No Struggle, No Progress
No Struggle, No Progress
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History was made in the city of West Monroe on March 26, 2022. On that Saturday, the first Black to hold representation on its city council as Alderman was elected by a majority vote. Local West Monroe resident Rodney Welch stepped into history and will now represent what many had called a forgotten voice in the city, its Black population, which never had someone who looked like them be their voice at council meetings. That all changed as Welch is poised to bring in a fresh face at council...
While America and the rest of the world go about their affairs, one should not forget that there is a devastating war going on in the nation of Ukraine. It’s been almost a month since Russia attacked the nation, as President Putin tried to rein in what in his mind, is a breakaway republic, that needs to come back to the motherland. The only problem with that assessment is the people of Ukraine got more than a taste of freedom, of self-governance and they don’t want to give that up. The nation seems to be having a better relationship with wes...
Donald Trump may try to sound confident when he speaks in public or writes on his new social media site, but anyone who has been watching the former president, knows that his bark is worse than his bite. It is worse for his enemies and good for his supporters, because he is reminding Republicans who disagree with him on any issues, may be out of a job after the 2022 midterm elections. But his bark doesn’t mean a thing to the federal prosecutors who are steadily gaining assess to information from Jan. 6, 2021 and his business practices that may...
When news surfaced that former president, Donald Trump had taken records from the White House to his Florida Mar-a-Lago residence, people were shocked because no other president had done that before. Anything that is “a part” of the president’s correspondence as it applies to his official duties, is not to leave Washington. There is a law called The President’s Records Act in place to ensure that a president doesn’t take anything with him that is designated to be placed in the National Archives. It would appear that Trump as president, complete...
When Donald Trump nominated Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, there was no dissent amongst Republicans, male or female. They all sang the same tune that Barrett was “well qualified” to sit on the bench because she lined up with their judicial philosophy as it related to the constitution. As all nominees are prone to do, they very seldom say anything that will disqualify themselves in the eyes of the party not in power. Republicans are now trying to get the public behind them as they criticize President Biden’s first pick to the Supreme Co...
As someone who "has not been called" to preach the gospel of Jesus, but one who is also a member of the body of Christ, we are reminded to "preach" the gospel at every opportunity that we are given. In a nation where many people look at America as a "Christian" nation because famous men/women of the cloth have said so, there are moments when people that we look to in times of crisis, confuses us. An example of how Christians do/say things that those in the world must have wondering, is the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Over the last year, we...
Republicans are in an uproar not seen since Donald Trump lost the election, as President Joe Biden seemingly has said "enough is enough". President Biden is going all out in an attempt to vaccinate as many Americans as humanly possible. Biden recently announced his latest vaccine plan by using federal law that he knows Republicans will have a tough time fighting in opposition. Biden will use what is being called the "OSHA Mandate", that arm of federal law that protects people in the workplace that has been in effect since 1970. The...
Republicans on Capitol Hill are calling for the impossible. In a run-up to 2022 to drum up support for a possible takeover, they are calling for President Joe Biden to be impeached. Never mind the fact that Republicans do not control Congress and they know that as long as Democrats control the House, impeachment is not even a remote possibility. But what else can they do? Republicans has been calling for Biden to vacate(resign) the White House ever since the last American soldier left Afghanistan, bringing an end to a twenty-year war where the...
It seems as if Republicans are having a come to Jesus moment, now that their latest ploy to derail the Biden administration's effort to vaccinate America is backfiring on them. For months, Republicans in Congress, in states, and in the media have downplayed the importance of getting vaccinated mainly by telling people to ignore the science and safety of the vaccines. Earlier in the year when people started getting vaccinated in record numbers, the rate of COVID-19 infections decreased greatly, and most people took the pandemic seriously....
There seems to be a lot chatter going around that the nation is getting ready to really open up sometime in August. That's when school starts for many areas around the nation and there is the steady push to reopen many businesses that have been partially shut down since the pandemic had gotten out of control. We are already seeing a big increase in air travel since back to Memorial Day and with summer vacation time coming to an end for most Americans, August seemed like the "ideal" time. But there is "good news/bad news" on the coronavirus...
