Ani DiFranco's Antebellum Change of Heart

Singer Ani DiFranco

As 2013 comes to a close it's interesting to observe the growing power of social media tools like Twitter and online platforms like Change.org to generate change and magnify public response to a variety of issues.

In some cases it's kind of like Democracy on steroids, unfiltered raw public opinion directed at specific issues with an immediacy and speed that's unprecedented.

It's an important barometer of the cultural mindset as well that doesn't require focus groups, pricey surveys or a bunch of bean counters to sift through reams of data; a quick digital snapshot rather than a sketch.

Case in point, a story posted yesterday on The Root.com by Stephen Crockett about singer Ani DiFranco's recent announcement on her blog that she's canceling a planned four-day creative writing retreat that was to have taken place at Nottoway Plantation Resort located between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, Louisiana.

The problem for poor Ani is that Nottoway is an actual former slave plantation owned by (drum roll please) a conservative organization known as the Paul Ramsay Group headed by a Rupert Murdoch-ish figure named Paul Ramsay.

The PRG Website page for this former forced labor agricultural facility and place of human bondage describes Nottoway as "...the South's largest remaining antebellum mansion...a dramatic, multi-million dollar renovation has restored this historic plantation to her days of glory as well as adding luxury resort amenities and corporate and social event venues."

Obviously they're talking about the meticulously-designed mansion itself but "days of glory" probably isn't the way many Americans would want to remember that period in American history.

The 53,000 square foot house has 64 rooms, seven different staircases and five galleries. It was designed by New Orleans architect Henry Howard and  built by slaves in 1858 by owner John Hampden Randolph on a nearly 7,000 acre sugarcane plantation worked by hundreds of slaves during it's 'heyday'.

Does it deserve to be on the national list of registered historic sites so that its legacy can serve as an opportunity to educate people about an important period in American history?

Most definitely. But is Nottoway really the kind of place people should gather for social events? That's a tougher question I'm not qualified to answer. 

Progressive feminist singer DiFranco, who wrote on her blog that she had no idea where her retreat had been scheduled and wasn't aware of the implications of the event being held there, was surprised by the intensity of the Twitter response criticizing her holding an event on a former slave plantation.

After more than 2,500 people signed a Change.org petition, DiFranco canceled the event and to her credit, the voter rights advocate recognized why many were offended by the venue choice.

What's interesting about the speed of this campaign is that it's really not something that got a whole lot of publicity from mainstream media and it's one of many examples of Americans (of all backgrounds) making clear choices on where they stand about racially sensitive topics - such as using a former slave plantation as an entertainment venue.

It's also interesting that no one waited around for politicians to take the lead on this; people just did it.

It was generated and supported by average people around the country (and world) who brought their voices together for a specific goal; and achieved it with the help of a well-known singer who showed the presence of mind and maturity to listen and be an agent of change. DiFranco deserves props for that.

Will petitions like this become a new kind of activism that completely skirts the dysfunctional nature of politics today? Time will tell. It certainly worked in this case, as it did in the recent renaming of Nathan Bedford Forrest High School Jacksonville.

I suspect it can work on a range of issues on much larger scales - and I'm sure I'm not the only one curious to see how it will impact the coming 2016 presidential elections.

Perhaps the time of mass demonstrations on the streets is over and the dawn of mass demonstrations online is upon us? We'll see, but regardless the potential is limitless and that's a pretty positive note to close out the year on.

Anyway, here's to better things for all of us in the new year; hope to see you back here in 2014!  -CG

Republican Happy Kwanzaa Facebook Message - The GOP Has a Long Way to Go

Another disastrous GOP Tweet implodes

One could almost feel sorry for the GOP's klutzy social media outreach efforts blowing up in their face but then I think about those voter suppression efforts in Ohio, Florida and elsewhere during the 2012 presidential election.

It's honestly almost too to painful to watch.

A political party that's repeatedly worked hand in hand with the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) across the nation to draft arcane sorts of laws to suppress and limit voter participation by African-Americans, immigrants, students, the elderly and poor people now trying to use social media to bridge the enormous gap between the GOP and Americans the party alienates is just plain sad.

When I read the December 27th story on the Forward Progressives Website about the Republican National Committee posting a happy Kwanzaa message on their Facebook page, I was waiting for a punchline - but there was nothing funny about the flood of remarkably racists comments by REPUBLICANS reacting to the presence of the Kwanzaa message on their own Facebook page; just click the link above and read a couple responses for yourself.

The same GOP that's willingly allowed its message and substantive focus to be hijacked by a right-wing extremist element that's openly hostile to minorities, women, immigrants, homosexuals, progressives, reasonable gun control laws, the environment, most science and well, pretty much everyone who doesn't subscribe to their fringe beliefs now wants to employ cutting edge Internet platforms to try and disguise itself?
 
It's almost as if Republicans don't actually understand how the Internet functions.

What's even more laughable (or pathetic, depending on how you look at it) is that just a few weeks ago back in December the Republican Twitter page was making headlines for a poorly thought out Twitter message about Rosa Parks that suggested racism in America was over.

The unfortunate part of this media equation is that the RNC was recently lauding their hiring of a new black female "Director of African-American Communications" named Amani Council; who spent quite a bit of time on The Hill as a Congressional staff aide to two former Republican House members, and also coordinated lobbying efforts for the Family Research Council, which is considered a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center for their attacks on gays and lesbians and their stance on same-sex marriage.

Did anyone check to see if Amani had any actual experience with social media before hiring her? Because the two most high profile roll-outs of the GOP's online minority outreach efforts this year (the Rosa Parks Tweet and the happy Kwanzaa Facebook post) have been total media disasters that ended up showing just how completely disconnected the party is from mainstream Americans in the cultural sense.

Now to be fair all that can't be laid at poor Amani's feet, the GOP had Lee "Willie Horton" Atwater and current Fox News president Roger Ailes as media strategists long before she was hired and Lord knows Rome wasn't built in a day.

According to a press release by RNC chair Reince Priebus, Amanai was supposed to be working closely with Raffi Williams, hired as the RNC deputy press secretary to "build relationships with African-American media as we (Republicans) work to earn the trust of more African-American voters."

Obviously the jury is still out on just how much trust these recent efforts are earning.

Based on a recent on-camera Q&A on MSNBC on Obamacare, Raffi, the son of PBS journalist/ anchor Juan Williams, is still a bit of a work in progress too.

Amani and Williams the Younger are not to blame here though. The Herculean effort to repair the GOP's reputation with black Americans would require an A-level PR firm; not just a couple of young people with family connections to the party and dark complexions. 

Even perpetually dorky failed presidential candidate Mitt Romney was candid (post-election of course) about the fact the Republican party is never going to occupy 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue if it can't figure out how to bridge the enormous gap between the GOP and people of color in this nation.

If this latest GOP Facebook implosion is any indication of how Republicans intend to use social media in 2016, Hillary Clinton is sleeping like a baby tonight.

As I wrap up my final blog of 2013 I wanted to give my sincere thanks for everyone who stops in to check the blog out, both here in the US and from the many different countries around the world who've shown up in my blog stats!

Have a wonderful New Year's Eve, if you're going to drink please don't drive; I expect to see you back here in 2014.  -CG

It's Not Such a Wonderful Life for Ayn Rand

Just over three years ago in a blog I wrote about the increase of intolerance in American culture, I shared a link from Joe Conason, who'd written a story on truthdig.com about the owners of a boardwalk establishment down in Seaside Heights, NJ called Lucky Leo's who'd put up a rather (racially) offensive caricature of President Obama for customers to hurl things at. 

