The confidence game begins.

It started already, folks. The trump con game is already in full effect.

President elect Orange Hair promised his rabid supporters on the campaign trail that he would repeal and destroy the ACA, but today he told the Wall Street Journal that there are parts of it that he will probably keep. 

Get used to it trumpsters, I suspect that after the first year under Führer trump you will be having buyer's remorse.

Let's face it, it already doesn't look like trump is being particularly loyal to some of his peeps. Poor Chris Christie must feel like the Theon Greyjoy  from Game Of Thrones. He thought that serving as trump's manservant and totally sucking up to him would at least get him a nice gig in his administration if he won. Well, he won, and what does trump do?

"New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is no longer running Donald Trump’s transition team, with Vice President-elect Mike Pence now responsible for the smooth transfer of power in the White House.

Christie will continue to serve as one of the chairs of the transition team, along with Rudy Giuliani and retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, but he will not be the leading man." [Source]

Chris, you and the rest of trump's followers will soon see what hundreds of folks who did business with him in the past already know: That there is not an honest or loyal bone in that man's body.

Anyway, I read an article written by Charles Blow that is getting a lot of retweets on twitter that I felt I should share.

"Donald J. Trump is president-elect of the United States. Now there’s a sentence I never thought I’d write.

Against all odds and against all forms of the establishment, he prevailed. He won, legitimately, including in many states that were thought to be safely blue. The pundits and the polls were wrong. There was more pent-up hunger for change — and also racial, ethnic and economic angst — than many models considered.

Mr. Trump will become this country’s 45th president. For me, it is a truly shocking fact, a bitter pill to swallow. I remain convinced that this is one of the worst possible people who could be elected president. I remain convinced that Trump has a fundamentally flawed character and is literally dangerous for world stability and injurious to America’s standing in that world.

There is so much that I can’t fully comprehend.

It is hard to know specifically how to position yourself in a country that can elect a man with such staggering ineptitude and open animus. It makes you doubt whatever faith you had in the country itself.

Also, let me be clear: Businessman Donald Trump was a bigot. Candidate Donald Trump was a bigot. Republican nominee Donald Trump was a bigot. And I can only assume that President Donald Trump will be a bigot.

It is absolutely possible that America didn’t elect him in spite of that, but because of it. Consider that for a second. Think about what that means. This is America right now: throwing its lot in with a man who named an alt-right sympathizer as his campaign chief.

How can I make sense of the fact that the president appeared in pornos?

How can I make sense of the fact that the man who will appoint the next attorney general has himself boasted of assaulting women? What will this president’s vaunted “law and order” program for “inner cities” look like in an age where minority communities are already leery of police aggression?

How do I make sense of the fact that a man who attacked a federal judge for his “Mexican heritage” will be the man who will nominate the next Supreme Court justice and scores of federal judges?

I can’t make it make sense because it doesn’t. I must sit with the absurdity of it.

I must settle this in myself in this way: I respect the presidency; I do not respect this president-elect. I cannot. Count me among the resistance.

I hope that there are areas where people in Washington can agree to actually advance America’s interests, but I’m doubtful. Trump has made multiple campaign promises, promises he will be obliged to keep, that would specifically do harm.

My thoughts are now with the immigrant families he has threatened to deport and the Muslims he has threatened to bar and the women he has demeaned and those he is accused of assaulting and the disabled whom he apparently has no problem mocking.

My thoughts are with the poor people afflicted by ill health who were finally able to receive medical insurance coverage, sometimes lifesaving coverage, and the fear they must feel now that there is a president committed to repealing and replacing it (with what, I don’t know), and who has a pliable Congress at his disposal." [Read more] 

Scary times.

Before I forget, Happy Veterans Day to all the Vets out there. Thank you for your service! (We still miss my wife's brother in law , who gave the ultimate sacrifice. )

It's a shame that you will be now led by a commander in chief who was too much of a coward to do what you so bravely did and continue to do. 

