A strange sense of humor.

The folks on the right and their propaganda arm, FOX Views, sure have a strange sense of humor.


 "On Fox News Sunday this morning, Fox News contributors George Will and Brit Hume mocked the #BringBackOurGirls campaign, a piece of Twitter activism intended to increase pressure on the Nigerian government and international community to more actively seek the return of over 200 kidnapped Nigerian schoolgirls, arguing the campaign was intended solely to soothe the consciouses of those tweeting.


“I was not that familiar with this phenomenon,” host Chris Wallace said. “It’s even got a name: hash tag activism. Do you think that this is significant and helpful and can make progress, or do you think it’s really about helping the people who tweet the hash tag feel better about themselves?”


“It’s an exercise in self esteem,” Will said. “I do not know how adults stand there, facing a camera, and say ‘Bring back our girls.’ Are these barbarians in the wilds of Nigeria supposed to check their Twitter accounts and say, ‘Uh-oh, Michelle Obama is very cross with us, we better change our behavior?’”


It’s trending!” Hume yukked. “It’s trending on Twitter!” [Source]


Ha -ha -ha- ha.


If you are surprised that the FOX panel would make light of over 200 school girls being viciously kidnapped by Muslim extremist, you don't understand the mindset of the right.


To them, African girls are way down on the pecking order in terms of importance. They have two strikes against them: They are not Americans, and they are not white.


This is why they can make light of an attempt by social network activists to bring attention to a very serious tragedy playing itself out across the world and not concern themselves with the consequences.


The lives of these girls don't matter, only the lives of the Americans who perished at Benghazi do. (Although we all know that they really don't care about them, either. Just politics.) They were Americans. Their lives matter. Those girls, on the other hand, not so much.


Finally, a few words about Mother's Day.


Kevin Durant gave a moving speech while accepting his MVP trophy the other day. There was not a dry eye in the room, and when you listen to it you can understand why.


"Everybody told us we weren't supposed to be here. We moved from apartment to apartment by ourselves. One of the best memories I have is when we moved into our first apartment. No bed, no furniture, and we just all sat in the living room and hugged each other because we thought we made it.


"When something good happens to you, I don't know about you guys, but I tend to look back to what brought me here. You woke me up in the middle of the night in the summertimes. Making me run up a hill. Making me do push-ups. Screaming at me from the sidelines at my games at 8 or 9 years old.


"We weren't supposed to be here. You made us believe. You kept us off the street, put clothes on our backs, food on the table. When you didn't eat, you made sure we ate. You went to sleep hungry. You sacrificed for us. You're the real MVP."


I can't relate to Durant's speech on personal level, but I certainly can on a professional one.


I see lots of women just like his mother every day, and I honestly don't know how they do it.


Today is a good day to recognize those mothers. Let's not forget all the sacrifices that they make on a daily basis for their families.


Happy Mother's Day.








   

Evil husbands.

I have noticed a sad and troubling trend in America, lately: Men killing their wives and loved ones.




It seems that every time we turn on the news these days we hear about some nut killing his wife or his children. Or, in some cases, his wife and their pets.




The most high profile of these incidents took place in Florida a few days ago. A man shot all three of his family members execution style and then torched the million dollar mansion he was renting from ex tennis star, James Blake.




 "A Florida man shot his wife and two teenage children in the head, then scattered gasoline and fireworks around the mansion they rented before setting the home ablaze and killing himself, deputies said Friday.


Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Col. Donna Lusczynski said at a news conference Friday that Darrin Campbell had purchased fireworks, gas cans and gasoline in the days before the family was killed.


Campbell shot his wife, Kimberly, 19-year-old son Colin Campbell and teenage daughter Megan each in the head with a.40-caliber handgun he bought last year before setting the house on fire and shooting himself in the head.


'This is certainly disturbing,' Lusczynski said."




Gee, ya think?




I wonder what could have led someone to do such a thing. I am guessing it's either love or money. We can always count on one of those two things to drive people to these types of depraved extremes.




We know that Julian Paris probably killed his wife in front of their three children because of love.



"An unhinged Florida man shot dead his estranged wife in front of their three children hours before he drove to his eldest son's grave at a nearby cemetery and killed himself, authorities said.


