Shifts

One Texas county just swore in 17 black female judges

By AJ Willingham, CNN Jan. 01, 2019

A new year brought the swearing-in of newly elected officials in Harris County, Texas, and among them were 17 black female judges.

The group of women, who were part of a local democratic campaign called "Black Girl Magic Texas," first made history -- and headlines -- when they won their respective midterm elections in November. Together, they make up what is believed to be the largest group of black female judges to be elected at the same time in Harris County history.

The Harris County Democratic Party posted photos of the swearing-in ceremony, which took place on Tuesday morning.

"Today we usher in a new era of representative government and progressive leadership in Harris County," the group wrote.

The public was invited to attend the ceremony, and images of the event from CNN affiliate KHOU show a packed house.

County Judge Lina Hidalgo was also sworn in on Tuesday. Hidalgo is a 27-year-old Colombian immigrant who unseated incumbent Republican Ed Emmett in November. At the time, Emmett had held the position of Country Judge for more than ten years.

Hidalgo has spoken at length about the importance of diversity in Harris County's government. "We made history in Harris County on November 6 by electing a talented group of individuals who reflect the people and communities we serve," she said in a press release for Tuesday's ceremony. "That would not have been possible without the support of the residents of Harris County."

Harris County, which includes Houston, is the largest county in the state. According to the most recent census data, 43% of people in Harris County are Hispanic, and nearly 20% of the county's residents identify as African-American.

17 Black women judges elected to offices in Harris County, Texas November 2018. photo courtesy of Harris County Democratic Party.

WHITE victim

Marilyn Monroe clip. 

"... Something is askew. She is the first First Lady in my lifetime followed by silence. I have lived in Washington DC many years, grew up on the global stage (my father was a diplomat) and circulated in many circles on my own, and must say: Mrs. Trump is the only First Lady here, and even in dictatorships, whose presence or mention of her name, women fall into contemplative silence. Something is wrong within. It is in her eyes..." 

Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 

10/31/18 

First Lady Melania Trump making an appearance in October of 2017!

Discovery at Monticello Plantation.

With the return of the deep feel of white men, in the White House, dominating and demeaning, and taking advantage of all and everything around them; it is appropriate to return to the many milestones and people who embodied and instilled this into this country. One of the primary men was Thomas Jefferson. The following is an article on Thomas Jefferson to get a feel of how he is regard in the fresh revival of his time under the lead of Donald Trump.


Thomas Jefferson’s iconic Monticello property in Virginia is a national landmark that scholars have long been studying. The plantation estate and the people who lived and worked there hold a significant place in the history of the nation. While there is a great amount of documentation about Jefferson’s primary home, archaeologists recently launched a new initiative to reveal more about the original activities on the grounds. It was amid those efforts that researchers made a discovery in that completely stunned historians. Read on to find out more about the groundbreaking find! 

Thomas Jefferson, the third President of the United States, primarily resided at his Monticello plantation in Charlottesville, Virginia before he moved to the White House in 1801. Now regarded as a historical landmark, Jefferson began construction on Monticello (which mean “Little Mountain” in Italian) in 1768. 

The sprawling grounds have been well-studied, and an image of the plantation’s main house is even ingrained on the back side of the U.S. nickel. Despite great scrutiny of the estate over the years, a recent discovery on the property revealed details about a long-held mystery that utterly shocked historians. 

Thomas Jefferson was 26-years-old when he started building Monticello on land that he inherited from his father. The massive 5,000-acre plantation was primarily used to cultivate tobacco and wheat. But like many plantations of the time, Monticello has a controversial legacy linked to one of the dark parts of American history. 

to be continued... 

Legacy of the British Empire.

Princess Diana.

Ze'ev Jabotinsky was a Zionist activist, orator, and writer who founded the Betar Movement. He was also a soldier who founded the Jewish Legion during World War I.

Jabotinsky (born October 18, 1880; died August 4, 1940) was born as Vladimir into a middle-class Jewish family in the Russian city of Odessa. At the age of 18, he left Odessa to study law in Italy and Switzerland, where he also served as a foreign correspondent for several well­known Russian newspapers. His reports and articles were widely read and soon became recognized as one of the brilliant exponents of Russian journalism. All his reports and articles were signed with his literary pseudonym “Altalena.” . . . continue reading 

President Ronald Reagan telling it like it is.

On the surface American Christians sound 'right' and justified vilifying Arabs, and those against Israel because of the Bible, and what is said in the Bible. It all incites self-righteous attitudes dipping its adherents towards a dogma, with a notion of supremacy over reasonable objections to the stance made by those in the so-called Army of the Lord.

