Democrats, Progressives, We Gon' Be Alright...

...to quote Kendrick Lamar. Here's why.

During the 2008 campaign...

...P.U.M.A. was so much of a thing that people thought that it would split the Democratic Party...

...then-Senator Clinton invoked Rev. Jeremiah Wright, stating that he would not be HER pastor (side note: People who never listened to the sermon don't know that during that "infamous" sermon, the oh-so-terrible Rev. Dr. Wright praised President Clinton as "an intelligent friend in the White House", as opposed to the "dumb Dixiecrat" that succeeded him).

...then-Senator Clinton stated that she wished the primaries were run like the Republican primaries...

...Bill Clinton showed his behind in dismissing then-Senator Obama's South Carolina victory...

...I was so concerned about then-Senator Clinton's upcoming speech, thinking that she was going to send the Democratic Party into chaos and give in to P.U.M.A. acolytes...

...then-Senator Clinton used the assassination of Robert Kennedy, and hinted that an assassination is still plausible (much to everyone's horror) as a reason to stay in the race and not concede...

...then-Senator Clinton was caught lying about being under sniper fire, to the point that comedian Sinbad fact-checked her...

...her campaign was run by Mark Penn, who proved to be completely outclassed by the Obama campaign in every area...

...then-Senator Clinton went to a Black church, talking about "I don't feel no ways tah'r'd..."

...lastly, Clinton gave, at that time, the most dynamic speech of her campaign, her concession speech which included a full-throated, unequivocal endorsement of then-Senator Obama. And gave an equally dynamic speech at the DNC Convention.

At times, the 2008 campaign was very nasty. It was a clash of sexism vs. racism. Then-Senator Clinton campaigned as if the Presidency was a foregone conclusion, and that campaigning was a mere formality. She took the Black vote for granted, and she paid dearly for it. She campaigned as if the "goodwill" generated by Bill Clinton's presidency would automatically be conferred upon her.

Then-Senator Clinton erased a lot of rancor and built bridges with her speeches congratulating and endorsing then-Senator Obama.

Now, the roles are switched, with Secretary Hillary Clinton as the presumptive nominee and Senator Bernie Sanders as the underdog candidate. This race has had its moments, with the rise of "Bernie Bros" playing the role that P.U.M.A. played last time around. And, the Democratic National Committee has a patently awful chairman in the person of Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, who makes RNC chief and useless tub of goo Reince Priebus look competent by comparison. Her obvious bias towards Sec. Clinton was the LEAST of Wasserman-Schultz's sins, as she oversaw tremendous congressional and gubernatorial losses for the Democrats in previous years.

But despite Wasserman-Schultz, and despite allegations of a "rigged" contest, we now have Madame Secretary Hillary R. Clinton as the presumptive nominee for the Presidency of the United States. And, love it or hate it, we gon' be alright.

Why?

Because after all of the venom and bile of the 2008 campaign, both sides came together, only leaving outliers to kvetch and moan about the results.

We gon' be alright because the Republicans have put up, without hyperbole, the WORST candidate in their party's history. This candidate is so bad that two living Presidents in HIS party won't endorse him, and Republican politicians are trying to jump ship to disconnect themselves from their party's standard-bearer. But it won't work. I'm looking at YOU, Senator Mark Kirk.

We gon' be alright because we were alright in 2008, when the candidate that didn't win lent her full support to the winner.

We gon' be alright if Bernie Sanders makes an equally dynamic speech, offering a full-throated endorsement of Secretary Clinton while still being a (better) advocate for progressive issues. I'm optimistic that despite it all, Sanders will "do the job" (to use a pro-wrestling fan term) and endorse the party's nominee unequivocally. The onus is now on him to help bridge the gap between his supporters and hers. If Sanders is the man of character that I believe him to be, then his concession speech will be graceful, eloquent, and positive. 

Lastly, we gon' be alright because President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, Senator Elizabeth Warren, and others will all be unleashed (Sen. Warren has already been giving Trump the "Samsonite Luggage Test" treatment). Robert Reich said it best when he endorsed Senator Sanders: Secretary Clinton is the best candidate for the system we have now. And like it or not, we're here now. We gon' be alright if we coalesce behind Secretary Clinton while the GOP dumpster fire rages out of control.

