Story Archives 2017

“This is like the Santa Rita Bus,” I whispered as I looked over at my comrade revolutionary Aunti Frances Moore’s terrified eyes. We’ve both ridden the bus that carries homeless and other “criminal” people to Santa Rita County Jail. I could barely utter a whisper, lost in my own fear of incarceration and endless criminalization as an unhoused poor person in stolen Turtle Island.

We were in the plane to North Dakota, a “pond jumper” as the experienced flyers call it. Most people in the tiny cramped plane were cool, calm and collected, but me and Frances were huddled up against the toilet wall, praying for it all to end, hyperventilating and dreaming on the prayer, “Water is life.”

Myself and Aunti Frances, poverty skola, Po Poet and teacher with POOR Magazine’s PeopleSkool, Homefulness and founder of the Self-Help Hunger Project in North Huchuin (Oakland) were part of a small Po’ Folks Delegation to Standing Rock, Mni Wiconi, along with two youth poverty skolaz from Deecolonize Academy and POOR Magazine, Tiburcio Garcia and Aselah Pacheco.

We began our prayerful journey on invitation from the All Nations Camp at Standing Rock to bring prayers and media, share knowledge about unhoused, Black, Brown and Indigenous poor peoples and exchange survival innovation. Our delegation chose this time because all us unhoused folks are dying on the streets due to exposure and cold, and the water protectors are facing the same thing many of us face every day in urban settings with little or no support.

“Even if we only had liberated land, we could pitch our tents and build from there. This is a continuum from No. 4 of the Black Panthers’ Ten-Point Program on land. This is liberation,” said Frances as we sat around the sacred fire of the Two Spirit Camp at Mni Wiconi.

“We are bringing our own love and prayer from the streets of Oakland to the

water protectors of North Dakota,” said Aunti Frances Moore.

The terrifying plane ride had included a “plane police-social worker” threatening us that she would have to involve “authorities” and stop the plane – aka Homeland Security or what I am renaming HomeLESS Security – to deal with us. It reminded us endlessly criminalized folks even more clearly that we were on stolen land dealing with the agents and enablers of the land stealers, and this perhaps was the best introduction to the fight to save our water and Mama Earth at Standing Rock.

“We as unhoused, landless and formerly unhoused poets, land liberators and media producers who face extreme conditions on the street and criminalization just for being alive while unhoused, are working to liberate Mama Earth from the line of ownership, banksters, gentrification and desecration here in Huchuin want to support, share prayer, love and knowledge with water protectors in Standing Rock, while we continue to fight the war on the poor right here in Huchuin,” said Tiny aka Lisa Gray-Garcia, co-founder POOR Magazine and Homefulness and author of “Criminal of Poverty: Growing Up Homeless in America.”

“We are bringing our own love and prayer from the streets of Oakland to the water protectors of North Dakota,” said Aunti Frances Moore.

“We youth skolaz at Deecolonize Academy have been supporting Standing Rock Water protectors since the struggle for our water began,” said Aselah Pacheco, 12, from Deecolonize Academy.

First day at Standing Rock

by Tiburcio Garcia, 13, Deecolonize Academy

The snow shined against the afternoon sun. The multicolored flags bearing the images of our ancestors rippled and flapped in the afternoon breeze as the “Po’ Folx Delegation” from POOR Magazine and Decolonize Academy rode in on a rented four-wheel drive car. After a long, harrowing journey from Huchuin, Ohlone (Oakland, California), in two planes and a rental car we finally arrived to find an avenue of flags from hundreds of nations across Mama Earth, including our favorite, where we piled out of the car to take our first picture, the RBG flag of Black liberation.

Every crunch of snow against my rubber boots was a rush of relief that the long arduous journey was finally over.

A snowman with ski glasses over his eyes greeted us at the entrance of the Standing Rock reservation and protest camp with a cheery, inanimate wave. As the car drove down the road, we saw giant military tents sporting signs saying Healing Center, Kitchen and Compost Toilets.

Standing Rock is amazing!

by Aselah Pacheco, 12, Deecolonize Academy

When we officially got to Standing Rock, it was amazing. There were huge army tents that held a kitchen filled with nothing but food, goodies, and silverware. Snow was all outside. Also, the tents all had big wood boards as floors so that the cold wind couldn’t get in.

We are sharing a tent with three other people we stay with at the Two Spirits Camp. Two Spirits Camp is one of the smallest and most organized camp, very open to lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgenders and women and men.

