Thank You, Mr. President! Thank You.

As me and my wife sat.  Ignoring all the other tasks that stood before us.  We watched and listened as this man came forward after so many amazing speeches before him and resurrected the young senator from Illinois who spoke at the 2004 DNC convention in Boston, Mass.  

My wife was starting in tears and my heart started to get heavy as President Obama approached the podium and we became focused as he spoke.  I have felt pride in a president before with Clinton and believe it or not Reagan.   I even felt pretty good about Bushes as well.  Because I managed to see how good their hearts are despite the rough times they faced and decisions they tried that went bad.   I knew that all of them truly love this nation.   Oh Carter's my boy, too.  Still is, but I digress.  None matched the pride in how I felt and still feel about Barack Obama.  I'm not going to lie, as a black man I felt an extra sense of pride because, like black folks much older than I, I never felt that I would see a black man, let alone a minority, make it into the White House in my lifetime, but it did happen.   

Did I vote for him?  Yes.  Because I knew in my heart that he was the one.  Especially since McCain and Romney sorely disappointed me by trying so hard to be so, so conservative instead of focusing on the true objective, America.

Anyway, when Obama made it to the White House I started to look beyond the color and start observing him as I did every other president.  When he spoke about all he wanted to get done, I was like whoa, bruh!   I am not sure if you can accomplish all of that, but he would be damned if he didn't try.  

Obama was optimistic and determined, but he was realistic as well.  He knew the hard battle he was going to face in his future, but he fought on.  Now here he is after delivering the same type of amazing speech he brought 12 years ago.  Did he achieve everything?  No!  As he said, "There is still so much I want to do!", but we all knew how hard it was going to be, especially with the congress he was working with.   

So now we we moving on.  Approaching November 2016.  I will say my goodbyes later, but for now we all must remain focused and (I can't believe I am going to say this) do as Senator Ted Cruz suggested, "Vote Your Conscience".  Follow your instincts and your heart.   Do what you feel is right and GET OUT THERE & VOTE!!!!!

If you haven't seen President Obama's speech last night, I have it here below.  Also if you want to see or re-see the other speeches from the DNC Philly 2016 , go to the Democratic National Convention's YouTube Channel.   

Enjoy

#ACentristView

2016 RNC - Day 1

The time has come for the 2016 Republican National Convention.   Taking place in Cleveland, OH, this convention is expected to be pretty interesting and could become chaotic.  The big new before the convention started was that a good amount of people decided to sit this event out including, Mitt Romney, Sarah Palin, John McCain and the entire Bush family.  There is a rumor that Laura Bush may endorse Hillary Clinton and that would be pretty interesting.  Newt Gingrich kind of said that all of the people that are not attending should just get over it.  Wee doggie!

Anyway, the convention started with chaos as the Never Trump movement tried to call for a Role Call vote and change the committee rules.  It got shut down and a lot of them walked out.  I thought it was a brave and foolish attempt.  If they had succeeded, it would have turned into more chaos with the uncertainty of who would end up becoming the nominee.  I feel that the committee foresaw this and decided to nip it in the bud.  

So on with the show as after a spectacular national anthem was sang, speaker after speaker came up and made their voice heard.  From Scott Baio (Yes, Charles In Charge spoke) to Sen. Joni Earnst, William Robertson to Rudy Guliani.  All of them spoke with some bravado and tried their hardest to beat down the Democrats and win the delegates support.

Below are some videos shared from YouTube channels ABC and other news channels.  29 total.  oh can pick and choose or watch them all.

Enjoy

Oh and there is some bonus stuff you probably already heard about.

#ACentristView 

Changing of the Guard | A Centrist View

Congratulations to Theresa May is now the new Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.  She has won this post by default when her opponent, Andrea Leadsom had dropped out of the race.

The reason for Leadsom's withdrawal is most likely because of a comment she made that she is more equipped to be the UK's Prime Minister because she is a mother and May was not.  A pretty low blow from Leadsom and even folks in her own party wanted to leave the race and she did.  

Theresa May will be the second female PM in UK history after Margaret Thatcher.  She plans to proceed with the Brexit and move the UK onto a bright future.  

I honestly am not sure how this will impact the US, let alone the world.  I never understood Britain politics.   I guess we will have to just observe.  Well that is all I have on that for now.  I am sure I will give my opinions on her career in the future.  

Anger & Frustration Continues | A Centrist View

"So what?  Is this a summer thing or something?",  This is something I asked my wife today as I learned of this matter that happened outside of Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN.  I just don't get why these things continue to happen when an pandemic as been revealed.  

If you haven't heard by now, Philando Castile was driving with his girlfriend and her 4 year old daughter just outside of St. Paul, MN when they were pulled over by police.  The reason?  They were told they had a broken taillight.  Now, from what I understand, when the officer got to the car it seemed like things were going pretty well.   He explain why they were pulled over.  Philando acknowledged that he understood and he revealed that he had a concealed handgun license.  The officer then asked for his license and registration and as Castile moves in compliance, the cop yells and shoots Castile 4 times in the arm.  During the chaos, the girlfriend/fiancé decided to do a live feed to document what has happened while continuing to comply with the officer's orders.  All this happens with her 4 year old daughter in the back.  

From what I gather from the video, the woman was shocked and scared and the officer was freaked out and upset.  I feel he was very upset with himself because he knows he messed up.  That kind of came evident with his yelling and saying over and over, "I told him to keep his hands up!"  I think that not only was he yelling that to her he was trying to convince himself what he fell has happened, but he definitely knew reality.  That's my opinion.  

After learning about all this I became more saddened and eventually angry.   Yes, I turned into an Angry Black Man.  Now not like the stereotypical one who stares and yells all the time, just more subuded, yet the face shows the emotion at times.  

One thing I know is after Sterling and Castile, after all of the officer shootings last year, and after the decades of racial profiling, I am absolutely scared!!!  My wife is even more scared that her black husband could be pulled over and killed even when he is compliant.  So I don't know how to be anymore.  I now just drive or walk as carefully and as unsuspiciously as possible.  It has become way to tricky now.  

Below is the video of the aftermath.  Take a look and derive your own opinion.  

#AltonSterling

I just don't know what else to say.  Some way, some how, this needs to stop.  I just don't understand how something like this can continue to happen.  If he had a gun, either of them could have easily disarmed him before shooting him.  If they really felt they had to shoot him, why not shoot him in a not fatal spot.  I just don't get why that is so hard to do.

Some of you may have seen the videos.  If not, take a look at this playlist for yourself and form your own opinion.  

I just feel that something else could have been done to defuse the situation.  Sigh!!!!  So Angry!!