It was a time of great strides and calamitous missteps. A time heroes became villains and villains would exhibit nobility. With that, it was a time of unknown resolution. Within our bubbles, everyone thinks this is “the time”. I do. I wrote about it yesterday, and I believe it. This is a moment when things must change, will change. The war against people of color that has soiled every season of our country’s history must Read more…
The first published quote from Donald J. Trump was recorded in 1973. He was responding in the N.Y. Times to the charges that his and his father’s real estate business had been guilty of racial bias. “We have never discriminated, and we never would.” They did a cash settlement out of court. Nearly 50 years later, there are now volumes of those denials. Up until about 5 years ago, he was just another racist embarrassing Read more…
It was a good day in Washington, D.C. Weather was nice, the protesters were out, but they were peacefully gathering. Heavy presence of law enforcement, but didn’t seem to be aggressive. There was mostly a balance to it. Until there wasn’t. Suddenly there was a massive operation to clear the intersection adjacent to Lafayette Square. With no warning the area was overcome with law enforcement, from National Guard to you name it, ten different departments Read more…
This has been a day of horror in dozens of cities across the country, with a few scenes of beauty to put them in stark relief. Between last night and today, law enforcement attacked. They used gas, pellets, clubs and fists to enforce their will on the assembled crowds. Much of it had no discernment to it. People walking home with arms full of their groceries were shot in the head with pellets, requiring stitches. Read more…
Nothing is slowing down. No curfews are being respected. This senseless, arrogant murder and the tepid official response to it has revealed itself to be a final straw. Not only is the authority of the police no longer respected, the elected officials calling for people to stand down, respect curfew, protest without property damage have lost their credibility as well. A desperate plea went out from the Governor of Minnesota Tim Walz to the protesters Read more…
I’ve been here before. We thought we did something, made a difference, passed legislation, turned the tide. Any notion that any of that is true is privilege. Being black in the New World has always been illegal. Four hundred years of knowing the whole deal is stacked against you. It has consistently been true for our history, only the means to the end changing, the end clearly defined. We evolved into more sophisticated ways of Read more…
Twitter has taken a baby step toward corporate responsibility, or more simply toward decency. As a company they did not take the fully mature step of banning the President from the platform for disseminating deceitful information, but they did put an addendum to his tweets pointing out their deceptions complete with links to show how they were clearly and intentionally constructed and untrue. This is more than the Senate of the United States, our representatives, Read more…
So how are you celebrating? President Trump told us that deaths would be held to 60,000 but that proved a bit too aspirational, and based on modeling created within the White House, the new death toll would be 95,000. The President pitched his new modeling to some friendly governors, and some took the bait including the Governor of Georgia Brian Kemp. He and others crafted their re-opening strategies based on the new model supplied, not Read more…
Strap in folks. It’s getting out of control. Trump can see what is going on. The news isn’t in his favor in the current cycle, the only measurement of time that retains relevance. Ever since he limped off stage after Lysolgate, things have changed. His humiliation was total. Even normally dependable allies at best are silent about this. Silence is very high praise, the ultimate test of loyalty. How did he react to this public Read more…
There Will Be Blood. (Hope you like movies, too.) The hope is it is metaphorical. Political blood will certainly be shed. This is a rhetorical blitzkrieg that has no boundaries, no rules of engagement. It is venal and it has only just begun. All the President’s enemies are getting an earful, and some of them are getting shots in as well. Let the games begin. Obamagate. As far as we know, this is a nonsense Read more…