Life in the "First World" ain't been no crystal stair

The Friday Flashpoints!

“Well, son, I’ll tell you, Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair. It’s had tacks in it, And splinters, And boards torn up,And places with no carpet on the floor—Bare.” Harlem Renaissance poet Langston Hughes, “Mother-to-Son,” circa 1922

Since its Friday, it’s time for Ol’ Hobbs to share a few things that I love, like, dislike, and despise about our world....

***So, I am way up in the mountains of North Carolina enjoying my very first mini-vacation since the Covid Pandemic shut the world down in 2020. While I'm Florida born and Florida bred, I’m an anomaly because I don't like extreme heat, I despise gnats and mosquitoes, and I have a deep dislike of beaches that help that old sun to broil my flesh on the occasion or two I have walked upon the white and tan sands.

But not here on the Carolina-Tennessee-Georgia border where, to my delight, all that I have been experiencing are picturesque mountain views, temps in the low 60's, zero humidity, and fresh clean air...

I LOVE and could really get used to this 😆!

*** Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla), a man who bears an uncanny resemblance to the cartoon character Butthead from "Beavis and Butthead," showed once more that his mind is just as underdeveloped as Butthead's when he argued this week that voters should arm themselves at the polls in future elections. 

Rep. Gaetz and his cartoon doppelganger, Butthead….

Nevermind the fact that hundreds of Americans have died over the past few weeks from mass shootings, Rep. Gaetz, a clown who is under Federal investigation for child molestation, said on Thursday, “I sort of like [Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas] Massie’s legislation that maybe everyone who’s a voter or on their way to vote ought to have the opportunity to carry a firearm to ensure that they’re not subject to any intimidation...” 

Of course you do…

As I have often written, Matt Gaetz is dumb and a whole fool—and I really despise his wicked ways...

***Today is the 100th day since Russia invaded Ukraine; prior to February 24th, I predicted that Russia was merely saber rattling and would not invade its neighbor, but I was proven wrong!

In the time since my predictive faux pas, I have watched as the supposedly powerful Russian Army has endured catastrophic casualties—while failing to occupy Ukraine's capital, Kiev, as many experts predicted it would do in only a matter of days. 

While my faithful readers already know this, please allow me to state for my new subscribers that I despise European colonialism; I despise Vladimir Putin and all of his cheerleaders here in America; I love the resolve of the Ukrainian resistance, and I like the fact that President Joe Biden and a bipartisan Congress have armed Ukraine in its fight to remain autonomous!

***According to The Hill: "The U.S added 390,000 jobs and the unemployment rate held even at 3.6 percent in May, according to data released by the Labor Department. The May jobs report was largely in line with economists’ expectations as employment growth slowed slightly from the torrid gains seen earlier in the year. Consensus projections from experts saw the U.S. gaining 350,000 jobs last month and pushing the jobless rate down to 3.5 percent, its level in February 2020."

Outstanding! I truly love the economic progress that continues here in America, and I hope that salaries and wages continue to grow to offset something that I surely dislike, which are the high rents that so many landlords are charging tenants to offset losses they incurred when federal, state, and local leaders worked to suspend rent payments during the early days of the Pandemic. 

***Great Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, 96, is celebrating her 70th year on the throne, or platinum jubilee, this week.

As a historian whose primary area of focus at Morehouse and FAMU Grad School was modern European History, I am somewhat of a walking paradox; I despise colonialism, as I noted above, which means that on an intellectual and an emotional level, I despise all of the death, misery, mayhem, and economic exploitation that the British Empire—along with her French, Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese, Belgian, Italian, and Spanish cousins were responsible for across the globe for several centuries.

Poster of British Imperialist Cecil Rhodes circa late 19th Century that perfectly captures the essence of British colonial domination and natural resource exploitation…

And yet, I also have studied enough politics and law to know that the Magna Carta, British Common Law, and yes, even the U.S. Constitution that was drafted and ratified by former British subjects like James Madison, have provided the frameworks to fight the very oppression that the European colonizers created!

Thus, my assiduous study of the British Royals through the years, their subjects, and since "The Crown" became subordinate to Parliament and the Prime Minister last century, my studies of how oppressed peoples across the globe fought for their autonomy from the British Empire.