American theocracy, and turning death into good politics.

Man these Supremes are getting scarier every day. I know that this latest 5-4 ruling upholding prayer at a government meeting is limited, but my goodness, have these people ever heard of the Establishment Clause?


In order to justify this clear violation of the Constitution, the justices relied on something called the "history of legislative prayers". They said that the town of Greece, New York can open their meetings with prayers as long as they don't "coerce" others to do the same, and as long as they don't "advance" a particular religion. Yeah, good luck with that.


"When the citizens of this country approach their government, they do so only as Americans, not as members of one faith or another," Kagan said. "And that means that even in a partly legislative body, they should not confront government-sponsored worship that divides them along religious lines."


Folks, this is why it is important to vote. Presidents select the Justices who sit on the Supreme Court. Right now the Supremes could use a makeover.


Moving on.


Another day another republican using a slave or Nazi reference to refer to a government program.


This gem comes from a GOP state senator from the great state of Tennessee.


"Democrats bragging about the number of mandatory sign ups for Obamacare is like Germans bragging about the number of manditory [sic] sign ups for “train rides” for Jews in the 40s." [Source]


Huh?


So signing up to get health care is like going off to get gassed in an oven.


Lord have mercy these people are nuts!


Finally, the GOP's politicizing the deaths of Americans in Libya continues.


They have now convened a select committee to look into the B word. Trey Gowdy will lead this particular political charade and side show. I guess it is better to have him than the car thief. He is a former death row prosecutor, I hope, for his sake, this will not lead to his own political execution.   


Still, I have to give it to Mr. Tan Man; this is good politics. Anything to energize the base. But he has to be careful. The base was already energized, and the republicans were already going to win big this coming mid-term. So why risk it by overplaying your hand and turning normal Americans against your cause?


"Americans learned this week that the Obama administration is so intent on obstructing the truth about Benghazi that it is even willing to defy subpoenas issued by the standing committees of the people's House," Boehner, R-Ohio, said in a statement. "These revelations compel the House to take every possible action to ensure the American people have the truth about the terrorist attack on our consulate that killed four of our countrymen."


"Obstructing the truth"? I think this investigation already gave us the truth.
But hey, never let a few dead bodies go to waste.


"For Boehner, a select committee raises the profile of one of the Republicans' main points of attack against Obama ahead of November's elections, which could swing the Senate to GOP control. Benghazi is a rallying cry for the conservative GOP base and will be critical for fundraising and getting voters to the polls in typically low-turnout midterm contests."


Just be careful what you wish for.


Pic from Specific-Gravity.BlogSpot.com

The affirmative action fable.

If you listen to some folks, America's slow march to a "color blind" society took another giant step today.


The Supreme Court, in a 6-2 ruling, is making sure of it by declaring that voters in the state of Michigan can ban race from being considered by that state's flagship university in admissions. (I see you Uncle Clarence)


Personally, I would have no problem with this concept if America's history was a little different. Sadly, though, we know that is not the case. We know that the history of this country is such that she is not quite ready to put everyone in a similar situation and expect that we are going to have equal results.


This is not only true when it comes to race; it is true when it comes to poverty as well. I have no problem with a college or university using things such as economic background, geography, and race to create a diverse student body. Unfortunately there are some folks in the majority population who always default to us against them (the them being those black folks) when it comes to this particular discussion.


When we talk about affirmative action, we often think of those Negroes with their "hands out". I suspect that this is why the Supreme Court decision today was so popular in certain circles.


We forget, of course, that white women are the biggest beneficiaries of affirmative action, and that many successful small businesses got that way because of affirmative action.


"Justice Anthony Kennedy said voters chose to eliminate racial preferences, presumably because such a system could give rise to race-based resentment. Kennedy said nothing in the Constitution or the court's prior cases gives judges the authority to undermine the election results.


"This case is not about how the debate about racial preferences should be resolved. It is about who may resolve it," Kennedy said.


In dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor said the decision tramples on the rights of minorities, even though the amendment was adopted democratically.


"But without checks, democratically approved legislation can oppress minority groups," said Sotomayor, who read her dissent aloud in the courtroom Tuesday. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg sided with Sotomayor in dissent."


Justice Sotomayor must have not gotten the memo: There are no more "minorities" in America. In the new "color blind" America we are all one. *sarcasm off*








  

Alabama state troopers in black robes.

I was on the phone today with my realtor in Jamaica (honest), and I told him to get ready to do some work for me because I might be heading down there soon.

Honestly, I am sure that the decision by the Supremes today to take us back 50 years has a lot of other people of color thinking the same thing: abandoning the good ship, Apple Pie. 

Of course I know why they did it. The last national election scared the living s*** out of them, and now all this talk of immigration reform and allowing immigrants who are already here in this country to "normalize" their status has them seeing a shift in where the voting power lies.

"But history did not end in 1965. By the time the Act was reauthorized in 2006, there had been 40 more years of it. In assessing the “current need[]” for a preclearance system that treats States differently from one another today, that history cannot be ignored. During that time, largely because of the Voting Rights Act, voting tests were abolished, disparities in voter registration and turnout due to race were erased, and African-Americans attained political office in record numbers. And yet the coverage formula that Congress reauthorized in 2006 ignores these developments, keeping the focus on decades-old data relevant to decades-old problems, rather than current data reflecting current needs.

The Fifteenth Amendment commands that the right to vote shall not be denied or abridged on account of race or color, and it gives Congress the power to enforce that command. The Amendment is not designed to punish for the past; its purpose is to ensure a better future."  

No doubt Chief Justice Roberts is hoping for a "better future", because he didn't like this past election very much. He, and others like him, are hoping that the new schemes that republican state houses are coming up with to make it harder and harder for poor people and people of color to vote, will make it easier for them to win elections and impose their extreme will on the rest of us. 

"Bloody Sunday," nearly 50 years ago, Hosea Williams and I led 600 peaceful, nonviolent protesters attempting to march from Selma to Montgomery to dramatize the need for voting rights protection in Alabama. As we crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge, we were attacked by state troopers who tear-gassed, clubbed and whipped us and trampled us with horses. I was hit in the head with a nightstick and suffered a concussion on the bridge. Seventeen marchers were hospitalized that day.
 
In response, President Lyndon Johnson introduced the Voting Rights Act and later signed it into law. We have come a great distance since then, in large part thanks to the act, but efforts to undermine the voting power of minorities did not end after 1965. They still persist today.

....These men that voted to strip the Voting Rights Act of its power, they never stood in unmovable lines, they never had to pass a so-called literacy test...It took us almost 100 years to get where we are today. So will it take another 100 years to fix it, to change it?" [Source]

Mr. Lewis I would like to thank you for fighting and literally bleeding for this precious right that we all hold so dear. Sadly, today, men like Clarence Thomas and his four friends in black robes, have put us all back on the Edmund Pettus Bridge. 

Finally, speaking of republicans and voting rights, before some of you Negroes join the party of Lincoln; you might want to consider the following letter a good friend of mine in Louisiana was kind enough to send me. It was sent by a Negro who thought that she could fit in under the republican tent.

"House GOP Focuses on Female Recruits for 2014

June 23, 2013

 

House Republicans are putting the first touches on what they hope will be a formal program to recruit more female candidates for the 2014 midterm elections.

