Tea Partier Tim Scott Appointed to US Senate as Spielberg's 'Lincoln' Paints a Different Portrait of the Republican Party

Rep. (now Senator) Tim Scott (R-SC)

I finally got to go see the movie 'Lincoln' last night, what a vivid examination of a pivotal moment in American history; exceptional film making, great script and an amazing cast.

I think there are some fascinating and very relevant parallels between Steven Spielberg's brilliant portrayal of the intense philosophical/political debates surrounding the passage of the 13th Amendment banning slavery, the current identity crisis facing the Republican party and the growing cries for more assertive gun control legislation.

Enter newly-appointed Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina. South Carolina Republican Governor Nikki Haley's decision on Monday to appoint conservative Congressman and Tea Party poster boy Tim Scott to replace Senator Jim DeMint certainly represents a watershed moment for the GOP, but it's also historic for the nation as a whole.

The 47 year-old Scott, who rose from poverty in North Charleston, SC to become a prominent hard-line conservative member of the House of Representatives, is the first African-American Senator from a southern state to join the US Senate since Mississippi Republicans  Hiram Rhodes Revels (who served from 1870-1871) and former slave Blanche Bruce (who served from 1871-1885) as part of the wave of 23 black Congressmen elected during the Reconstruction Era beginning with John Willis Menard of Louisiana in 1868. 

While Haley rightfully and enthusiastically asserted Scott's qualifications for the Senate seat, in terms of political strategy the move is no surprise in the wake of the pasting the GOP took in the last Presidential election amongst African-American, Hispanic and Asian voters. With a stunning 90% of black Americans casting their votes for President Obama (and overwhelming Hispanic and Asian votes as well) this past election was as much a warning as a wake-up call for today's Republican party.

It's hard to ignore the ties between the historic significance of Scott's election to the Senate and the lofty dialog between politicians debating a post-slavery America in 1865 in  'Lincoln', which interestingly enough, is in nationwide release at the very moment the Republican party is reeling from it's unwavering support of the NRA in the wake of the shootings in Newton, the ongoing battle over raising taxes on the wealthy and the impending fiscal cliff in Washington.

Spielberg scores not just with a revealing portrait of Abraham Lincoln, but by carefully reminding his audience that the Republican party weren't always characterized by the ideologically rigid, culturally intolerant extremists who control today's GOP.

In this nation it was Republicans who were once the ones who fought tooth and nail for passage of an Amendment to the Constitution that would outlaw slavery and establish the difficult pathway towards citizenship and equal rights for the millions of African-Americans struggling to escape the horror of generations of indentured servitude in this nation.

In the same way Republicans in the late 1860's and early 1870's sent black Congressmen and Senators to Washington as duly elected representatives of the people in an effort to cement the gains won by hundreds of thousands of Americans during the Civil War, I get the sense today's GOP leaders looked at the results of the 2012 Presidential elections and quietly decided there's no future in being a political party that cannot appeal to and serve ALL Americans.

Maybe (just maybe), in the appointment of African-American Congressman Tim Scott to one of the two US Senate seats of South Carolina, (the very state where the first shots were fired by the Confederacy against Union forces entrenched in Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861 to begin the Civil War), there are voices within the Republican leadership seeking to reconnect the GOP to it's roots as the Party of Lincoln as it was once known.

Is it possible the appointment of Scott signals the start of a different kind of battle for the soul of the Republican party? Maybe. There's no question that right now the GOP itself seems enslaved; to Grover Norquist, the NRA, to the rejection of science and reason; to an ideology that seems increasingly out of step with mainstream Americans.

No matter how conservative you are politically, it's got to be hard to reconcile the party that once led the fight to pass the 13th Amendment with the slew of intolerant polarizing extremists like Rush Limbaugh, Dinesh D'Souza, Pat Buchanan, Donald Trump or even some of the Senators who will serve with Tim Scott that define today's Republican Party.     

Maybe somewhere, the great American statesman and Congressman Thaddeus Stevens is allowing himself just an inkling of hope that what once was might someday come to pass again; and the nation will be the better for it.

Unanswered Questions After Newton Shootings - Silence from the NRA

Newton, Conn. elementary school shooter Adam Lanza

I'm not the only one having a hard time getting my mind around the children and adults gunned down in a senseless act of moral depravity in Newton.

Frankly I'm just tired of being "shocked and saddened" over the horrifying slaughter of innocent people by gun violence. Aurora, Virginia Tech, Newton...how long do we keep adding the names of these towns and places and the innocent victims of these sick individuals who use illegally obtained guns to murder people?