It is a cozy little camp, and everyone is so friendly. We are right across from the kitchen, which is organized and has food. And the bathroom is right across from us. Be careful where you step in the patched-up snow, ‘cause you might get stuck in it.

“We youth skolaz at Deecolonize Academy have been supporting Standing Rock Water protectors since the struggle for our water began,” said Aselah

Pacheco, 12, from Deecolonize Academy.

Day 1 of our learning

by Tiny and Frances

“We staff the compost toilets all day. There is a whole organized system that makes this stay clean and sanitary,” one of many camp attendees said while taking us poverty skolaz through the intricate process to keep the beautiful compost toilets clean. We formerly unhoused po folks at Homefulness who are trying to move off the grid of stolen Mama Earth resources, aka PG&E and the so-called Water Department, watched and learned carefully.

It was a system of support and respect. Everyone worked carefully and with intention to keep these off-grid toilets clean.

From the above-ground Standing Rock Railroad as I call it that hooked up us po folks up with free expensive warm clothing and sleeping bags in Oakland (Huchuin) before we left and also existed as a beautifully supported “supplies tent” out at Standing Rock, and its multi-nationed network of support is a model of redistribution. So let’s also look at how this redistribution can be manifested to our unhoused folks.

The day we left Huchuin (Oakland), police were threatening unhoused peoples under the 580 freeway to move them out of their encampments. These struggles are all connected.

As POOR Magazine always calls for: Give us some liberated indigenous land and we can build ourselves a self-determiNATION like we are doing at Homefulness – like our prayer and water warriors are manifesting at Standing Rock, and as Aunti Frances reminded us was already named, dreamed and conceived in the Black Panther Party 50 years ago.

- Krip-Hop Nation tenth anniversary with DJ Quad CD late Jan.
- Black Kripple new EP, Krip-Blues Stories, Feb.
- Leroy Moore's Children Book, Black Disability Art History 101 will be publish by Xochitl Justice Press and illustrations by Asian Robles. late Feb.
- Krip-Hop Nation's All Women CD. Compile by Lisa Ganser and Vita E. Cleveland in March
- Krip-Hop Nation Bay Area Tour July 
- Joe Capers' Month August Film, Naru. August
-Part Two of A Journey To The South Tour (Back to South Africa/Ghana) Aug
- A Journey To The South Africa film/book Dec
- Ronald Galiwango & Krip-Hop Nation continue to raise funds so Eunice in Uganda can finish her education to become an advocate of people with disabilities.

Mni Wiconi....WATER IS LIFE!!!!!

Each step a prayer- through snow so deep your body can’t think. Sharp blue sky filled with whispers from ancestors, a river so sacred it spoke.  We had arrived, at the sacred Oceti Sakowin. Our small delegation of youth and adult "poverty skolaz" as we call ourselves at POOR Magazine representing the Ohlone villages of Huchuin (Oakland) and Yelamu (San Francisco), educated in life, the streets and struggle, not the akademik institutions, journeyed to Standing Rock, North Dakota to bring our humble form of prayer, our stories, love, support, poor and indigenous people-led media to the prayerful encampment of many 1st Nations Peoples at Standing Rock that has been alive since April of 2016 to pray for water. We were also there to take back lessons for all of us unhoused and formerly unhoused folks trying to liberate land in the Bay Area, trying to live without more desecration and destruction in projects like homefulness, the Self-Help Hunger Program and Qilumbo. This was a journey of connected liberation for all of us.

Mni Wiconi - Mni WICONIIIIIII! Water is Life - WATER IS LIFE!!!! The calls for liberation of our water of our Mama Earth rang through the sky every day - from dawn to late in the night- the prayers embraced, held and lifted everything, even the resistance.

"This prayer is for us all, for all of our water from the four-leggeds to the winged-ones ," said the elder 1st Nations mama prayer-bringers as we walked through the deep snow in the daily morning prayer ceremony for water down at the vast silence and soft beauty that is the sacred river that lined the camp.

For five days our small delegation prayed, learned and manifested this dream alongside so many dedicated water protectors. From the supplies tent where you got all your warm clothes and supplies needs met on a donations only system, people donated what they didn't need and others took what they did need to the compost toilet , staffed 24 hours 7 days a week by two volunteers to keep the toilets clean, shiny and warm, we were overwhelmed with the lessons.

