Dark Clouds and Stranger Things

The unsettling dark cloud that has settled over the Republican party since their ultra-depressing convention in Cleveland two weeks ago only got worse this past week.

On Thursday Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette announced charges against six more current and former employees of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality and Department of Health and Human Services for their role in the poisoning of the  water supply in Flint, Michigan with lead.

An environmental crime that directly resulted from Republican efforts to enact drastic budget cuts by switching the fresh water supply to the toxic Flint River.

On Friday a federal court of appeals struck down restrictive voter ID laws passed by North Carolina's extremist-dominated state legislature, toppling GOP efforts to intentionally block thousands of people of color from voting in the critical southern swing state.

But on this steamy last day of July, I'd rather close out the month by talking about the much more ominous cloud that hangs over (or perhaps under...) the fictional town of Hawkins, Indiana in the amazing must-see new Netflix series 'Stranger Things'.

Now if you're one of those people who've been curious to see highly-acclaimed original Netflix shows like 'House of Cards' or 'Orange Is the New Black' but have held off on signing up for a monthly Netflix membership, 'Stranger Things' is really your cue to quit stalling and sign up.

There is literally nothing like this on network television and if you enjoy quality sci-fi and a genuinely creepy storyline (and monster) as much as I do, you've got to check this show out.

The Duffer brothers (Matt and Ross) have successfully created and written a show that's a fascinating and entertaining take on the classic American sci-fi genre that's at once fresh and cutting edge that also elicits a sense of nostalgia for someone who grew up in the late 70's and 80's as I did.

Lucas, Dustin, Mike & Eleven in 'Stranger Things'

Set in a small fictional indiana town in 1983, the story and aesthetics combine an interesting mix of elements from familiar TV and film cultural landscapes like 'The Goonies', 'The X-Files', and 'Stand By Me' - with more than a dash of 'Twin Peaks' thrown in for good measure.

The premise is simple and reels you in quickly.

A local boy named Will Beyers (played by Noah Schnapp) mysteriously vanishes after an evening of playing Dungeons and Dragons with his three best friends.

His disappearance coincides with the escape of a strange entity from a local facility run by by the Department of Energy - which in true 'X-Files' style is staffed by poker-faced government types.

Winona Ryder's performance as Will's distraught mother Joyce Byers (pictured below) is her best in years, and worthy of Emmy and SAG award nominations; it anchors an excellent cast that includes Matthew Modine as a mysterious government scientist and David Harbour as police chief Jim Hopper.

Winona Ryder in 'Stranger Things'

When Will's disappearance sends the town into a frenzy, a strange girl named Eleven (played with impressive composure by Millie Bobby Brown) with unusual mental abilities appears, and joins Will's friends Mike (played by Finn Wolfhard), Lucas (played by Caleb McLaughlin) and Dustin (played by Glen Matarazzo) to try and find Will.

And with that it's eight episodes of fast-paced, addictive creepy fun that culminate in a genuinely emotional climax that sets the tone for season two - which I already can't wait for.

For me personally, it was nice to see a distinctively African-American character, Lucas, as one of the central characters.

One that I saw as reflective of my younger self: a black kid living in suburbia who plays Dungeons and Dragons, collects comic books and spends his time outdoors on his dirt bike with his best friends.

As I've mentioned before, I unplugged from cable years ago as I loath commercials and the glut of crappy TV.

But shows like 'Stranger Things' justify my decision and make the $9.99 a month fee for unlimited Netflix streaming more than worth it.

That said I'm honestly not sure what's scarier, the weird things that happen in the fictional town of Hawkins, or today's Republican party with Trump as their nominee.

Khizr Khan Trumps Anti-Muslim Bigotry

Khizr Khan admonishes Trump at Thursday night's DNC 

Well the first official day of the 2016 general election season is finally upon us and as the fictional English detective Sherlock Holmes was fond of saying, "The game is afoot."

Not surprisingly, Donald Trump wasted little time releasing the usual assortment of predictably angry pedestrian statements via his Twitter account today in an effort to try and counter the effects of the beating his already questionable reputation took over the course of the Democratic National Convention this past week.

Hillary Clinton delivered a carefully measured speech, but if any single message resonated equally with both Republicans and Democrats last night, it was the harsh rebuke Khizr Khan issued directly to Trump from the podium.

Khan, an American citizen who immigrated from the United Arab Emirates, is the father of U.S. Army Captain Humayun Khan, who died in Iraq in 2004 after running towards a suspicious car packed with explosives that was approaching his position; as the Washington Post reported, he ordered his men to take cover but was killed instantly when the car exploded - earning him a posthumous Bronze Star and Purple Heart.

In a moment that will surely be remembered as one of the most emotional of the 2016 presidential race, Khan confronted Trump's hate-filled anti-Muslim hysteria and asked the Republican candidate if he'd ever read the U.S. Constitution before offering to lend him his copy (pictured above).

Trump arrives on Capitol Hill in July

When Trump visited Capitol Hill back on July 7th, he famously assured a group of Republican Congressmen that he would defend "Article XII" of the Constitution.

But there are only seven Articles.

When Khizr Khan told Trump, "You have sacrificed nothing. And no one.", I'm not sure anyone has more effectively captured the mind-numbing hypocrisy and empty wind-bag rhetoric of Trump's concocted pseudo-patriotism.

Obviously I'm biased politically, but I find myself agreeing with the post-convention observations of conservative columnist David Brooks in his New York Times op-ed piece today titled, "The Democrats Win the Summer", in which he remarked:

"Trump has abandoned the Judeo-Christian aspirations that have always represented America's highest moral ideals: toward love, charity, humility, goodness, faith, temperance and gentleness."

With the convention concluded, Republicans must now come to grips with the reality that they've selected such a man to represent their party.

The drastic contrasts between the DNC in Philly and the overall tone of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland were highlighted by some excellent speeches in Philadelphia over the past week, particularly those by Senator Corey Booker, Bill Clinton, Vice-President Joe Biden, and of course President Obama's remarks on Wednesday night.