We can do this. We can vote down-ballot, to get rid of the Tea Potty once and for all, relegating them to the dustbin of history. 

WE GON' BE ALRIGHT.

The Roots Remake - Is It Needed?

The History Channel went and did it.  They messed around and rebooted a groundbreaking series.  In a departure from their usual programming (which seems to be "All Hitler, All The Time"), they remade the classic TV series "Roots."

If you're my age, which is somewhere between "older than a Millennial" and "younger than a Baby Boomer", then there's only one "Roots" you remember.

THIS ONE.

As far as Black pop culture was concerned, this was the definitive telling of the horrors of the TransAtlantic Slave trade and African-American history.  We felt the pain when Kunta Kinte finally told the slavemaster that his name was "Toby."  I remember an older Kunta Kinte saying, after he got his foot chopped off, saying "I'm not gon' learn to walk... I'm gon' learn to RUN", and feeling a bit of pride.  And how many of us held up newborn babies to the moonlight?

No, I didn't do this.  I was a kid when the original first came out, for goodness' sake.

The Original Recipe Roots gave us an almost complete timeline from slavery and captivity to freedom, to every aspect of American History, to Alex Haley going back to the Motherland to meet his family.  It was about as good a Black History class as what was being taught in the schools.

Fast forward to 2016.

We are in an age of reboots.  Batman has been rebooted to rescue us from the dark ages of the Schumacher era...

NEVER FORGET

...to Christian Bale's Bruce Wayne meets the Marlboro Man, to Ben Affleck picking up the cowl.  Spider-Man has been rebooted so many times that Aunt Mae is getting younger and younger at each reboot.  Ghostbusters is being rebooted with women.  Superman has... 

...there have been a lot of reboots, is all I'm saying.

Of course, the natural instinct is to boo and hiss at any idea of a remake of Roots, for several reasons.

1)  Original Recipe Roots was a classic, and should not be touched.  Clearly, Hollywood is out of ideas if they have to desecrate the sacred grounds of this classic.

2)  Aren't we TIRED of "slave narrative" movies?  Geez!  Every movie has to be about slaves and Black degradation and humiliation.  "12 Years A Slave"?  It was good, but come on... "Django Unchained"?  Really?  Who greenlit THAT?  Blah blah blah, rat-a-tat-tat, hibbity jibbity.

Funny thing about point #2.  This comprehensive piece completely dispels the myth that the majority of American movies with Black actors are slave narratives.  It also points out something that is more horrifying.  If you look at the timeline of movies from 2006 until now, you will see that Tyler Perry has released more movies than movies with so-called "slave narratives."  

THAT should horrify you.  (snark)

Of course, the new Roots miniseries is making the rounds in social media.  A person asked this:

// What are these slaves movies going to do besides piss us off again //

That's when I responded with this, as to what "slave movies are going to do":

How about countering the efforts of conservatives to rewrite history? A Texas history book tried to reduce the TransAtlantic Slave Trade to "migrant worker patterns" for people "looking for better opportunities."
If it takes a million reboots of "Roots" to report history accurately, I am here for it. I don't have to watch them, but at least more people will know that the horrors of slavery weren't part of a "job creation program."

You see, slavery has always been under attack by conservatives.  They have been telling Black people to "get over slavery", since it ended hundreds of years ago.  That point fails to mention the aftermath of slavery, from the Reconstruction to Jim Crow laws to the Civil Rights movement to modern attacks on the Voting Rights Act.  And if they aren't trying to minimize the horrors of slavery (something that's never said to any other group that has been subjugated and marginalized), they're trying to rewrite history.

A geography book publisher tried to rewrite enslaved Africans as "immigrants" or "workers."  And a map even had THIS picture:

Y'all see that, right?

Pet Negro Apologists like Jesse Lee Peterson try to give everyone the Black Conservative Perspective, by uttering such weapons-grade nonsense like "We should be thanking God for slavery!"  

And that's when it hit me.  Just as a meme that I saw stating that the Ghostbusters redo wasn't for the fans of the original, but it was for little girls who dream of owning their own proton packs and sending demonic spirits back to the gates of Hell, the Roots remake may just not be for me.

