Are We Finally Heading Towards A GOP Extinction-Level Event?

Another year, another moment closer to... the collapse of the Republican Party?

...so much winning, amirite?

Last year, I wrote that we, as a country, needed a Republican Extinction-Level Event.  As it turned out, the Republicans won.  Donald John Trump ascended to the Presidency.  The Republicans had run the table.  They controlled the Presidency, the majority in both houses in Congress, and the majority in the Supreme Court.  So, it would seem that the Republicans finally have their mandate to push whatever God-forsaken agenda through that they see fit, right?  The prophecies of Grover Norquist had reached fulfillment, and the Republicans finally found an idiot who had enough working digits to sign whatever legislation is thrown in front of him, right?

Right?  RIGHT, CHARLIE MURPHY?

Continue to rest in peace, Charlie.  I'll take it from here.

It seems that despite Dolt 45's promises of much bigly winning, he's having a bit of a challenge getting his agenda passed.  And by having a bit of challenge, what I mean is that his agenda is a veritable dumpster fire.

His plans to repeal and replace ObamaCare?  Crashed and burned.

Travel bans?  Judges keep laying the smack down.

The Wall?  Don't make me laugh.

In the Senate, the GOP had a razor-thin margin, and could not afford to lose anyone.  John McCain, Lisa Murkowski, and Susan Collins put the goon hands to the repeal procedure.  McCain seems to be on a path to redeem himself and claim the mantle of "maverick" that he never really earned.  And now, a bigger update.

Two Republican Senators are not running for their seats again, and they are going HAM on Dolt 45.  Senator Bob Corker (R - TN) has invoked images of a day care with his tweets to the President, and I would never be a fan of Corker.  But his hashtag #AlertTheDaycareStaff in response to a Trumpian Level Covfefe Tweetstorm is pretty darned funny.  And Jeff Flake of Arizona is retiring and is having his own come-to-Jesus moment by condemning the President in no uncertain terms.

As a side note, a couple of things:  

1)  Neither of these guys are heroes.  They both voted for all of Dolt 45's cabinet choices, except for one each.  And these two gentlemen are speaking up NOW, since they decided that they have nothing to lose.  To use a favorite analogy of mine, it would be like Dr. Victor Frankenstein openly stating that the monster is out of control.

2)  Both of these gentlemen, as well as the Republican Party, helped to build Trump.  They supported his agenda, voted for his cabinet picks, and would have supported Trump's agenda if Trump himself wasn't about as appealing as onions disguised as taffy apples.

Some people just want to watch the world burn.

But what are the long-term consequences?  Is it a victory for human oxygen thief and white supremacist propaganda chieftain Steve Bannon?  After all, he can use his connections to add harder-right Republicans to the mix.  Will it be a victory for the Democrats?  Only if the Democrats can mobilize and take advantage, even though these are red states.  Will other Republicans join Flake and Sessions and publicly condemn Dolt 45?  Will we have to wait until after the GOP tries to pass their disastrous tax cut plans for the obscenely rich?

Only time will tell.

But not too much time, since Dolt 45 seems to want to push us ever closer to nuclear midnight... as of now, we're only 3 minutes to midnight.

Can We NOT Normalize George W. Bush?!

There are a lot of things going on with the wretched administration of Dolt 45.  He's vile, petty, vindictive, and completely unfit to serve.  He may have legitimate psychological problems.  He's a racist, and he previously had a propaganda chieftain for white supremacists serving as his chief adviser.

Some Republicans have completely distanced themselves from Trump, and others have different lines of demarcation that determine when they've had enough.  Some of their "come to Jesus" moments arrive when they realize that Dolt 45's plans, mindset, policies, and the like affect them PERSONALLY.  People like Joe Scarborough are some of the Doctors Frankenstein that helped to legitimize Trump.  And to this day, while Joe rails on about the monster that's ransacking the village, he still has not offered a mea culpa for HIS role in creating monster.

And speaking of monsters, this brings us to the 43rd President of the United States, George W. Bush.  Donald Trump is so awful that people are longing for the bumbling idiocy of Bush.  Today, a former President who was so reviled that he couldn't even campaign for his successor delivered a speech that some are saying makes him one of the "faces of the resistance." 

NO.

Um... NO.  That's not cute.  Never forget.