Hillary Clinton definitely delivered one of the most effective speeches of her career, but it wasn't the most electrifying speech of the DNC convention.

Capt. Humayan Khan

But between her and her husband's speech they did manage to humanize her, clarify her message and more importantly, began to dismantle the distorted narrative created by rage-filled Republicans still desperately trying to milk the Benghazi attacks and the email server debacle because candidate Trump is reviled by 70% of Americans and has no actual policies.

Even after a rocky start with the Debbie Wasserman-Schultz drama, the Democrats still clearly managed to pull off the better convention, and come off as the party better prepared to take the White House in 2017.

But the highlight of both conventions will be two Muslim-American parents standing up to call out Trump's anti-Muslim hatred for what it is - wrong and decidedly un-American.

And in the process, remind Republicans that amongst the graves of the thousands of military veterans that fill the hallowed ground of Arlington Cemetery in Virginia are people of all faiths, races, ethnicities and genders as Mr. Khan reminded us.

Including Captain Humayun Khan - a real patriot.

Unlike the one Trump pretends to be.

Private Prison Companies in America - Who's Accountable?

A PTS crash killed two guards & a prisoner in Georgia
 in 2009; the driver allegedly fell asleep at the wheel

It's been over a month since I last blogged about my personal reflections on an NYPD prisoner transport van I saw parked on West 83rd street in Manhattan on a scorching summer day years ago when I lived in New York City.

Sadly, a joint investigation by The New York Times and The Marshall Project released back on July 6th reveals that being stuck in a stuffy NYPD van for a few hours pales in comparison to the nightmare of for-profit prison transports.

Deaths involving people being transported across vast distances by vehicles operated by companies like Prisoner Transportation Services of America have been making headlines for years; like the crash shown in the photo above that took place at 1:24am back on August 4, 2009 in Greene County, Georgia which killed two guards and a prisoner - none of the prisoners were secured by seat belts.

But as more and more local municipalities and states began outsourcing prisoner transport to for-profit companies in response to shrinking tax revenue in the wake of the Great Recession in 2008, the number of incidents including accidents, rapes, beatings, denial of food and medical care, escapes and deaths taking place have exploded - leaving serious questions about the absence of concrete government oversight of an industry that largely operates in the shadows.    

Denise Issacs died in a PTS van in 2014

Kudos to The Marshall Project and The New York Times for devoting resources to investigating the handful of companies that now handle the transportation of suspects, detainees and prisoners for at least 25 different states in America.

Including the state of Kentucky where 54-year-old Denise Issacs (pictured left) was shackled into a prisoner transport van back in 2014 with other male and female occupants to be transported over 900 miles away to Florida over parole violations related to $1,200 in items she allegedly shoplifted from a store.

Her parole violation?

She failed to pay about $600 in court fees and complete 200 hours of community service - she was found dead in the van when the guards stopped at a Taco Bell in Miami.

That van was also operated by Prisoner Transportation Services of America.

Since the release of the results of The Marshall Project investigation, over the past few weeks, various programs on NPR have devoted segments to this issue.

Yesterday The Leonard Lopate Show ran a segment interviewing Eli Hager and Alysia Santo, the reporters who wrote The New York Times story and conducted extensive research into prisoner transport vans.

During the segment, Roberta Blake, a woman who was transported from California to Alabama over a rental car that she'd returned, spoke about her harrowing two week journey in which she was the lone woman chained in the back of a van with dangerous convicted felons - seriously, if you've got about 30 minutes click the link and listen to her story.

Reporter Shane Bauer in his CCA uniform

It's shocking that this is happening in 21st century America both outside and inside of the prison-industrial complex that incarcerates and warehouses people for profit.

By the way, if you want to take a look at what's happening inside of for-profit prisons run by companies like the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), be sure and check out the expose published in the July/August 2016 issue of Mother Jones written by Shane Bauer.

His searing article titled "My Four Months As a Prison Guard", chronicles his effort to go undercover to work as a prison guard at the Winn Correctional Center in rural Winnfield, Louisiana.

Obviously it's cutting edge journalism, but as a writer I have to say that one of the most disturbing aspects is that it almost reads like a movie or an HBO series - but it's real.

The things he describes are happening to real people, right now as you read these words; here in the "greatest Democracy in the world".

Listening to Roberta Blake's interview or reading Shane Bauer's article, I'm left wondering where's the oversight? And who is accountable for what's happening in this dark corner of the American landscape?

Shaky Start For the DNC & Star Trek: Beyond

Out: DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman-Schultz 

Well I just listened to Minnesota Democratic Senator Al Franken deliver his remarks on the stage of the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia to the Democratic convention.

It was nice to hear some humor injected into this affair after the controversy that dominated domestic headlines over the weekend.

Franken's funny Trump jabs seemed to help thaw the tense atmosphere in the room; and now comedian Sarah Silverman is at the podium helping to bridge the gap between Bernie supporters and Hillary supporters.

Especially after she just told the faction of Bernie supporters in the hall tonight that they're being "ridiculous" for chanting Bernie's name whenever Hillary's name is mentioned or one of the speakers pledges support for her.

Hey, we're Democrats, it might've been a bit of a messy start but we'll get there; Paul Simon singing "Bridge Over Troubled Water" is truly appropriate.

It was my niece's birthday over the weekend and she came down from Park Slope, Brooklyn to spend a couple days at my mom's condo as my older sister (said niece's mom) is down at the Democratic National Convention in Philly.

I'm proud to say that my sister was selected as one of the 1,900 delegates for the Bernie Sanders campaign who are attending the convention.

It's unfortunate that the start of the DNC was overshadowed by the bizarre accusations that two of Russia's security agencies (the K.G.B and G.R.U) hacked Democratic party servers to gain access to thousands of highly controversial emails posted on the WikiLeaks Website that revealed DNC Chair and Florida Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz and some other party officials were clearly biased in favor of Hillary Clinton and held Bernie Sanders in contempt.