My good friend "FK" just forwarded me an e-mail with a link to the blog of investigative reporter Jon Rappoport. In a December 15th post titled, Lanza, Bloomberg, Obama, Guns, Psychiatric Meds and Mass Hypnosis: the TV Script, Rappoport takes the mainstream TV media to task for lulling viewers into a state of hypnotic sense of numb helplessness by trying to "make sense" of this tragedy without using the power, reach and influence of the media to ask the really hard questions that lie at the core of 20-year old Adam Lanza's murder of children (six and seven year-olds) and adults at an elementary school.

Rappoport questions why the media aren't asking Lanza's physician what kinds of drugs he may have been taking for the well-documented behavioral problems stemming from his Asperger's Syndrome and whether or not that played into his decision to shoot his mother in the face then proceed to the Sandy Hook Elementary School and gun down 20 children and 7 adults.


Why have mainstream media outlets been largely absent on the issue of gun control in this nation? 
 
I watched the President speak last night but in the subsequent analysis by television news hosts and reporters, I saw very little discussion about the killer's mother and what role her delusional doomsday scenario obsessions, survivalist tendencies and decision to keep five weapons (including an assault rifle) in the house played in this event.

Obviously it's still early to reach conclusions. But the UK's Daily Mail Website seems to be one of the few news organizations asking the harder questions about Adam Lanza's mother Nancy and how her stockpiling of food, water, weapons and ammunition, her apparent beliefs that civilized society was coming to an end, as well as her choice to teach a child with a mental condition how to use weapons may have contributed to this unspeakable horror.

Of course the NRA, the gun manufacturers who bankroll them and their supporters on Capitol Hill in the House and Senate are not just silent on this issue; they're absolutely no where to be found. No Senator or Congressman who supports the NRA would even appear on any of the Sunday Morning news talk shows.

What's the reaction of the NRA, which has fought even the most basic kinds of restrictions on background security checks for people who buy guns and also fought the assault weapons ban?

They took down their Facebook page and it's Twitter account is silent. Their silence tells you just about all you need to know about their opposition to the need for stricter gun control laws in this nation. As the President said, enough is enough; we've got to have meaningful change.

It's almost 2013, isn't it past time the Supreme Court re-evaluated the definition and language of the 2nd Amendment of the US Constitution drafted in the 1700's when we had no standing army and people used flintlock rifles to defend themselves against the British Army?

Jet Magazine Makes Headlines Featuring 1st Gay Male Newlywed Couple

I saw an interesting short piece on MSNBC this morning about Jet Magazine featuring Ravi Perry and Paris Prince as the first gay male African-American couple to appear in the magazines 'Weddings' section.

While Jet has featured same sex female couples in their 'Weddings' section before, I think a male black gay couple appearing there represents an important cultural gauge in light of recent conversations and national debate on same-sex marriage that have been increasingly frequent in the mainstream media with the Supreme Court set to rule on Federal cases in New York and California that could establish the right for same-sex couples in the US to marry.

Personally speaking, Jet featuring a simple photo reflects evolving views on the acceptance of same-sex marriage in America. Too often in this country the African-American perspective tends to get lumped into a rather narrow expression of "black conventional wisdom" that doesn't really take into account the enormous diversity of opinion that exits in contemporary black society. 
 
We're decades past the days when Jesse Jackson sitting on a television news program with an earpiece on "explaining how blacks feel" could sum up the African-American perspective with a couple quotes. While there is certainly a wide range of opinion on the acceptance of same-sex marriage among African-Americans, there's no doubting the enduring popularity and relevance of Jet Magazine as a solid snapshot on black culture and entertainment.

For well over a century barbershops and beauty parlors that cater to primarily African-American clientele have served as more than just a place where people of color can go to "get a cut". These small community institutions found in just about every corner of the nation have long functioned as unofficial community centers where one can go to catch up on local news and gossip, swap stories, hear a good joke or get the latest on what's happening in the local black community.

One common touch sure to be found amongst all these small businesses are plenty of copies of Jet, Ebony or Black Enterprise. While I never picked up a copy of Jet for extensive world analysis, it was always a fun, lighter read to leaf through where one could read stories about the lives of leading African-American celebrities and important figures from the world of business or politics; or sometimes just regular people. Jet still boasts a respectable monthly circulation of 700,000 according to the MSNBC report I saw, but it holds a special place in the black American community.