Julian Paris, 54, was found dead of a single gunshot wound about 7:20 p.m. Thursday at Woodlawn Cemetery in Gotha, draped across the grave of his teen son, who was killed in a 2012 car crash.


The gruesome find ended a daylong manhunt for Paris after he blasted 34-year-old Liza Nicole Adderly in broad daylight Wednesday at Dr. P. Phillips Community Park, a lakeside green space in suburban Orlando." [Source]


Campbell and Paris  both killed themselves, so the rest of us can take some comfort in that. Until, of course, the next lunatic decides that he would rather die than live without his wife and family on his terms.




John Jordan didn't kill himself. But, like the others, he killed his wife.



"The New Jersey man accused of stabbing his wife to death and fleeing to South Carolina with their two sons lived in a dingy, barren apartment two miles from the crime scene.


John Jordan, 47, was unemployed and getting by on social services in the single room with only a twin bed, microwave, and dresser, according to the super of the Lodi, N.J., building with 17 grungy apartments with shared bathrooms." [Source]


Considering how he was living you would have to wonder why he didn't just kill himself as well. I mean what kind of life did he think that he was going to provide for his children? Somehow I don't see a Ozzie and Harriet future in this dude's existence.


Heck even folks who are close to octogenarian status are getting into the act.


"An elderly man allegedly murdered his wife and injured another woman before turning a gun on himself at his Los Angeles apartment Monday morning.


The suspect, about 70 years old, initially used an ax to attack his younger wife during a domestic quarrel that escalated out of control — she screamed out in fear before losing her life, authorities said.


A neighbor heard the cry of for help and rushed into the apartment, where she was shot by the gunman, according to local media.


"My daughter said he had an ax, that her whole head was cracked open," the Good Samaritan's mother..."  [Source]


Lord have mercy!


I could go on and on and on with these, (the last sicko actually posted a picture of his wife's dead body on Facebook) but tomorrow is Mother's Day, and somehow this doesn't put me in the right frame of mind to enjoy such a special time.


























 

Unequal justice everywhere.

My man Will Bunch just dropped a cut and paste worthy article in my local paper.


Here it is:

"It's now been more than six years since the night that Dagma Rodriguez, a 33-year mother of three from the rugged neighborhood of West Kensington, said that she was sexually assaulted. Her assailant, she alleges, was a man who pressed her against a wall and began to fondle her.

"He started rubbing my breasts, rubbing my nipples," Rodriguez said. "I was so scared. My legs wouldn't stop shaking." The man kept talking lewdly, and kept fondling Rodriguez, until she began to cry...her assailant commanded her to "shut the f--- up."

It's a sadly familiar story -- the type of tale that might normally vanish into the dark night of a poor ,and largely powerless, community. But this case was different. Rodriguez' alleged assailant was a Philadelphia police officer, Officer Thomas Tolstoy, a member of what by all accounts was a rogue narcotics squad. She was willing to go on the record with her allegation -- and so were two other women who said that they, too, had been assaulted by the same Officer Tolstoy.

And the most important difference was that someone actually listened. It was two investigative reporters, Wendy Ruderman and Barbara Laker, who tracked the women down, and reported their story on the front page of the Philadelphia Daily News in 2009. They also reported in the same year allegations that another cop in the same unit had fabricated evidence on search warrants, and also something else shocking: More than 20 law-abiding bodega and corner-store owners -- most of them Latino or Asian immigrants -- said the narcotics squad had burst into their place of business, cut video cameras, and made off with food, cigarettes and cash -- thousands of dollars in all.

 

The stories immediately got attention...in the world of journalism, anyway. For their shoe-leather reporting in a tough part of the city (under withering pressure from the Fraternal Order of Police union and others), Laker and Ruderman were awarded the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting. Back at home, the first baby steps toward justice were taken -- cops were pulled off the street, internal affairs officers were brought in, and information was forwarded to the U.S. Attorney's office.

And then...

Nothing happened.