It may not BE for those of us who are fully aware of the horrors of slavery.  It may not BE for those of us who saw the original series in our formative years, and gave us a sense of a knowledge of who we are and where we come from.  We, the Black Generation X-ers who grew up on "Good Times", "The Jeffersons", Sugar Hill Gang, early Public Enemy, and "All In The Family", may not BE the target audience for this venture.

THIS venture may be for those who have no idea just how horrible and dehumanizing slavery was.  It may be for those whose only exposure to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is the "I Have A Dream" speech that's played every February.  It may be for those who are being taught that the TransAtlantic Slave Trade was nothing more than "migrant worker patterns."

And you know what?

I'm here for it.  I may not watch the new series (more about my own personal preferences than taking a stand one way or another).  And I don't have to watch it.  None of us do.  But if it takes another "slave narrative" to combat any attempts to whitewash slavery, I'm here for it.  I'm here for it all day.  Because if we're not careful, the tales of horror and abuse and ungodly dehumanizing get reduced to happy-clappy stuff like slaves who are happy to cook for George Washington, and Sally Hemings/Thomas Jefferson is a torrid tale of a forbidden love affair.

In the meantime, I'll be over there waiting for the reign of T'Challa to begin.

Me Vs. The Human Dumpster Fire (A Dating Ghost Protocol Horror Story)

Ed. note:  I'm bringing this story up so that I can submit it to someone collecting dating horror stories, and edited it from the time(s) I posted originally, on a private blog

Prelude:  The Introduction

So, I renewed my subscription to Match.com.  A girl "winked" at me.  I went to her profile, and her headline said that she's looking for someone six feet tall, light-skinned or dark skinned.  Undaunted, I responded by letting her know right off the bat that I'm nowhere near six feet tall.  She responded, and we started exchanging e-mails.

She already sent up a red flag in our conversation.  She wondered why it was taking me so long to respond to her e-mails.  "So long" being 5 minutes.  She said that it took me so long to respond because I was apparently talking to someone else.  It didn't hit me until after the fact that she said something that is, well, pretty dog-gone stupid.  I told her that she can't get upset if it takes me a few minutes to respond to an e-mail, because I can't do anything until I get the e-mail notification.  In hindsight, what I should have said was "Even if I WERE talking to someone, we're talking on a DATING SITE, and neither of us are committed to ANYONE."  That was another "hindsight" moment.  But going forward, it has given me a little insight of what I'm getting into.

Which brings me to my next point.

She has kids.  5 of them.  They range in age from 2 to 20-something.  She worried that her having so many kids would be a deal-breaker.  I thought about it, and right off the bat, even though she has a basketball team's starting line-up's worth of kids, it won't be an automatic deal-breaker.  I wondered internally if my feelings were based on me trying to "prove" that I'm "different."  Thankfully, the answer is "no."  Because initially, having kids is not a deal-breaker on the outset.  It's not a deal-breaker because we are just getting to know each other.  After we meet, then we'll see.

The Main Event:

So, I went on an early coffee date with [name redacted], the girl I met from Match.com.  It's a day off, and it's beautiful outside, so I figure "What have I got to lose?"  Since she doesn't have a car, it meant that I had to pick her up from her house.  I don't have a problem with that.  She gives me her address, and I go out to her house.

She lives in an apartment building, and the building doesn't have a doorbell.  Plus, I don't know which apartment she lives in (she didn't specify).  So, I shoot her a text to let her know that I was outside.  8 minutes later, she responds.  A few minutes later, I see the door opens.

Oh, sweet mother of God.

I think I did a good job of hiding just how terrified I was, and I could swear that I heard the "Godzilla" theme in the background.  I mean, I knew that she had 5 kids, but according to her profile, her body type was listed as "average."  Not "curvy", or "Big & Beautiful" or "a few extra pounds."  She was fully-blown morbidly obese, waddling and working up a sweat as she walked to my car.  I've seen women who have had a gang of kids, and you couldn't tell that they had ONE.  She, however, looked like her body was ravaged by childbirth.

And cake.

And extra cake.

And ice cream.

And extra cheeseburgers.

And extra chicken wings.

And even more cake.

You get the idea.

After a few minutes to process what had just unfolded in front of me, I get out of my car to greet her.  What's the first thing she says to me?