But I'm hoping to get some interesting perspectives from inside the convention from my sister which I'll share on the blog after I get a chance to touch base with her.  

For now I'll keep this entry brief as I want to listen to the rest of the convention coverage on WNYC, but I did want to share a quick observation on a critical issue that I'm hoping to hear addressed at this convention this week - gun control.

Zachary Quinto, Sophia Boutella & Karl Urban in Star Trek: Beyond

On Saturday evening I took my niece and my mom to see the new release Star Trek: Beyond as a birthday gift.

We saw it in IMAX 3-D and as an old-school Star Trek fan, let me just say that it was well worth the extra few bucks to truly appreciate the special effects.

No spoilers or anything, but if you're a sci fi fan you don't want to miss a chance to see a nasty space attack on the Enterprise on the big screen.

If you want to geek out, you really have to see the massive Starbase Yorktown on the big screen; what an amazing vision of the future that blends technology, architecture and art.

The film has a solid plot, impressive special effects and an excellent cast, but what I really loved is the vision of a multi-ethnic, "multi-alien" and tolerant society for the future.

As I watched the crowd scenes when the Enterprise crew visited Yorktown, including the wordless visual introduction of Sulu's non-traditional family (I'm guessing you've heard about the controversy surrounding the revelation that Sulu is gay) it genuinely lifted my spirits after last week's toxic display of hatred, bigotry and divisiveness at the Republican National Convention.

But one thing I noticed when we entered the theater, was the fully-armed police officer carefully patrolling the lobby entrance; bullet-proof vest, weapon the whole nine yards.

I had my niece and mom with me so I was happy to see that there was a visual security presence at the theater given some of the irrational mass shootings that have taken place in movie theaters across the nation.

But part of me was also saddened as I can remember going to movies in the summer in the 70's and 80's with my friends when we only worried about getting good seats or having enough money left over for candy and popcorn.

We never even thought about someone entering the theater with a gun to shoot complete strangers.

So I'm really hoping to see some serious discussion on commitment to passing sensible gun control measures this week at the Democratic convention; that's something the city of Philadelphia, and many other communities around this nation (including Fort Meyers, Florida) could really use.

North Miami Cop Shoots An Unarmed Black Therapist

Turkish police arresting civilians

A few minutes ago I was listening to an NPR News report on The Takeaway about the climate of fear now permeating the city of Istanbul, Turkey in the wake of the failed coup attempt just days ago.

According to various media reports authorities have arrested tens of thousands of people suspected of taking part in the coup from all walks of life, soldiers, policemen, judges, teachers, government employees and civilians; many of whom had no part in the coup.

The NPR reporter interviewed a Turkish man who expressed apprehension about being shot by policemen in the street merely because they might suspect him of something he didn't do.

As an African-American man I have sympathy for that Turkish man who I'll probably never meet, as I know what it's like to live in apprehension when you see a police vehicle approaching even though you've done nothing wrong.

For far too many law enforcement professionals in this country, right or wrong seems to matter less than skin color, and like millions of other men and boys who look like me, I've had to come to terms with the understanding that American police officers will actually shoot people who share my physical characteristics with a loaded handgun for pretty much anything.

Innocent unarmed men and boys of color in America have been shot by cops for sitting, standing, driving, walking, running, talking, biking, shopping and listening to music.

Charles Kinsey recounts incident from the hospital

In the latest example of panicked, knee-jerk reactions by police, an African-American behavioral therapist was shot in the leg while laying on the ground with his hands up.  

As The Miami Herald reported, Charles Kinsey went outside the MacTown Panther Group Home where he works to retrieve a 23-year-old autistic man who left the facility unattended and sat down in the street to play with a small toy truck.

Kinsey was seated on the ground trying to talk to the man when an as yet-unnamed North Miami police officers pulled up and allegedly ordered the men to put their hands up.

In what's become an all-too familiar scenario in America, Kinsey fully complied with the officer's instructions and was lying on the ground with his hands up in the in air when the officer shot him in the leg with an assault rifle.  

Before being shot, Kinsey told the officer "Sir, there's no need for firearms." but the officer shot him anyway.

After the cops approached Kinsey, flipped him over and handcuffed him, he asked the cop why he shot him and the cop's response? "I don't know."

North Miami Asst. Chief Neal Cuevas

According to the Herald, North Miami PD Assistant Chief Neal Cuevas claims the officers had been responding to a 911 call about a man with a gun about to kill himself.

But even if that's true (and we don't know at this point because the police have released no reports on the incident to the public) is it normal for a police officer to point a loaded assault weapon at a mentally disturbed person allegedly trying to take his own life?

According to a CNN report of the incident, Kinsey shouted to the cop, "All he has is a toy truck. I am a behavioral therapist at a group home!"

Despite explaining exactly what was going on, the cop shot him. Did this officer see Kinsey laying on the ground with his hands up and "fear for his safety"? In broad daylight?

It's just fortunate that neither Kinsey or the autistic man he was trying to help weren't killed.

What's interesting is that opportunistic reactionary conservatives like Chris Christie or Donald Trump have been quick to publicly condemn members of Black Lives Matter, or other peaceful protesters for peacefully speaking out against this kind of excessive use of police force.

So where's that outraged public condemnation now that an innocent unarmed black behavioral therapist has been shot with an assault rifle while he was laying on the ground with his hands in the air complying with police instructions?

As that trigger happy cop said,  "I don't know." 

The Court of Chris Christie: Day Two At the RNC

Christie plays prosecutor & judge Tuesday night 

I know it's traditional to come up with clever creative ways to energize enthusiastic crowds at political conventions, but it was pretty remarkable to see New Jersey Governor Chris Christie conduct a "mock trial" of Hillary Clinton at last night's RNC event in Cleveland.

As the New York Times reported earlier today, Christie's claims were rife with wild exaggerations, factual inaccuracies and plain old falsehoods.