Some two weeks ago, at a moment when it was clear that the 5-year statute of limitations covering many of the allegations had expired, Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey conceded that there weren't going to be criminal charges (for officers accused of sexual assault and robbery!...how long do you think you or I would evade arrest with those allegations hanging over our heads?) and that he was taking the only avenue left: Internal charges. Five of the officers could be fired over the allegations, but even then they would go into an arbitration system that is stacked heavily in favor of cops and routinely returns dismissed officers to their jobs, even with back pay for overtime they would have worked.

In some ways, this is Philadelphia. More than 100 years ago, the famed muckraking journalist Lincoln Steffens described America's founding city as "corrupt and contented"...and nothing has changed since then. Greedy politicians and crooked cops are rarely charged with a crime here -- even when their misdeeds have been reported in the media -- and in the rare cases that someone is charged, there's a good chance that a friendly judge (who, after all, comes out of the same corrupt Democratic machine) is likely to just throw the charges away. They count on a lack of public outrage -- one colleague here dubbed it "the Philly shrug" -- and it works.

But increasingly this is America in 2014 -- a nation that has two separate and ridiculously unequal systems of justice.

One exists for the insiders, the wealthy and the well-connected who by now are well aware that there are zero consequences -- or a painless slap on the wrist -- for their insider trades and their financial chicanery, or their corrupt dealings, or, if they have enough juice, even for their rank crimes like ransacking a bodega or groping cornered women.

The other is for the outsiders, the rest of us -- who walk on streets where law-abiding citizens are stopped and frisked by law-enforcement officers because of the color of their skin, where folks are arrested in one state for possessing or selling a drug that is now legal in other states, and where a muddled, seconds-long encounter with a cop might mean years behind bars.

If you've been half-awake for the past five years, you probably know this. But knowledge is one thing. Where is the outrage? How are we are going to fix this?

How are we going to fix a system where a millionaire who fatally runs over two tourists and leaves the scene can literally buy his way out of prison time, while a troubled woman who helped a boyfriend sell a few ounces of meth has been in jail for 20 years and has no hope of getting out any time soon? How are we going to fix a system in which the white-collar banksters and swindlers who triggered a financial crisis that caused severe economic pain walked away scot-free, usually with a bonus check in their pocket, while a woman who protested Wall Street and had a highly ambiguous encounter with the officer arresting her is now facing a possible seven years in jail?

In a climate where protected elites can literally get away with murder sometimes is it any wonder that abuse of power by officers wearing a badge is out of control, from Philadelphia to Albuquerque to the sidewalks of New York. But where is the outrage? And how are we going to fix this?

How can we be proud to live in a country where decent citizens stand up and say they were robbed or molested by a police officer -- and the system does nothing? I do not understand why this Philadelphia story is not in the national news -- night after night, until someone is charged. (There's even compelling  video of officers knocking out the cameras in a bodega...hello, CNN and MSNBC? Anyone home?)

The other day I stumbled across a picture of the signs that they used to have at the Pennsylvania border, which bragged that "America Starts Here." What if we could brag in Philadelphia, someday, that "Outrage Starts Here!"

Because outrage does work. Already, there's been enough of an uproar in Philadelphia that there have been a few  actual grown-up steps in the right direction, with the district attorney's office (which had deferred to the feds, initially) now saying it will look at the allegations of sexual assaults by Officer Tolstoy. But that's still not justice for the bodega owners who say they were ransacked and robbed; if you share the outrage, you can write the U.S. Justice Department, Division of Civil Rights, and demand a civil rights probe (which could, in theory, override the statute of limitation concerns). Even demanding action on social media (use the hashtags #UntaintJustice and #MyPhillyPD) helps raise awareness.

Dr. Martin Luther King said that "injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." And ultimately, America is going to have to deal with its injustice everywhere -- to demand that our leaders take real action against the con artists on Wall Street and declare an end to the excesses of "the war on drugs," including the absurd minimum penalties for non-violent offenses. And if they won't do that, we should elect new leaders who will. But you need to start with that "injustice anywhere," and right now "anywhere" is Philadelphia.

Someone pass the offering plate. Will is having church up in here.