"Wow.  I didn't think you'd be THIS short."

I swear before God and on everything that I hold dear that it took everything within me to hold back from saying "I didn't think you'd be this fat", getting back in my car, and driving off.

Now, please believe that I don't expect a woman that I encounter to be a perfect, Beyonce-like specimen, because I don't.  Lord knows I won't be gracing the covers of any fitness magazines.  "Curvy" is fine, "a few extra pounds" is fine.  But when you say that your body type is "average", and it turns out that you mean "average in comparison to a Buick 225", then we have a problem.

...Sorry, I'm not into dating 'Deuce and a Quarters'...

And then to compound that with YOUR assessment about MY height... 

Let me back up for a minute.

Her profile heading says that she's looking for men 6' tall.  When I responded to her wink, I told her that I was well under 6'.  My profile lists my height as 5' 6", and that's only because it won't let me say that I'm 5', 5 1/2".  And make no mistake:  I don't have any hang-ups about my height.  I KNOW I'm short, and I'm cool with it.  And I don't begrudge a lady that's looking for a taller guy.  If that's her preference, then that's cool.

The 5 kids wasn't a deal breaker, but her comment most certainly was.  But, I didn't end it.  We still went out.

On the way out, we chatted a little bit, and she unfolded the horror story that is her life in front of me.  She has two baby-daddies (her words), and that's only because the oldest baby-daddies was killed.  The apartment that she lives in is in foreclosure, so she and her kids will have to move.  As it turned out, her eldest child, a daughter, doesn't live with her, but is staying with her.  The oldest daughter is on a 4-year scholarship to a college in South Carolina, I think.  She was using her son's disability payments to pay her rent.  But since the building's in foreclosure, she doesn't get those payments.

I told her that I work for the Unemployment Office on 119th.  She told me that she's going to be assigned to the Public Aid office right next door.

By the way:  The two remaining baby-daddies?  On drugs.

When we get to our destination, we chat some more.  Some of it is small talk, like favorite movies and stuff.  Other times, she pulls back the curtain on some of her dating experiences.  

Like how she gave it up on the first date to another dude she met on Match.com, and how another dude told her to take the bus home after she wouldn't put up with his disrespect.  She told me about how guys are after her for her body (I almost choked at that), and they ask her right on the outset for nekkid pictures of her (see the above looks of horror).

She talked about going back to school for massage therapy or something in the medical assistant field, which is fine.  But it doesn't sound like she has any desires beyond that.  She also told me that she is interested in getting some sort of lap band surgery or something.

The bottom line is that this one is certainly a no-go.  There are far too many things going on there, things that I'm not in a position to (or even want to) deal with.  

Her number of kids didn't do her in... but her comment, and just about everything else with her did.

And when I think about it, it's still a good thing... because it gives me a better gauge on what ARE my deal-breakers, beyond being Tyler Perry fans... heh.

One more thing:

This is the second time that someone has been "disillusioned" by my height.  The first time was a girl who "thought that I'd be taller", even though I TOLD her how tall I was.  If I recall correctly, she thought that I'd be taller than the actual height I mentioned.  And as it turned out, she happened to be built like a refrigerator box.

S.A.L.T. Wayback Presents - R. Kelly To Write Memoirs

Ed. Note:  In 2009, it was announced that R. Kelly was writing his memoirs.  Pepperidge Farm remembers, and so do I, especially in the wake of R. Kelly making the news again.

__________________

R. Kelly is preparing to enter into a media realm. As reported elsewhere, R. Kelly will be preparing to write his memoirs. In a blockbuster Chubby Afro/Shut'cher Gobbige Mowf EXCLUSIVE, we have acquired leaked first drafts of some of this explosive tome.

R. Kelly (born Robert Sylvester Kelly) begins by telling the world what drew him to the cut-throat, lucrative, and intense business of being an entertainer:

Kelz and his humble beginnings

Very telling. Very telling.