"Its either one or two scoops of sawdust based on what you need to do in the bathroom," that nights bathroom attendants took us though the intricate process of cleaning, compost bag changing and sawdust covering in the beautifully clean and warm compost toilet. It wasn't just a toilet, it was a toilet center. Like a community center to pee and poo. She went on to explain that they slice in half a pool toy and line the top of the bucket and then put a toilet seat on top of that and then line the bucket with a compost bag and voila - you have a toilet.

"We are serving pozole tonite," the "mess Hall" kitchen attendant spoke while she ladeled fresh cooked pozole - a soup common to many parts of Central and South Turtle Island. Throughout the camp there were several kitchens, each one with its own flavor, prayer and love. The food would come in as donations and be cooked with loving hands by folks who stepped up to the task. At our own Two spirit camp, everyone traded off to create three daily meals of wonder, hot coffee and hot water for tea.

The "housing" for this beautiful community of protectors was a threaded network of tipis, tents, tarpees and yurts, winding though each "camp" . Our delegations housing inside the two spirit camp launched by two spirit indigenous youth leader Candy and other two spirit comrades was a tarpee, kept warm by a wood stove made out of a recycled garbage can with a recycled drain pipe leading up to the tarpee's roof. When baking or roasting needed to happen a garbage can was filled half way with charcoal or wood and a grill is placed on top and bricks are placed below to life it slightly above the ground.

There were so many lessons for us landless peoples struggling to get ourselves housed on liberated land not owned/controlled by the non-profit industrial complex and the lie of land ownership. How do we un-learn ourselves off of stolen land resource hoarding and depending while still barely able to feed ourselves? How do we secure roofs when we have no paper trail access or bankkkster credit. How do we liberate our water, and energy from the grid of blood-stained dollars. The message from ancestors from Yucatan in the lands of poLice murdered indigenous father, husband sun and brother Luis Demetrio Gongora Pat and the water protectors at Standing Rock  is to realize this dream of truly off-grid living at Homefulness, our homeless peoples solution to Homelessness. This will take more time and will not be easy cause it actually takes resources to not use resources, but we have planned that from the beginning and these prayerful journeys reminded us of this important work.

Decolonized Medicine and Indigenous Youth Resistance from Saami to Saskatchewan
kkuf kuff... kaaarghkuff kuff - the low and long gurgle of a painful cough came from all sides of our small tent and for this this asthma survivor it sounded like an asthma cough but it wasn't . My heart clutched in pain everytime i heard it, knowing that respiratory pain so deeply

"We aren't sure what it is, it has been happening since the attack by DAPL of our water protectors, we think its just the combination of dehydration, wood smoke and and extreme cold, but we aren't sure, said Samantha a medic at the powerful decolonized medic compound at Standing Rock.

The cough and the revolutionary medics were a perfect metaphor for the hard medicine and the complex struggle of the this small "town" of over 2000 people who made up the Oceti Sakowin Camp at Standing Rock, North Dakota.

“We are here to share our knowledge about arctic survival,” said Lasse-Ivvara Erke ( he said his “paper” name is Erik as he spoke to us replete in deerskin pants, a felt jacket and a strangely small hat topped off with a red pom pom. He explained to us that he was from the Saami people of the Northern Hemisphere and his sacred indigenous territory in the Northern Hemisphere was being impacted by the same things that indigenous leaders at Standing Rock were fighting against.

“Some of the countries have signed on to the land protection agreements but many have not, so we face increased climate destruction of our lands,” concluded Erik.

“We are walking from Saskatchewan to Standing Rock to lend support to water protectors but also to shed light on the struggle we face with corporations ready to drill in our sacred lands as well, Ricky a youth indigenous leader from Canada, spoke with us in the “dome” before he went to join other youth leaders on the walk from Saskatchewan.

The Front-Lines
As our little group  wound around the ice-filled roads at 11pm on Gregorian New Years evening 2016, in a caravan of horses, pick-up trucks filled with young indigenous peoples and flags from all nations headed towards the sacred grounds of Lakota ancestors the lights appeared from the distance.

We were met with the warring signs of the 21st century calvary Flood lights, scopes from guns, snowmobiles filled with armed agents of the kkkorporation. We were on the sacred river, the burial ground of 1st Nations ancestors but according to the land-stealers and water destroyers we were tresspassing. Tresspassing!!!