{Article and comments here}

It's now been more than six years since the night that Dagma Rodriguez, a 33-year mother of three from the rugged neighborhood of West Kensington, said that she was sexually assaulted. Her assailant, she alleges, was a man who pressed her against a wall and began to fondle her.

"He started rubbing my breasts, rubbing my nipples," Rodriguez said. "I was so scared. My legs wouldn't stop shaking." The man kept talking lewdly, and kept fondling Rodriguez, until she began to cry...her assailant commanded her to "shut the f--- up."

It's a sadly familiar story -- the type of tale that might normally vanish into the dark night of a poor ,and largely powerless, community. But this case was different. Rodriguez' alleged assailant was a Philadelphia police officer, Officer Thomas Tolstoy, a member of what by all accounts was a rogue narcotics squad. She was willing to go on the record with her allegation -- and so were two other women who said that they, too, had been assaulted by the same Officer Tolstoy.

Read » 

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/attytood/#ouEXYR1yvbyEi7VB.99

More questions about a shooting in Texas, and Donald is caught on tape again.

Last night at the end of my post about the 93 year old woman, who was shot to death in Texas, I reserved judgment until I heard more about the case.


Well, I have heard more, and Officer Stephen Stem has some explaining to do.


This is a police officer with a bad history, and when I look at the totality of the circumstances I just don't see where deadly force was justified in this situation.


This comment from someone commenting on the New York Daily News website pretty much sums up my feelings:


"She's 93, probably suffering from dementia to some degree. Someone that old could also have other infirmities such as deafness or impaired sight.  She never shot at him but Stam shot her anywhere from 3 5o 5 times when she wouldn't stop waving the gun.  I wonder if this cop would have shot an elderly 93 year old white woman."


I wonder as well.


Finally, someone should just tell my man Donald Sterling to leave bad enough alone and quit with commenting on racism.


In mean this latest staged   "leaked" phone call between him and an alleged friend is beneath whatever dignity he has left. The only thing worse than a racist is a cowardly racist who won't even man up and embrace his racism.


You have to give it to the Stormfront folks and those of their ilk; at least they embrace their ignorance and wear it proudly on their sleeves. You would never hear them trying to spin their racism like old man Sterling.

"You think I’m a racist?" Sterling asks the friend in the recording that was obtained and posted by RadarOnline on Thursday. "You think I have anything in the world but love for everybody? You don’t think that! You know I’m not a racist!"

The other voice responds, "I know I, but, I but .. what about when I hear that tape though, that tape of her..."

"I grew up in East LA!," Sterling retorts. "East LA! You’d die to get out of there — I got out of East LA. I was the president of the high school there. I mean, and I’m a Jew! And 50 percent of the people there were black and 40 percent were Hispanic. You ever been to Boyle Heights (a working-class Mexican-American neighborhood in LA) ... So I mean, people must have a good feeling for me."

So he goes the some of my best friends are black route. Really?

"It breaks my heart that Magic Johnson, my — a guy that I respect so much, wouldn’t stand up and say, ‘Well let’s get the facts. Let’s get him and talk to him.’ Nobody tried". [Source]

Donald, Magic has heard all he needs to hear from you. And I am pretty sure that most of the folks in America feel the same way.

Sorry is the hardest word to say, and Miss Sully goes down.

A few months ago Melissa Harris- Perry tearfully apologized to Mitt Romney for her insensitive remarks about his grandchild. She took some public heat for her actions and she would probably be the first to tell you that some of it was deserved.




Now I am hoping that Karma can be kind to Ms. Harris-Perry. She could use an apology from Jim Coughlan, the republican Comptroller from Duchess County, New York who is running for the state senate.




Jim Coughlan said a very mean and ignorant thing to Ms. Harris-Perry, recently, and it fits perfectly with the image of the republican party that has been manifesting itself of late: Republicans are racist.




 This is not only some racism chasing blogger, Field Negro, talking. This is a sitting U.S. senator and former republican governor saying publicly what quite a lot of us already believe.




"A year ago, Jim Coughlan, the Republican comptroller for Duchess County who describes himself as “very conservative,” made the comment as a reply to this tweet from conservative blogger David Burge, who was responding Harris-Perry’s controversial MSNBC promo on education.