Joe has a great eye for interesting stories and he's currently the editor-in-chief of The National Memo Website. 

I follow him on Twitter and the other day he forwarded a link (via Geoff9Cow@twitter) to a blog post that appeared on the Wonkette.com Website about the strange revelation that author Ayn Rand helped the FBI to find communist undertones in the plot of Frank Capra's classic film, 'It's a Wonderful Life' as part of a wider government effort to expose subversive communist influences in Hollywood in the 40's and 50's.

Ayn (pronounced like sign) Rand’s name pops up fairly frequently on this blog mostly because so many right-wing thinkers and politicians tend to deify her like some kind of conservative visionary.

Rand was intelligent, well read, highly educated and professed a wide range of unusual philosophical beliefs. 

But her focus on the purpose of human existence revolving around the "virtue of selfishness", the supremacy of reason and her unwavering belief in free market laissez-faire capitalism as the answer to virtually everything is often held up by many conservatives to justify the extremist economic positions today's GOP embraces.

Stuff like slashing food stamp assistance to families, eliminating Social Security, opposing raising the minimum wage while being steadfast against raising taxes on the wealthiest - you know the drill-baby-drill. 

Like many scholars and members of academia I don't agree with most aspects of her philosophy, but she is none the less a highly influential writer and thinker who has shaped the perspectives of any number of well-known figures. 

From former Fed chairman Alan Greenspan to failed vice presidential candidate and compassion-free budget hawk Congressman Paul Ryan - who cited her as an influential factor in deciding to run for political office and famously required all members of his Congressional staff to read Rand’s 'Atlas Shrugged'.

From my perspective as someone who studied the Constitution in depth in college, Rand's elevation of the self above all else just doesn't jibe with what the Framers of the Constitution envisioned for this nation. When I was young my parents taught me you helped your neighbor out, were charitable to the less fortunate and learned to put the needs of others above your own.
 
Rand's peculiar mix of philosophy dismissed such notions as "sentimental hogwash" (to quote Mr. Potter), much as her wholesale dismissal of religion and the attributes of faith. 

Without having studied her in depth, I can only suppose that the childhood trauma she endured during her upbringing in Russia had something to do with her rather severe views on the purpose of man.

She was born Alisa Zinov'yevna Rosenbaum in 1905, and the internal political upheavals and civil war that devastated Russia in the early part of the 20th century sadly ripped her family from their comfortable bourgeoisie existence and temporarily displaced them into a refugee status where she came to know hunger and deprivation.

I can't imagine what that was like so while I can disagree with her I can't really judge her.

It's possible that those traumatic childhood experiences coupled with her rabid desire for intellectual understanding and her 30 year addiction to Benzedrine (which she began taking to stay awake to meet a writing deadline to finish a draft of 'The Fountainhead') probably contributed to her propensity for dark mood swings and is likely reflected in the rather bleak fictional visions for humanity presented in her two most well known novels, 'The Fountainhead' and 'Atlas Shrugged’.

Rand seeing communist subversion in the plot of a sentimental tear-jerker like 'It's a Wonderful Life' might strike some as odd - it sure struck me as strange when I read it. 

But anyone who's seen Capra movies like 'Meet John Doe' or 'Mr Smith Goes to Washington' knows the concept of "the average man versus the system" and how even a good person could be driven to the depths of despair (and even suicide) by an oppressive power structure is a theme he explored at great length in his films; partially in response to the devastation of the middle class during the Great Depression and partially due to the struggles of his own upbringing.

Given Rand's perspective, she could probably discern communist themes in any number of films from the same period. 

She spent a lot of time in Hollywood working on the production side and writing screenplays and expressed loathing for films she felt contrasted with her own philosophy. 

For example she was openly critical of the film 'The Best Years of Our Lives' and its examination of the impact of World War II on the lives of returning American war veterans for what she saw as a negative portrayal of business and how it treated them in the storyline.

So it's probably pretty fair to say the George Bailey character played by actor Jimmy Stewart in 'It's a Wonderful Life' getting the best of the greedy town banker Mr. Potter played by Lionel Barrymore probably pissed Rand off.

One can almost imagine her staying awake on some Benzedrine-fueled bender, chain smoking and muttering to herself about the famous scene at the end of the film when the towns people gather together to pitch in their meager savings to save the Bailey Brother's savings and loan. 

When the bell on their Christmas tree rings and little Zu Zu Bailey utters the famous line: "Look mommy, teacher says every time a bell rings an angel gets his wings!" most people wipe away a tear (I do every time I watch it) but Rand would most likely pick up an ashtray and fling it through a window.

The character Clarence the Angel probably infuriated her atheist sensibilities.

Clearly her justified contempt for communism and the Soviet Union made her an all-too willing witness before the House Committee on Un-American Activities during the Red Scare - so Rand's willingness to help the FBI find subversive communist plot elements in 'It's a Wonderful Life' is not really all that surprising; though it is a bit weird.

It's oft said that what we see says a lot about who we are. Where most people see a heartwarming sentimental film about a man who gets to see what life was like if he'd never been born, Rand saw elements of communist propaganda - which is her right.

For most people the character George Bailey holding onto his humanity in the face of monumental struggle represents the ideal of the common man's hero, but to Ayn Ran he was just a sap. Perhaps that sums up her complex philosophy and lack of compassion for others in a nutshell.

Maybe it's one of the reasons why the GOP House leadership allowed emergency unemployment benefits for Americans to expire despite a majority of Americans supporting an extension; and yet they were the ones who opposed job creation legislation. 

(Lately some GOP leaders seem more interested in weighing in on the Duck Dynasty debacle than people loosing their only source of income.)

Mr. Potter certainly would have approved of that kind of Dickensian measure three days after the Christmas holiday - so would Ayn Rand.

"Schedule Flexibility" at Staples & Dietary Tips for Employees From Micky-D's - The Sad State of the American Worker

Health care for part-time employees? Apparently not so easy.

These are confusing times for the average American worker.

The stock market continues to trade at record levels, corporate profits are up and the cash balances on the books of most large companies are pretty healthy.

Unlike the bulk of the middle class, America's top earners have long since recovered the losses they sustained in the crash of 2008.

The Federal deficit is down, the housing market has seen steady gains and US worker productivity is at an all-time high; so why is it that five years later the average American worker still seems to be stuck in a perpetual rut of suppressed wage growth and lingering high unemployment?

The other morning I received a troubling e-mail from Change.org with a petition from a woman calling herself “Sue” (for obvious reasons she wishes to remain anonymous) who’s been a productive part-time employee at Staples for over nine years.

Apparently just before Christmas, Staples announced that all part-time employees would be limited to no more than 25 hours per week to ensure what they called “Schedule Flexibility”.

Which, as we all know, is simply fancy corporate gobbledygook for Staples dodging the requirements of the new Affordable Care Act requiring companies to offer health care coverage to all employees who work longer than 30 hours per week.

If you're shaking your head at that like I was when I read it, you might consider adding your voice to “Sue’s” online petition to Staples CEO Ron Sargent and Carrie McElwee, Staples media contact. Take a look at the online petition here. 

She already had 139,414 signatures at the time I was writing this, so you could make a difference and send a message that reflects a demand for a more progressive approach to employment in this country.