In this yet-untitled memoir, Kelly also explains the creative process behind his hit R&B opera, "Trapped In The Closet, Parts 1 through Infinity":

Kelly details the intense creative process behind "Trapped In The Closet"

The piece-de-resistance of the leaked excerpts is next. Finally free to speak his mind about the child pornography charges that have dogged him for years, Kelly uses his memoir to express exactly how that infamous night went down. Kelly breaking his silence on this issue is incredible. Simply incredible:

R. Kelly finally breaks his silence on the charges that he faced.

We expect that this memoir will set the literary world aflame.

Stay tuned, as we may have more exclusive excerpts in the near future.

Boss Rahm Must Go! (...but not so fast...)

Behold Boss Rahm.  The Rahm-Father.  Chicago's mayor, the Honorable Rahm Emanuel.  He managed to squeak into his second term as mayor in 2014, after defeating candidate Jesus "Chuy" Garcia in a run-off election.  For what it's worth, the restructuring of the mayoral race was designed to prevent such a thing from happening.  Chicago's mayors are selected by popular vote, in a non-partisan race.  If no candidate has 50% of the vote, then a run-off election decides the winner.  He was elected in 2011, with his primary positives being not Pharaoh Richard Daley and the former Chief of Staff for President Obama.

But enough history.

Right now, Boss Rahm is very vulnerable.  The shooting death of Laquan McDonald has revealed some horrifying information about the city of Chicago, the Chicago Police Department, and the stink goes all the way up to the 5th Floor of City Hall.  Long story short, Laquan was shot by the police.  The police spun a narrative saying that Laquan, while high on PCP, lunged at the police, forcing Officer Jason Van Dyke to open fire, shooting Laquan twice in the chest and killing him.  That was the prevailing narrative for over a year, and the narrative was carried through in press releases and comments from the head of the local chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police.  But for a whistle-blower, some actual investigative journalists, the Freedom of Information Act, and a judge's court order, that would STILL be the prevailing narrative.

But thanks to these efforts, the truth came out.  The horrific video (which is available everywhere on the 'net) shows Laquan walking AWAY from the cops, with Van Dyke then opening fire twice.  And after Laquan's body hits the ground, Van Dyke empties his clip, shooting Laquan 14 more times.  14 more bullets enter into a dead teenager's body.  The video was so damning and so revealing that the city settled with the family for $5 million, even before the family had a chance to file a civil or wrongful-death suit.  And guess who fought to keep the video from being released?

You guessed it, Boss Rahm.

After the video was released, the city has seen protest after protest.  They were peaceful protests, and as a side note, I will never buy the Chicago Sun-Times for their coverage of the Black Friday protests.

Pictured:  Irresponsible journalism and something to line your cat's litter box.

Cook County District Attorney Anita Alvarez actually charged Officer Van Dyke with murder, but her record with prosecuting police and being on the side of the people isn't exactly stellar.  She is vulnerable, as well, as her former allies are turning on her and abandoning her.  But this isn't about her for now, although she has her own metric ton of questions that need to be answered.

Since the video has been released, lots of people are taking the hit.  Garry McCarthy was the first major figure to take a hit.  After meeting with the media, Garry assured himself that everything was fine.

McCarthy:  Rahm, did you hear that? Sounds like a bus...
Rahm:  No, didn't here a thing... now if you can just stand over THERE...

** THUMPITY THUMP THUMP **

That was the sound of Boss Rahm throwing McCarthy under the bus.  But that was just the first in several dominoes to fall.  U.S. Attorney General has announced that the U.S. Justice Department will investigate the Chicago Police Department in the wake of the Laquan McDonald shooting.  And the aftermath has caused other rats to leave the sinking ship.  Among them are Chicago Police Chief of Detectives Constantine "Dean" Andrews, and Scott Ando, the head of the Independent Police Review Authority.  The latter is especially interesting, since the purpose of the Independent Police Review Authority was to independently investigate bad cops.  But the Blue Wall of Silence was so pervasive that one of its investigators was fired because he wouldn't cook the books to make police look good.

Which brings us back to the very vulnerable Boss Rahm.  He is trying to salvage his career by creating a "Task Force" to "strengthen the fabric of trust between the Chicago Police Department and the communities it protects.  But that is doing little to reduce the calls for Boss Rahm to be tossed from office.  There was a huge protest today (12/9) that spilled into the James R. Thompson Center, because City Hall was locked down.  The calls for Boss Rahm to step down are coming from all corners of the city.  But I think that Boss Rahm should not be given the luxury of resigning from office.  Voters have notoriously short memories, and if Boss Rahm is allowed to walk away, the outrage that is felt now will have dissipated by the time the next mayoral election rolls around.