Coughlan retweeted Burge’s tweet, adding his own comment: “Keep your stinking paws off my kid, you damned dirty ape"


Of course, as is to be expected, Jim Coughlan had an excuse for his racist outburst.




"When confronted by the New York Daily News last week, he said that he hadn’t realized that Harris-Perry was black, adding that he was simply making a Planet of the Apes reference and not alluding to her race.


“I don’t watch MSNBC,” he said. “I don’t know about their stories or their journalists"


And we don't believe you. "If it quacks like a duck."




Finally, deep in the heart of Texas there was another shooting that has me scratching my very bald head.




"A 93-year-old woman was shot to death by police in the rural Texas town of Hearne, authorities said.


Neighbors said Pearlie Golden was a sweet woman known to most people of this predominantly black community as "Miss Sully."


The nonagenarian was shot five times, several witnesses told KBTX-TV.
Hearne police refused to comment to the Daily News about details of the Tuesday night shooting in the city of less than 5,000 people located about 150 miles south of Dallas.


A woman who identified herself only as Dispatcher Murphy told The News, "We can't tell you anything about it."

A one-paragraph press release issued by the department Wednesday said officers responded to a 911 call involving "a female with a gun."


Shots were fired, the release said, and the was female transported to a nearby hospital. The officer involved has been suspended with pay, it said.

Error

County officials identified the officer as Stephen Stem and said he fired his weapon after telling the woman to put down the gun she was waving around, the station reported.


"While it is too early in the investigation to comment on any of the facts or evidence ... I can say that this was a very tragic occurrence," District Attorney Coty Siegert said. "My prayers go out to the family members of Miss Golden and to the Hearne community as a whole." [Source]




This investigation should be interesting. I will try not to jump to conclusions.

 

Not so higher learning.

I am going to rip a couple of educational institutions tonight.


The first issue I have is with a community college in New Mexico and their treatment of a disabled gentleman who was not allowed to go on stage to accept his diploma.


Honestly, when I first heard about this story I thought that it was a joke, but sadly, it appears that it is true.


"Two weeks before the commencement, Bashir said that an activities supervisor informed him that, because of safety concerns, he would not be allowed to use the ramp to the stage to accept his diploma. The student took the issue to the dean and the disabilities office. The response from Diana Myklebust, CNM Administrative Technical Assistant, was an email that read in part, “…because of safety concerns the decision to not allow wheelchairs onto the stage area stands." The report did not explain what the ‘safety concerns’ were specifically.


Bashir was disappointed and told the station, "I'm not allowed to go up on stage to get my degree. I have got to go to the bottom of the stage and not get that shining moment like everybody else was getting.” The milestone was marred. “They didn’t hear my name being called. They didn’t see me getting my degree in hand. They just saw me rolling back to my sitting position,” the graduate told KOB." [Source]


How much would it cost this school to build a ramp that would allow Mr. Bashir ---and other disabled students--- to get on and off the stage in a safe manner?


Why should disabled students be denied the joy of being able to go on stage and accept their diplomas while their family members look on?


I think that Central New Mexico Community College needs to check their ADA compliance statement. An accommodation such as this would not create an "undue hardship" and given the circumstances it certainly seems reasonable.


The other issue I have is with New Jersey's flagship university, although it is more with the students there than the university itself.


They actively protested against having Condoleeza Rice speak at their commencement causing her to decline the invitation to appear.
That is not cool. College students should be critical thinkers who can sit through an address for an hour or so wishing them success in life from a former secretary of state. 


Now understand this, I am in the camp that  believes that Condi, and some of her neo con friends should have been sitting in a defendant's box at the international criminal court in the Hague, but since this is not going to happen anytime soon, I say let her speak.


Protesting her right to speak just lends credibility to the right and their spurious claim that liberals and those on the left suppress free speech and open debate.


It's all such a shame, poor Condi, I am sure that she had her day all figured out: Finish her speech in New Brunswick and then head into Manhattan to do some serious shoe shopping.


Sorry Condi, maybe next time.


Finally, another day another dumb comment from a republican politician.


(No, not the one about anal sex.)


