that would arm judges with a racially biased algorithm to use in handing down sentences. Instead of giving a judge sole blame for incarcerating large swaths of Black people, a computer will do it by branding individuals as "risky" for a broad range of traits and predicted future behaviors that have nothing to do with their actual risk or danger. Data suggests that the tool would label Black people as “high risk” at up to TWO TIMES the rate of white people with the same types of offenses--meaning they would get harsher sentences and restrictions for coming home to their families. Meanwhile, white people are up to two times as likely to be labeled “low risk”--allowing them the privilege of a second chance at life.

It’s replacing the racism of mass incarceration we know with another faceless, more pernicious version--and we must stop it from happening.

Gov. Wolf instructed the sentencing commission to create this tool as a part of his package for criminal justice reform to eliminate the racial bias of individual judges. However, this tool is designed to reinforce the harmful racial disparities already painfully present in the system. If a person is Black, lives in a poor or overpoliced neighborhood, or has been convicted in the past, this tool will determine that they should be locked up. In a state like Pennsylvania, that incarcerates Black people at one of the highest rates in the country, we can't afford this.

If approved by the PCS next week, the state legislature will have an official vote in the fall--increasing the chances of this racist tool being weaponized in courtrooms. However, the momentum is building to stop this racist assessment tool. This week, the sentencing commission held a hearing where dozens of people testified including activists, the public defenders, the mayor, state senators, probation & parole officials, and even the Black police union, Guardian League. Not a single person who testified was in favor of this risk assessment tool--and the commission is feeling the pressure to vote it down. The sentencing commission is made up of lots of individuals, but there are four elected officials who have voting power--Senators Sharif Street and John Rafferty and House Representatives Joanna McClinton and Todd Stephens.5 We can influence them if they feel the pressure from their constituents. That's why we're sending petitions to their office every day until the vote. Will you sign?

Tell PA lawmakers: Vote NO on this racist assessment tool. It will not fix mass incarceration. "Risk assessments" are supposed to predict an individual's future behavior, punishing someone for what they MIGHT do. But the tool is flawed, based on racist data, and produces racist results--here is how they work:

They collect a broad range of data and pick out bits of information about a person that are supposed to predict future risk, but are actually just basic facts about their identity--like where they live, their gender, age or if they've ever been incarcerated before. Then the tool judges these traits and spits out a label of high, medium, or low risk and sends it to the judge to determine their sentence. It's like the horrific system in the film Minority Report--only it's it's not colorblind.

But here's the thing: the tool can't actually predict whether someone will commit a violent crime or whether they are "dangerous" at all. But when it labels someone as "high risk" that's exactly the message it sends to the judge handing down a sentence--even if they will never be arrested again. In fact, 81 percent of people labeled "high risk" won't be re-arrested at all let alone convicted of a crime. The only thing this risk assessment predicts is who is likely to come into contact with the system again. That could be anything from being arrested, missing an appointment with a probation officer, to not being able to afford court fees. As we know, Black communities are the most heavily policed, Black people are arrested at much higher rates, and courts extract wealth from Black communities with exorbitant fines and fees. Judging someone on their likeliness of being arrested or missing a court fee payment is a way to directly target Black people.

Pennsylvania should be focusing on decreasing the prison population--not expanding it. Will you sign the petition to stop this racist assessment tool?

Risk assessment tools have become a common tactic to advance criminal justice reform in many places across the country. But are actually maintaining the "Law and Order" status quo of the past. They are being used to set high bails, send Black people--who haven't even been convicted of a crime--to jail, and set conditions for release on probation and parole. Federal legislators are even working to put one into the hands of Jeff Sessions.

But Black people are not "risks" to manage nor numbers in a system. We are people who deserve justice just like everyone else. Risk assessment tools, like the one proposed in Pennsylvania, are not a step forward for justice rather they take us many steps backward--locking our people up with no one directly to blame but a racist algorithm. They are often coupled with reforms that acknowledge the harms of the system and work to solve them--like the governor's package that moves the needle on probation and parole reform, bail reform, and even sentencing reform. But we cannot replace one type of racism with another, less blatant form, that hides behind technology.

If we can stop this racist assessment tool in Pennsylvania, we will set a precedent and build the momentum against the unjust use of risk assessment tools nationwide.

For decades, our communities across the country have been on the ground fighting to end mass incarceration and stop the harms of the carceral state. And at the same time, people not situated in the communities most impacted by the system have tried to rely on new technologies to help address these issues, thinking they will bring objectivity--but they end up reinforcing mass incarceration every time. We saw it with mandatory minimum sentencing that perpetuated harsh punishments for small infractions and denied each person to have their case reviewed as an individual. We see it with electronic monitoring (aka ankle bracelets) that intended to get people out of prison but has become a profitable industry while our people are forced to pay to be caged in their own homes. Now, risk assessments threaten to cement default sentencing and the failure to treat our people as individuals back into courtrooms even further.

Imagine what would happen if judges saw Black people as people and not as a risk, but as people with kids, and other loved ones, with jobs, hopes and aspirations. Imagine what it would look like if our people received the support they needed instead of being locked up in a cage. This is the future we are fighting for but racist assessment tools threaten to hold us back. Pennsylvania lawmakers should be focused on DECREASING the prison population, securing funding for better access to education, jobs, healthcare, and housing--not creating shady technology meant to keep Black people locked up.

Technology should innovate not incarcerate. Demand Pennsylvania say NO to racist assessment tools!

Footnote: The preceeding information was copied verbatim from a Color of Change email received by The Lady(Bug) of the Household on June 12, 2018.

Scripture of the Day

⏰ Quality Time w/ The Grands

Sleepover Weekend Brunch @ Trolley Car Diner

Evangelistic Prayer & Praise Outreach Ministries

Congrats to EPPOM as you celebrate 30 years of ministry!

Holy Scripture Reading: Psalm 121 and Jude 3, 20, 21 at

Zion Hill Baptist Church in Southwest Philadelphia

🌱 #2Pretty2Eat

Well, it looks like I'm 6 years late discovering this, but it's Native American Glass Gem Corn. It's real corn, there are all kinds of beautiful color variations of it, you can grow it if you have the proper seeds, and it's edible just like the white and yellow corn we eat. Click on the image or text link to learn more about it and the photos alone will make it worth your while. I just love it! ❤

Quote of the Day

GODSPEED

R.I.P. Andy... We Miss You!

I always loved Andy Rooney. He had the shortest and best segments on 60 Minutes. Apparently, he heard about all the foolishness going on in the White House these days and decided to come back for just a moment to share his wisdom with us once again!

Scripture of the Day

29 Years Ago Today...

Two hearts became one!
The Lady (Bug) & The Hubby
#WeAreGoingForTheGold

Congratulations to My Grandson!

He completed one year of Karate classes today!

Spring-Summer in Full Bloom