I got my first haircut at Jimmy's Barbershop located at 141 John Street which used to be located at the heart of what was the African-American community in Princeton. The owner Jimmy Mac, who left the Navy and opened the shop in 1954, was known unofficially as the "Mayor of John Street" and you could learn a lot about life and the community by just sitting there listening to him as he cut hair and held court. Sitting in one of the hard-to-find chairs in his small shop while waiting patiently for a haircut always offered time to pick up an old copy of Jet; and I'm certain I'm not the only guy who quickly leafed through the pages to check out the "Jet Beauty of the Week".

It's going to be months before the Supreme Court rules on same-sex marriage, but as more and more conversations about people's right to marry who they want take place across this nation in the media and in private, Jet's decision to feature a gay male black couple in the 'Weddings' section suddenly makes it even more relevant; a snapshot of a shifting perspective. Not just in the African-American community, but in the mindset of many Americans who understand that our concepts of family, marriage and individual rights are changing with the times.   

Beate Zschäpe - The Face of the National Socialist Underground in Germany

Beate Zschäpe was recently charged in Munich

German efforts to reconcile with the horrors and tyranny of the Third Reich, the rise of Adolph Hitler and the National Socialist (Nazi) Party, it's role in the Holocaust and plunging the globe into World War II are monumental in scope; a daunting task that is still ongoing almost 70 years since the end of the most destructive war in modern history.

The difficulty became even more apparent in November of 2011 when a botched bank robbery in the German town of Eisenach turned out to be the work of the Nationalist Socialist Underground or NSU; a little-known violent right-wing neo-Nazi faction. When police found the two robbery suspects Uwe Bonhardt and Uwe Mundlos dead of self-inflicted gunshot wounds in a mobile home, they also found a pistol belonging to murdered policewoman Michele Kiesewetter and a horrifying truth began to unravel.

The two men along with a woman named Beate Zschäpe were the core members of a ultra nationalist terrorist group determined to use murder to scare foreigners out of the country. Between 2000 and 2007, the three of them murdered eight Turkish immigrants, one Greek immigrant and the policewoman Kiesewetter in towns across Germany. 

According to a recent article in Der Spiegel, the year-long investigation into the murders that led to Zschäpe being charged have uncovered some unsettling lapses in domestic German law enforcement and intelligence that have left the majority of the nation shocked and confused.

It has led to a number of resignations of high security officials. For example, Heinz Fromm, president of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution resigned back in July not long before it was revealed members of his own staff had destroyed documents that might have implicated them in the murders. A number of German law enforcement personnel have come under scrutiny and suspicion for being more than sympathetic to the NSU's xenophobic ideology.

An article in the November 24th issue of The Economist magazine alleges that German authorities spent years focusing their investigations of the murders of Turkish immigrants on members of the Turkish community (even members of the victims own families) rather than considering the neo-Nazi underground movement as suspects. As if Turks would detonate a nail bomb on a busy street lined with Turkish shops as the NSU did on a Cologne street in 2004. 

According to sources cited by Wikipedia an agent for the Hessian State Office for the Protection of the Constitution known only as "Andreas T" was present in a cafe in 2006 when the NSU killed the Turkish owner. Andreas T was known in his hometown by the nickname "Little Adolph" and was known to be open about his extremist political views. 

Part of what has left many in Germany outraged and confused about these killings is how so many different levels of the law enforcement institutions within the country (both local and national) could not have suspected the NSU much earlier. After all Germans tend to crack down hard on any kind of neo-Nazi activity; flying the Swastika is a serious crime.

I've been to Berlin twice and you're not even supposed to talk about Nazis in bars or restaurants. Doing so will get you cold stares from Germans seated nearby; total strangers will politely tell you it's not permitted to discuss such things in public.

As recently as 2011, officials in the town of Wunsiedel, Germany tired of being linked with extremists, exhumed the remains of Hitler's deputy Rudolph Hess and removed the headstone because his grave had become a shrine for neo-Nazis. In the years since the reunification of Germany, the nation has worked hard to stamp out the last vestiges of the Nazi Party and take responsibility for the extermination of millions of Jews, Poles, eastern Europeans and enemies of the Third Reich in the concentration camps scattered across the central and eastern Europe.

The trial of Beate Zschäpe and other members of the NSU demonstrates the unsettling reality that there remains a sympathetic element within Germany for Nazi ideology and the use of violence to "cleanse" the nation of those deemed unfit to be there. According to the Economist article, 7.3% of the West German population subscribe to right-wing political views based on research by the Frederich Ebert Foundation; 15.8% in Eastern Germany where the NSU trio lived under assumed names for years.