As "Sue" pointed out in her e-mail, petitions DO make a difference, as in the case of Darden Restaurants; owners of Olive Garden and Red Lobster. After similar petitions, Darden reversed a similar mandatory cut in hours for part-time workers so they could be eligible to receive health care benefits.

So even though our current do-nothing Republican Congress steadfastly refuses to go to the mat for American workers and the middle class (they'd rather spend their time on legislation designed to suppress American votes) the collective voices of citizens can still be heard and still make a difference thanks to the Internet.

There’s just something distinctly un-American about keeping wage growth for average workers down by not accounting for cost of living increases AND limiting hours to increase profit margins by not having to provide some kind of reasonable access to health care for employees.

It’s like hitting workers with a one-two punch and it's just a part of the titanic shift in the relationship between employers and workers that’s taken place in this country since 2008; kind of like Republicans blaming teachers, government employees and unions for the Great Recession.

Or like McDonald's whose low wages are essentially underwritten by the American taxpayer on a massive scale because such a huge percentage of their work force must depend on welfare or SNAP programs to supplement their low incomes.

As reported on ThinkProgress.org, Micky-D’s recently even had the temerity to suggest to their own workers that eating fast food was not a healthy choice; I can't speak for all McDonald's employees but I'm sure they'd rather have a minimum wage increase than dietary advice from a corporate behemoth that makes money off selling junk food. 

For many companies these days, workers are no longer seen as integral parts of the whole whose contributions are vital to the success of an organization; in this economy they are essentially treated as interchangeable parts of a balance sheet – simple "costs" that are secondary to the needs of share- holders, rather than human beings whose labor is fairly compensated and whose needs are not ignored.

"Sue" has been a productive Staples employee for nine years and she's about to have a baby; you can dress it up any way you want to but cutting her back to 25 hours a week so the company doesn't have to absorb the cost of paying for some decent health care is a pretty crappy thing to do.

As a nation we have to do better by our citizens; especially those who are still waiting for the recovery to "trickle down" to them.

Ukrainian Journalist Tetyana Chornovol Attacked on Christmas Day As Yanukovych Cracks Down on Opposition

Tetyana Chornovol after Wednesdays attack

To look back on El Salvador, Cambodia, Iran, Egypt (or for that matter the southern US in the 1960's) it's a really bad sign for Democracy and human rights when journalists start getting attacked.

Based on troubling details in a story posted on the BBC News Website yesterday, it's clear the government of Ukranian president Viktor Yanukovych is now adopting a much more hard line stance on the continuing mass protests that began back on November 21st after he backed out of a trade and political alliance with the European Union.

On Wednesday as many around the world celebrated Christmas, Tetyana Chornovol, (pictured left) a well-known Ukranian journalist and anti-government activist was forced off the road by a black SUV, dragged from her car and severely beaten by a group of unknown assailants when she tried to run away.

The term "unknown assailants" is used loosely given that just hours before she was attacked, the 34 year-old opposition leader had just published a story on the Ukrainska Pravda news site critical of a lavish country home being constructed just outside the capital of Kiev by the interior minister Vitaliy Zakharchenko.

That's the same official who drew wide spread criticism in recent weeks after ordering attacks on, and arrests of peaceful student demonstrators in Independence Square in Kiev; click the link and take a look at this guy's face.

Zakharchenko's Christmas message to Chornovol is clear; as you can see from the photo above taken in the hospital, she's now in intensive care with a serious concussion and will need reconstructive surgery to repair sections of her mouth and jaw.

Her investigations into the accumulation of expensive homes and personal wealth of high level officials in the government of embattled president Yanukovych are familiar to people all across Ukraine suffering through high unemployment, a dangerously stagnant economy and an inability to attract foreign investment capital to boost growth.

Chornovol's investigations and revelations of rampant corruption are an embarrassment to the Ukrainian officials trying to hold onto power - and she's not the only journalist who was targeted either.

On Christmas Eve the day before Chornovol was attacked, journalist Dmytro Pylypets was also attacked and stabbed in the city of Kharkiv; he's now in critical condition. These two incidents follow reports of harassment and attacks on other opposition members and protest leaders as well.

President Yanukovych, unwilling to further antagonize Russian President Vladimir Putin, recently further angered protesters by signing onto a large financial bailout package from Russia that will ease trade restrictions between the two nations, offer discounts on natural gas shipments and keep Ukraine firmly within the sphere of former Soviet republics.

Considering that mass protests have continued in Kiev every Sunday since late November, the potential for escalating violence between police and protesters this weekend in response to the attacks on Chornovol and Pylypets is very real; and very troubling.

Sadly, for Yanukovych the truth is no longer a right of the Ukrainian people, it's a threat to his tenuous grip on power. And his troubled nation is looking less like an emerging Democracy trying to forge closer ties with the west than it is a protectorate of Russia.

The silence from the West in support of Democracy is unfortunate. The one notable exception?

Republican Senator John McCain who visited Kiev back on December 14th, met with the daughter of jailed former prime minister and opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko and told the crowds gathered on the Maidan that America stood with them.  

With Congress home for the holidays and the President in Hawaii on vacation it's hard to gauge what, if any, diplomatic response or statement to these attacks there will be from the United States.

While the country I grew up in and love is far from perfect, seems to me an attack on a journalist is something the US would at least have to take some kind of a stance on. Or possibly work behind the scenes to bring some kind diplomatic pressure to bear.

Regardless, one look at that picture above makes it clear that's not just a beating of one journalist, that's an attack on the truth and the right to tell it - and that's an attack on all of us.

Without resorting to military solutions (which are not needed here), we as a nation should have something to say about that.

Because an interior minister or a president or whatever tin-plated official in the Ukrainian security apparatus who would order thugs to pull a young woman out of her car and beat her like that because of what she said or wrote or thinks is someone who's crossed a line that transcends borders, nationalities, race and religion.

In this case I have to agree with Senator McCain, America should finally stand up and take a stand on this situation in the Ukraine, before it spirals further out of control.

Otherwise, what's all our wealth, power and influence really stand for?

How Lasagna Ruined Steve Martin's Holiday

Steve Martin - (Photo courtesy of Biography.com)

It's Christmas so I'm not going to just dismiss Steve Martin as a racist simply because of a brief Twitter message that was better left unsent; and wasn't all that funny to begin with.

As Stephen Crockett posted on the Root.com yesterday, Martin is also catching heat from astute observers of  the Twitterverse for trying to delete the Tweet; which seemed to suggest people in neighborhoods where black people live don't know how to spell the word lasagna.

The actor-writer-comedian-playwright-art collector is learning that when you have 4.5 million followers on Twitter, you can't really delete a Tweet once you've sent it.

You CAN but for someone of his stature once it's out there, it's out there. Click the link up above to to see the actual Tweet, but what happened was one of his Twitter followers asked him if "lasonia" was the correct way to spell the popular Italian-American baked dish.

Martin Tweeted back, "It depends. Are you in an African-American neighborhood or at an Italian restaurant?"

Is that calling someone the "N" word? Certainly not, but it's trite, snide and reeks of lazy intellectual assumptions.

While his comment does not tell you anything about the intelligence of African-Americans or their capacity to spell the names of popular Italian dishes, the joke does reveal something about Martin's thinking and perspective.