Was it meant to be somewhat tongue-in-cheek? Sure.

But there was something disturbingly misogynistic about the whole episode that served to reinforce the image of the Republican party as hostile to women in general; particularly when you couple that with nationwide Republican legislative pushes for oppressively restrictive anti-abortion measures and their unprecedented smear campaign against groups like Planned Parenthood that provide critical healthcare services to millions of women.

Recently-concluded lengthy investigations by multiple Congressional committees and the F.B.I. determined that no crimes, intentional or otherwise, were committed because of Clinton's decision to use a private email server.

Yet Christie encouraged the hostile crowd to repeatedly chant "Guilty!" - as if by the mere expression of their hostility towards Clinton they had uncovered some kind of evidence that Congressional staff and federal investigators had somehow missed.

But on another level, it also seemed to not so subtly tap into the undercurrent of irrational anti-government rancor that flows through the Republican party like toxic sludge.

Anti-government zealot Cliven Bundy

The fringe wingnuts who align themselves with the sovereign citizens movement, "patriot" organizations, or groups associated with guys like rancher Cliven Bundy and his son Ammon Bundy who occupy federal lands in defiance of government authority, are drawn to the disturbing "Lock her up!" chants that echoed through the convention hall last night.

Was Christie was intentionally using his "mock trial" to try to tap into the mindset of groups who want to take the law into their own hands, establish their own shadow courts and operate outside the legal system?

Individuals using the cloak of anti-government fervor can come with horrific consequences as in the case of sovereign citizen sympathizer Ryon Lenelle Travis of Detroit.

Christie may have once been a federal prosecutor, but he sunk to a new career low with his episode last night in Cleveland; it's remarkable to see someone who once had such promise as a moderate conservative now reduced to schilling for the Republican party to whip up hostility, fear and anger and cultivate a dangerous mob mindset.

Fear-meister Rudy Giuliani handed the baton to Christie and he ran with it.

Frankly Christie has got some real cojones standing up and putting anyone on "trial" considering that Federal Judge Susan Wigenton recently ruled that Bridgegate trials will be staring this fall and he's already put New Jersey tax payers on the hook for more than $10 million in legal fees related to his role in the scandal - fees paid to a law firm with whom the Governor has deep personal ties.

The hypocrisy of Christie criticizing Hillary Clinton for using a private email server as Secretary of State is funny considering the flagrantly deceptive efforts he and his lawyers went through to hide the cell phone he was using as governor when the Bridgegate scandal was unfolding.

It's hard to decide which speaker on the stage of day two of the RNC convention seemed more detached from reality last night, Dr. Ben Carson telling the crowd that Hillary Clinton is an admirer of Satan, or the court of Chris Christie?

The jury is still out on that one.

Chachi Jumps the Shark: Opening Night At the RNC

Trump & wife before overt plagiarizing of FLOTUS speech

The opening night of the 2016 Republican National Convention had all the elements of the kind of crass reality TV show culture for which Donald Trump has become so famous.

There were an odd assortment of real-life characters on stage who at various times wept, accused, screamed, yelled and lied.

The GOP Clown Car finally came to a screeching halt at the circus.

But let's be fair.

Give the Republicans credit for adding some racial diversity to their opening night lineup.

To bolster the RNC's opening night "Make America Safe Again" theme, they trotted out the frequently unhinged African-American Milwaukee County Sheriff David A. Clarke, Jr.

This peculiar Democrat-turned rabid Trump supporter has vowed to "do everything I can" to get Trump into the White House and has a clear message for the numerous members of the Republican party who fear that a Trump presidential bid will destroy what party unity that's left, and threaten the GOP majorities in the House and Senate:

"Anyone who thinks Trump will wreck the GOP is delusional." We'll see soon enough Sheriff!

The outspoken law enforcement officer, a frequent critic of President Obama, also called the charges filed against the Baltimore PD officers responsible for breaking Freddie Gray's neck and killing him the product of a "malicious" prosecutor - which is exactly what many Americans would call cops who intentionally use a "rough ride" in a police van to purposefully abuse someone in custody then end up killing him.

Sheriff Clarke also described the Black Lives Matter protest movement as "anarchy" (so much for 1st Amendment rights!) and defended Donald Trump for saying a federal judge born in Indiana would be unable to rule fairly in a court case against Trump's sham university because his Mexican heritage would bias him against Trump.

Rudy Giuliani inflames the hysteria Monday night

Speaking of law and out of order, former New York City Mayor and resident paranoid fear-meister Rudy Giuliani also took the stage and proceeded to tear into one of the most bizarre public speeches he's ever given.

This morning long-time New York political observer and WNYC radio host Brian Lehrer observed that he'd never seen Giuliani talk publicly like that before.

It was like Giuliani was possessed by some kind of bizarre determination to convince the audience that the Apocalypse was upon us as he yelled hysterically into the microphone like he thought the thing wasn't working, insisting to the cheering throngs that:

"The vast majority of Americans today do not feel safe. They fear for their children and they fear for themselves."

Which of course completely contradicts F.B.I data on crime statistics as well as extensive research by the Brennan Center for Justice that shows crime rates in America (including killings of police officers) are at a 30 year low.

Clint babbles to an empty chair at the 2012 RNC

Now obviously we're all entitled to our own personal political views, and the right to express them, but there's always something slightly unsettling about famous actors who bring their unvarnished political beliefs into the public arena.

I've enjoyed films that Clint Eastwood has acted in and directed for years, but I'm not sure I'll ever look at him in quite the same way after his bizarre onstage tirade against an empty chair on the stage of the 2012 Republican National Convention.

For me it's somewhat jarring to listen to an actor I've always known through the lens of popular entertainment profess political views that veer to the fringes of the far right.

In the history of American politics, there has never been a presidential candidate of a major party who is viewed as unfavorably as Donald Trump; according to the results of a recent poll of 1,000 people conducted by the Washington Post and ABC News, Trump has a 70% unfavorable rating among Americans, which climbs to a remarkable 89% unfavorable rating with Hispanics.