It's an unsettling trend no matter which way you look at it, especially given the country's past. But remember, such beliefs and acts are not restricted to Germany. That mindset exists here in the US and across Europe too. While it's a sad reminder during the Hanukkah holiday, I think it's important not to forget what often lies just beneath the surface.

Serial Killer Israel Keyes Extremist Past Overshadowed by His Trail of Violence and Murder

Serial killer Israel Keyes

While there was certainly no shortage of national media coverage of the Sunday December 2nd suicide of confessed kidnapper and serial killer Israel Keyes in an Alaskan jail cell, few of the stories I've read online devote much analysis or even mention his indoctrination into the white supremacist movement in rural Washington state.

Some might argue that the heinous acts of murder committed by the 34 year-old Keyes (he confessed to 8 murders but the FBI suspects that he's responsible for many more unsolved killings across the United States) are more important than any religious or political beliefs he might have had, but I'm not one of them. Those beliefs are the root of the problem.

The Southern Poverty Law Center's Hatewatch Website offers the most insight into Keyes upbringing in a remote community where anti-Semitic and racist beliefs were the norm. Hatewatch is one of the few Websites that notes that Keyes was a childhood neighbor and close friend who lived just up the road from Chevie and Cheyne Kehoe, two violent white supremacist brothers who garnered world wide media attention in 1997 attention after their shootout with two Ohio State Troopers following a traffic stop was captured on videotape; both were later convicted of the kidnapping, torture and murder of gun dealer William Mueller and his family.

Personally the mainstream media needs to be shining a brighter spotlight onto the secluded kinds of communities like the one where the Keyes and the Kehoes were raised. According to Hatewatch all three were home-schooled as kids by parents with strong anti-government and supremacist beliefs and attended The Ark; a Christian Identity church that is part of the small but influential nationwide network of followers who's origins stretch back to 19th century Europe.

Keyes violent tendencies were directly nurtured by Christian Identity ideas; and any serious examination of his death must include more public education about the community in which he was raised and the beliefs he was exposed to from an early age.

How many more Israel Keyes and Chevie and Cheyne Kehoes are out there? And how seriously does law enforcement take the threat they represent?

Newark Mayor Cory Booker Takes on the 'Food Stamp Challenge'

Newark Mayor Corey Booker

If the recent Presidential election taught us anything, maybe it was simply being reminded that one of the most important qualities of those who aspire for higher office is an ability to really connect with the people they're elected to serve.

Ronald Reagan had it. So did Bill Clinton. President Obama has it and personally I think Newark mayor Cory Booker has it too. This guy is bright, confident and well educated.

Anyone who is a Stanford graduate, Yale Law School alum and a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford could make a fortune on Wall Street; but Booker chose to be a public servant in a city facing some of the stiffest challenges in the nation. That says a lot about his character and he won his 2nd race for mayor in 2006 and has been a fixture on the national scene ever since.

Today, he began the food stamp challenge in an effort to back up his public support for effective nutrition initiatives in low income communities across the US; part of his broader vision for urban renewal.

The Food Stamp Challenge is a national effort aimed at educating Americans about the realities of food stamps in this nation by exposing people to the challenges of trying to buy nutritious food and make difficult purchasing decisions based on the current levels low-income Americans must deal with each day.

When four members of Congress, James McGovern (D-MA), Jo Ann Emerson (R-Mo), Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill), and Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) publicly took on the challenge of trying to live on a food stamp budget in 2007, it began to gain national exposure.

To date four governors, nine different mayors and 20 members of Congress, community leaders, religious leaders of all faiths and thousands of citizens have also tried the challenge. The goal is pretty simple: try and live on $30 a week in groceries. The average NJ benefit is about $4 a day or $133.26 a month.

The hope is people can learn to get past the stigma of food stamps and get past the partisan rhetoric of politicians like Republican Paul Ryan who try to paint the program as government waste. In a nation where 1 in 6 US citizens live in poverty, as recently as May 8th of this year Ryan actually defended cutting government funding for food stamps while defending tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans and subsidies for corporations.

Booker's mission began with an exchange on Twitter when a 30-something mother of two from NC said on Twitter to Cory, "Nutrtion is not the responsibility of the government." Booker fired back that he felt it was the responsibility of the government to make sure children in public schools should have the right to nourishing meals.

To his credit, Booker stayed true to the quote posted prominently on his own Website  , "Democracy is not a spectator sport", and backed up his Twitter response to the unnamed woman with action. Today he posted his first grocery bill online as he undertakes the Food Stamp Challenge in an effort to connect with the millions of low-income Americans (many of whom work full time) who must rely on government assistance to feed their families. 

