C A P I C O S T I A

by Mel Dyer You think Liz Cheney and Mitch McConnell are catching hell from the GOP? Ha! If I said that Donald Trump' s greatest trick is presenting himself, as a fake Jack Kemp - his pretense to populism...pretending to espouse the things that distinguished Kemp, as a Republican ..and as a MAN - would the average American even know who 'Jack Kemp' was? Republicans have never shat on one of their own, the way they totally ghosted Secretary Jack Kemp, the so-called 'Bleeding Heart Conservative', who championed labor and small business, more often than was acceptable by his bloodless, soul-killing party bosses. Conservatives should be working to empower and encourage the maximum participation of their fellow Americans, in free enterprise...in capitalism. To hell, with that rugged individualism garbage! People need this encouragement from their leaders - that's the job - and Sec. Jack Kemp knew the importance of that... Saw the patriotism in it. See him, now. Here...

by Mel Dyer Has anyone asked women, why they aren't voting for women presidential candidates? Who they want to vote for? Why more women didn't vote for Elizabeth Warren, in the Democratic primaries? Considering that women still outnumber men, by roughly SEVEN percent, in the US population, must we ask how women party nominees and presidential candidates keep losing? Where were the women for Warren? Why aren't we asking women what kind of presidential candidates they want to vote for? When women want to elect a woman for president, I think women will let us know. Furthermore, there won't be a blamed thing anybody can do to stop them. For the interim, all of the speculation, as to why Senator Elizabeth Warren is not on her way to becoming the Democratic Party nominee ..is a little too late. Read... Click here and read MORE.  

by Mel Dyer For Gen-Xers, like myself, there is more to backing Vice President Joe Biden for President, than Obama Era nostalgia. College-age supporters of Bernie Sanders don't understand why so many of us are putting our bets on the Gentleman from Delaware. We remember the good, ole days, ..when watching the Old Joe Biden work his magic, in the Senate and on the campaign trail... Looked something like this.

"Alone, before a pack of wild, hungry dogs...", take their measure, stand your ground ..and, if you are House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, rip up a State of the Union speech.  

by Mel Dyer "...With Nigerians being the most educated immigrants in the US , there’s been a swelling of talent in business and professional circles, including some of the world’s biggest companies . It follows a long history of the US as a popular destination for Nigerians seeking tertiary education (economic spending of Nigerian students in the US last year reached $514 million ) with the aim of getting employed in the US and, possibly, resettling there after obtaining green cards. “That path no longer exists but, for me, I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing,” says Aboyeji. One possibility could see an increase in returnees to Nigeria and possibly working remotely for US employers but there’s a more intriguing prospect for Nigeria’s tech ecosystem. “Some of these people can also decide to come and work for high growth African companies,” Aboyeji says. “That could be critical for the ecosystem going forward..." The Donald Trump Administration's speculatively ...

by Mel Dyer A few months ago, a cute vlogger couple went apartment shopping, near Washington. What does this have to do with life, between the Hill and Anacostia? Not a bloody thing. Stories about cute, optimistic couples happen, somewhere else...everywhere, but, here. Nobody wants to come here. Nothing worth sharing with the world happening, over here... Most of the time. Get used to that. Then, look at this video. [You can always send me some current news and prove me wrong, Capicostia.]

by Mel Dyer There is a good reason, why I do not feel DC's Wards Seven and Eight are not ready for statehood. Our River East wards do not presently have sufficient industry and commercial investment to generate enough revenue to adequately support police, EMS, sanitation, public schools and other services, ..on a municipal level.  We are not as ready to be towns or municipalities, as some of the other parts of town, ..like Capitol Hill and Georgetown. Presently, our Capicostia (ANC-7B) neighborhoods are poised to become the prospective 51st State's poorest, most abject districts. How will that go for us, when the folks, downtown, decide we should start shouldering more of our own economic burdens? So, when I read about these so-called 'opportunity zones', I am somewhat hopeful...encouraged. Some would argue any development is good development, for Seven and Eight. The question for us  River Easters, however, is...oppor...

The best way I can describe the house, at 3706 Bangor Street SE  (20020), in Hillcrest, is to say that [Sigh.] ..it's like a plaid shirt, on a CALVIN KLEIN model. Seriously...this must be seen to be believed. You're welcome. https://www.trulia.com/p/dc/washington/3706-bangor-st-se-washington-dc-20020--2090399395

  By Mel Dyer   While I don't spend as much time, there, as I used to, I can't give up hope that my home of over twenty years, FAIRFAX VILLAGE, will soon escape the pessimism that some of us have inflicted upon it, since the early 1970s, ..and return to its pastoral niceness, someday. While I have enjoyed friendships, with a wide variety of people from every corner of the planet, I don't think the Village needs cultural OR economic gentrification to make that happen.   Inflicted? Did I say... yes, ..I did. So, what am I talking about?   In the late 1960s, there used to be an Italian restaurant - a RISTORANTE, with a piazza and bistro tables, with candles on them, at night - literally, a mere couple of blocks, from my condo. Long before I moved here in 1995, lovers, old ones and young ones, used to amuse each other, over candlelight, in that piazza, ..right up the street. What happened? I don't care if the lovers are East Indian, Polish, Jamaic...

Penn Branch Center is getting another liquor store - Penn Branch Liquors. The old one went belly-up, and D.C. is popping another snugly into its place. Nothing new going on in these Southeast hills. We're getting another liquor store, when it needs a decent café/grill, where I can meet and chat with our neighbors - as does Fairfax Village Shopping Center, where I live. In spite of the sizeable number of African American families, who worked very hard and sacrificed much to buy houses in Penn Branch, the liquor store's owners appear to be Asian American and, like all local merchants, will be warmly welcomed and patronized. It looks very well put together, at the site, and I must remember to post some pictures of that, next time. Not making an issue of this, really. I think most of the small businesses that are leasing offices in PBC happen to be owned by African Americans. Just the same, an elegant or fashionable Soul food restaurant would be much welcome,...