Nota Bene—much of that autonomy was gained during QEII's reign, and just as her Great-Great Grandmother, Victoria, was lauded as a long serving monarch who presided over the British Empire at its zenith, QEII will be remembered for a reign during the Empire's nadir amid a new world order.

***Back in the States, President Biden predicted on Thursday that the Republican Party "would pay a price at the ballot box if Congress fails to pass legislation after a string of mass shootings." Added Biden, "My god, the fact that the majority of Senate Republicans don’t want any of these [gun control] proposals even to be debated or come up for a vote, I find unconscionable."

As do I, Mr. President! Not only do I find their inaction unconscionable, I despise their reckless indifference to the lives that have been lost to gun violence. 

*** My heartfelt condolences are extended to the families of Dr. Preston Phillips,  Dr. Stephanie Husen, receptionist Amanda Glenn, and patient William Love, the four people who were murdered by Michael Louis, 45, at a Tulsa hospital this week.

Authorities claim that Louis, who shot himself as well, was a former patient who blamed Dr. Phillips for his lingering pain 😥!

Hospitals. Schools. Grocery stores. Concerts. Malls. Parties. Churches. Mosques. Synagogues. 

Is there any place in America that is safe?  

***Seven or so years ago, I was in my office one morning talking life and politics with my Frat Brother, Dr. Mike Smith, who was at the time a professor at the FAMU College of Allied Health Sciences.

Photo circa ‘18 of me and my Kappa Brothers (from left) Dr. Michael Smith, and Rev. Malone Smith, who also is my Morehouse classmate…

In the adjacent office, my old friend Karl Knight, a private investigator, along with my former legal assistant were going over deposition testimony with a then client whose trial on child sex battery was to begin the following Monday. 

All of a sudden, Mike and I heard shouting and I recognized the voice as my former client, a man who was my age and had grown up on Tallahassee's Southside—just like Inv. Karl Knight and I had in the 1980's. When I rushed into the adjacent office, the client began shouting even louder and, after calling me a "fu*k ass N*gga" for telling him to lower his voice and help me understand what’s the problem, he added, "I'm gonna wet this mutha fu*kin' office up." For those unfamiliar with Florida slang, "F.N." is the worst insult that one Black man can call another in my generation, while "wet the office up" means that the person is planning to shoot and "wet" the clothes of his prey with their blood pouring from bullet holes. 

Acting purely on instinct, I forcibly grabbed the former client by the neck, slammed his head against the wall to establish control, then dragged him kicking and screaming down the hallway; I then slung him down a flight of stairs to the concrete sidewalk. As he slowly got up off the pavement staring at me, I told him that he was no longer welcome and that if he came back to the office, that I would assume that he is coming to fulfill his violent threats—and that I would meet deadly force with deadly force. Well, I didn’t say it that eloquently, but trust, he understood I was not scared of him and meant business.

Within the next 30 minutes, several police friends called my cell phone because the dispatch had announced that the guy had called 911 and, while leaving out his fault, told them that Chuck Hobbs had just threatened to kill him. Two Sheriff's deputies that I was familiar with showed up to the office and after hearing what had happened directly from everyone in eye or earshot that morning, one said (while laughing) "Hobbs, in the future, just call us and let us defend you." I grinned and replied, "there was no time for that, and as y'all know, the stand your ground laws allow me to defend myself if I believe my life or another's to be in danger." 

The deputies agreed…

A third deputy later went to the guy’s job to issue a trespass warning; later that day, Judge Angela Dempsey allowed me to withdraw from any further representation. While I was wary of his violent threats and kept my eyes peeled for the next few months, I later learned from his second lawyer that he was found guilty and sentenced to a long prison term only a few months after acting a pure fool at my office.

I recount my own past experiences this morning with a sense of melancholy, realizing that my past professional lives ain’t been no crystal stair, with danger occasionally lurking from the very people I was trying to help. Thus, this post, written in memory of those killed at the Tulsa medical office…

*** On a lighter and historical note, last night's first Finals Game between the Boston Celtics and the Golden State Warriors was the first to feature an all Black announcing crew!

Kudos to former NBA great Mark Jackson, Mark Jones and Lisa Salters on making Black history!

Thank you for subscribing to the Hobbservation Point—have a wonderful weekend...