Category Archives: Activism
Day of the Child 2024
Dia del nino/Day of the Child at City Park in Vallejo for the second year in a row promoting Humane Society of North Bay. I brought Snoopy and Bonnie as ambassadors, but we had Daphne and Toby who were looking for permanent homes.
Tobacco End Game Summit 2024
I learned a LOT at the Tobacco End Game Summit in Washington DC last week. On the verge of tears, I found “my people” in large numbers like I’ve never seen before from many countries and many states. I’ve had to become pretty expert in smokeless cannabis, commercial tobacco, nicotine, and many other nuances to be a better activist to save as many lives as I can with the help of those who are awake enough to pay attention to this continuing nightmare of death and destruction everywhere we turn still. If anyone is interested in hearing more about the INHERENT racism and other historical truths that have brought us to where we are today, please reach out. I’ll privately send you some of the talking points I learned that will hopefully resonate with anyone who cares about health equity. One point that really hit home also was that it’s the government’s JOB to protect us and our health, so why are they doing such a poor job of that after centuries of devastation from and exploitation with this bastardized product?
While my decision to vote for the Democratic ticket is not in doubt, I’m GRAVELY disappointed in this terrible decision that the Biden administration has made by kowtowing to the poison peddlers also known as Big Tobacco who have targeted Black Lives (disproportionately) with these flavored products used to mask the harshness of this highly addictive drug that has been marketed to people of color for decades since their lives matter even less to Tobacco Fat Cats than the rest of us human biological experiments. I’m proud that at least California had the sense to ban menthol, but Big Tobacco was at the ready to immediately start issuing identically marketed “non-menthol” products to continue poisoning people who smoke with their commercial tobacco without missing a beat. Anyone who supports BLM should know that far more Black people are killed by this product when used as intended than any other cause, and 8 million people are killed a year by this product worldwide, including 400,000 in the United States alone, making it THE MOST preventable cause of death. It’s the least regulated product in the world and we are still tolerating it for the profit of a few. There are far more of us who should be up in arms that those profiting. Where is the OUTRAGE?!
At least this article correctly points out that Al Sharpton is fighting to keep menthol cigarettes available. There is HARD PROOF he receives tobacco underwriting if you look at the fine print of his speaking tours. He’s literally receiving payola and blood money to kill Black people, so if you didn’t have a reason to dislike this fake progressive in the past, now you do.
African-American Museum
This was a must-see. I spent hours there with another advocate from the Tobacco End Game Summit. We paid particular attention to the slave trade and its use of enslaved people for tobacco. I also loved the Afro-Futurism section that I told my daughter about. The building itself is gorgeous in the background in the one picture.
Washington DC April 2024
Had a fantastic experience here in Washington DC for the Tobacco End Game Summit. I found my people from every corner of the USA and from several other countries trying to save lives by fighting an industry that has the PRIVILEGE to PEDDLE POISON. Where is the outrage at 8 MILLION preventable deaths a year?
I took a few other days here in DC to see museums and I got a start by going to the National Gallery. What a gem, and what a reminder of how beautifully this French-inspired city was laid out. I was so reminded of wonderful times in Paris when I sat in the drizzle on the National Mall. I saw incredible works and experienced zen in the halls of this most gorgeous building as well. I’m sure the pictures won’t do it justice.
Americans have so much to be proud of in our society with the right context put to the art of our culture, and that was very clear in the depictions of black and indigenous Americans, even though the gallery was very heavily European-influenced. Reading the fine print and discovering what is behind art history reveals so much. I hope to see a variety of museums while I’m here.
Tobacco Endgame Summit 2024
Photos are courtesy of Action on Smoking and Health and Dr. Geoffrey T. Fong.
Guess who is front and center in this picture?!?!?
In the first block of pictures below I’m commenting on the enforcement of tobacco control ordinances and how we must ensure that accountability is included in the ordinance when it is passed. I also mentioned that we should not send police officers into tobacco retail establishments “guns-a-blazing” whenever we have options, as we do, to use code enforcement resources that municipalities and counties have, or even civilian volunteers/non-profits that are willing to protect our youth from the poison that is sold legally and without regularly to addict our populations and manifesting the most preventable cause of death.
You can see me in a bunch of these pictures fully engaged and in some cases almost on the verge of tears.
Q2 Glen Cove Community Association Newsletter
Feel free to check out the Q2 issue of the Glen Cove Community Association newsletter for our neighborhood. I write a President’s Letter article, but this quarter I had to include the sad story of the fire on January 18. I’m still proud of how professional our team delivers this online periodical each time. See Slideshow version here.
Smoking Uptick in Movies and Shows…AGAIN
Trying to enjoy yet another sci-fi series (3 Body Problem) and there is CONSTANT smoking in the 2024 scenes. How many tobacco executives produced this? It’s disgusting, distracting, unrealistic and of course like in the Avatar movie, these are PhD’s smoking? What does that tell us? There’s nothing redeemable or necessary about these characters smoking of course. It’s all product placement. Tobacco truthteller organizations have noticed a huge uptick in smoking in movies and shows. It’s intentionally put in there as it always has been by one industry trying to sell poison. We need to make this outrage public. It was very easy to find an article on this: https://mashable.com/article/3-body-problem-smoking
Saint Patrick’s Dinner at Rik & Steve’s
HSNB Saint Pitties Day Mare Island Brewery Event Bonnie and Snoopy
Each year HSNB tries to get the Pitbulls adopted by co-opting Saint Pitties Day. This year the event was hosted by Mare Island Brewery on Mare Island and it happens that Saint Patrick’s Day is on a Saturday this year, so attendance should be better than it would be in the middle of the week. I did not bring Bonnie because I’m interested in having someone else adopt her over me, but she is technically a foster dog.