So it's hardly surprising that the people Trump described as "winners" who would be speaking at the RNC on his behalf, including former Indiana coach Bobby Knight, former Chicago Bears coach Mike Ditka and NFL quarterbacks Tom Brady and Ben Roethlisberger, have all backed out.

From Chachi to right wing nut bag?

Enter actor and former teen heart throb Scott Baio, who might not even have been on Trump's bucket list of potential speakers save for a recent random encounter.

Apparently Baio was at a Trump fundraiser when The Donald asked him to speak at the convention in Cleveland.

According to an article on Philly.com, Baio, who endorsed Trump back in March, has said he backs Trump because he wants someone "to go into Washington and blow it up." 

Growing up in the 1970's as I did, actor Scott Baio went from playing the cute wisecracking sidekick to Fonzi on 'Happy Days', known as Chachi Arcola, to a guy who has become intoxicated by Trump's delusional xenophobic hate speech.

Et tu Chachi?

Last night I listened to a number of the opening speeches at the RNC, including Scott Baio's brief remarks to an enthusiastic audience.

Baio earned a public rebuke from MSNBC's Tamron Hall for his toxic Twitter comments about Hillary Clinton; now say anything you want about her policies, fine, but using the c-word to refer to a former Senator, Secretary of State and First Lady, or any woman for that matter is wrong - especially in the public arena.

Baio panders to Republicans in Cleveland 

Last night the once-dreamy television veteran was less inflammatory in front of a national prime time audience, but just as partisan - and looking decidedly less cool than he used to look standing next to Fonzi with a mouthful of perfectly shaped teeth.

He assured the conservative crowd that he trusts Trump with his family's lives, I have no idea what that means but I wouldn't want Trump babysitting either of my two nieces.

True to his newfound identity as an enlightened conservative firebrand, Baio shared his definition of what it means to be an American, saying it "doesn't mean getting free stuff." 

Which I assume includes the millions of American GI's who returned home after WWII and were given free college education under the GI Bill?

Or the billions in taxpayer-funded corporate subsidies regularly dolled out to the defense, agricultural or petrochemical industries?

 Was Baio's uninformed opinionating as toxic as Giuliani's fear-mongering?

No, but it's a sad state of affairs when Chachi resorts to simplistic toxic Republican code-speak to demean and slander millions of Americans.

We all know how that worked out for Mitt "47%" Romney. 

Sunday Bloody Sunday In Baton Rouge

Baton Rouge PD officer Markell Morris

Yet another shocking act of terror committed by another disturbed lone gunman armed with an assault rifle and a twisted personal agenda.

Another bloody consequence of the almost unrestricted access to firearms in America.

On Saturday I had to work so yesterday, Sunday, was my one day off - but it didn't really feel like a day off.


The news that a disgruntled former Marine murdered three law enforcement officers on Sunday morning left me feeling numb.

While Gavin Long left a slew of social media posts that offer a glimpse into his anger and frustration over the killing of Alton Sterling by two Baton Rouge PD officers, his violent response cannot simply be pinned on a legitimate protest movement.

Long's incomprehensible decision to shoot six members of the law enforcement community took the lives of three innocent people and forever altered the lives of family, friends and associates who knew them.

His actions on Sunday morning didn't vindicate anyone, or right a wrong, it marked him as a ruthless killer, dishonored his service in the Marine Corps, and did a disservice to the millions of people who are using peaceful means to demand an end to the disproportional use of deadly force against people of color by some members of the police community.

His actions also undermine the legitimate protest movement against police brutality and excessive use of force and the apparent unwillingness of local, municipal and state justice systems to hold officers who use unjustified force accountable for their actions - just today we learn that a fourth Baltimore PD officer was acquitted of the heinous death of Freddie Gray while in the custody of the BPD.

Baton Rouge police killer Gavin Long 

What was going on in the mind of Gavin Long?

Since this just happened yesterday, results from the investigation will take time obviously, but knowing that he was a decorated Marine begs the question: 

Did undiagnosed, or untreated, Post Traumatic  Stress Disorder from his time as a Marine serving abroad in Iraq play a part?

Some of his associations certainly raise questions.

He's allegedly been linked to anti-government "sovereign citizen" groups that refuse to pay taxes or recognize the authority of police or courts; not unlike another paranoid ex-soldier who took the lives of innocent people, convicted Oklahoma bomber Timothy McVeigh.

  

CNN reports that an email linked to the shooter Gavin Long shows he was associated with a group called 'Freedom From Covert Harassment and Surveillance'. 

The group's mission statement describes their elusive purpose to help people who've been, "Marginalized and abused by...Remote Brain Experimentation, Remote Neural Monitoring, of an entire humans body.

Despite Long's fragile mental state and association with fringe groups prone to a radically distorted view of reality, conservatives have been quick to use the demented act of a single individual to try and score cheap political points on the eve of the start of the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland.

Why? Open carry activist outside the convention

Trump immediately took to Twitter to blame the actions of an unbalanced lone gunman to try and cast blame for the incident on President Obama, childishly admonishing a two-term president with a law degree from Harvard for not having "a clue." 

The Republican candidate tried to fan the flames of hysteria by suggesting the "our country is a divided crime scene, and it will only get worse!"

Sage observations from the presumptive GOP nominee for the White House.

Trump's divisive Twitter posts made no mention of how Gavin Long was able to acquire at least two assault rifles and a hand gun in the first place; and carry them across state lines from Missouri to Louisiana.

No, Trump's political advisers likely encouraged him to "go Benghazi" and try and seize on a frustrated and dismayed American populace by trying to make the post-shooting narrative about the president and Hillary Clinton, in part to appease the NRA by not making the issue about the loaded assault rifle that Long used to kill three police officers and wound three others.

According to the latest statistics from the Gun Violence Archive, this (latest) heinous act in Baton Rouge is one of 29,113 gun incidents in the United States in 2016, and one of 7,503 deaths caused by guns this year.