Millions of American Christians cannot stray, with confidence, from the controversial reasons for saying, 'yea' to all aggression from Israel towards any perceived threat, or country against them; even if Israel started the misuse of power. The prophecies and stories in the Old Testament support the notion of 'right thinking' on this subject; meaning God is behind Israel and the Israelites are his chosen. This is the core of American policy towards Israel. New Testament philosophy began with this understanding of Israel's place in the Christian practice in the West. Despite the fact the first century followers of Jesus, who were accepted by Rome purposely worked to remove themselves from the vestiges of the progenitor of their new faith; today's form of Christianity informs the need to kill and take. 

This is perplexing, isn't it? 

The serious American citizen needs to look deeply into the Torah, the first five (5) books of the Bible, to gain a footing in the theology that allows our government to not intervene on behalf of the Palestine people. The average Christian needs to look closely at these justifications for a higher purpose: healing of their own souls, and release from the evil to whom (we) are devoted. For the slaughter and the taste of it; American foreign policy aims at Arabs and the enemies of Israel missiles, and gives financial support. The Israeli apartheid system designed around Palestinians to protect the Jewish systems of thought, and its contradictions comforts Jim Crow. Why would white Americans change for peace to take precedence over their predilections?

It doesn't make sense.  

So one last question remains: "How did conservatism, business, American dictatorial patriotism, and Christianity meld into one ideology?" We all need that answer. Without the truth as an answer, as soul singer, Curtis Mayfield sang, "If there's a hell below, we all gonna go!"  

Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories

5/25/18 

cartoon. "Please don't leave us... "

White Woman in Powerlessness.

We all start our day in the morning. The question Life asks of us is "How?"

"It is the morning time. Clarity. It comes in the morning arising with the morning clarity, a sense of a presence in the air and the possibility of a good day. The question to ask is: "What will I do with this chance?"- Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 2/9/16

Ivanka Trump attends function at Trump International Hotel in Washington DC that took over the Old Post Office on Pennsylvania Ave. between the White House and the Capital! 

Ivanka Trump attending function at Trump International Hotel in Washington DC that took over the Old Post Office on Pennsylvania Ave. between the White House and the Capital, glows in a state of unawareness DC residents recognize and don't respect! She is unaware of what the Old Post Office was to Black DC residents. The Pavilion, as it was named when it became a commercial hub of the city, was a focus for social life. Before that, when it was abandoned, the homeless lived there, and transients found solace there. Prior to that DC residents from the top to the bottom of society and people from Virginia and Maryland gathered here for all kinds of reasons. 

Commerce is not for the president's gain, is not to be center of a presidency. But, in this administration Trump is using his office to make money that his devotees won't take into account as a lack of integrity, but as a clever business practice. Pouring U.S. tax dollars into his pockets when he goes to his resorts on official business is defended by his fan base. It is revelatory what we allow. As a nation, our credibility weakens daily under this administration, but the dumbass notions of white supremacy are allowed to undercut the status we have taken, and earned collectively for a simple and obvious reason. 

It is pointless to point this out to his base. Let them live with the inevitable outcome some decades from now, some of us say in disgust. But, being that dismissive is ignorant. Anything done by another affects us all. Citizens have to be conscious and mature enough to care at this level and white Americans have to enlarge their view of their priorities to understand the undercutting effect of their Doctrine of Discovery. 

- Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 9/9/18 

That Smell is not a Scent.

Ivanka Trump as fine and elegant as she is made the mistake of stepping out of her field of expertise into an arena she and her father are ill-equipped and not trained for participation. There are games within the Game of Life we are born for, and train for in this complex game that overlaps with others and needs the relationships with others to sustain itself. It centers powers to have relationships, but fear based relationships in politics produces dictators in leadership roles, and subservient government officers. It is in the eyes these dynamics show, but denial, as illustrated in the European story of the Emperor's New Clothes, smells like fear, and white Americans are afraid of Donald Trump because they smell like him... - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 9/9/18  

Contradictions over time, within belief sytems...

Asian couple. rarely photographed like this.

Americans prefer the stereotypes... 