And then suddenly our group was scaling the sacred mountain heading toward the barbed wire and floodlights. Headed towards the frontlines. Myself, Tiburcio and Aselah couldnt hold ourselves back, suddenly we were up there. At the top. Putting down prayers. holding our ancestors close. Dreaming that we werent being pointed at with a high powered rifle. Dreaming back All Our Relations.

"We are still here, we are still in this powerful prayer for our water, for our life, " Our small delegation reunited with beautiful revolutionary brother Edwin Lindo who took us to the center of the camp, the most important ceremony we had the blessing to be part of, a ceremony for Wounded Knee

Our last day in this magical place was spent in the ceremony for Wounded Knee ancestors, in prayer and clarity that these colonizer holidays like New Years, launched in 1904 13 years after the Wounded Knee massacre and were just a way to celebrate the massacre, genocide and land theft of people and Mama Earth. It was in this prayer that we were so clearly reminded that  our liberation, our walk to self-determination and our collective interdependence were so important. That our dreams and work to unhinge ourselves from the pain and exploitation of colonization is everything we are doing at Hopefulness. It is everything we as poor and unhoused people need to do. It is our work. It is our resistance.

Every year during MLK month I reread two books, The King & His Unsung Heroes & Sheroes & Why We Can't Wait.  I wrote this poem years ago.

-After skimming through Deric Gilliard's book, Unsung Heroes and Sheroes who marched with Dr. Martin Luther King and internet research this poem was written

The King & His Unsung Heroes & Sheroes

"Tho' I'm blind I can see the injustice here"

Al Hibbler

Happy birthday 

Not only you but to the movement

To the Unsung Heroes & Sheroes 

Who marched with the King

Ordinary people with extraordinary faith and talents

Over shadowed by names like Jackson and Young

No time to fight for the spotlight

Like then today’s police dogs don’t care about a name

Deric Gilliard’s pen erased the shadow over the masses

Penned them onto paper and into a book

Kept mothers, union workers, musicians and community activists alive

For us to read today

Oh what I found in those pages

My Black disabled elders

Key in organizing and implementing 

Demonstrations all over the south

Hard choices for Black musicians

From Ray Charles, Nina Simone Stevie Wonder to Al Hibbler

Some protest on stage others marched in demonstrations

All felt the sting and bullets of racism

Hard to be an artist\activist in the 60’s

Not IMPOSSIBE Paul Robeson gave an example a decade earlier

Read about the dual life of Al Hibbler

A blind jazz singer turned civil rights activist

Blacklisted by record labels

Kept on singing on protest lines

Arrested in New Jersey and Alabama

Kept on coming back to the frontlines along side of MLK

Al use to say “Thou I’m Blind I Can See the Injustice Here!”

The name Hosea Williams stirred up fires

Of freedom and equality throughout the South

“A man without fear because God was his armor”

His motto “unboss and unbought”

A son of Blind parents and was a caretaker

Disabled in WW11

Almost died in a racist attack

Jumped back to fight for the Civil Rights Act

Masses surrounded the King

On Bloody Sunday

Many lives gone

MLK answered the question 

Why We Can’t Wait
Hate in the face of Non-violence

Didn’t crack under pleasure

Made the people stronger

MLK preached to turn the other cheek

“You shall reek what you sew!”

His answer to police brutality

Another Black Blind Brother

One of MLK key organizer

In Birmingham

Pulled all the strings behind the scenes

The youth filled up the streets

Elders boycotted the stores, buses and the workplace

The Black Masses halted everything to a stand still

Study the terms Black Masses and Black Revolution 

They are inclusive one leader but many stories

January Black Hero and Sheros Month

Before MLK’s birthday is Rev. Hosea William B.day

After is the birth of a sister who lead us to freedom 

I’m talking about Harriet Tubman

The Civil Rights era lasted more than a month

Look down to your hands

Black people we built this land

The next Generation of Unsung Heroes & Sheroes

Standing on MLK’s foundation that many helped built

By Leroy F. Moore Jr.

For the Unsung Heroes & Sheroes of the Civil Rights Movement Era

My dream is.................. by queena, 11years old

My dream is that I want to be a dancer.

When i'm a good dancer I will go around the world and teach other kids to dance. I will also be helping other kids to stay out of trouble. Dance, Choreography is the act of designing dance. That is why I dance and I want to teach the world.

When my dream come true I will be starting my business and becoming a choreographer and teaching kids in the community. If people say “i don't like your business'', I will just say ''okay it don't bother me'', Most people will not like it but some people will. At least I will love teaching kids.