Do you see this picture?  It's one of the many that is helping to sanitize George Bush's image, and make him palatable and respectable.  And before we go about longing for the carefree days of Uncurious George And The Administration That Couldn't, we need to remember his real track record and "accomplishments."

(Note:  I'm not angry at Michelle Obama for snuggling with that dopey moron of a POTUS, I'm bothered by the memes that this picture generated which helped to normalize him.  So there.)

HURRICANE KATRINA:  Under his watch, New Orleans suffered catastrophic losses in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.  His appointed Director of FEMA, Michael Brown, had absolutely no experience in emergency management.  As Rachel Maddow put it, Brown's appointment was seen more as a patronage hire than one to bring the best man on for the job.  As American citizens suffered, Bush applauded Brown by infamously stating that Brown was doing "a heckuva job."

IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN:  In the aftermath of 9/11, America had a ton of global capital.  The whole world was pretty much with this country.  And what did Bush do?  He created a propaganda machine that led us into war with Iraq who -- and this is important -- HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH 9/11.  We went to war against a regime that had done nothing to us, against a leader that, by all objective measures, was secular and kept sectarian violence down.  Taking Saddam Hussein out created a power vacuum, and since nature abhors a vacuum, that vacuum was filled by extremists.  

As for Afghanistan, it was almost an afterthought that turned into a quagmire.  There's a reason why Afghanistan is called "The Graveyard Of Empires."  

On the 10th anniversary of 9/11, I wrote this to express my disgust at what 9/11 has become, most of which happened during the Bush Administration.  I also wrote this to express my disgust at the Republican Party's snuff film tribute to 9/11 during the RNC Convention in 2008.  And for God's sake, how can you forget THIS?

Still want him back?!

I could go on, including how he got elected in the FIRST place.  And don't get me started on the fact that his two Supreme Court appointees, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito, voted to support Citizens United.

I understand the need for Republican allies.  There are some great ones in the form of Anna Navarro, Steve Schmidt, and others.  But we shouldn't be so bereft of allies that we have to depend on one of history's greatest monsters as an ally, simply because he's a Rhodes Scholar and Elder Statesman in comparison to his Republican successor.  A 16-minute speech does not a real ally make.

If I Ruled The World - How I Would Have NFL Players Respond To Roger Goodell And Dolt 45

The "take a knee" protests continue.  They were started by Colin Kaepernick, who protested by sitting out the playing of the National Anthem when the San Francisco 49'ers played.  Since then, players have been taking a knee across the league, and Kaepernick has been "de facto" blackballed by the NFL owners.  Oh, you can SAY that there is no collusion between the owners, and you'd be partially right.  There is no WRITTEN policy that says that the NFL owners have agreed to keep Colin Kaepernick from a job.  But that doesn't automatically exonerate the owners.

After all, the Miami Dolphins decided to beg Jay Cutler to come out of retirement to play, and he did so reluctantly.  You can't convince me that under different circumstances, Kaepernick would have at least been given a first or second look.  Then again, the world just found out what may have contributed to the decision to bring in Cutler, at least partially.  Via video.  Heh.

But I digress, as I am wont to do.

Afterwards a bunch of owners (and players, reluctantly) usurped the protest message to turn it into a message of "unity", where the owner locks arms with the players.  In one case, the Dallas Cowboys showed just how a league owner can change the narrative of a protest.  They took a knee BEFORE the playing of the National Anthem, and then stood up during its play.  Owner Jerry Jones took it a step further and said that "anyone who disrespects the flag will not be allowed to play."

Enter NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.  Goodell, caving to pressure from on high by the prince of darkness himself (aka Dolt 45 and his burgeoning kleptocracy) stated in a letter that everyone should stand for the National Anthem.  He says that this is an effort to "move past the controversy."  That "controversy" being pro football players silently protesting against police brutality, in case anyone forgot.  In other words, "Alright you uppity nigras, you did your thing long enough... time to shut up and do what we tell you do to... BOY."

How will the players respond?  Will players in Dallas risk taking a knee?  Will other owners follow Jerry Jones' lead and bench players who decide to protest?  The players here have the power in numbers, and if they use it, they can create a seismic shift in protests for social justice.  And how would I do it?

Here's how.