There has been so much talk about what is “critical race theory” in this nation, where it is to the point, the definition of just what exactly it is, is not known. However, there is one thing about it that is undeniable and that, like the subject of race, is that it is keeping us apart as a nation. Why is that? It is interesting that the concept is called Critical Race Theory and the word “race” is right in the middle. It’s critical that the races resolve their differences, or God will do it for us. Racial issues are not going anywhere....
A little over a week ago, the governors of Texas and Mississippi rescinded mask mandates in their states, which surprised other governors around the nation. Texas governor, Greg Abbott said that all businesses “of any type” are allowed to operate at 100% capacity, effectively ending the mask mandate. Following suit was Mississippi’s governor Tate Reeves, who said that his order removes the mask mandate just as in Texas and can businesses are allowed “operate at full capacity” without any state-imposed rules or restrictions. Those two developme...
Republicans in Congress and statehouses across the nation keep saying that they are for the “common man”, the guy who doesn’t sit at the same table with them. If that is the case, someone needs to explain why Republicans voted against President Joe Biden’s COVID Relief Bill that was passed by the Democrat controlled House of Representatives last week. Voters in every state who have Republican representatives should ask them to explain why they were against a bill that will help sustain people who are needy, as the country continues to go thro...
Texas, “The Lone Star State”, is famous for its “can do alone” bragging rights, while fiercely claiming to want to be independent, was taught a big lesson during last week’s winter weather. Texas, a state where some of its conservative leaders have been toying with the idea of succession from the union, may want to rethink if the state really wants to go it alone. The weather that passed through Texas and much of the U.S. had millions of people facing record breaking cold and temperatures that left dozens dead across many states. Texas was...
Texas, “The Lone Star State”, is famous for its “can do alone” bragging rights, while fiercely claiming to want to be independent, was taught a big lesson during last week’s winter weather. Texas, a state where some of its conservative leaders have been toying with the idea of succession from the union, may want to rethink if the state really wants to go it alone. The weather that passed through Texas and much of the U.S. had millions of people facing record breaking cold and temperatures that left dozens dead across many states. Texas was...
As if religion or what it is supposed to mean scripturally, needs another black eye. Kamala Harris, just as Barack Obama has done, will stand in the annals of history in America until the nation ceases no more. As all things this side of the prophesy in Revelation state, will cease to exist after God’s new city, New Jerusalem is created for the elect, so shall the words and deeds of modern man. As some have been “called” to be spokesmen for God in the churches’ pulpits around the world, comments that we hear some say, has to make one wonder...
Ok, it’s over. No one was surprised at the outcome. Some might say, to borrow a word from ex-president Donald Trump, it was a “rigged” trial. Donald Trump is once again a “free man” to do what he has done since he arrived in the White House and that is to get and keep a nation deeply divided. Not that the nation was ever united in the first place. However, if there is one thing that Trump’s second impeachment trial showed the nation is that, when the nation was warned by those that Trump would be worse from his first impeachment, they were righ...
As if religion or what it is supposed to mean scripturally, needs another black eye. Kamala Harris, just as Barack Obama has done, will stand in the annals of history in America until the nation ceases no more. As all things this side of the prophesy in Revelation state, will cease to exist after God’s new city, New Jerusalem is created for the elect, so shall the words and deeds of modern man. As some have been “called” to be spokesmen for God in the churches’ pulpits around the world, comments that we hear some say, has to make one wonder...
Some moderate Republican Senators suddenly want to come to the negotiating table to discuss President Joe Biden's COVID-19 Relief Plan, not with Democratic Senators, but with the president. Two are them are Utah Senator Mitt Romney and Maine Senator Susan Collins. LA. Senator Bill Cassidy is also one of the senators mentioned, but he is not seen as being moderate. When it seems as if President Joe Biden and Democrats in the House and Senate are prepared to introduce COVID-19 legislation in the House and pass it in the Senate, all without Republ...
It has been three weeks since the nation and the world witnessed just how far some Americans are willing to go when they don’t get their way. January 6 is a day that should be taught in schools across the nation to show the future of this nation (our children) that what happened on the steps of the Capitol, is not the way people settle their differences. Especially in a nation of laws, as we’ve been told that this is what separates America from non-democratic nations. That is important because if we are not careful in coming to a quick and dec...
