Justin Etheridge

Congress desperately needs to pass major pricing legislation. Some of the modern price-setting schemes companies use—especially digitally—must be made illegal. Algorithmic pricing and social engineering just to make sneaky withdrawals from our accounts has gotten way out of hand. It must be stopped.

“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.” — Dwight D. Eisenhower, “The Chance for Peace” speech, April 16, 1953

Tears on my glasses again. Some things never change.

The snow is melting. The birds are singing. The sun is shining. The spring is springing.

When gay men show you who they are, believe them.

But, summers end.

It’s not worth wanting.

I get up again, over and over

“It won’t happen here,” only happens if we make it not happen.

Oh, Cher!

Tax cuts for giant corporations and the super rich.

Paid for by cuts to the social safety net for everyone else.

The state of Trump's union. [@itep.org]

Jackie Chan is such a cute old man now!

Yeah… I just live for Chromatica era Gaga. Like, 1000 Doves? What is this? Where was I in 2020? Oh.

The rights of queer people to engage in the most essential and intimate associations—those of kinship, love, and family— are inalienable and therefore constitutionally protected in the United States under the framers’ understanding of the associative and expressive freedoms of the First Amendment.

I also believe queerness is a First Amendment right: a fundamentally expressive and associative identity.

I hope someday the things I’m writing about my life will help people understand that queerness is an ecological mandate to care for our species.

Laufey gives me hope for modern music. Iceland! Who knew?

Rev. Jesse Jackson and Father Michael Pfleger speaking outside Chuck’s Gun Shop in Riverdale, Illinois during a protest against illegal gun sales, with media and supporters gathered around.

Rev. Jesse Jackson standing with Father Pfleger and activists outside Chuck’s Gun Shop, addressing the press and pointing toward the storefront during a demonstration against crime-gun dealers.

Protest scene outside Chuck’s Gun Shop with Rev. Jesse Jackson, Father Pfleger, and organizers holding signs and speaking to reporters about gun violence and dealer accountability.

Finally, here he is with Chicago’s Father Pfleger in 2015 confronting notoriously bad dealer Chuck’s Guns in Riverdale, IL—Chicago’s top source of crime guns (now closed 🙌). 1 in 15 gun crimes committed in Chicago were with a Chuck’s gun. This was the first action I ever organized @bradyunited.org.

YouTube video by C-SPAN Jesse Jackson 1988 Democratic National Convention Speech

‘88 convention speech: m.youtube.com/watch?v=6RCA...

YouTube video by CBS News From the archives: Jesse Jackson's speech at the 1984 Democratic National Convention

‘84 convention speech: m.youtube.com/watch?v=nGJ7...

YouTube video by prochoicestrategery Jesse Jackson's David and Goliath speech

MUST WATCH David & Goliath Speech: m.youtube.com/watch?v=6H6v...

He is, in my opinion, the most gifted American orator of our time. Three of his speeches are some of my greatest artistic inspirations. The first is a MUST WATCH (it’s only 7 minutes). His 1984 and ‘88 Democratic National Convention speeches are equally legendary, but only if you have time.

U.S. map of the 1984 Democratic primary first-instance vote by state. Walter Mondale leads much of the South and Midwest, Gary Hart dominates many Western states, and Jesse Jackson wins Louisiana and the District of Columbia, with a few states marked uncommitted.

U.S. map showing which Democratic presidential candidate won each state in the 1988 convention roll call vote. Jesse Jackson leads several states across the South and parts of the Midwest, while Michael Dukakis leads most states nationwide, with smaller pockets for Al Gore, Dick Gephardt, and Paul Simon.

Jackson was the first black man to ever seriously compete for the U.S. presidency, picking up 2 primary contest in ‘84 and 13 in ‘88. He gave voice to what was then the fringes of the Democratic Party and the margins of society but is today the party’s beating heart and greatest hope for its future.

The coalition explicitly included environmentalists, feminists, anti-war activists, and for the first time meaningfully by a major U.S. presidential campaign, LGBTQ+ citizens.

“Black, brown, red, yellow, or white—we are all precious in God’s sight,” as the Reverend often said.

In 84 and 88, under the long shadow of Reagan (and his 49/50 state EC victory), Jackson sought to organize a broad coalition of working-class, racially diverse Americans—a rainbow coalition—to expand the party’s base and build back political (and labor) power lost in the neoconservative revolution.

Six vintage Jesse Jackson presidential campaign buttons from 1984 and 1988 arranged on a wooden surface. Slogans include “Run Jesse Run,” “Jesse Jackson President ’84,” “Unite Against Racism—Support Jesse Jackson,” “Gays & Lesbians for Jackson,” and “Win Jesse Win,” in bold rainbow-coalition era colors.

Today we lost one of my American heroes.

Rev. Jesse Jackson’s rainbow coalition vision in his 1984 and 1988 campaigns are guiding lights to me today, in the age of egregiously corrupt GOP control we live under.

JEESE JACKSON, NOOOOO

You Know What? Maybe the Time Is Right for an AOC Presidential Bid She’s only 36, and there’s a good argument that she should run for Senate and bide her time. But she also could be a formidable White House candidate.

The worst case scenario for an AOC presidential run in 2028 is that she’s setting herself up for 2032 or 2036.

She is going to be president someday—it’s just a matter of time.

Does that seem fair to you?

And then one day
A magic day he passed my way
And while we spoke of many things
Fools and kings, this he said to me

"The greatest thing you'll ever learn
Is just to love and be loved in return"