Dancing helps you relax when you have a bad energy out of your body and if you don't have anything to do you dance.

Press Release

January/2017

Krip-Hop Nation Tenth Anniversary CD Leroy F. Moore Jr.

www.Kriphopnation.com  email us at Kriphopnation@gmail.com

Krip-Hop Nation Kolumn on Poor Magazine

http://poormagazine.org/krip_hop  https://twitter.com/kriphopnation

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/kriphop5thbattalion

From Legendary D.M.C. of Run-D.M.C., "Krip-Hop is Hip-Hop!”

It’s 2017, Happy Birthday Krip-Hop Nation!  On our tenth anniversary, Krip-Hop Nation has grown and pushed itself by searching for more women with disabilities, like Kalyn Heffernan of Wheelchhair Sports Camp, Toni Hickman and Annjewelz, collaborating with DIP-HOP, Deaf Hip-Hop artists like Pinz-D and going deeper with our relationships with non-disabled Hip-Hop artists who have supported Krip-Hop from the beginning like C.R.I.$.I.$. from Zambia, Africa, Latino Hip-Hop Bay Area group, Brown Buffalo, Wonder Mike from Sugar Hill Gang and more. This CD has twenty-four songs some have been on Krip-Hop CDs but many are new members of Krip-Hop Nation or first time to be on a Krip-Hop project.  We also have the legendary D.M.C. from Run-D.M.C.!  And did a song with Wonder Mike of the Sugar Hill Gang.  As we all know Hip-Hop stripped down is poetry so this why we include Black Deaf  poet, Joy Elan.

I like to give thanks to DJ Quad of 5th Battalion in LA who co/produce this CD with me and all the artists who have stuck around and really supported Krip-Hop Nation and the original founders like Keith Jones, Rob Da’ Noize Temple, Binki Wio and Preechman. I hope Krip-Hop Nation live beyond me for the next generation. 

In 2007, Krip-Hop Nation was born with our Vol.1 Mixtape with Hip-Hop artists with disabilities all over the world. Since that day Krip-Hop Nation lived up to our tag line, 'Krip-Hop is more than music.' Krip-Hop Nation is an international network of Hip-Hop & other musicians with disabilities with a few chapters around the world what we call Mcees With Disabilities (MWD) in Germany, UK, Canada, & Africa. Krip-Hop is a community as well as style of music, an artistic space where people with disabilities can speak out and speak back to the social structures that exclude people based on disability, race, sexuality, and a host of other marginalized identities.

Why:  Krip-Hop Nation: Musicians with disabilities have always been here however there has been a lack of cultural activism especially in Hip-Hop with a disability justice to not only advocate but to continue to display the talents of musicians with disabilities & at the same time advocate & celebrate our history, intersectional cultures & to politically educate ourselves & our communities locally, nationally & internationally.

When: Leroy F. Moore Jr. first put a spotlight on disabled Hip-Hop artists in the early 2000s when he co-produced and co-hosted a three-part series on what he dubbed "Krip-Hop" for a Berkeley, California, radio station. The series appeared on KPFA's Pushing Limits program, which focuses on news, arts, and culture from the disabled community. The series was so well-received that Moore shortly thereafter founded the Krip-Hop Nation for disabled musicians.

Krip-Hop's Mission is to educate the music, media industries and general public about the talents, history, rights and marketability of Hip-Hop artists and other musicians with disabilities from Blues to Hip-Hop internationally. Our bi-line is Krip-Hop is More Than Music.

Krip-Hop Nation’s Main Objective is to spread awareness about the history, arts, the isms facing musicians with disabilities along with getting the musical talents of hip-hop artists with disabilities into the hands of media outlets, educators, and hip-hop, disabled and race scholars, youth, journalists and hip-hop conference coordinators. Krip-Hop Nation have put out CDs, held conferences and spoke on issues from police brutality against people with disabilities to ableism in Hip-Hop, media and in our communities.

COMPILED BY DJ Quad & Krip-Hop Nation              ENJOY! 

Artists & Their Songs

1) Intro Black Kripple                                                                                                                     

 Who Am I 

2)  Rinnessy

 Song: Talks About Krip-Hop Nation

3) DJ Quad

Song: Seeds Of Hip-Hop

4) D.M.C.