 

My name is Sarah Holliday.  I am very interesting in your article today.  Thanks for a well written article.  I can gave a lot of reasons why their[sic] are issues.  I joined the GOP in 2008.  I am a graduate of LSU and Southern University.  After I changed my party affiliation, I joined the Republican Women of Baton Rouge.  That was an experience.  So, I called upon a group of women and chartered Capital City Republican Women (CCRW) in Baton Rouge on June 17, 2010.  We are the most diverse republican women group in the state.  I was the first black president of a republican women group in the state making history.  I currently serve as the Vice President of the CCRW.  In March 2011, at the biennial Louisiana Federation of Republican Women I ran for Region 6 Vice President and won by five (5) votes in Monroe, Louisiana.  Making history again, the first black to hold that position since LFRW inception.  Then, LFRW changed the rules making it impossible for me to win so I did not seek the office in March 2013.  It is the treatment in the party that is disturbing.  I ran for office in 2011 being the only female republican in the race and no help from the LAGOP. (Louisiana GOP)  I ran in 2012 which consisted of 13 parishes and the only female republican in the race and again no help from LAGOP.  I would love to interview with you to enlighten a list of things regarding your article.  I can be reached at 225-***-****.  Thanks, Sarah

 

Poor Sarah is reaching out to Roll Call because reality has slapped her in the face.

 

Now let's see how long it takes another black Louisianan who recently made a high profile switch to the party of Lincoln to realize that "republican outreach" is just a sham.

 

Of course, with the Supremes in their pockets, they won't need you Negroes anymore.

 

The white folks are coming and the illegals better leave.

*

Let me start this post by saying that I love D.C., it's one of my favorite cities in the world.

Even though gentrification is making what was once "chocolate city" more like butter pecan, I still love the place.

Of course, I didn’t grow up there, so my sensibilities are different. To me it's just a nice place to visit, do business, and hang out with friends who have made their homes in the area.

For the folks who grew up there, the writing of Natalie Hopkinson hits home, and it’s something that I hear in a lot of other cities where gentrification (or reverse white flight) is pricing working class minority groups out of their old neighborhoods.

So why isn’t this a good thing? Property values will go up, and conventional wisdom says that the overall quality of life in the city will improve. But some things can't be measured in dollars and cents.

"My own initiation in the ways of Chocolate City came nearly 20 years ago when, after growing up black in nearly all-white environments, I arrived in Washington as a freshman at historically black Howard University. The Washington I encountered then was a strange, alternate universe: I saw black schools taught by black teachers and run by black principals reporting to black superintendents. Black restaurants. Black hospitals run by black doctors and staff members. Black suburbs. Black judges ordering black police officers to deliver black suspects to black jail wardens. And of course a black-owned music industry, go-go.

      

In Washington, we were not “minorities,” with the whiff of inferiority that label carries; we were “normal.” For the first time in my life, I felt at home."

You shouldn't feel inferior. When that "whiff" tries to take hold of you just hold your nose. And remember, home is where the heart is.

Finally, the supremes made a ruling today which , in essence, told the clowns in Arizona that they can't make laws which supersede federal statutes. They shot down three key provisions of SB1070 ,but unfortunately said it was cool for the po po to profile with their "papers please" clause.   

The white house was not exactly doing cart wheels but they managed to do a half of a victory lap. (Still waiting on Flipper to take an actual position on immigration, and the gutless media to call him out for not doing it.)  I guess that with this court you take whatever victory you can get.    

The supremes still have some more hits to come this week, and I suspect that those of us on the left will not be liking the tunes.

Folks, if you don't think it's important to put the right person in the White House, just remember that the president of these divided states is the person who ultimately selects the members of the supremes.  

*Pic from the New York Times.  

Corporations are more important than people in A-merry-ca.

I just got back from D.C. and the MMTC Broadband & Social Justice Summit. Shout out to David and the ladies who took care of the field during the conference. And big ups to the wonderful students (and the professors) I met from Howard University. Hitting your books and keeping your eyes on the prize is field Negro behavior.

Now that I have that out of the way, I have to rip the supremes, tonight. As some of you may or may not know, the United States Supreme court, by a vote of five to four, decided that a corporation-a legal fiction-has just as much rights as you, an actual human being. Yes, in what will probably go down as one of the worst decisions in the history of that illustrious body, they have given corporations the right to donate as much money as they want to one political candidate over another. They have, in essence, wiped out the only good thing that John McCain has ever done.