None of us is perfect. But seeing something like that goes against Martin's carefully crafted image as a popular member of the Hollywood quasi-liberal elite. He's written screenplays, plays, books and has spent millions on his widely-respected collection of modern art; which includes works by Edward Hopper, Willem de Kooning, Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Crumb and many others.

Growing up in the 1970's after Martin had been a writer for the Smothers brothers, I first knew him from his many hysterical appearances as the host on Saturday Night Live, his quarky musical hit 'King Tut' and then a string of successful and popular films in the 80's and 90's including 'Roxanne' and 'Parenthood' where he evolved beyond the wise-cracking physical comedy of 'The Jerk' to give far more restrained and nuanced film performances that revealed an impressive range to audiences and critics alike.

Over the years this philosophy major from Long Beach State was known as being extremely guarded about his private life.

So when I read the offensive text that he's catching so much unwanted heat from mainstream media for, it was almost like opening a door onto someone you saw before but never really knew. It's not like I know him personally, but I can't shake a sense of feeling a little bit let down by someone I'd admired for so many years.

It's like the feeling so many people had when Clint Eastwood was standing there on the stage of the Republican National Convention talking to a chair - as if you were seeing him for the first time, and could never look at him quite the same again.

But even though it was just a joke; it's the subject matter and context given the increasingly polarized racial climate we live in this country that makes it so much more than just a Tweet.

It's hard to reconcile the art collector-intellectual with such low brow humor based on a rather tired Ayn Rand-ian assumption about race and intelligence.

But don't feel sorry for him, it's just a moment in a long and distinguished career and Martin is worth an estimated $110 million; back in June he put his house in the Caribbean up for sale for a cool $11.24 million - so a Tweet isn't going to destroy his life or anything.

His reputation is another matter. 

Part of the potential downside for Martin's legacy is that the power and immediacy of the Internet could end up branding him in a negative way for a much younger generation who don't remember him back on SNL; or even in 'Parenthood' - a generation who grew up with a much different sense of a multicultural America than Martin had with his post-World War II southern California upbringing. And a much different sense of humor.

But he's a writer and writers not only try to choose their words carefully; they must also take ownership of them. It's the thinking behind those words that have brought him back into the glare of the spotlight of mainstream media. Words which did not make many of us laugh.

Sheen Quacks Up - Home for Christmas: DeAndre Howard Freed After 11 Years

Charlie Sheen (Photo courtesy of Posh24)

The blow-back over the controversial quotes from Drew Magary's recent GQ interview with 'Duck Dynasty' reality star Phil Roberts certainly offers an interesting gauge on where the country stands on issues like same-sex relationships, race and conservative Christian values.

But when polar opposites like Sarah Palin and Clay Aiken both weigh in on the same issue publicly, it's clear the matter has morphed beyond the initial controversy into more of a national cultural imprint serving as a trigger mechanism for public debate and commentary over issues many Americans still find it hard to talk about.

Take Charlie Sheen. I'm a huge fan of some of his film work, but based on some of his own public floggings from his anti-Semitic comments about Hollywood execs, his lengthy (and apparently unedited) public admonishment of Phil Robert's views on homosexuality and race are a bit puzzling.

Of all people, Sheen is laying out someone for publicly stating views that are controversial?

If he was honestly sticking up for friends of his who were offended by Robert's comments as he claims, fine- he can use his celebrity how he sees fit (and boy has he in the past...).

But I can say without reservation that I genuinely have NO desire to know what a "MaSheen style media beat down" is but let's be honest; if it DID come down to Charlie Sheen taking on a cagey ole' outdoorsman from the back woods of Louisiana who rakes in millions helping people kill water fowl and knows a lot about shotguns - who are you picking in a fight? My money is on Phil.

Does Phil Roberts deserve to be crucified for his personal beliefs? Or does he actually deserve a measure of credit for opening up and saying what he really thinks on some sensitive subjects?

I might not personally agree with his views (or his rather rosy interpretation of life for black Americans in the south during Jim Crow) but he's got a right to them; and Lord knows the Tea Party has taught us that there a whole LOT of Americans who think exactly like him.

Like Justine Sacco the former PR exec from IAC Media who's remarkably dimwitted racist Tweet about Africans and AIDS posted before her flight back to South Africa of all places got her fired. Seriously, did she simply miss the past few weeks of nonstop media coverage of Mandela's death and funeral, or is she just that stupid?

Phil Roberts is the exact same guy he was before his show debuted on A&E. What did people think they were getting when they put him on reality TV anyway?

In deference to the unusually warm weather for the first day of winter, here's a quick heartwarming story from Los Angeles worth mentioning. On a positive note for the appeals process and the ability of US courts to redress wrongs in this nation, there's a story in yesterdays LA Times by Ruben Vives and Marisa Gerber that demonstrates that the wheels of justice in this country might turn slowly, but if you're patient, believe in yourself and persevere even seemingly impenetrable obstacles can be overcome.

Photo courtesy of LA Times

DeAndre Howard (pictured at left with his 7 year-old niece Briana) is home in Torrance, California for the holidays for the first time in 11 years after being found innocent of a 2002 murder for which he was wrongly convicted.

Rather than accept a plea deal from prosecutors to plead guilty to manslaughter and take an early release, Howard, who has maintained his innocence all along, opted to stay in prison and fight to be cleared of the charges.

Which he was when a Federal judge agreed the eye-witness testimony (which the witness themselves recanted years ago) should be struck and that his defense attorney failed to question a crucial witness in the original trial.

It takes guts to risk a life sentence and stand by your own convictions, and must be incredibly rewarding to be vindicated.

Great news for Howard but I can't help but wonder how many people around the nation will be incarcerated over the holidays who simply decided to take the deal.

Colorful Cast Change at SNL - Harvard Lampoon's First Black President

Kenan Thompson as Maya Angelou - Courtesy of NBC/SNL

There's arguably quite a ways to go in terms of the overall diversity in casting for film and television roles.

But despite a lag in behind-the-scenes writing and production job opportunities for people of color in the entertainment industry, there have still been some noticeably positive gains for African-American women in popular entertainment and comedy in 2013 - both in front and behind the camera.

ABC's 'Scandal' is one of the hottest shows on television, written and produced by African-American show runner Shonda Rhimes (who also created 'Grey's Anatomy' and 'Private Practice', both ratings and critical hits for ABC) and stars a talented and beautiful black actress in Kerry Washington; who totally nails the feature role of Olivia Pope.

During interviews Rhimes has said 'Scandal' is based on the life of the real African-American behind the scenes Washington DC fixer extraordinaire Judy Smith. (Minus the affair with the president of course.)

On the comedy side of network television there's currently quite a buzz surrounding the upcoming selection of a yet-to-be publicly named black female comedienne set to join the cast of Saturday Night Live at the start of the new year.

Tracy Wallace speculates about who it might be on the 3 top choices on PolicyMic.com.

As a long-time fan of the show, I think it's a shrewd casting move that could potentially broaden the demographics of the audience to include more people of color, and expand the kinds of characters they could spoof to make the skits funnier.

For seasoned watchers, there's a quietly-growing sense of anticipation of seeing a new cast member on the actual screen and how they will interact with the rest of a talented cast with a lot of sketch comedy and improv experience.

Depending on the kinds of skits, scenarios and characters the writers can come up with, the addition could possibly end up boosting ratings for the crucial May Sweeps.

The actual green-lighting for such an unexpectedly high profile mid-season casting decision seems to have boiled down to reluctant NBC executives being prodded along by actual public opinion.