Song: Flames (Unnecessary Bullets)

5) C.R.I.$.I.$              

Song:  Good Foot

6) Annjewelz

Song: Good News

7) Preechman

Song: The Real

8) Georgetragic

Song: Industry Epidemic

9) Rob DA Noize Temple

Song: Tales of the Krip-Hop

10) Brown Buffalo 

  Song:  Accross The World  Music by Rob DA’ Noize Temple

11)  Wheelchair Sport Camp

Song:  Hard Out Here For A Gimp

12)  Toni Hickman

Song:  Cripple Pretty

13)  Ronnie Ronnie

Song: These Days

14) ft. BigFigg, Juako Wheels, Dr.Wahnsinn, Wondermike, Rob Da Noize Temple, Bowan, Zobibeat, Mat Fraser, Mr. Coronas, Undesirable, BlackMask Beat by Sicktunes, Mix by BinkiWoi w.a.c.h.-prod. Tanz: Dergin "Stix" Tokmak

Song: On The Grind

15) Kounterclockwise 

Song: Whip

16)  Proffessir x & Roxx Da Foxx

Song: Rollin High

17)  Leroy Moore & Fezo da MadOne

Song:  Eat My Disability

18) King Khazm

Song: disAbility

19)  King Kaution

Song: Every Day I Wake Up

20) Joy Elan 

Song:  Old Oakland vs New Oakland

21) Prinz-D The First Deaf Rapper

Song: This Can’t Be Life

22) JAM AKA Jachin Anthony Meeks

Song: World Go Round

23) JAKE

Song: Yo Puedo

24) Annjewelz, Binki, The Black Ktipple

    Song: Sugar Free King

BUY at CDBABY http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/thebestofkriphopnation10

When I was a little boy growing up in the 60’s and 70’s, the mainstream media had just started talking about or admitting that pollution was a problem. But we barely heard anything about water pollution, mostly air pollution and littering.

Now there is hardly a day that goes by that we don’t hear about water being polluted or contaminated somehow. And it is always due to water being intentionally polluted or the gross negligence of government or some large corporation who have no regard for the health of poor and indigenous people.

This of course is known as environmental racism. But it is not just limited to poor people of color. Even rural areas where poor white people live are subject to these careless and hateful practices.

This environmental racism/terrorism goes beyond even those places . Literally from the Halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli and anywhere else KKKapitalism rears its ugly head and dips its filthy fingers. And i is almost always backed up with the force of military might of the United SnaKKKes of AmeriKKKa.

India is an established nation and it is not exempt.

If these pigs are not contaminating water they are cutting off the water rights of poor and indigenous people such as the Zionist state of Israel cutting off the water rights of the Indigenous People Of Palestine [Israel] during “peace” time and even worse during an “official war” which occurs no fewer than every 5 years or so.

Most of us have heard about contamination of water in Flint , Michigan. But it was never mentioned in national news until those harmed by it reached epidemic proportions with a record number of birth defects, disease and other tragic events concentrated in one area.

The largest gathering of not only American Indian Tribes in history but of Indigenous tribes across the globe is taking place in Standing Rock , North Dakota due to a monstrously evil plan known Dakota Access Pipeline, or Dapl for short.

This plan had and has the intention of disregarding the water rights of the indigenous people of Standing Rock Sioux reservation that is ceded in both north and South Dakota

It was rerouted from Bismarck , North Dakota, a predominately white jurisdiction, when residents there complained that it would contaminate their water.

Without missing a beat they immediately rerouted it towards Standing Rock completely ignoring the treaties established with the local Sioux tribes and even continued to carry on with their efforts and ignoring protocol by not having the necessary work permits signed off by the Army Corp of Engineers.

And of course the Army did nothing to stop them in fact North Dakota invoked his powers to have National Guard storm in and attack the water protectors with everything from water cannons to tear gas and percussion grenades, causing multiple occurrences of maiming injuries.

Ultimately KKKapitalist pigs intend to contaminate many water sources across the globe making our most needed and abundant resource obsolete and denying it as a human right to further control the masses.

The CEO of Nestle, a known water hoarder and slave laborist , has gone on record as saying water should not be considered a human right.

Nestle owns S.Pellegrino , Arrowhead , Perrier Poland , Acqua Panna , Vittel , Contrex and many other brands .

In the aftermath of Oakland ,Ca. Ghostship fire many questions still remain. The two biggest of course are how did it happen and could it have been prevented ?

As fire investigators continue to look for clues, one puzzling question that still remains is, of the 36 people who died and in the sea of faces posted in papers and the internet, why wasn’t a single one of them black ?