On a given Sunday afternoon or night, or Monday night, the players take the field as usual.  The coin is flipped, and the kicking team kicks to the receiving team.  At the first play from the line of scrimmage, the center snaps the ball.

The defense instantly takes a knee.

The offense then takes a knee.

And since the play isn't considered "dead" until the player with the ball (in this case, the QB) is tackled, takes a knee, or runs out of bounds, he remains motionless.  The quarterback holds the ball in one hand.  And with the other hand, he slowly raises a fist to the air.  Then, after about a minute, in front of worldwide sponsors with advertisers throwing a conniption fit, he slowly descends to take a knee.

The play is then whistled dead, and the rest of the game continues, as if nothing ever happened.  

When asked why they did this, a spokesman for either team can say that they will not be threatened into silence by their owners or by a sitting President of the United States.  And if the owners don't like it, what are they going to do?  Bench both teams?  Fine them?  Suspend them?  Any negative consequences will mushroom far beyond what the owners had intended.  The players have strength in numbers.

Will they do this?  It's doubtful.  But hey, a guy can dream, can't he?

Name-Checking And Concern-Trolling Chicago -- Will It Ever Stop?

Here we are, in the wake of another mass shooting.  The shooting on the Las Vegas Strip at a Country Music Festival is going down in U.S. history as the worst ever.  As of now, 59 people are dead, and hundreds are injured, and recovering from their injuries.

Of course, this means that conservatives take their lead from the blood-soaked terrorist organization disguised as a lobbying group, the National Rifle Association, or NAMB... er, NRA.  We have seen the usual talking points, including the "thoughts and prayers" comments from the Republicans.  As a side note, let me add this:

THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS FROM REPUBLICANS ARE USELESS.  They have blood on their hands, as well.  The NRA has bought them, lock, stock and barrel.  To hear them talk about "thoughts and prayers" is beyond infuriating.  As a Christian, and especially as a minister, I'm not dismissing the power of prayer.  My faith tells me that there is supernatural power in prayer.  But my teachings ALSO inform me that "faith without works is dead."  That's Scripture, according to James 2:26.  And the website "GotQuestions" elucidates on this point by stating "Faith without works is dead because it reveals a heart that has not been transformed by God."  Don't tell me about any conservative "thoughts and prayers" when they continue to accept NRA blood money and parrot the same NRA talking points, especially in the wake of tragedies involving guns, and propagate obscene lies about President Obama planning a massive gun grab, because screw the Constitution.

But I digress.

My point here is that, as usual, Chicago has become the favorite talking point to deflect from any legitimate conversations.  It started in earnest with President Obama, with GOP idiots (and some "woke" folks -- but that's a point for another time) saying that President Obama didn't magically fix Chicago since he became President of the United States.  It's become a classic Battle Cry of the Stupid Conservative:

REASONABLE PERSON:  We need to do something about crime.

Conservative:  OH YEAH?  Well what about Chicago?  Crime is skyrocketing, and President Blackie McBlackenbush did nothing to fix it!

RP:  Black Lives Matter is holding a march to protest police brutality.

Con:  OH YEAH?  Why aren't they marching in Chicago against the killings?!

Even Dolt 45, aka the President, is no stranger to name-checking and concern-trolling Chicago.  He made the "hellscape" of Chicago a cornerstone of his campaign, and he continues to mention Chicago in situations that don't call for it.

This brings us to the present day.  Enter sentient colostomy bag, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, daughter of evangelical charlatan Mike Huckabee and Press Secretary to the President.

"I am not a very smart woe-man..."

After this weapons-grade moron (who almost makes you long for the days of Sean Spicer hiding in a bush, dodging reporters) said that we shouldn't politicize the massacre, she said this in regards to a conversation about gun laws.

"I think if you look to Chicago, where you had over 4,000 victims of gun-related crimes. Last year they have the strictest gun laws in the country and that certainly hasn't helped there, so when that time comes for those conversations to take place, then I think we need to look at things that may actually have a real impact."

Then, she followed it up by saying this:

I think that the problem there is pretty clear that it’s a crime problem. I think that crime is probably driven more by morality than anything else...