From a professional industry perspective there's no question it could have been handled better. But in all fairness to Lorne Michaels he's given a number of black performers some excellent opportunities, and not just Eddie Murphy; there's a sense the intensity of the issue took him by surprise in terms of how ardently the fan base and media felt about there being a much more immediate need for a black female cast member.

The SNL writers certainly also deserve some credit for helping to ratchet up the level of public opinion on the issue. As was seen in the weeks following the November 3rd appearance of 'Scandal' star Kerry Washington as SNL host, when the writers famously poked fun at the controversy during the show.

The subsequent discussion about the skit quite suddenly thrust long-time producer Lorne Michaels and NBC executives into an unfamiliar and uncomfortable position of having to respond to both the media and public about the uncomfortable fact that the regular SNL cast has not included a black female member in six years - and only four during the entire 38-year run of the show.

I have to digress and say Garret Morris was hysterical as the cleaning lady sent into to mop up the floor of Three Mile Island in the episode where Dan Akroyd played Jimmy Carter; the prisoner song-sketch is also one of Garret's funniest SNL moments.

Anyway, while the end result is positive, overall the NBC executives came off as having reacted a little slowly and sheepishly. It was klutzy rather than smooth. A mile away from cool and nowhere near as well thought-out as it could (and should) have been given the need for that kind of diversity within the cast - and the industry.

Black cast members Kenan Thompson and Jay Pharoah are both on record as saying the cast should include a black female cast member, with Thompson noting with diplomatic humor that he's tired of having to play female black characters in drag.

At least we don't have to wait too long to see how it all plays out; secret auditions held by NBC in Los Angeles have already taken place and the new cast member is set to debut in January.

Given that it's already December 19th, they've likely already made the decision and are gearing up some kind of pricey PR campaign to take advantage of the buzz. Should be interesting to see who gets the call; good thing there's no pressure stepping into that role on live television.

Finally, on yesterday's edition of NPR's "Tell Me More", host Michel Martin had a very insightful interview with Alexis Wilkinson, the first black female president of the venerable Harvard Lampoon since it's founding in 1876; and her new vice-president Eleanor Parker.

Being selected as president is quite a statement of Wilkinson's talent and potential considering the roster of former Lampoon members and writers including John Updike, Conan 'O Brian, David X. Cohen (creator of the animated series 'Futurama'), Greg Daniels (show runner for 'The Office' and 'Parks and Recreation') and George Plimpton to name just a few.

You can listen to the interview here, or read through the transcript.

It's refreshing to see such strides being made and doors being opened for talented black women given that they are so underrepresented in mainstream comedy. I suspect Moms Mabley would be proud.

Nate Has Left the Building

Ex-slave owner & Confederate general Forrest

Congrats are certainly due to former Long Island resident Ty Richmond, after all it was his petition and massive online signature response by Change.org which helped sway the Duval County School Board to come up with a new name for Nathan B. Forrest High School in Jacksonville Florida.

Back in July Richmond started the latest in a long line of petitions to change the name of the school, reaching 162,150 signatures within 5 months and convincing the board to unanimously take this controversial American figure's name off the school starting in 2014.

It's a pretty significant media story around the globe and a change with immense meaning for a school with a 60% black majority in its student body.

It was 55 years ago during highly charged public debates over school integration in Jacksonville that the school was intentionally named after Forrest at the suggestion of the local Daughters of the Confederacy - (Here's an interesting perspective on the DOC from 2001.)

There's no question that Lt General Nathan Bedford Forrest distinguished himself during the Civil War as an innovative and cunning cavalry officer who earned respect for his unusual and non-traditional cavalry tactics in the field.

 Forrest made a small fortune as a planter and as a slave trader prior to enlisting in the Civil War.

He's actually one of the few Civil War officers (Confederate or Union) to rise from the ranks as an enlisted man to a lieutenant general who eventually commanded an entire division. But it's his political views, perspective on the issue of slavery and war record that make his name synonymous with the violent racism against African-Americans that was so common in the post-Reconstruction era southern United States.

Forrest was accused of war crimes during the Battle of Fort Pillow which took place along the Mississippi River near Henning, Tennessee on April 12, 1864.

Confederate troops under his command defeated Union troops in a battle that lasted for hours. According to multiple eyewitness accounts from soldiers on both sides who fought there, around 4pm as both black and white Union soldiers and officers lay down their arms and attempted to surrender, Forrest ordered them massacred.

Between 4pm and dusk, approximately 300 Union soldiers were bayoneted or shot; many of them while pleading for mercy. According to Civil War historian David Eicher, author of "The Longest Night: A Military History of the Civil War" the Fort Pillow massacre "marked one of the bleakest, saddest events in American military history."

Union commanders were so incensed over the incident, they refused prisoner exchanges with the Confederacy for the duration of the war; and it almost certainly sparked revenge killings of Confederate soldiers by Union troops.

Forrest is often cited as one of the founders of the Ku Klux Klan, but his association with the group is actually quite murky. He was a very influential leading figure within the group and moved amongst the upper echelon of the ranks of its membership; but he did not start the KKK as is often reported.

Regardless of who he was or what he believed, his name clearly belongs in the curriculum of the school and merits study as a matter of great historic relevance.

But the name of Nathan Bedford Forrest was specifically chosen for the school in 1959 to antagonize supporters of school integration in Jacksonville and elsewhere. Given what is definitively known about him and what he represents, that name is simply not appropriate on a place of learning. 

Profiling or Obsession? Miami Gardens PD Under Fire for Treament of Store Clerk

Earl Sampson arrested for working

Some pretty absurd cases of profiling have been highlighted on this blog in recent weeks but Miami Herald reporter Julie Brown's expose about Earl Sampson's treatment by the Miami Garden Police Department really must be read to be believed.

As she observes in the article, to combat the high levels of violent crime in the predominantly black Miami Gardens area the mayor and the MGPD instituted a "zero tolerance" approach.

The 28 year-old Sampson (pictured left) has been arrested more than 62 times by the Miami Garden PD for trespassing. Only problem? The officers keep arresting him in the same place; the 207 Quickstop convenience store where the guy WORKS.

The harassment was so bad the store's owner Alex Saleh complained to the police then installed 16 cameras throughout the store to record multiple instances of MGPD officers confronting, cuffing and arresting Sampson while stocking coolers and other tasks during his shift.
 
The startling statistics of his case are enough to give pause; in four years the Miami Garden PD stopped and questioned him 258 times, searched him more than 100 times and jailed him 56 times.

Saleh and Sampson have now filed suit against the MGPD in Federal Court; Saleh himself has been the subject of harassment by the same police for filing complaints about unfair treatment of his employees and regular customers.

Check out some of the video of how MGPD officers treated Saleh's employee Sampson and some of the customers and judge for yourself. Since the story broke the chief of the Miami Gardens Police has resigned amid charges of widespread profiling by the department.

Earlier on today's edition of NPR's "Tell Me More" host Michel Martin interviewed Miami Herald reporter Julie Brown about the incident and she shared some pretty disturbing accounts of how the police routinely treated customers and local residents. It's worth a listen to get the latest in this evolving story affecting a community with a long history of police violence against poor minority residents.

The abuses Julie Brown uncovers are straight out of some Banana Republic, truly Third World kinds of personal rights violations. How do members of any police force return to the same store over and over again and arrest the same guy dozens of times for the same thing while he's working?

Is that really about preventing crime?