After all Oakland has a much denser black population than San Francisco does and in point of fact the neighborhood that the Ghostship was in has a very high black population and surely Oakland isn’t lacking in black artist.

There certainly didn’t appear to be any symbols of white supremacy anywhere on or in the building

And in fact it otherwise appeared to be a multicultural artist collective.

The only answer I can seem to come up with in my own mind at least is the manager of the property recognized the fact that black people are consistently harassed and since he knew that there were various building and safety code violations he didn’t want the burden of having any black tenants who would lead police or other government officials to their door.

I suppose in a way that was a noble gesture towards the other tenants if in fact that was the reasoning but it is also one that helped seal their fate.

There is a housing crisis in the Bay Area and that crisis is even more compounded in some ways for artist s who don’t have an income other than the art they sell.

For most struggling artist a space they can live in and work in is a solution to both problems, especially if rent is cheap.

The younger you are the more willing you are to take chances. That’s exactly why car insurance gets cheaper for older drivers, even new ones with little driving experience.

Its not very likely that the owner or manager would have intentionally set the fire because they knew the building was full of violations and it would have been difficult for them to get insurance.

This of course includes clutter that the artist were intending on using to make art with and I’m sure got sidetracked by everyday life as most of us do.

This is not a condemnation of them or their lifestyle. Anybody can have clutter even folks who generally keep a neat and tidy home. All it takes is a prolonged illness ,extra hours at work or a number of many other ordinary things that can cause most of us to be sidetracked.

We may never find the answers to any of the reasons this fire happened, but we can create solutions for the future.

In the 70’s it was mandated that all dog and cat food in the US be made fit for human consumption because so many seniors were dying from eating it. The main reason being it was cheap, but also due to mislabeling or accidentally buying the wrong can or misreading the label.

I’m definitely not a fan of adding new laws but it definitely makes sense that all buildings that humans could shelter themselves in be shelter able with no out of date or poor wiring running water sprinkler systems and adequate accessible fire exits.

The building owners should be tracked down and fined.

The fines should be used to bring the buildings up to code not placed in the city coffers.

If the building owners can’t afford to pay fines than fines from building owners who can afford to pay fines should be combined with city funds.

We may never know all the mysteries to the Ghostship cuz dead men tell no tales.

Dylann Roof has been found Guilty of the murders of 9 Charleston, South Carolina church goers who he murdered in cold blood at The Emanuel A.M.E church, one of the oldest historically black churches in America , during a Bible study.

Roof was found guilty on 33 charges under the US Federal hate crime bill. They are as follows:

• Hate Crime Act Resulting in death [9 counts]

• Hate Crime Act Involving An Attempt to Kill [3 counts]

• Obstruction of Exercise Of Religion Resulting in death [9 counts]

• Obstruction of Exercise of Religion An Attempt to Kill and Using a Dangerous Weapon [ 3 counts]

• Use of a Firearm to Commit Murder During and in Relation to a Crime of Violence [3 counts]

He still faces the following charges in South Carolina State court where he also Faces the death penalty:

• Murder [9 counts]

• Attempted Murder [3 Counts]

• Possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime

He initially confessed and chose to represent himself and was found competent to stand trial.

Roof bragged about being a white supremacist and expressed ambitions of starting a race war.

Throughout the trial he showed little or no emotion and even Stated “I feel no remorse for the innocent people I killed.”

He will receive the death penalty.

It’s never a good thing to rejoice over the death of anyone but a message needs to be sent that it is not acceptable to murder black people , that our lives have value and if they are stolen the killer must be punished.

He denied being mentally ill which could have spared him his life if he were found not guilty by reason of insanity/ But apparently he wasn’t interested in being spared the death penalty or being found not guilty.

There could be years of appeals unless he waives his right to an appeal which appears to be likely.

His being executed will not bring back any of the innocent victims nor will it stop people from hating.

Sadly enough a new president was just into the Whitehouse who shares many of the same hateful views.

Since my heart attack I have been having trouble breathing. I was used to walking unlimited 3-4 miles a day. Now I can’t walk a half a block without stopping. My heart attack was 2 years ago.Today I had a Nuclear Stress Test. Let me explain what a Nuclear Stress Test is: Nuclear Stress Test. They put you on a treadmill while they monitor your heart. They do other stuff too. If you are like I am, a 300 pound fat man over 65 years of age. Don’t give me diets, tell me to exercise--90% of my weight is water. I am taking enough water pills. I was always fat ever since I was 25 years of age. It did not affect my lifestyle. My blood pressure averages 160/40. I used to hike 10 miles for the relaxation of it until I had Heart Failure and Pancreatitis in 2014.