In the wake of these shootings, investigations, and whatever else the Justice Department uncovers, Boss Rahm should stay in office.  He should stay in office and answer all of the questions he has to face.  He should have to answer questions about what he knew about the Laquan McDonald shooting, and when he knew it.  He should answer questions about why, under his watch, an Independent Police Review Authority inspector was fired for doing exactly what his job called for him to do.  Every remaining moment of Boss Rahm's mayoral career should be moments holding him accountable for everything that happened under his watch.  Every Chicago tax payer's dollar that was used to settle cases involving terrible police officers.  Every officer in the McDonald shooting that signed off on the original, false narrative that remains on the job.  Every school privatization horror story involving terrible food.  Every dollar of funds used in Barbara Byrd-Bennett's schemes (and what did he know about HER, and when did he know THAT)?

Edited to add:

In my haste, I forgot about a particular incident where Boss Rahm went into full Corleone mode.  He basically said to youth leaders, Black clergy, and members of the City Council Black Caucus that "it would be a shame if there were no jobs funneled into your community because of these protests."  THAT was Boss Rahm being the same man who sent his opposition a dead fish wrapped in a newspaper.

If we have the political and intestinal fortitude, Boss Rahm can either be forced out of office in disgrace or (my preferred choice) dragged into the next mayoral race as a lame duck, which would be a first for Chicago.  And up until that moment, the voters can actually put action behind the protests and show up at the polls in unprecedented amounts.  Boss Rahm can receive the public condemnation and repudiation from the public that he so richly deserves as he is unceremoniously cast from office.  

As for his replacement and the next mayor of Chicago?  I have an idea.

The Honorable Dr. Amara Enyia, Mayor Of Chicago
...I can dream, can't I?

Raven-Symone Corleone Strikes Again

An open letter to Raven-Symone (Corleone - as in "Fredo Corleone").

Dear Ms. Symone... or is it Raven-Symone'?  Ms. Raven-Symone'?  And why do you have a little accent over a silent "e"?

I digress.

Recently, you went on TV talking about how you wouldn't hire anyone with a "ghetto" name, using names like "Watermelondrea" for example.  You have since apologized.  But before I get into what's grinding my gears, let me give you a gentle reminder.

"Don't do the crime if you can't do the time..."

When you go on TV looking like Baretta's cockatoo after it fell into a vat of Kool-Aid, AND your name has a dash AND an accent-mark over a silent letter, you do not have the moral high ground to call anything else "embarrassing."  But when it seems that you kinda hit rock bottom, you started digging.

On national TV, you let yourself get checked by the Coultergeist.  By Evil Incarnate.  By Ann Coulter.

Pictured:  Evil Incarnate in its flesh costume

The Coultergeist was on "The View", and Raven attempted to call Coulter out on some of the hateful things that Coulter said.  It should have been an easy task, since Coulter has gone on record spewing hate at anyone who isn't a white, Christian male.  Race, religion, 911... you name it, there isn't a topic that she hasn't spewed hateful bile all over, corroding and corrupting everything she encounters.  She's a racist, she's vile, and she is an attention whore.  There is nothing that she won't say to keep her disgusting name and visage in the public eye.

Which brings us to today, Raven.  It sounded like you were attempting to shame Coulter, but this soulless monster has no shame.  You brought up how it's mean of her to say mean things, and she countered with... well, let's go to the tape.

ANN COULTER SHUTS DOWN RAVEN SYMONE

She counters your "feel good" comments with your comments about Black names and then... she shuts you up, because she claims that at least she is talking about policy, while you're just insulting people with their names.  And then... SILENCE.

How could you let her work you into a corner like that, when there is SO. MUCH. MATERIAL. to work from?  The Coultergeist talks POLICY?  You let that slide, and you have gone down in infamy like so many Hindenburgs.

Oh, the humanity.

Artist's rendition of Raven Symone

Do you not do any research on your show?