The outrage over this incident is shared by most Americans, including the family of Alton Sterling who was gunned down on video recently by two members of the Baton Rouge PD, but the fiery rhetoric by some conservatives has been toxic and divisive.

I'm listening to NPR's coverage of the Republican convention and earlier they mentioned that a group of armed militia types were seen marching outside the convention center in single file, and Republican Governor John Kasich ignored a call from Cleveland's largest police union to place a temporary ban on Ohio's open-carry laws during the RNC event - he said there was nothing he could do about it even though he's the governor.

So Republican open carry activists are walking around public places in downtown Cleveland with loaded weapons; it's a reflection of a distorted view of reality in which Trump and his supporters seem to exist.

No question that recent high profile incidents of violence have shocked us all.

But the Brennan Center for Justice reports that crime rates in America are at a 30 year low, meanwhile inside the Quicken Loans Arena, the theme of tonight's RNC event?

"Make America Safe Again."

Gingrich Uses Nice Tragedy To Fan Muslim Hatred

The body of a young victim in Nice

A trip to my local after work last evening to cool off with a drink and unwind morphed into a sobering experience when I received a news alert on my iPhone via the New York Times about the horrific act of terror that took place in Nice, France.

I asked the bartender to switch one of the flat screen TVs mounted on the wall over the bar from the golf highlights no one was really paying attention to over to CNN so we could all watch the first reports of  yet more innocent people being killed.

The lighthearted conversation was quickly replaced by a sour mood as the gathered patrons began to express frustration and anger over the actions of those who would use terror to take the lives of innocent strangers using barbaric acts meant to shock and seize the attention of global media.

Once again this latest mass killing was carefully and diabolically timed to dominate headlines heading into a summer holiday weekend; and we're left to ponder the aftermath.

At least 84 people (including 10 children) reported killed, including a father and son from Texas, and more than two hundred injured; including at least three students from UCLA.

What makes this heinous act even worse are the deplorable attempts by prominent Republicans and conservative media figures to use this tragedy to once again vilify all Muslim refugees.

Gingrich calls for Muslim "tests"

As you've likely heard, former House Speaker and presidential candidate Newt Gringrich is making headlines for comments he made during a Fox News interview with Sean Hannity in which he suggested that America needs to begin implementing some kind of religious litmus test for all people of Muslim faith to determine if they profess a belief in Sharia Law.

A test? How would that even work?


According to estimates by the Pew Research Center, there were approximately 3.3 million Muslim-Americans in this country as of 2015; the very idea that the U.S. is somehow going to "test" the beliefs of of more than 3 millions American citizens is ludicrous.

And as President Obama said in a statement, Gingrich's "test" idea is "repugnant" to the very ideals of the Constitutional protections afforded to all citizens; including the freedom of religion and the freedom of expression.

Did Gingrich call for "testing" Christians after 20-year-old Adam Lanza gunned down 20 people in Sandy Hook Elementary back in 2012?

I certainly can't recall conservatives calling for a Christian "test" after 21-year-old Dylan Roof shot and killed nine people at a Bible study at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina on June 17 last year.

Orlando shooter Omar Mateen - Born in New York

As Justin Salhani observed this morning in an article on ThinkProgress.org, none of the perpetrators of the recent string of high profile terrorist acts in France and Belgium were Muslim refugees; they were legal citizens of those respective countries.

Just consider the horrific mas killings we've seen across the United States recently, including in Charleston, Orlando, San Bernadino and most recently in Dallas.

They were all committed by unbalanced American psychopaths who had easy access to guns - they were all Americans born right here in America.

None of them were Muslim refugees, in fact there's no evidence any Muslim refugee has been arrested for plotting to kill Americans at all - in fact as Vox.com reported, 80% of terrorist attacks in the United States since 9/11 have been committed by Americans.

Governments around the world, not just in American and Europe, have enough to deal with to try and figure out a practical and effective long-term strategy to deal with the global threat posed by people who've been radicalized by groups like ISIS, Al Qaeda and Boko Haram that pervert the Koran to justify barbaric acts of violence and cruelty.

Newt Gingrich calling for the establishment of some kind of thought police in America is not the solution, and creating some kind of "American Taliban" is anathema to the principles on which this country was founded.

Garbled Fiction & Defending the Shire: Conservative Frenzy Heats Up

Utah Congresswoman Mia Love

With an amusing list of excuses that range from  "I can watch it on TV", to the more blunt "I don't even want to be involved", (yes those are real excuses) the list of prominent Republicans who plan on skipping the RNC convention in Cleveland next week reads like a who's who of the party elite.

The Republican Governor of Ohio John Kasich and Mitt Romney won't be anywhere near the Cleveland Convention Center when Donald Trump is presumably anointed the de facto head of the Republican party.

Nor will a host of Republican Congressman and Senators who either openly despise him, or are facing tough elections this fall and are terrified of being associated with Trump when voters head to the polls.

Yesterday I watched a CNN interview with Republican Utah Congresswoman Mia Love.

Ms. Love, who was trotted out like a unicorn at the last Republican convention, is something of an anomaly in this country; a black female Republican Mormon.

She's a GOP stalwart who normally toes the party line, but she made it quite clear during the CNN interview with Jake Tapper that she has no intention of appearing at this year's convention and in polite "poltic-speak" left no question that she has no love for Trump.

The Republican National Convention is next week, and while many prominent party leaders won't be there, a slew of protesters are sure to be.

As Kira Lerner reported in an article for ThinkProgress.org, as the news of the initial proposed amendments for the 2016 Republican party platform planks and policy positions leaked out, it's clear the GOP is trying to take a hard right and steer the party straight into La-La land.

Even as leaders, politicians, cops and families gathered in Dallas to mourn the latest victims of another mass shooting, the Republican party has proposed declaring pornography a "public health crisis that is destroying the life of millions."

Yes, Porn.Worse than guns, wealth inequality or poverty. Porn.