"Affluenza" - Texas District Judge Jean Boyd's Blind Justice

Texas District Judge Jean Boyd

By now a healthy percentage of the world's population are collectively scratching their heads and trying to figure out exactly what planet Texas judge Jean Boyd (pictured left) is living on.

She presides over the 323rd Family District court that serves Tarrant County, Texas.

While I can't judge her entire legal career based on one case, her recent decision is a testament to the massive inequities inherent in the US justice system.

But her legal rationale and competence to serve on the Texas bar must be questioned in the wake of her issuing one of the most absurd sentences in recent memory after being duped into buying the shaky "affluenza" defense theory cooked up by sixteen year-old Ethan Couch's high-priced defense team.

This story has exploded across the media landscape but let's just quickly review the facts.

Back in June, Couch and his friends stole beer from a Walmart just outside the Dallas/Ft. Worth area and headed off to a party.

With three times the legal alcohol content for an adult over 21 and Valium in his system, Couch gets into his pickup with friends. 400 yards down the road, doing 70 mph in a 40 mph zone he hits four people; Breanna Mitchell, Holly and Shelby Boyles (a mother and daughter who'd stopped to help Mitchell fix a flat) and youth pastor Brian Jennings who'd also stopped to help.

Aside from the four people killed, Couch's fifteen year-old friend Sergio Molina was ejected from the truck and paralyzed (he can now only communicate with his eyes) and fifteen year-old Solimon Mohman suffered internal injuries and multiple bone fractures.

But judge Boyd decides Couch's mother and father's immense wealth, lack of discipline and bad parenting rendered the teen incapable of knowing that stealing beer from a store and getting into his pickup drunk were wrong - so he couldn't be held responsible. Or "affluenza" as a defense expert called it.

So for theft, DUI, four counts of vehicular manslaughter and speeding judge Boyd gives Couch 10 years probation and rather than jail, sentences him to a cushy alcohol rehab facility that looks like a cross between a ski chalet in Vail and a Fantasy Island getaway.

In a state notorious for harsh sentencing and a "get tough on crime" approach that includes boot camps for some juvenile offenders, judge Jean Boyd's decision certainly offers us insight into why Department of Justice statistics show black American males are incarcerated at a rate six times higher than that of white males.

It's also a stark example of how the US justice system works differently for people with wealth than it does for those without.

The sad but unspoken truth of this case is that had Ethan Couch been a poor sixteen year-old Hispanic or African-American male, bad parenting or a dysfunctional upbringing wouldn't even have been considered as an excuse by a judge; they would have just locked him away.

In this case it was the money, not justice, that was served. Affluenza indeed.

Chris Christie's GW Bridge-Gate Scandal Heats Up

East-bound traffic on the George Washington Bridge

Want a picture of the culture of vindictive low-ball New Jersey state politics at its worst?

Look no further than the growing GW Bridge-Gate scandal that's already starting to tarnish some of the polish off NJ governor Chris Christie's presidential ambitions.

The saga began back in early September two months before the November 5th New Jersey Gubernatorial elections when Mark Sokolich, the Democratic mayor of Fort Lee, New Jersey, refused to endorse Republican Christie for governor.

According to a Rutgers-Eagleton poll taken between September 3rd and September 9th, Christie's lead over his challenger, former NJ state senate majority leader Barbara Buono, had shrunk to 55% to 35% (with 8% undecided and 1% undeclared) even though he went on to win the election in a landslide.

In response to the snuff by the Fort Lee mayor, David Wildstein the director of interstate capital projects for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, ordered engineers to close some of the access lanes to the George Washington Bridge between September 9th and the 13th with NO prior notice to motorists, state officials and even local police and EMT personnel in Fort Lee; according to the Bergen Record he even told a bridge worker NOT to say anything.

Not only was Wildstein a high school classmate of Christie's, he was appointed to his $150,000 a year job by Christie as well and the lane closures led to massive traffic delays that garnered national media attention when they clogged the city of Fort Lee for days.

For those not familiar with the greater NYC area, a quick traffic lesson. The city of Fort Lee sits on the eastern edge of New Jersey just across the Hudson River from the west side of New York City. The western side of the GW Bridge (THE busiest bridge in the WORLD) is in Fort Lee and it connects New Jersey to upper Manhattan.
 
If you look at the photo above, the crowded lanes on the right are the east-bound lanes of the upper deck of the GW heading into Manhattan. Those drivers are trying to get to Route 9A, which takes traffic south along the Hudson Parkway down to the West Side Highway of Manhattan to go into New York City. Or, they may be trying to go north on 9A to get up to the Bronx, Yankee Stadium or Yonkers.

Or they're trying to get to I-87 or I-95 north which takes you up to New England, or Westchester, NY - or they may be trying to go further east over Manhattan to get to the Brooklyn Queens Expressway (the BQE) to get to Brooklyn or Queens; or get to the Long Island Expressway (the LIE) to get out to Long Island or the Hamptons.

On a nice Friday afternoon in the summer it can take you HOURS to get from the NJ Turnpike (I-95 north) through Fort Lee to merge into the lanes to then get into that traffic pictured above. It IS the busiest vehicular bridge crossing on the planet.

My point is not a traffic lecture, it's to illustrate the scope of the arrogance and petty vindictiveness of David Wildstein and possibly Bill Baroni too; another Christie appointee who is a top executive of the Port Authority of NY and NJ - the sprawling public-private agency that oversees the tunnels, bridges, rail roads and ports that connect NY and NJ.

To punish the mayor of Fort Lee, Wildstein intentionally shut off access lanes for all that traffic to merge onto the GW. When the public started demanding answers, Baroni claimed the lane closures were for a "traffic study". But no such study existed and what's now becoming clear is that top Christie appointees snarled traffic for hundreds of thousands of motorists for days so they could make a political point.     

Using a vast piece of vital infrastructure like that for such a petty reason has already led Wildstein to announce his resignation last week in an effort to try and deflect heat from Christie. Hearings on the matter held by the NJ State Legislature began on Monday and top officials including the executive director of the Port Authority Patrick Foye testified.

If you're at all interested in national politics, there was an excellent discussion/summary of Bridge-Gate this morning on the Brian Lehrer Show with reporter Sarah Gonzalez, who's been all over this story from the start and gave a concise and eye-opening overview of some of the testimony from the hearings. You can listen to it online.

Shawn Boburg from The Record wrote an excellent piece today which is a must-read if you want more sordid details from this growing scandal.

Up to now Christie has tried to brush this off and the Port Authority Chairman David Samson has been silent on the issue as well; but nor for long. This is the kind of thing which can nullify someone's presidential ambitions and the Democratic party is already bringing the national spotlight onto this issue.

Part of Christie's appeal as a GOP presidential candidate has been his no-nonsense approach and often brusque manner, but more and more it's looking like that's the very thing that led to this debacle. Christie can't escape that fact that he appointed Bill Baroni to the Port Authority - and Baroni appointed Wildstein.

If the result of the ongoing hearings by the Transportation Committee of the NJ State Legislature and an upcoming internal investigation by the Port Authority reveal that Christie or anyone associated with the governor's office ordered the lane closures as retribution against the mayor of Fort Lee; then Christie's presidential ambitions may be short lived indeed.

A no-nonsense politician may have appeal as a possible presidential candidate. But a politician who will engage in the petty kind of political nonsense that leads to motorists from the largest media market in the world on the busiest bridge in the world to be inconvenienced and delayed for days because of a personal grudge?