"Our Blacks are better than their Blacks." - Ann Coulter on Black conservatives vs. Black liberals

"These broads are millionaires, lionized on TV and in articles about them, reveling in their status as celebrities and stalked by griefparrazies.  I have never seen people enjoying their husband's deaths so much. - Ann Coulter on 9/11 widows

"We need to execute people like (John Walker Lindh) in order to physically intimidate liberals."

"My only regret with Timothy McVeigh is that he did not go to the New York Times Building." - Ann Coulter on domestic terrorist Timothy McVeigh

"I think the government should be spying on all Arabs, engaging in torture as a televised spectator sport, dropping daisy cutters wantonly throughout the Middle East and sending liberals to Guantanamo." - Ann Coulter on civil liberties

This was just off the top of the head, and with a very quick Google search.  You let this venomous creature shut you down because she rope-a-doped (emphasis on DOPE, ya dope) you into a corner with claims that her comments are based solely on policy.  NOTHING from what was quoted above has anything to do with "policy", except that it represents the worst of conservative ideology.  Now, instead of the news cycle being about your stupid comment about names, the pop culture news cycle is about people actually and regretfully taking the Coultergeist's side, or at least giving her props for shutting you down.

A common reaction to having to choose between Raven Symone and the Coultergeist

Once again, you have disappointed everyone around you.  There are no winners here.

And once again, Raven Symone...

Do better, Raven-Symone Corleone.  Let people know that you're "smart and not dumb, like people say."

Tamir Rice And Why "Black Lives Matter" Is Needed

The other day, "independent experts" have ruled that the Tamir Rice shooting was justified.  Of course, this set off a firestorm of controversy.  I have been stating that this "justification" ruling was why Black Lives Matter was needed.  And people have been responding that the Black Lives Matter movement is racist.

Here is my response when people say that this movement is racist:

Black Lives Matter is not racist. People tend to translate "Black Lives Matter" as "Black Lives Matter, but others, not so much." But in reality, it's "Black Lives Matter, As Well As Everyone Else's." Black Lives Matter isn't to the exclusion of anyone else. In an ideal situation, the officer that shot Tamir Rice would be under intense scrutiny. But when innocent Black people are shot by police, THEIR lives are placed under a microscope. "They must have had it coming." "They deserved it." "They were thugs anyway."

Tamir Rice was a 12-year-old child playing with a toy gun, in a state where open-carry is legal. It stands to reason that if Tamir was an adult with a real gun, he would have survived his encounter. Now here, you might say that I'm pulling the "race card", but I have seen plenty of videos of adult white people with real guns encounter police, and they tell the police what's what. One guy even told the police to stand down. Tamir Rice wasn't given that luxury, as he was gunned down within seconds of his encounter with the police.

In the wake of the shooting, and this "justification" ruling, more people were blaming Tamir for the heinous crime of playing with his gun. In another situation with cops and a white person with guns, there was a white male walking the streets with a gun. When the police approached him, they backed off. Then, they formed a perimeter. Then, they talked to the guy. Eventually, they de-escalated the situation to the point where one of the officers could sit on a curb next to the gunman, TALKING. Again, a luxury not afforded young Mr. Rice.

Black Lives Matter because the cop that shot Tamir should not have been on the Cleveland police force to begin with, but TAMIR'S life was under a bigger microscope than this officer's life. Black Lives Matter because a 12-year-old Black child should have a greater benefit of the doubt in a case involving lethal force than an objectively incompetent police officer.

Black Lives Matter because Tamir Rice, John Crawford III, Amidou Diallo, Akai Gurley, Rekesha Boyd, Sandra Bland, etc ad infinitum, should not have had death as the ultimate consequence of their encounter with police. Black Lives Matter because Abner Louima should not have been assaulted with a plunger. Black Lives Matter because a baby should not be injured by a flash grenade. Black Lives Matter because a Black teenaged girl shouldn't be slammed to the ground by a police officer. Black Lives Matter because a Black woman shouldn't be pummeled by a cop straddling her like he's working on MMA ground and pound techniques.  Black Lives Matter because Bruce Springsteen should not have had to make this song:

And to those who talk about white people facing police brutality, I would simply ask these questions: Aren't you angry about that? If not, why not?

Because regardless, you still get killed for living in your American Skin.