So much for the thousands of Americans wounded and killed by gun violence I guess; I'm sure the NRA had absolutely NOTHING to do with the idea of framing pornography as Public Enemy Number One for the Republican convention.

To the casual observer, it almost seems like prominent conservative figures are determined to use the nationwide backlash of protests against the killings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile at the hands of police last week (and the subsequent mass shooting of five police officers in Dallas by a disturbed lone African-American gunman) as an excuse to try and whip Republicans into some kind of cultural frenzy.

Danger Will Robinson, Danger ! Pat Buchanan

For example, last week conservative windbag Ann Coulter compared Donald Trump's efforts to demonize millions of immigrants to Abraham Lincoln's efforts to end slavery.

The always grim, perpetual right wing fear-monger Pat Buchanan penned an op-ed in which he warned that "White America has begun to die" due to inevitable demographic shifts in the U.S. population in the next 30 years.

After peppering the text of his op-ed with pedestrian warnings of a "rising tide of Muslim immigrants and refugees", the dependably backwards-looking Buchanan concluded by imploring "Western Man" to "defend the shire, pull up the drawbridge and man the parapets."

(Guessing he'd just watched the director's cut of LOTR: Return of the King before he wrote that?)

But by no means does Mr. Buchanan have a monopoly on high-minded conservative lunacy.    

Count Giuliani

In a scorching Op-Ed on Tuesday, the Editorial Board of the New York Times ripped into former Mayor Rudy Giuliani for the divisive, reactionary, overtly racist schpeel he launched into during an appearance on CBS' 'Face The Nation' on Sunday.

Rather than backing off after public backlash, he took his act to Fox on Monday and doubled down.

Taking a cue from the worn pages of the Republican playbook, Giuliani followed an all-too-common tactic employed by conservatives in the wake of unjustified killings of people of color by police; he changed the subject and tried to blame black people for it.

This pandering peddler of loony Birther theories, who once stated that President Obama "doesn't love America the way we do", even tried to pivot the topic from out of control cops to black-on-black crime by offering up some helpful advice for a young black son:

"Be very careful of those kids in the neighborhood and don't get involved with them, son, because there's a 99% chance they're going to kill you, not the police."

The Editorial Board of the NY Times called that hokum "Mr. Giuliani's garbled, fictional statistic".

Garbled fiction pretty much sums of the Republican message as they head into what is sure to be one of the most interesting conventions in years.

Seriously I wouldn't miss this one for the world.

Scapegoating Freedom Of Expression

Mourners seek comfort in downtown Dallas 

The decision of 25-year-old Micah Jones, a deeply disturbed former member of the U.S. Army Reserves who'd served abroad in Afghanistan, to use a peaceful demonstration in downtown Dallas to senselessly murder five law enforcement officers last Thursday night was a heinous act of murder with repercussions that will continue to echo across the nation for years to come.

Was this latest mass shooting in America truly motivated by racial hatred as the suspect's words to police negotiators would seem to suggest?

Or did the events of the past week that surrounded the senseless deaths of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and Philando Castile in Falcon Heights, Minnesota serve as some kind of deep psychological trigger that (in his mind) served as what he saw as some kind of moral justification to set in motion the killing spree he unleashed on innocent men?

It's obviously way too early to understand exactly what set him off, we may never really know.

But Jones' statements and the apparent support he expressed for black nationalist groups on his Facebook page sound eerily like those of the Orlando nightclub mass shooter Omar Mateen; who told negotiators that he embraced two different radical Islamic groups that totally oppose one another, and that he hated homosexuals even though there is evidence to suggest that he himself was homosexual.

As depraved as Jones' actions in Dallas, and the thinking that prompted them were, the reality is that they had nothing to do with the wider protest movement against the rampant killing of people of color in America by some police officers.

Ex-San Jose PD detective Ron Martinelli

It's been astonishing to see how quickly some people have moved to vilify the Black Lives Matter protest movement as some kind of insidious plot.

For example, yesterday Michel Martin hosted a segment on NPR's All Things Considered that listened to various views on the events of the past week exclusively from the perspective of current or former law enforcement professionals.

She spoke with Ron Martinelli, a former officer and detective who served 25-years with the San Jose, California Police Department.


Martinelli, who makes a handsome living working as a paid court witness giving expert testimony on police tactics and procedure, claimed that Black Lives Matter is engaged in a "war" on police.

When pressed to explain, Martinelli told Michel Martin that Black Lives Matter, "...want to defund law enforcement. They want to diminish their involvement in the community and their stature, and they basically want to dissolve law enforcement. 

And the reason is because police officers are protectors of the rule of law, and the Black Lives Matter movement is a black nationalists revolutionary Marxist movement that is tied into a much larger international movement referred to as One World One Struggle." 

Of course, none of those things are true, but click the link above if you want to read a full transcript of his comments.

He's one of many conservatives in this country who've seized on the heinous actions of a lone, mentally disturbed gunman to mischaracterize a grassroots protest movement that was formed by three women in the wake of the murder of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin and killer George Zimmerman's being acquitted of any legal responsibility for his death.

Activist DeRay McKesson

The tone of some of these comments (and others opposed to the BLM movement) are dismissive of nationally-recognized BLM activist DeRay McKesson's 1st Amendment rights to free speech.

As was widely reported, he was arrested (on live video stream) Saturday night by Baton Rouge police for allegedly stepping over a white line onto a roadway during a protest against the killing of Alton Sterling.


News of his arrest exploded on social media.

Funds for his legal defense and that of other protesters arrested in Baton Rouge poured in from around the world and the phone number of the Baton Rouge Police Department was posted online for people to call to demand his release.

As video of his arrest under false pretense spread around the globe and backfired for the Baton Rouge PD, McKesson was released earlier today.

But despite that, as I was reading through the reader comments on a New York Times story about his arrest this morning, many people have reduced his commitment to speaking out against the rampant and unwarranted use of deadly force by some members of U.S. law enforcement to a simplistic exercise in vanity - I'm not sure where that's coming from.