“If the First Amendment has any force,” Justice Anthony M. Kennedy wrote for the majority, which included the four members of its conservative wing, “it prohibits Congress from fining or jailing citizens, or associations of citizens, for simply engaging in political speech.”When government seeks to use its full power, including the criminal law, to command where a person may get his or her information or what distrusted source he or she may not hear, it uses censorship to control thought.."

Huh? Excuse me? Oh yeah, nice. Now corporations will be able to pick our political candidates for us. As if there isn't already enough money in politics. This is insane! Folks, if you think that Washington is overflowing with money and lobbyist who influence our laws, now; just wait, it's going to get worse.

I agree with his O ness on this one:

"With its ruling today, the Supreme Court has given a green light to a new stampede of special interest money in our politics. It is a major victory for big oil, Wall Street banks, health insurance companies and the other powerful interests that marshal their power every day in Washington to drown out the voices of everyday Americans. … We are going to talk with bipartisan congressional leaders to develop a forceful response to this decision. "

I sure hope so O man, because treating corporations as if they have First Amendment rights is not cool. Of course the wingnuts love it, but what else would you expect from people who put money over people and profits over what's just. The clowns on the right finally got their way. But we all saw it coming, we knew that the previous holding was just hanging by a thread.

So now the flood gates are open, ,and here in A-merry-ca we just might be f&*%^d.

Uncle Clarence, just when I think you can't disappoint me anymore, you once again prove why you are the most dangerous house Negro in A-merry-ca.

Laws, and the people who will make them.

You gotta love those folks in Alabama. Seems that the people of that great state have voted to allow businesses within the state's borders to pay Negroes half of what they pay each of their white workers. I guess it makes sense. They reason that it will be good for the business climate because in trying to attract corporations to Alabama, they realize that if you can pay the Negro worker (who usually are less educated and really live in poorer areas, so they don't need the money) less it will allow companies to save on their overhead. Some of the taxes that they collect from these companies will be used to fund Negro colleges in Alabama.

And most of the Christian folks in Alabama voted for this new law because they are good bible reading god fearing folks. Didn't Genesis 9:25-27 say the following? "Cursed be Canaan! The lowest of slaves will he be to his brothers. He also said, 'Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem! May Canaan be the slave of Shem. May God extend the territory of Japheth; may Japeth live in the tents of Shem and may Canaan be his slave'." See, it's ordained from god. It's the "curse of Ham". The good people of Alabama know their bible. They understand Colossions 3:18 and 4:1. They understand Peter 2:13 and 3:7. They understand the "doctrine of the orders of creation". They understand the biblical theory of an "elect nation". Thank goodness they voted the right way. Now Negro schools will be able to get much needed funding.

Field that is outrageous! You are lying, that did not happen. Well no, not in Alabama, but it happened in California, today. Yes my friends, unless you live on another planet, you have heard by now that the Supremes out there voted to uphold Proposition 8. That little biblical driven ballad initiative that makes it illegal for two consenting adults to get married to each other, because the good book says that marriage is between a man and a woman. So what's the difference between what happened in California and the little hypothetical situation I gave you? Let me answer that for you: Absolutely nothing!

Now to some other news today: Congrats on your pick O man. Looks like it's Sonia "from the block". Let's see now: Ivy League creds? Check. Judicial experience? Check. Great personal story? Check. The right hue and gender? Check. No controversial decisions? Check. Well I will be damn, looks like we have a winner on our hands. Big up boricua! On it's face it seems like a very nice pick. Conservative wingnuts will be foaming at the mouth (Aren't they always?). In fact, the drug addict already started. The theme for this battle will be "reverse racist".--- Over the next few weeks you will be hearing a lot about Ricci and Stefano. And no, it's not a fancy Italian restaurant--- Keep that in mind wingnuts. Now run off and get your talking points. This should be fun. Just remember who the people in the fastest growing group in these divided states look like.