The George Washington Bridge is an awfully big weight to carry around with you. That's the kind of scarlet letter you just can't carry into the national media spotlight of the 2016 presidential race.  

Why Did MSNBC's Toure Diss CNN's Don Lemon On Twitter?

MSNBC "The Cycle" co-host Toure

It's taken a long time for African-Americans to get the opportunity to anchor or co-host mainstream prime-time television news broadcasts for cable and the major networks.

Bernard Shaw set a pretty high standard on CNN as did Ed Bradley on '60 Minutes' on CBS. Personally I think Lester Holt does an excellent job as the weekend anchor of the NBC Nightly News and as the occasional fill-in for Brian Williams.

There aren't a lot of black television journalists out there but the ones who are there are pretty sharp in my opinion; including Gwen Ifill on PBS, Melissa Harris Perry on MSNBC and Suzanne Malveaux on CNN - and for a little younger perspective I've been a fan of MSNBC co-host and political commentator Toure for some time.

So I was more than a little puzzled by the news on the Huffington Post that he had publicly dissed CNN anchor Don Lemon via Twitter.

Now I'm not suggesting for a moment that all black television journalists are going to think and act alike and agree on everything in some kind of mutual kumbaya-fest.

But given the climate of increasing racial polarization in this nation (thanks in no small part to right-wing media) it's more than unprofessional of Toure to take a casual public cheap shot at Don Lemon on social media; it's irresponsible on a deeper level that should be more than obvious.

And frankly it exposes Toure's immaturity as a journalist/commentator for someone who's been fortunate enough to have had stints on BET and CNN as well.

Think what you want about Don Lemon he's sharp, well-spoken, quick-thinking on camera and to me is one of the more interesting TV anchors on a mainstream cable news channel.

Lemon took some heat back in June for going on-air and defending Bill O'Reilly's comments about problems facing the African-American community that contribute to at-risk young men of color gravitating towards criminal activity. Read the transcript for yourself, was Lemon wrong? Was O'Reilly?

Like Bill Cosby, Lemon said some things that many African-Americans think, but don't really like to hear. And he got a bunch of heat from "liberal" media pundits for it. So on Sunday Toure Tweeted the following: "Why aren't white leaders like Bill O'Reilly, Rush Limbaugh and Don Lemon doing anything to combat white on white violence?"

I think it's fairly obvious Toure was going for something of a sarcastic tongue-in-cheek kind of statement to make a point.

But unfortunately for Toure and his credibility as a television journalist the reality is white on white violence is NOT the issue in cities like Trenton, Camden, Detroit or Chicago.

Nor is white on white violence to blame for the shockingly low test scores of a place like Trenton Central High School; where the scores are so low the school refuses to even publish them - and the likelihood  of many of those students making it to college and graduating is so slim it's heartbreaking.

White on white violence doesn't make a kid in Chicago or St. Louis decide to join a gang and drop out of school either. So while Toure is kicking back on a Sunday in his jammies trying to be clever on social media and take a swipe at Don Lemon for having the balls to speak publicly about an issue people can barely acknowledge - a shocking percentage of young black children in many US cities are being left behind in a nation with a growing income gap. 

Without the skills to compete in a rapidly-changing 21st century workplace that's tough enough for people with college degrees.

So was Toure thinking about that when he sent that tweet? Or was he thinking about starting one of these petty "Twitter feuds" with a fellow black journalist who had the temerity to express an opinion on the state of Black America?

Or in his rush to take Lemon down a notch, was Toure actually unknowingly feeding into the kind of divisiveness over race that right-wing "media" Websites like Brietbart.com are already (using his Tweet quote) seizing on to justify their own distorted perception of people of color?
 
My maternal grandmother, who was a wise church-going woman of deep faith, used to simply call that "crabs in a bucket". It's a term typically used in the African-American community that describes black people who try and tear down other black people over things like envy, resentment or for reasons which are just plain petty.

In this case it looks like Toure tweeted without thinking, and got his claws caught in the cookie jar.
  

Sonic Blunder - Racist Sign in Missouri Highlights Need for Washington Name Change

Remarkably racist sign seen outside a Kansas City Sonic

What I'd like to know is what the owner of the Belton, Missouri Sonic drive-in was thinking when he put the sign seen to the left outside of the front of his restaurant on Sunday when the Kansas City Chiefs played the Washington Redskins?

Regardless it's unlikely he'll be in the running for Sonic's corporate franchise of the year award anytime soon.

If the Paula Deen debacle last summer taught us anything it's that the public and advertisers who crave their eyeballs and dollars don't like the stink of racism associated with brands marketed to a mass audience. (That and you sure as hell better watch what you say even if you are a ludicrously rich southern chef with a TV show and a restaurant...)

According to ThinkProgress.org Sonic's VP of Public Relations Patrick Lenow issued a public statement late Sunday apologizing for the highly offensive signage only hours after someone posted a picture of it up on Twitter. But the damage was already done.

The photo quickly generated angry Tweets from across the nation and by 8:37am EST this morning it was splashed on the pages of the UK's Daily Mail Website.   

Washington has already generated enough negative media exposure this season over growing outrage over the controversial use of the name Redskins as being racist and insensitive to Native Americans; which makes the Sonic owner's decision to put up a sign that reads '"KC Chiefs" will scalp the Redskins, feed them whiskey - send 2 reservation' even more bizarre.

Is news just harder to get in Belton, Missouri than it is in other places? Looking at that sign one wonders.

As I've freely stated on this blog on many occasions I've been a Washington fan for over 35 years and was attending home games back in the old RFK Stadium back in the early 70's as a child with my father when Billy Kilmer was still QB; so I bleed maroon and gold. (And boy was there some significant blood loss on Sunday when KC crushed Washington 45-10 in the snow; fortunately 'Da Bears beating up on the Cowboys tonight on Monday Night Football makes me feel all warm and gooey inside again.)

But even though I and thousands of other Washington fans never really thought of the name as racist, if it offends people, just change it. What's the big deal? Team owner Dan Snyder (not a fan favorite) is being obstinate about keeping the name, but it's hard to understand why he's hanging onto it like a clingy ex.

Dan has the opportunity to make a truly positive change for the NFL brand and the good of the sport as a whole. You want team names to inspire loyalty not protests by the Original Americans.

So let's see if the flack from that dimwitted sign in Belton changes Dan's perspective; you don't need a degree from a fancy school or a posse of high paid lawyers to see where the majority of the public stands on the issue.

How about the Washington Warriors or the Washington Braves? I could live with that; as long as it's cool with the Real Tribe.

Brooklyn Jewish Woman Struck in the Head - Latest Victim of the Knockout Game

Brooklyn community leaders stand up against the Knockout Game.
(Photo courtesy of DNAinfo New York.com)

The first snow of the year is just starting to fall outside the window of my apartment next to the Delaware River, but reading about a Jewish woman being struck from behind on the head yesterday while walking in Brooklyn in broad daylight has left me feeling cold inside.

This 'knockout game' insanity has to stop.

It's an unacceptable violent hate crime that seems to be disproportionately affecting innocent Jewish citizens in Brooklyn and Queens, NY. The same kind of collective outrage channeled towards ending 'Stop & Frisk' by the NYPD must be directed towards gearing up efforts to end the knockout game; and delving deeper into the reasons why it's such a trend among the young male assailants, many of whom are young black and Hispanic teens.