If Huckabee is going to concern-troll and name-check, she should at least come close to getting her facts right.  Yes, Chicago has strict laws.  But guns still find their way here.  Why?  Because neighboring states have gun laws that are a lot more lax.  For example, if someone wanted to, they could hop right across the border to avoid the soda-pop tax get a gun.  Even as far back as 2012 - 2013, there were indicators that traffickers were using an informal Dixie Pipeline to transport guns from southern states (again, with very lax gun laws) to here.  Thankfully, lots of people, including my Congressman Robin Kelly, pushed back with factual information.

I'm under no delusions that my fair city is a utopia where gun violence is a thing of the past.  Chicago, like every major city, has its issues, and issues involving gun violence and the Black community cannot be resolved with simple slogans and finger-pointing.  And it would be nice if we had a President of the United States who didn't feel the need to scapegoat and play the blame-game when things got hot.  And we could have had that...

...but her emails.

Trump, The Evangelical Right, And My Light Bulb Moment.

I always wondered why conservative Christians were so behind Trump. I've asked for months why this was the case, especially considering that Trump is the antithesis of the FAMILY VALUES that the Evangelical Right demands of its leadership. Conservatives gave the answer, but just now, I started putting the pieces together.
Conservatives responded that their acceptance of Trump was because they were electing a Commander-In-Chief, and not a Theologian-In-Chief. They were electing a President of the U.S., and not a Sunday School teacher. So, what was it that made Trump different than every FAMILY VALUES stump speech given at every conservative event from CPAC to Wisconsin's State Fair to every Republican Convention, ESPECIALLY in the wake of Bill Clinton's presidency?
Then a name hit me like a ton of bricks, and it all made sense. GROVER NORQUIST. You remember him, right? The unelected guy that MUST know where the bodies are buried, because he had Republican candidates for high office sign his "pledge"? He described the REAL reason that conservatives are embracing a thrice-married, twice-divorced man whose previous marriages ended in adultery. The real reason why they're accepting a man who did an introduction to a softcore porn video. The real reason why they continue to embrace a man who bragged about sexual abuse, called his daughter a nice piece of [REDACTED], a man who bragged about walking into the dressing room of his beauty pageant contestants to ogle at the (sometimes teenaged) naked bodies, and a man who praised foreign dictators.
Grover Norquist once said this:

All we have to do is replace Obama. ... We are not auditioning for fearless leader. We don't need a president to tell us in what direction to go. We know what direction to go. We want the Ryan budget. ... We just need a president to sign this stuff. We don't need someone to think it up or design it. The leadership now for the modern conservative movement for the next 20 years will be coming out of the House and the Senate.

And there it is.
To the evangelical Christian conservatives that support Trump, they're not supporting him because of his genius, or even his business acumen. To them, a President Trump is a means to an end. Everything that the conservatives want will come through a candidate who, by all accounts, wants to look at the Presidency as a figurehead position ANYWAY, leaving the real heavy lifting to his "true believing" conservative running mate, Gov. Mike Pence.
The conservative base may look at Trump as the solution to their problems, because he and he alone can fix them. But to the power-brokers supporting him, including the Evangelical conservatives, Trump is nothing more than a useful idiot. All they would need to do is put a pen and a law in Trump's hand, and Trump will sign it.
So what does this mean? Two things:
1) It forever exposes the hypocrisy of the Evangelical Right's "Family Values" platform, as they put their support behind an almost literal Golden Calf and idolizer of his own name. Just about everything Trump stands for (especially in his personal life) runs contradictory to the teachings of Jesus. Trump brags about his wealth, and he only defines how "good" people are in terms of how it benefits HIM. Trump has said that he doesn't really see the need for repentance. And don't get me started on the "Two Corinthians" thing.
2) Now that I have the answer to this question, it doesn't matter how conservatives convince themselves that Trump is "a newborn Christian", or claim that he can be baptized on national TV to convince people of his faith.
The Evangelical Right was looking for a useful idiot.
And in Donald Trump, they found him.
Vote accordingly.

Treat Yo' Self. A Paradigm Shift.

It's not often that I treat myself.  And normally, when I do, it's to something like a movie or a big restaurant breakfast.

"Hey Big Spender..."

But I rarely, if ever, go BIG in terms of treating myself.

Until now.

Last month, I pulled the trigger on one of my bigger "Treat Yo' Self" moments, when I booked a cruise (to the BAHAMAS) for myself and friends.  It would not have been something that I would normally do for myself.  And once I pulled the trigger, it felt good.  It felt REALLY good.