In her National Review Online column, Michelle Malkin says, "...Mrs. Obama leveraged her hubby’s Senate victory to snag a lucrative seat on the corporate board of directors of TreeHouse Foods, Inc. despite having zero experience in the industry...", among oth ... er accusations. Most people, who sit on these boards (including myself) have little or no prior experience in whatever business their board oversees. Just the same, Michelle Malkin thinks we should ignore that and hate Mrs. Obama for it..and for anything that marks her as successful, upper class or otherwise extraordinary. [A U.S. president's wife is automatically 'upper class', even without a billion dollars. Sorry?] Political ideology aside, what I reject is the suggestion in Malkin's column and past scribblings that the Obamas weren't already successful and extraordinary,  before they moved into the White House -Malkin's subtextual cues that they don't belong there..and are stealing f...

Pompeii knew you couldn't keep a good weiner down. (Yahoo! News) "After days of denials, a choked-up New York Democratic Rep. Anthony Weiner confessed Monday that he tweeted a bulging-underpants photo of himself to a young woman and admitted to "inappropriate" exchanges with six women before and after getting married. He apologized for lying but said he would not resign. A conservative website that last week started a furor over a lewd photo sent from Weiner's Twitter account posted new photos..." A difficult, but, all too typical story of political intrigue about a complex and driven man! Read more of the Yahoo! News article here

(NYTimes.com) As the four of us headed toward the eastern gate of Ajdabiya, the front line of a desperate rebel stand against the advancing forces of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, a car pulled up alongside. “They’re in the city!” the driver shouted at us. “They’re in the city!” Lynsey and Steve had worried that government soldiers might encircle the town, trapping us, but Tyler and Anthony discounted it. We had covered the fall of two other rebel-held towns — Ras Lanuf and Brega — and each time, the government had bombed and shelled the towns for days before making a frontal, methodical assault. When they did, rebels and journalists fled in a headlong retreat. If Ajdabiya fell, Colonel Qaddafi’s forces would be on the doorstep of Benghazi, the opposition capital, and perched on a highway to the Egyptian border, from... Read full story here

(Yahoo! News) "NAIROBI, Kenya – Four Americans taken hostage by Somali pirates off East Africa were shot and killed by their captors Monday, the U.S. military said, marking the first time U.S. citizens have been killed in a wave of pirate attacks plaguing the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean for years. U.S. naval forces, who were trailing the Americans' captured yacht with four warships, quickly boarded the vessel after hearing the gunfire and tried to provide lifesaving care to the Americans, but they died of their wounds, the U.S. Central Command said in a statement. Two pirates died during the confrontation and 13 were captured and detained, the U.S. Central Command said in a statement from Tampa, Fla. The remains of two other pirates who were already dead for some time were also found. The U.S. military didn't state how those two might have died. Negotiations had been under way to try to win the release of the two couples on the pirated vessel Quest when the gunfire.....

Yahoo News, Associated Press "FEASTERVILLE, Pa. – A high school English teacher in suburban Philadelphia who was suspended for a profanity-laced blog in which she called her young charges "disengaged, lazy whiners" is driving a sensation by daring to ask: Why are today's students unmotivated — and what's wrong with calling them out? As she fights to keep her job at Central Bucks East High School, 30-year-old Natalie Munroe..." America's War On Teachers (and it's real ) continues, my friends. Speak out ..and be obliterated . Read more about Natalie Munroe's adventure with the psycho-liberal left hijackers of public education, here.

(Washington Examiner) "Former Prince George's County Executive Jack Johnson was indicted Monday on eight federal charges of conspiracy, extortion and bribery as well as tampering with a witness and evidence. Authorities say Johnson took bribes from developers seeking favorable treatment, and he and his wife attempted to cover it up. The indictment, filed in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt, also says Johnson conspired with..." Full story here

(Politics Daily) "Democrats and Republicans in Congress will battle over proposed cuts in federal programs in President Obama's proposed FY2012 budget, unveiled on Monday. But the administration, seeking to put its own house in order, is looking for savings in many corners of the U.S. government. The Obama administration is looking to squeeze a few million in savings from reducing federal travel costs, to eliminating printing expenses to painting the roofs of embassies white. Some samples of savings the Obama administration is proposing that do not need Congressional approval..." Full story here

(The Santiago Times) "Seismic activity continues to alarm Chileans Nearly one year since a devastating 8.8-magnitude earthquake struck southern Chile last Feb. 27, the earth shook once again on Friday afternoon, and in almost the exact spot. Friday’s earthquake measured a magnitude 6.9 on the Richter scale according to ONEMI, Chile’s National Emergency Office. U.S. seismologists measured the tremor at 6.8-magnitude on the Richter scale. The tremor began at 5:05 p.m. Friday evening and was centered 30 miles outside of Concepción. Still, the quake was felt from Valparaíso to the Los Ríos Region. As the Earth continued to shake, people from buildings throughout the city of Concepción evacuated into..." Full story here.

(The Huffington Post) "Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) delivered the keynote address on Saturday night at this year's Conservative Political Action Conference. Topics discussed in West's speech encompassed a wide range. From the state of nation's economy and federal budget to social issues, the congressman covered a lot of ground. He stressed the importance of adhering to conservative principles while also taking time to criticize Democrats. "Liberal progressivism evolved after our Constitution," explained West to his audience. "It has repeatedly failed all over the world..." Read more here