[Many] Asian woman's provocative way of being unstable in the stability of mutual support from a googling male population, and assertions of feminism in their own countries is a cultural challenge read by American culture with not much accuracy. Under the pleasure of assuming superiority many Americans think they understand Asian cultures. With this mistaken belief system the danger of negotiating with any Asian nation, from a presidency like Trump's, is a disaster waiting to express chaos. In the criminal mind weaknesses Trump displays with aplomb are played with by manipulative killers, because white men like Trump think there are no things unattainable to them. This makes them feel they are capable of outmaneuvering their tactics. It is an easy game when the mouse believes he can outwit the cat in the open! - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 6/12/18 

Americans supports Israel's Apartheid system

[On the surface American Christians sound 'right' and justified vilifying Arabs, and those against Israel because of the Bible, and what is said in the Bible. It all incites self-righteous attitudes dipping its adherents towards a dogma, with a notion of supremacy over reasonable objections to the stance made by those in the so-called Army of the Lord.] ~ Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 5/25/18



THE CHILDREN OF GAZA
The children of Gaza and the Profits from their Genocide.
from "The International Times, the newspaper of resistance."

“The Israeli-Arab conflict is to the wider global war of civilizations what Off Broadway is to Broadway. It is the small laboratory where trends get tested out first, or are perfected, and then go global.” - Thomas Friedman, New York Times, 1 February 2014.

“That there are men in all countries who get their living by war, and by keeping up the quarrels of Nations is as shocking as it is true…” – Thomas Paine

A bearded old man holds a placard:
“You take my water, burn my olive trees,
“Destroy my house, take my job, steal my land,
“Imprison my father, kill my mother,
“Bombard my country, starve us all,
“Humiliate us all, but I am to blame:
“I shot a rocket back." 

A selection of ungodly chants
From the Zionist Book of Psalms
Are used to announce the destruction Of a country and its inhabitants: 

“There should be no electricity in Gaza,
“No gasoline or moving vehicles, nothing…
“We need to flatten entire neighbourhoods…
“Flatten all of Gaza.”
– Gilad Sharon, son of Ariel Sharon, Jerusalem Post.
Amen 

Gaza should be “bombed so hard the population
“Has to flee into Egypt.”
– Israel Katz, Minister of Transportation.
Amen 

Gaza should be “wiped clean with bombs.”
– Avi Dichter, Minister of Home Front Defence.
Amen 

Israeli soldiers must “learn from the Syrians
“How to slaughter the enemy.”
– Israeli Rabbi Yaakov Yosef.
Amen 

Vladimir Jabotinsky, Russian Jewish Revisionist leader,

born Oct. 18, 1880-Aug. 4, 1940.  

Here is Vladimir Jabotinsky, admirer of Mussolini
And godfather of Zionist terrorism,
Justifying the flattening of Arab villages in 1948
And their inhabitants being turned into refugees:
“The world has become accustomed to the idea
“Of mass migrations and has become fond of them.”
“Hitler, as odious as he is to us,” Jabotinsky adds,
“Has given this idea a good name in the world.”
Amen
[Tom Segev, One Palestine, Complete: Jews and Arabs Under the British Mandate, New York: Henry Holt, 2001, p. 407] 

It’s an irony that Jabotinsky used Hitler
As precedent for the eviction of thousands,
Since forcible expulsion

Was amongst the charges against Adolf Eichmann,
An architect of industrialized mass murder;
Captured in Argentina, tried and hanged in Israel.

Undeterred, the former Chief Rabbi,
Mordechai Elyahu, has urged Israel,
Its army and its government
To employ “the Nazi choice”:
By which he’s meant the carpet bombing of Gaza,
And he urges the “indiscriminate killing of civilians”
On religious grounds.
Amen

The Chabad Lubavitch Rabbi Schneerson,
A self-proclaimed Messiah
Whose followers await his return from the dead
(As if the Rabbi hadn’t preached enough when alive
By his making the claim that his religion
Heralded a new Master Race),
Has a devoted and powerful acolyte, Rabbi Manis Friedman,
Who declares that the “only way to fight a moral war”
Is to “destroy the Arabs’ holy sites”
To “kill men, women and children”, to eliminate anyone
Who stands in the way of a Greater Israel.

With an Old Testament ferocity,
And a religious racism which the atheist,
Christopher Hitchens, has called,
“The root of religious evil”,
The Rabbi acclaims Israel’s relentless colonizing impulse
Whereby the Torah is used
To justify mass killings
And such crimes
Are given a whole country’s blessing.

The Head of the National Defence College,
Professor Arnon Sofer,
Outlines Israel’s strategy:
“If we want to remain alive, we will have to kill and kill and kill.
“All day, every day.”
Amen
Jerusalem Post, 24 May 2004]