That loud and labored breath of air you just heard was the sigh of relief from several billion people in the world, knowing that Donald John Trump is no longer president of the United States. Yes billions, because it wasn’t just the millions of Americans who voted for Joe Biden to become the 46th president, but countless more people who say things can firmly get back to normal. At least how it was before Trump became president in 2016. However, Joseph Robinette Biden is sitting in the Oval Office, a culmination following decades of public s...
January 6, a day that will live in infamy in the history of the United States. It will be a day that many here and around the world thought would never happen. What’s the old saying about saying “never”? In the span of several hours, the world was witness to a nation that has often talked about turmoil in other nations due to civil unrest, while at the same time ignoring long simmering/smoldering fires of unrest in a divided nation that erupted as a volcano would on Jan. 6. It was not a race riot, but just as a volcano will give warning signs...
Has anyone noticed anything different about 2021? No? I didn’t either. We may be in another decade of time, but we still have decades old problems that go on year after year. There is still no peace on Earth, even though every Dec. 25- 31, we say we want it, but somehow the effort to attain continues to elude us. Is that by design for sinister reasons or it is something that man may never attain? Take a look around the world and wait; look no further than boundary lines of this nation. Racial, economic and judicial disparity still exist on l...
If Jesus “is the reason for the season”, then where is the peace? Nowhere to be found. Especially here in America. America, of all nations is not that bright city on a hill that we hear about when it comes to bringing people together from other nations, so that they might pursue “the American dream”. President Donald Trump made sure of that. Case in point is an example of the violence that occurred in the nation’s capitol over the weekend when members of Trump’s supporters and protesters clashed, stemming from a supposed “Stop the Steal” ra...
President Donald Trump is milking the last remaining days of his presidency for all that they are worth by doing his best to remain relevant in the minds of his supporters. With practically all of his lawsuits aimed at overturning the results of state’s election where he lost, dismissed or tossed out, the president is past gasping for straws. He is going down for the third time and the only life preserver left to hold on to is in the Supreme Court and the Electors who will cast their vote for the presidency. In presidential elections past, t...
Presidential historians will record that President Donald Trump seemed to have a peculiar fascination with men whom we would label as authoritarians or strongmen when ruling their countries. Those individuals are ones who have complete authority over their country’s affairs even if they have legislative or judicial bodies within their borders. Men like Russia’s Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jung Un are two prime examples that President Trump has shown a certain “admiration” for how they rule. It doesn’t seem to matter to Mr. Trump that...
The word “hero” shouldn’t be taken lightly. We hear it often when someone has done a good deed for someone else, where that deed made a difference/change in their lives. We place special emphasis on the word when one person saves another person’s life. It doesn’t happen to everyone, but when it does, the person who performs as a hero, usually will shrug it off. They will say, “I only did” what anyone else would have done, which is not the case. Being in the right place at the right time helps, but it is that “inner something” that compels some...
The light that President Trump thought he saw at the end of his “election results lawsuits” tunnel, appears to have dimmed to a flicker, as funds for president-elect Joe Biden’s transition team have been approved. The head of the General Services Administration(GSA), Emily Murphy had refused to released federally mandated funds allocated by law to the Biden transition team so there could be what many thought, wouldn’t be a smooth transition to the new administration. Before president Trump, there was the traditional peaceful transition between...
The scriptures teach us that, “pride comes before a fall”, which is a lesson that one shouldn’t place so much emphasis on themselves as someone who claims to be a “self-made” individual. There is a modern-day expression that convey that thought, which is, an individual is “full of it”. It is always about “me, myself and I,”, hardly ever about “us” or “we”, indicating that all of the credit, accolades should be showered upon that individual because he “did it” his way. Often times, an individual who takes that much pride in himself, will find n...
Many years ago, my wife Berniece and I took our children Nykeshia, Rashan and Avery on a trip to visit their aunt Virgie in Houston. They were at the age that they would rather hang around with their friends (pre-cell phone days) than with mom and pop, taking a long trip. Nonetheless just as Chevy Chase was insistent when he took his kids on vacation in the movies, so was I on the trip to Houston. The first question asked was, how long will the trip take. When I said about six hours, you should have seen their faces. Suffice to say, Keshia,...