As Jacob Kornbluh reported on the YeshivaWorld Website yesterday, the woman was hit and knocked to the ground in the Midwood section of Brooklyn in the middle of the day; on the day of Shabbos no less.

There's no question the incoming NYPD Police Commissioner Bill Bratton has got a lot on his plate in terms of repairing the tattered relationship between the police and minority communities in New York City; but one of his first and most urgent priorities must be a zero-tolerance policy towards the knockout game and the development of effective tactics and the deployment of manpower to end it.

Personally I disagree with the term 'knockout game' - because it's not a game. It's a violent criminal assault based on a person's age, ethnicity and appearance and it should be treated as that. The kids engaging in it are cowards because they intentionally target the elderly or Jewish people from communities who traditionally avoid violent physical confrontations.

There's an unquestionable anti-Semitic component to it as well that's deeply troubling to many including both Black and Jewish community leaders and everyday citizens in New York who have recently called for rewards for arrests related to this senseless crime and more cooperative community action to end it; as reported by Sonja Sharp back on November 25th on DNAinfo New York.

But on a deeper level there's something disturbing about the lack of compassion here that's related to the effects of the growing inequality between rich and poor around this country.

In the exact same way that reports of an 8 year-old African-American boy named Donald Maiden, Jr. being shot in the face while playing tag in front of his house in September by a 46 year-old White Dallas, Texas man named Brian Cloninger for no apparent reason make us cringe and ask, why?

Like Republicans who block any proposed job creation legislation in Congress, then also oppose the emergency extension of unemployment benefits for millions of Americans who still can't find work because large-scale hiring by companies still hasn't taken place.

That's just not the America I and many others believe in. Speaking of compassion, please checkout Sarah Jones' article on PoliticusUSA about Senator Rand Paul telling unemployed Americans he's actually "doing them a favor" by blocking legislation to extend their emergency benefits when they run out in December.

Thanks Rand, happy holidays to you too.

NAACP & KKK Sit Down in Wyoming - Gangster Scarecrows in Detroit

James Simmons & John Abarr meet in Casper

This morning NPR's weekly news quiz show 'Wait, Wait...Don't Tell Me!' had a couple interesting stories I wanted to share; for those of you who were fortunate enough to NOT be at work on a slow December Saturday listening to public radio online.

About three months ago over the weekend of August 31st a historic meeting took place in a hotel in Casper, Wyoming between James Simmons, president of the local Casper chapter of the NAACP and John Abarr, an organizer for the Ku Klux Klan who was the campaign manager in 1989 for William Daniel Johnson; a white separatist who unsuccessfully ran for Dick Cheney's old House seat.

According to an article in USA Today Simmons requested the meeting in response to multiple reports of KKK literature having been handed out to residences in the Gillette, Wyoming area and of several incidences of black men seen in public with white women being physically attacked and beaten. Abarr claimed the Klan had no involvement with either the beatings or the literature. In a gesture of good will however he did pay for an NAACP membership and donated $20 as well.

The SPLC (Southern Poverty Law Center) has reported a significant spike in hate group membership around the nation in the wake of the 2008 election of President Obama; and specific incidents of KKK literature being handed out in Reading, PA and Danville, VA in August, 2013 as well around the same time of the reports of Klan literature (if you can call it 'literature') being handed out in Gillette, Wyoming. Kudos to James Simmons for initiating this unprecedented meeting in Wyoming to try and do something about it.

On a somewhat more humorous-but-sad note, a black Detroit homeowner frustrated by repeated break-ins and rising home insurance costs because of the abandoned homes surrounding his property, came up with an ingenious way to deter potential burglars.

In addition to installing a range of security measures on his doors and windows and getting two dogs, he also bought a couple of CPR training mannequins, dressed them up as gangsters and set them by the door on his front porch. And it apparently worked, the owner claims the presence of the two scarecrows has discouraged potential burglars from stopping by. Give this a watch.

Boy these are some rough times for the Motor City. Homeowners forced to fend for themselves because of huge cuts in city services, a diminished tax base, high unemployment, an unreliable public transportation system, vast stretches of unoccupied homes - to say nothing of the declaration of bankruptcy that was recently approved by the courts leaving pensioners who worked for the city facing a bleak future. 

And now Gangster Scarecrows? 

Cornelius Kelly Caught Lyin' & Nassau County Police Accused of Profilin'

Fox News darling & ACA hater Cornelius Kelly

Long Island is at the center of a couple of blog-worthy stories on this stormy Friday of cautiously positive job numbers.

This morning I got an e-mail alert from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) calling for supporters to sign a petition calling for Speaker of the House John Boehner to apologize for having thrown pot shots at the Affordable Care Act on Fox News last Sunday.

That in itself isn't news, Republicans are so desperate to try and sour public opinion on the ACA that Boehner himself was busted back around November 23rd for a silly concocted public tantrum he threw about the hours it took for him to sign up for health care because the rep from the help desk wouldn't call him back.

Turns out the rep DID call Boehner back; Boehner just left him on hold for 35 minutes in order to whine about not getting anyone to speak with him on the phone.

Don't laugh folks, Boehner is 3rd in line for the Presidency.

Not to be deterred by the failure of his juvenile publicity stunt, Boehner goes on Fox News last Sunday December 1st to share horrific stories of regular American folks who couldn't sign up for health care coverage; including that of a New York father who claimed he was told by the New York State health care exchange that under Obamacare he would have to purchase a completely separate health policy for his 18-month old baby. 

Only problem with that story is that (drum roll please) again, it wasn't true. Turns out the "father" was in fact Cornelius Kelly (pictured above), a conservative from Long Island who was the failed Republican challenger for the 2nd Congressional District in Suffolk County back in 2011-2012.

Turns out the not-so-crafty Cornelius actually bungled his own application by incorrectly listing only three of his four children which resulted in a clerical error that took time to resolve. Rather than take responsibility for his puzzling 'Home Alone'-like error, Cornelius goes on Fox News to bask in the media spotlight and blame it on Obamacare.

As pathetic and corny (no pun intended Mr. Kelly) as this all sounds it's straight out of the standard right-wing conservative media playbook. Just find someone who will say something (anything really, doesn't matter if it's true) that can be used to smear President Obama, then have Fox and the Usual Suspects of right-wing talk radio repeat it as a story over and over until it actually becomes a story and Presto! Fair and Balanced.

Anyway Boehner's bogus claim was exposed and despite GOP smear tactics and misinformation campaigns millions of people are successfully accessing the improved Healthcare.gov Website and thousands are signing up in advance of the approaching deadline for all Americans to have health coverage.

Speaking of Long Island...

As if the three African-American high school students arrested last week by Rochester, NY police for standing on the sidewalk waiting for a school bus to take them to a basketball scrimmage wasn't bad enough, now comes this story I first read about on The Root.com earlier today from an AP report that suggests that even a black female Nassau County police officer with 19 years of experience on the force is not immune to outrageous racial profiling and harrassment - by members of her own police force.

Dolores Sharpe (pictured left) held a press conference yesterday to level accusations against two fellow white male officers from the Nassau County Police Department for profiling then harassing her after she supposedly parked her car, obstructing one of the officer's views then went to do some shopping at a Dollar Store while off duty last Friday. A verbal confrontation ensued when she returned to her car and they arrested her, a veteran member of the police force they belong to, for resisting arrest. You have to read this to believe it.

Or maybe you don't.