Congressional candidate Bob Johnson of Georgia would rather have another terrorist attack than have to put up with that evil government agency, the TSA.


“Now this is going to sound outrageous, I’d rather see another terrorist attack, truly I would, than to give up my liberty as an American citizen,” he said. “Give me liberty or give me death. Isn’t that what Patrick Henry said at the founding of our republic?” [Source]


Here is hoping that the next time Al -Qaeda decides to fly a plane into a building, you will be sitting right up there in first class.  

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

Bring our daughters home, and Mona Sinclair runs for office.

I am glad that the tragic story of the two hundred plus school girls kidnapped in Nigeria is finally getting some traction.


We have the power of social media and the parents of some of the girls to thank for that. Just because the main stream media doesn't think that it's a story that should be front and center in the headlines, that doesn't mean that we can't make it an important story by making our own voices heard by whatever means necessary.


The authorities in Nigeria are finally coming around to the seriousness of what took place and I am glad that the State Department has decided to assist with the search as well.  


 "On April 16, armed men herded the girls out of bed and forced them into trucks in the town of Chibok. The convoy of trucks then disappeared into the dense forest bordering Cameroon.

Angry Nigerians contend authorities are not doing enough. They took to social media using hashtags #BringBackOurGirls and #BringBackOurDaughters to demand more from the government.

But Nigeria's Defense Ministry said it's committed to the search.

Boko Haram's name translates to "Western education is a sin" in the local language.

The group especially opposes the education of women. Under its version of Sharia law, women should be at home raising children and looking after their husbands, not at school learning to read and write." [Source] 

Gee, that sure sounds like the views of some people in this country.

Finally, this might be a good time for the GOP to start paying closer attention to their candidates who are running for public office across the country.

From North Carolina comes the bizarre story of an anti Gay politician who, as it turns out, has quite an interesting history himself.

"A Republican candidate for North Carolina State Senate, and supporter of the state’s constitutional prohibition on same-sex marriage, was revealed this week to have been a female impersonator at a gay nightclub about a decade ago.

Now a real state agent broker against two other GOP candidates in a conservative district, Steve Wiles was, according to old coworkers, Mona Sinclair at the Club Odyssey, a since-shuttered nightclub in Winston Salem. They say Wiles identified as gay at the time.


Wiles initially denied the claim, but has since made cryptic comments that did little to elucidate the matter, such as, “I have already apologized to the people who matter most to me for the things I did when I was young.” [Source]


Can you say hypocrite boys and girls?

 

  

Tal's privilege.

Get ready for the latest right- wing hero. This one isn't some intellectually challenged cowboy from Nevada; he is a preppy privileged brat who attends Princeton.




He, like so many white men in America, believes that reverse racism is rampant in Obama's America, and that we have completely come full circle when it comes to racism.




To him, and others like him, the white male is now the victim. He is sick of being told of "white privilege" because, to him, no such thing exists.


It's all very interesting, because Tal's parents created a very good life for him, and I don't doubt that his father worked very hard for him to get it.




"I do not accuse those who “check” me and my perspective of overt racism, although the phrase, which assumes that simply because I belong to a certain ethnic group I should be judged collectively with it, toes that line. But I do condemn them for diminishing everything I have personally accomplished, all the hard work I have done in my life, and for ascribing all the fruit I reap not to the seeds I sow but to some invisible patron saint of white maleness who places it out for me before I even arrive. Furthermore, I condemn them for casting the equal protection clause, indeed the very idea of a meritocracy, as a myth, and for declaring that we are all governed by invisible forces (some would call them “stigmas” or “societal norms”), that our nation runs on racist and sexist conspiracies. Forget “you didn’t build that;” check your privilege and realize that nothing you have accomplished is real.


But they can’t be telling me that everything I’ve done with my life can be credited to the racist patriarchy holding my hand throughout my years of education and eventually guiding me into Princeton. Even that is too extreme.


So to find out what they are saying, I decided to take their advice. I actually went and checked the origins of my privileged existence, to empathize with those whose underdog stories I can’t possibly comprehend. I have unearthed some examples of the privilege with which my family was blessed, and now I think I better understand those who assure me that skin color allowed my family and I to flourish today." [Source]


Tal goes on to talk about his family tree and how his grandfather had to escape from Nazis in his native Poland, not to mention all the hard work his father put in to earn a top spot in his college class and blah blah blah.