The killing of five Dallas police officers by a madman was wrong, and maybe Texas legislators need to rethink the absurd open carry laws that let people stroll around the streets armed with loaded assault rifles like it's Mogadishu instead of a major American city.

But it's also wrong to channel outrage over the murder of those poor officers onto DeRay McKesson, and use him as a scapegoat for the racial tensions that have simmered beneath and above the surface of this nation for decades.

He didn't start the fire. So instead of blaming him for pointing to the flames, maybe some of the critics calling for his head should spend a few minutes and actually listen to the man speak, as he did in a revealing interview on the Brian Lehrer Show earlier this year during an unsuccessful bid for mayor of Baltimore.

He's a rational, highly intelligent advocate for justice who speaks eloquently on issues related to the impact of race on the American landscape - to reduce him to the kind of one-dimensional "narcissistic anarchist" stereotype being peddled by conservative talking heads is to completely miss the man and what he's actually about.

In the meantime protests over the killings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile continue in cities across the United States.

What does it say about this nation that some Americans seem angrier about protesters exercising their 1st Amendment right to express outrage over unjustified police killings, than they are about the police killing people of color for no reason?

The high profile deaths of seven people last week were the result of unspeakable acts; but is the expression of the 1st Amendment right to free speech and to assemble a worse act than intentional police misconduct that results in the unjustified loss off life?

Philando Castile's Broken Taillight

Killed during a traffic stop: Philando Castile

If you want a sense of just how far this nation has veered from the ideals and principles on which it was founded, look no further than the Minneapolis / St. Paul suburb of Falcon Heights, Minnesota.

Not 48 hours after Alton Sterling was killed by two Baton Rouge, Louisiana police officers who shot him multiple times in the back and chest (even though they had him pinned to the ground), the world is horrified by yet another killing of an African-American man by an apparently trigger-happy police officer.


As you've likely heard, the circumstances are beyond disturbing.

Philando Castile, a 32-year old school cafeteria manager who'd worked at the J.J. Hill Montessori Magnet school for over 12 years where coworkers said he knew all the kids by name, had just gotten a haircut and gone grocery shopping in preparation for his birthday with his girlfriend Diamond "Lavish" Reynolds and her four-year old daughter when an as-yet unnamed member of the St. Anthony Police Department pulled them over for a broken taillight.

How this officer shot him four to five times almost immediately after asking Castile for his ID remains a mystery, but his girlfriend managed to use her cell phone to live-stream what happened moments after the shooting live on Facebook.

The video that's been widely shown actually flipped the perspective, Castile was the driver and Reynolds was in the passenger seat - her young daughter was in the car at the time of the shooting and what prompted a police officer to pull out his gun and start firing at point blank range with a little girl in the back seat is totally beyond me.

Regardless,Castile became one of the 506 people shot and killed by members of American law enforcement this year so far; 123 of them African-American.

In last night's blog I made my feelings pretty clear on the crisis of biased police practices and rampant police misconduct

Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton

The Governor of Minnesota Mark Dayton, speaking to crowds gathered in front of the Governor's Mansion earlier today, asked the pertinent question on the minds of millions of Americans right now, "Would this have happened if those passengers, the driver and the passengers were white?"



Obviously I am not the only person genuinely angered over the events of the past 48 hours, events which come in the wake of similar killings that garnered global attention over the past few years that constitute what the New York Times quoted Governor Dayton as calling, "a pattern of violence towards blacks."

But rather than simply repeat what I wrote last night, and have written in dozens of other blogs over the years in the wake of the unjustified killings of  black, white and Hispanic men, women and children by members of law enforcement, the words of an experienced American law-enforcement expert offer needed insight.

Former Seattle Chief of Police Norm Stamper

I think it might be more instructive to listen to the analysis of former Seattle Chief of Police Norm Stamper.

During a really thought-provoking interview on The Brian Lehrer Show this morning on WNYC, Stamper spoke in depth about the mindset of frightened police officers and how they lose both perspective and self-control.

The harrowing 9-minute videotape, is not easy to watch, but I think everyone needs to see it.

It's clear that the officer, still pointing a loaded handgun at Castile as he is bleeding to death from his gunshot wounds, is in a heightened state of fear and is on the verge of hysteria as Reynolds talks to the camera.

It's outrageous that this travesty was the result of a guy being stopped for a broken taillight.

At the gym earlier today, I was watching live coverage of FBI Director James Comey testifying before the House on the decision not to prosecute Hillary Clinton, Maryland Congressman Elijiah Cummings in his closing remarks, took a few moments to urge Comey to use the resources of the F.B.I to find a way to address this disturbing and deadly trend in America.

A lot of people including myself are hoping for some kind of direction from the federal government in terms of the investigation of this case; because right about now there is zero faith in the ability of local and state police to conduct an objective and thorough analysis of what happened on this quiet suburban street last night.

Or determine how an upstanding citizen with no criminal background who was fully employed at a school and taught to respect members of law enforcement, ended up shot dead because the taillight of his car was broken.

Gov. Mark Dayton addresses protesters [Getty Images]

As New York Mayor Bill DeBlasio said today in response to the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, these unjustified killings represent a "Horrible American pattern that has to end."

Without some kind of decisive landmark action on the part of the Justice Department, action which has been sorely lacking in the wake of the slate of police shootings that have taken place across the nation in recent years, I don't know how this pattern is going to end.

Not as long racially biased policing and the systematic use of unwarranted and excessive use of force in this nation goes unchecked by courts of law.

I've had a left front running light that's been out on my Honda CRV for the past couple weeks, it's been so busy at work I've been putting it off.

After work tomorrow I'm driving right over to Princeton Honda and getting it replaced, because the brutal reality in 21st century America is that things like that can get you killed if you're black and in the wrong place at the wrong time; and run into the wrong cop.

As poor Philando Castile's broken taillight makes abundantly clear.