Then it hit me.  I rarely treat myself because I'm always thinking about what type of unexpected emergencies or "priorities" that I need to take care of.  "I can't go here, because something might happen to my truck."  Or, "I can't do that thing, because I need to squirrel money away in case my computer dies."  And it occurred to me that no matter what, things will happen.

My old PC died unexpectedly.

My truck needed repairs.

By God's grace, I was able to take care of those things, but I still wasn't treating myself.

Planning this cruise caused me to shift my thinking.

My truck would need repairs, whether I went on vacation or not.  My PC would have died whether I traveled or not.  So instead of sitting around, watching everyone's adventures from a ringside seat (tip of the hat to the person that talked about this to me today), I'm getting in the ring.

I'm actually planning my cruise with some friends.  And sure enough, my truck needed some more repairs.  I took care of that and STILL kept positive about my plans.  Oddly enough, had my truck's repairs came about prior to planning this cruise, it would have steered me into a ditch.

The last time I took a real, honest-to-goodness, bonafide vacation was several years ago, when I spent a glorious week in sunny California.

Part of my vacation included Jules Winfield explaining the Bonnie Situation.

Things are going to happen.  Things may break, or emergencies may pop up.  But none of that prevents anyone from enjoying and living their lives to the fullest.  This will happen if I plan a cruise, watch my woefully neglected Netflix queue, or take a nap.  My pastor even spoke about the importance of getting away for a bit, even if it's for a drive across state lines for a few hours.

Now that I know that the world won't collapse upon itself if and when I plan something, I plan on doing this more often.  It may be a matter of baby steps, but I do plan on doing things like this more often.

...because if I don't, who will?

BECAUSE I'M GOING ON A GODD*MNED GOD-BLESSED CRUISE.

How To Get Black People To Objectively And Critically Analyze The Democratic Party (Pro-Tip: Not Like This)

A friend of mine suggested to a Facebook group I'm in that we watch the video.  The video begins with Quannell X.  Quannell X is an "activist" that I was done with years ago, after watching him and Guardian Angels head Curtis Sliwa go head to head, and eventually making, of all things, Sean Hannity look like the voice of reason.  That's an almost unpardonable sin.  But, despite my own misgivings about Quannell, I powered through the video.  

The video is an attempt to get Black people to take a critical look at the Democratic Party, and to stop with the undying loyalty that Black people have towards the Democrats.  As an attempt to get Black people to look beyond the Democratic Party or consider the Republicans, this video fails.  And here's why.  I posted the following comments in the group.  And since I believe that sharing is caring, here are my comments for everybody.

The Quannell X segment was just half of the video. The other half featured the creator of the video attempting to make the case about Black people and loyalty to the Democratic Party. 

Unfortunately, his attempt fell short. For example, as I said earlier, he invoked "Democrat Plantation." Personally, that's a term that I can't stand, and yes, I coined the term "Pet Negro Apologist." But Black conservatives throw out the "Democrat Plantation" term to prove that THEY'VE escaped the "plantation" and left everyone else behind. And the people who invoke that term usually (and almost to a fault) ignore the racism that oozes and seeps from every pore of the current GOP.

Next, the Civil Rights leader says that while Trump is only "rumored" to be connected with the Klan, Hillary Clinton has legitimate ties. And as I mentioned before, the proof is the standard "ROBERT KKK BYRD" card. It doesn't work when it comes from Sean Hannity, and it doesn't work when Black people play that card. And whenever I talk to people and they play that card, I simply ask them why current white supremacists, like David Duke, Breitbart (the civil rights leader completely dismissed Breitbart's white supremacist ties, even though Bannon himself said that they're basically an alt-right clearing house) and others are flocking behind Trump and saying that he speaks THEIR language.

The Civil Rights leader then goes on to list the Republican accomplishments for Black people. He starts with the 13th and 14th Amendments, and ends with Civil Rights legislation. He, like everyone else, completely ignored the Southern Strategy and the ideological switch that took place between both parties.

Which brings us to where we are now. 