Has anyone noticed something different this time around as the 2020 presidential election nears? Four years after Donald Trump became the Republican presidential nominee, it was like a rebirth of conservatism in America, as those who proudly called themselves conservative, gave the term new meaning. The primaries clearly showed that Trump was their man when he easily defeated more well known conservative politicians who had made a name for themselves from their years in Washington. To say that Trump was a different politician who brought a raw...
By Eddie D. Gillis This may be the last gasp for Republicans to rid the nation of the Affordable Care Act, if as expected that Judge Amy Coney Barrett becomes the newest addition on the nation’s Supreme Court. Republicans have said that the ACA is unlawful and has found judges through the appeal system, who have ruled that the ACA should be done away with. Never mind the fact that Republicans have tried over seventy times to repeal the ACA, but Democrats were able to turn them back. Their last hope before the 2020 election is in Supreme C...
Wow! Three days was all it took to bring President Trump back to life. The president spent three days in a Washington, D. C. hospital after the White House said he had contacted the coronavirus. Three days later the president is back in the White House, as he posed for pictures in a show of physical/mental wellness to America that he is more than ready to assume his job as president. While he is back on the job, maybe he can explain “his working” at the hospital in a staged photo showing him signing a piece of paper that appeared to be bla...
Much has been said and continues to be said in the media as to whether President Donald Trump will voluntarily leave the White House on Inaugural Day or will the Secret Service “assist” him out of the door. The Constitution is crystal clear that in January 2021, the newly president elect shall assume the powers of the presidency at noon on that day and whoever is elected shall begin his/her four year reign. That peaceful transfer of power has served the nation well since George Washington’s last day in office as president up until President Bar...
One of the persons that we have been told over the years is, never to trust a used car salesman. This is not to bash people who sell used cars, but if a poll was taken, this writer is convinced that more than half of those asked would say, “don’t trust them”. Used car salesmen may have been number 1 over the years, but they have no doubt been replaced by politicians. That has never been more amplified than by the actions of Republicans since Donald Trump became president. To be fair, there have been some Democrats who have “spoken out both si...
By Eddie D. Gillis When reports got out that President Donald Trump called the men/women in the military, some who made the ultimate sacrifice, “losers and suckers”, many probably thought that the president can’t say or do worse. Oh, how wrong we were. In a book released by famed journalist Bob Woodward, the president admitted to the seriousness of COVID-19 in the early stages of the pandemic, but did nothing when he had the opportunity. That and the fact that the president continued to portray the pandemic as being a “hoax”, essential...
By Eddie D. Gillis As if Democrats and Independents need another reason to send President Trump back to Florida for a permanent retirement, what he said about the nation’s soldiers should seal the deal. There is a reported story in the media where the president refers to the nation’s soldiers as “suckers and losers”. Of course, the president has denied he said those words, but one of the words that the president likes to use when he describes his opponents is, you guessed it, is “losers”. Tweet after tweet from the president has him using t...
The 2020 presidential election is a mere 60 days away and there are some undecided voters out there who the media is telling the public, really can’t make up their minds for whom to vote. These are the so called “undecided”, the less than 10% of voters who will say that they may stay with the current incumbent or vote for the challenger. Some will say that they may make up their mind on election day because given the choices that they have, the challenge that they face is not going to the dentist or even worse, splitting hairs. That’s how dif...
Postmaster Louis DeJoy sat before a House committee hearing Monday (Aug.24). He was given the opportunity to explain to the American people how the Postal Service has become an agency that has millions of Americans concerned. The post office under DeJoy has come under intense scrutiny after what has been seen as a severe drop in overall ability to deliver the mail in a timely manner. DeJoy has been in charge for about two months, but the motives behind such a severe drop in services has been cynical; many voters/customers who have contacted...
When Donald Trump ran for president back in 2016, he stated, boasting that he could walk down 5th Avenue, shoot someone and get away with it. No one really took Trump seriously, saying that was “Trump being Trump” and ignore the ramblings of someone who wasn’t serious about winning the presidency. Nevertheless, people who knew Trump as a businessman knew that he was serious in believing that in New York, his backyard, that he would/could do anything to get what he wanted. He may not have wanted the presidency, but he got it and it has been a do...