What Tal and others like him always fail to realize is that by simply being white he benefits from what we like to call white privilege. He doesn't always necessarily see it at work, because it's one of those things that people like Tal tends to take for granted. It's like an invisible force field that's always there to protect him. He doesn't notice it, but trust me, it's there. It manifests itself in countless ways on a daily basis, and Tal has enjoyed it throughout his entire -silver spoon fed- life.




It doesn't matter if he is Jewish, Polish, Italian, Irish, Scot, or...well, you get the picture; his skin is white. That's enough.




Still, I respect Tal and others like him who speak their minds on this subject. If we are going to have an honest debate about race and racism in this country musings from folks like Tal should not be silenced, it should be encouraged.

Boston Wrong!

Shout out to the brass of the Boston Bruins for denouncing the ignorant and racist fans that follow their hockey team.




"The racist, classless views expressed by an ignorant group of individuals following Thursday’s game via digital media are in no way a reflection of anyone associated with the Bruins organization,” Bruins president Cam Neely said in a statement released by the team."




Some of their fans felt the need to send out some ugly racial tweets after my homeboy, PK Subban, lit the lamp on their team to steal game one of their playoff series in double overtime.




I know that hockey isn't exactly a black man's sport, but there are enough brothers playing the game to make this a non-issue in 2014. (Ironically, Subban's brother was drafted to play goalie for the Bruins) Boston has a rep when it comes to racism, but this is 2014, damn it. Time for those Neanderthals in Baaastan to grow the f*** up.




Finally, it looks like the car thief is subpoenaing the sect. of state to appear before his committee conducting the witch hunt investigating the B word.




Sadly, four Americans lost their lives because of that tragic event, but.....well, over 4,000.00 lost their lives because of another event our government actually lied to get us involved with. It seems to me that this is the real scandal and it is what wingnuts should be up in arms ( no pun intended) about. Unfortunately, though, we know how poli-tricks works in America, so let's try to take down Hillary before she can give the dems another four years in the house on Pennsylvania, Avenue.


Sorry, I just can't get worked up over the B word; not when 13 of them happened under the last guy and I didn't hear a peep from the right.


















 

The right has a slavery problem.

"America has been the best country on earth for black folks. It was here that 600,000 black people, brought from Africa in slave ships, grew into a community of 40 million, were introduced to Christian salvation, and reached the greatest levels of freedom and prosperity blacks have ever known." ~Pat Buchanan~


What is with these clowns on the right and all the slavery references? They seem fascinated with the institution of slavery these days. There is no doubt in my mind that they long for those good old days when slavery was all the rage. (Yes, even the Negro conservatives, because they were in the house with Massa.)


Is it any wonder that given this type of rhetoric, our welfare cowboy friend, Cliven Bundy, felt so comfortable declaring that under slavery black folks had it better? The right was even angry at the movie, 12 Years A Slave; because they thought that it portrayed slavery in a negative light. Think about that for a minute. I mean how else are you going to portray slavery?


Anyway, the latest idiotic and ignorant pronouncement comes from none other than my old friend, Angela McGlowan, the former "beauty queen" who is probably even more clueless than Sarah Palin.


“Dealing with Lincoln and Barack Obama, you do have a slave mentality today,” she said. “Even though we had the LBJ Great Society, we have a people enslaved on the government dole, where we have people paying for people to have more kids out of wedlock, paying for more people to go to prison instead of getting a job.”


“So we do have a problem with slavery today, as Lincoln did back in the day, even with LBJ’s policies,” McGlowan continued. “Because you have certain people that want Obama phones, free phones, free food stamps, and the whole nine yards!” [Source]


Did you get that? She said "free food stamps", as opposed to the ones you have to pay for. What an idiot! And "a problem with slavery today"? The only problem we have with slavery today is that some folks believe that it should come back.


Angela, I honestly can't wait for those "slaves" to storm the big-house on the plantation that you are living on.