Just recently I was having trouble walking a half of block without experiencing shortness of breath and back pains. My old way of walking anything less than a mile was a block. When I found out that I couldn’t anymore, I went to my doctor. I had every test under the sun. They even went to the big moon in back of my belly. They found the usual old fart disease for men, a soft ball instead of a Prostrate. So I am taking capsules, tablets, Albuterol and Lidocaine Jelly for Scoliosis or Superman’s disease due to the S on my back.

What got me worried was that they told me what the test was about, but that didn’t worry me until they told me what the minor side effects of this test would be, “You may set off every alarm system at the airport.” I have no desire to see what the inside of Guantanamo is. If I wanted to visit Cuba I would visit legally or illegally. The next stupid thing they said was, “It may cause death!” To me they said a minor side effect is death. Then what is a major side effect, becoming a Zombie? I like my sweetbreads in a restaurant cooked not raw from a live animal or person.

So I start asking my peers. Two people at CARA aka California Alliance of Retired Persons have taken that test. One women named Daisy she is in her 80s said she had no side effects from it. A gentleman named Michael in his 70s also did not have any side effects. I felt comfortable so I went ahead with the test.

My original instructions were: No food or coffee for 24 hours. The day before I actually get the test, the doctor called and said, “Do you have any questions?” I asked, “What is the location of your clinic?” He gave me the location. He asked me do you have any other questions? I said, “Yes, Could you change the dialog on the briefing video?”

I woke up the next day. I couldn’t have any coffee. The morning drug of choice. I had no breakfast either. Got in the cab and went to the Mission Bay Clinic of UCSF. Went to the Receptionist, checked in, looked out the window and watched workers put in the cement for a new sidewalk. Then they called my name. Took out 3 copies of the list of my medicine (brought 12). I was given a locker to put my valuables in and my jacket. Put the jacket in a locker and sat in a cubyhole where this doctor walks in with black corduroys and white shirt and not tie and he wasn’t a 12 year old Doggie Houser. He had grey hair. A doctor that I feel safe with. His bedside manner made me feel comfortable in the place. It may be the size of a crackerbox, but I felt comfortable in there.

The doctor starts by saying, “You will be injected with nuclear material in your body. They will take you across the hall and put you on an MRI Machine for 15 minutes. They will take you off the MRI Machine and put you on a machine where you would be injected by me with a drug to increase my heartrate.” The doctor explains the sideeffects of that drug: Says, “You may turn red and your pulse rate may increase by 50%. You will be returned to the MRI Machine after 12 minutes and then be sent home.”

Then the nurse came in carrying a plastic lunch box. She opens up the lunch box. Inside it was the isotope and a needle with a stint on in with an IV tube. She used a syringe to bring the isotope out of the liquid and into the IV. After she was finished, I said, “Will my body turn green or will I have long fingernails?”

I was then escorted to the waiting room. Looking at a 9 month old AAA Magazine about Marin County. I then got called in to the MRI Machine where I had to sit on a 2 x 4 with my arm over my head tied to a rope. It reminded me of a Middle Ages torture chamber.  Brought into a V shaped doohickey where they take pictures and you cannot move for 15 minutes and then I was placed into a tube for 2 minutes. I was taken out and told to wait in the waiting room where they got everything ready for me for my next level. They came and got me. I was told to wait in the Waiting Room. While reading a 6 month old Sunset Magazine I then got called in.

They asked me about my weight and height. The doctor injected me with a substance to raise my heart rate to about 25%. I didn’t feel any injection, my heart rate did not go up very much. Then when then when the doctor left, they monitored my heart for 30 minutes. I was then told to go back to the waiting room where I could crack jokes with my lovely wife. A La Rasa elder was getting the same test that I was getting. When she was finished, I got my final MRI CATSCAN. It took 12 minutes with my hands tied over my head. I then got up and went home. Doctors and Staff were very professional. It made my time there go by very fast.

This test I recommend to anyone that the doctor recommends take it. The only thing I am disappointed in was that my skin didn’t turn green or orange. My fingernails didn’t grow. Nobody in a wheelchair asked me to join their private school. If they ask me for comments, I’d say get newer magazines in the lobby.

Bad News Bruce signing out.