Does the Democratic Party take the Black vote for granted? Yes. Oui. Si. Are *SOME* of us loyal? Absolutely, to a fault. That loyalty is what wound up killing Clinton's 2008 run, because she took it for granted that Bill Clinton's Black Community "goodwill" would be automatically conferred upon her. When Bill showed his behind after the South Carolina primary, Hillary got her wake up call. But she was in the midst of a horrible campaign ran by (until now) the worst campaign manager in modern history, Mark Penn. No one forgets how she was in a Black church talkin' about how she "don't feel no ways tah'rd."

No one forgets how her Black surrogates at the time were her unofficial attack dogs, from Bob Johnson floating balloons about then-Senator Obama's drug use to John Lewis saying that Obama should wait his turn, to Jesse Jackson forever cutting himself off from the Obama Administration when he said, on Fox News, on a hot mic, that he wanted to "cut Obama's nuts off."

Where was I? Oh yeah. Today.

Is Hillary Clinton the perfect candidate? Not to me. Elizabeth Warren and Senator Sanders were my 1A and 1B choices. But when it comes to things that I support, like the restoration of the Voting Rights Act, the reversal of Citizens United (interesting that the HEAD of Citizens United is now an active part of the Trump campaign), support for unions, support for a living wage, an expansion of Obamacare into something like single-payer, a President Hillary Clinton is more likely to accomplish that. 

Doesn't mean that she will... after all, President Obama campaigned on universal health care, but wound up with the CONSERVATIVE compromise of the ACA. And President Obama has fallen short on several progressive issues. 

But dang it, I go rambling again. This is almost like my blog post. ANYWAY... 

(ed. note:  It is now a blog post... heh...)

YES, as informed Black voters, we have to hold the Democratic Party that we (those of us that vote Democratic) accountable. The accountability works up and down the ticket, at EVERY ELECTION. 

If Republicans want to woo Black voters, they have GOT to do better than the surrogates that they send out now. They have GOT to stop it with the "Black plantation" remarks, and assume that a light bulb will go off and they'll automatically switch parties. And while the Democrats aren't perfect regarding race, they are MILES ahead of the GOP. The GOP had a chance to nip the bigotry of their party in the bud with Michael Steele as head of the RNC. But when push came to shove, Steele kissed the ring of Boss Limbaugh and was nothing more than a figurehead. He was ousted and replaced with useless tub of goo Reince Priebus.

THIS is who the GOP/Donald Trump is sending out.  For God's sake, NO. 

Locally, the Republican platform stands for everything that I'm against, including things like "right to work" and the belief that tax cuts for big businesses will trickle down to the electorate. I'm against the privatization of essential government services. I'm a Christian, but I'm against my faith being used as a cudgel against anyone who doesn't pray and worship the way I pray and worship. And more often than not, the so-called Party of Family Values is nothing more than the Party of Rank Hypocrisy and Deflection.

Yes, we need to hold our elected officials accountable. And yes, changes need to be made. But as I said earlier, the changes that are needed are best implemented at the local level, and not attempted every four years. 

I've been doing a little research on Jill Stein and Gary Johnson, and they're not much better. Despite Stein being an MD, she has cozied up to anti-vaxxers and has said some goofy things about wi-fi being dangerous. Anyone who is in favor of civil rights legislation, voting rights legislation, government agencies that protect the public, etc should be against the Libertarian party. Their solution is to leave everything alone and let the market figure it out. So, if the EpiPen obscene price hike offends you, and companies polluting water, and fracking offends you, and if openly-racist businesses and establishments offend you (separate-but-equal, anyone?), then the Libertarian Party isn't for you.

Completely dismissing the Tea Potty behavior, the casual and blatant racism from the party, and history is not an objective analysis as to why Black people should join the Republicans. If they want to start wooing Black people, they can actually FOLLOW the things listed in their GOP Autopsy.

Until then, I welcome the upcoming Republican Extinction Level Event and hopes that the party as it stands now gets wiped off the face of the earth. The survivors will have no choice but to reevaluate themselves or die from the fallout.

Additional Note:  My friend who runs the Primarily Politics Facebook Page covered Republican Outreach in a three-part video series.  Do yourself a favor and check them out.  He covers a lot of things that I mentioned here.

Part 1:  Say No To The Democrat Plantation

Part 2:  Stop Attacking The President

Part 3:  Don't Ever Send Black Republicans To Recruit Black People