For too long Monroe, Ouachita Parish, and surrounding area Black elected officials have been elected to office by black citizens and folders for reasons other than true representation such as, being elected to office because they are educated, black, male, are female, because they are your church member, relative, frat brother, or sorority sister, religious, social, masonic, civic, or other organization member, or affiliate, neighbor, friend, schoolmate, etc. While neither of the aforementioned attributes, or considerations should be...
Well, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden sure kept the nation in suspense with regard to who his running mate would be in this fall's presidential election. California Senator Kamala Harris is one step closer to being the first woman who may become the vice president of the United States, as Joe Biden picked Harris to be his running mate. Biden kept his cards close to his chest as political analysts kept the guessing game going for weeks on who Biden would pick. However,...
Whenever COVID-19, the coronavirus that has almost brought the world to a standstill finally goes away, the U.S. will have lost its standing as a nation combating pandemics. As other nations get somewhat of “a handle” on slowing down the virus, we are usually where they are or ahead, the U.S. is looking as though the nation is stuck in quicksand. It seems as though the more this nation races to fully reopen, the more it plunges back into a hole that is met with more reported cases/deaths. We’re told that the more one struggles in quick...
President Donald Trump sometimes likes to boast about his “robust” support from the black community and about what he “has done” for the black community. The president has black Americans like Herman Cain (has the virus) Diamond and Silk, Ben Carson and others who are on the president’s band wagon, but nowhere near the support that he claims, or would love to have. Maybe not enough black people have drunk the Kool-Aid. But the president has no problem directing his ire toward certain black individuals such as Kolin Kaepernick when it suits his...
Someday historians will explain to us why President Trump had a relationship with our number one adversary that defied conventional wisdom. The president’s relationship and mannerism that he has exhibited with Russian President Vladimir Putin, stands in stark contrast to presidents from the past who had to contend with the Russians on a global scale. Almost from day one of his presidency, Mr. Trump has shown a propensity to avoid saying anything remotely harsh about Mr. Putin, but he has no reservations calling out this nation’s European all...
Can anyone out there tell me who has been given immunity from not being held accountable for their actions/words by God? No one? Adam, the first man created in God’s image was not immune from God’s punishment, nor was Eve when they violated God’s command. So, if God didn’t grant any living soul immunity from punishment for violating His law, why would a “practicing” Christian nation not do/say anything when government officials in the U.S. hardly ever face prosecution? This nation that has “In God We Trust” on its currency and other symbols,...
By Eddie D. Gillis Has anyone noticed how quiet Republicans/conservatives has gotten since Saints quarterback Drew Brees has inserted himself in the flag kneeling National Anthem controversy? There has not been one Republican who has openly criticized Brees for his amended statement addressing the kneeling controversy. Not even a sound from VP Mike Pence, who usually echoes what the president says. Louisiana Republicans were all over Colin Kaepernick four years, and were all for him being out of football. But now, Brees has taped their mouths s...
All the president had to do was say, “I may play a little golf the weekend”, and everything may have been all right. It might have gone over better if he had said, “See you in church Sunday”. Well, I out of 2 is not bad. I guess. Someone in the White House is not telling President Trump how to make himself “look presidential” in the midst of a pandemic that may cost him a return trip to the White House in November. Every president will be remembered for something that will be with voters long after he is gone. Jimmy Carter’s “I have sinned in...
By Eddie D. Gillis You knew it was only a matter of time. President Donald Trump has spent the better part of 2020 downplaying the seriousness of COVID-19, aka the coronavirus, telling Americans that basically, they had nothing to worry about. Even when the virus struck the state of Washington early in the year, the Trump took a “wait and see” attitude before addressing the public with any contingency if the virus started to spread. It did. Statements from the White House that “they” had the virus “contained”, was only a “stick of dynamite...
This nation that sits between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans in the northern hemisphere of the Americas that is called the United States is a lot of things, but “united” is not one of them. Even being in the midst of the possible worst pandemic known to mankind, some areas are being torn apart at the seams. As of this writing, over 65,000 people have died from the COVID-19 virus in just a little of over two months. A big argument over whether the nation was adequately prepared, or foresaw the consequences of the virus is still being hotly deb...