If any one man could arguably be considered a superhero, it's Booker. He went on a 10-day hunger strike to focus attention on drug dealers plying their trades in the streets of Newark. He and members of his staff personally shoveled snow during the 2010 "Snowpocalypse" as the city was swamped with requests to clear streets. In April he saved a woman from a burning building. During Hurricane Sandy he personally delivered food and supplies to Newark residents trapped in buildings without power or running water.

To me that's the mark of a real leader. Don't take my word for it. The New Jersey gubernatorial elections will take place on November 5, 2013, less than a year from now. Even though incumbent Chris Christie has boosted his popularity with New Jersey voters from his hands-on response and no-nonsense attitude in dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, Cory Booker is the overwhelming favorite amongst a group of potential challengers set to challenge Christie for the NJ governor's mansion according to recent polls.

I think a man who shows the ability to reach out and connect with (and serve) all citizens regardless of the size of their wallet deserves a chance to be governor and I'm not the only one who sees Cory Booker as the kind of leader who could make it to the Senate and make a real difference in a time when this nation is so desperate for real leadership with innovative ideas for urban renewal on the local level and national level.

And no, Booker did not pay for this blog post; he earned it. If only Trenton, NJ could have that kind of visionary leadership, but alas, they're stuck with Tony Mack.

Michael Dunn Charged With 2nd Degree Murder After Shooting Teenager Jordan Davis Over Loud Music

Florida resident Michael Dunn

I read Lizette Alvarez's article in the New York Times on Saturday about Michael Dunn, a 45-year old software developer from Satellite Beach, Florida charged with 2nd degree murder after shooting 17 year-old Jordan Davis with a handgun on November 23rd; the day after Thanksgiving.

I couldn't help but feel the same chilling sense of bewilderment and anger I (and millions of others around the world) felt back in February of this year when George Zimmerman shot Trayvon Martin after following the unarmed teenager in his van because he seemed "suspicious."

The circumstances in this still-evolving case are just as puzzling and the results no less violent or tragic; another unarmed African-American teenager with no criminal record killed with a handgun by a white Florida man claiming to have felt threatened.

The cause this time? Angry words exchanged over loud music. Dunn's lawyer claims her client was sitting in his car outside a convenience store waiting for his fiancee to come out when he asked four teenagers in a vehicle parked next to him (including the victim Jordan Davis) to turn down their music and it went south from there.

After more words and insults were exchanged, Dunn, who has a concealed weapons permit, took a handgun out of his glove compartment and fired four shots into the back of the vehicle, then as the teens ducked and scrambled out in an attempt to flee for their lives, he fired four more shots at the vehicle; fatally wounding Davis who sitting in the middle in the back seat.

According to the victim's father Ron Davis, the father of the slain teenager, the teens were waiting for one of their friends to come out of the store with gum and soda. While Dunn, who admitted he'd had at least two drinks at a wedding, was waiting for a female companion to come out with some wine.

Dunn is trying to claim the teens had a shotgun causing him to fear for his life, directly contradicting reports he gave to police detectives after he was arrested. Dunn fled the scene after the shooting and was arrested 173 miles away; when questioned he never mentioned the teens had a shotgun.

While it's still too early to make conclusions based on the known facts, the slain teenager's father insists that his son ( a student at Wolfson High School in Jacksonville) and his three 17 year-old friends were on their way back from the mall, none of them have ever been in trouble and there were no drugs or a shotgun in the car as Dunn later claimed; the father claims he would never allow any guns in his house. 

Meanwhile it's looking like Robin Lemonidis, Dunn's defense attorney is going to try and dredge up the controversial Florida 'Stand Your Ground' law to justify her client's violent reaction to loud music, arguing, like George Zimmerman, Dunn felt threatened. Regardless of what happens Jordan Davis, an aspiring Marine, was buried last week and police have yet to locate the mysterious shotgun Dunn now claims was pointed at him from the car.

It's clear that at some point in the very near future Federal courts in the state of Florida are going to have to take an honest look at a basic question; is this what the Stand Your Ground law is going to be used for? Shoot first and claim that you were 'threatened' later? If Dunn felt threatened or was indeed 'Standing His Ground' as he claims, why didn't he just call the police? And why, as witnesses at the scene claim, did he flee the scene?

Oh and speaking of feeling threatened, we're still waiting for Trayvon Martin's killer George Zimmerman to stand trial, who (according to NPR) is now selling his autograph on his Website to raise money for his "living expenses and legal costs."