Quote of the Day -- Racial Obscenity Edition

"In America, it's safer to be a white man, overthrowing the government than it is to be a Black man doing anything." --Middle Age Riot.

Thanks, Republicans!

Breonna Taylor, One Year On

It's one year today Breonna Taylor lost her life.

The whole idea that an American citizen, a hard-working, smart, honest ER Technician and former EMT, no less, could be in her own home, at night, around midnight, only to have her front door knocked down and then be shot by police, dead, with 6 shots. Un-freaking-believable. #JusticeForBreonnaTaylor

Nearly Unbelievable Breaking News This Afternoon

Two big stories broke this afternoon I can hardly believe. First up from Louisville, Kentucky.

No police officers charged in Breonna Taylor shooting

The city of Louisville, Kentucky to the family of slain citizen and EMT Breonna Taylor:

"Here, here's 12 million dollars for your very, very recently deceased sister, daughter, cousin but understand, our police officers did nothing wrong whatever."

Sure.

Makes perfect sense.

How can anyone possibly tell Black people in America their lives matter when a young woman, an EMT, can be safely at home, at night in her own home, her own apartment when police officers then execute a no-knock warrant--but for the wrong address--and shoot her 8 times only to kill her?

And then there's this.

Louisville to pay $12 million to Breonna Taylor's family

The city of Louisville made sure they gave the family of Breonna Taylor TWELVE MILLION DOLLARS, very quickly, but then, now seem to be saying "Here's twelve million dollars, very quickly, right away, but don't think for a moment our police officers did anything wrong."

Sure.

Makes perfect sense.

And people think Black Lives Matter protests are unnecessary?

Really?

Let's truly make #BlackLivesMatter in America. This is insane.

Then, second, Missouri's Republican Governor Parson and his wife both came down positive for coronavirus.

Missouri governor, opponent of mandatory masks, has COVID-19

Mr. You Don't Need to Wear a Mask.

Thanks, Republicans!

You bloody hypocrites. You fools.

Quote of the Day -- Pre-Trump Edition

 

86 45

BYEDON

Vote

Vote blue

#BlueWave2020

Quote of the Day -- Equality Edition

Equality.

Justice.

Equity.

Fairness.

In America.

Whodathunkit?

 

We Must Make Black Lives Matter in America

Four examples. Following are just four very recent examples of what's gone on in America.  And for far, far too long.

--Tamir Rice was 12 years old. He had a toy gun. Within 3-1/2 seconds of the police officer arriving on scene, he had already shot and killed the boy.

--Breonna Taylor was at home. She was an EMT. It was around midnight. The police officers came crashing through her apartment door on a no knock warrant. They immediately shot and killed her. They had the wrong address.

To this day, from March to today, July 26, those officers haven't been arrested.  For anything.

--George Floyd was THOUGHT, only thought to have passed a counterfeit $20 bill. Eight minutes and 46 seconds after the officer began knee pressure on Mr. Floyd's neck/throat, he had killed him, Mr. Floyd. The officer, therefore, made himself judge, jury and executioner right there on the street.

--Auhmaud Arbery was jogging, out jogging, in his mother's neighborhood when two brothers, one an ex-police officer, thought he looked suspicious so they accosted him and within minutes shot him with a shotgun. Twice. Killing him.  Again, they made themselves judge, jury and executioner, no less, and in only a few minutes.

All 4 were Americans. American citizens.

Those are just 4 very recent situations, with their facts. 4, frankly, nearly insanely, of many here in the US both recent and going far back in our nation's history.

How could any of that be okay or right? How can any of that be okay here in our nation, in the United States of America?

We must make Black Lives Matter.

See for yourself:

A brief history of police officers killing black people

Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and stories of other black

George Floyd: Timeline of black deaths caused by police

"Say their names": The list of people injured or killed in officer ...

Search Results

Web results

Know their names: Black people killed by the police in the US

Black Lives Must Matter

Langston Hughes was writing about this back at the beginning of the century, folks. And it certainly goes back farther than that, to the beginning, the founding of our nation.

I, Too

I, too, sing America.

I am the darker brother.

They send me to eat in the kitchen

When company comes,

But I laugh,

And eat well,

And grow strong.

Tomorrow,

I’ll be at the table

When company comes.

Nobody’ll dare

Say to me,

“Eat in the kitchen,”

Then.

Besides,

They’ll see how beautiful I am

And be ashamed—

I, too, am America.

--Langston Hughes

Poem originally published 1926

Black Lives Matter didn't grow out of a Black issue or a problem Black people have or only Black people have, no. Far from it. It is a problem white people in America have. It's a problem we all have and share as Americans. If you don't see that, you don't know our own nation. You likely don't know our own nation's, your own nation's history.

On This Day, -- July 5, 1852

"In 1852, the Maryland-born abolitionist Frederick Douglass was invited to address the Rochester Ladies’ Anti-Slavery Association’s 4th of July celebration in Rochester, N.Y. President Millard Fillmore, national political leaders and abolitionists from across the country were among those in the audience.

The speech, which was become known as “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” was in fact delivered on July 5. In many ways, it seems every bit as relevant today as it did 168 years ago."

A Marylander's Words That Still Resonate 

168 Years Later

What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer: a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciations of tyrants, brass fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade, and solemnity, are, to him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy — a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices, more shocking and bloody, than are the people of these United States, at this very hour.

If you can, at least once, read the entire piece. 

The Present Racial, Police Brutality Problem As Today, But 50 Years Ago

I found this yesterday on YouTube. Some of their marketing their own videos, I'm sure. Regardless, it is stunning that it's the same, exact discussion and debate and problem we have today, now---and it's from 50 years ago.  This was posted on the video by one David Hoffman:

This was on national public television (PBS) in the prime time in 1971. It was considered shockingly bold to present this debate and to hear police officers and chiefs of police honestly and bluntly state how they saw the racial injustices in the department and in the society. Some things have clearly changed for the better. But it is, at least for me, strangely familiar and uncomfortable to see what has not changed. Since the murder of Floyd George, once again, police injustice and inequality is front and center in the news across America.

Stunning.

We haven't changed a bit.

Necessary In 1968, Still Poignant Today

I just coincidentally, fortunately ran across this video yesterday. It's a talk by and from James Baldwin, American novelist, playwright, essayist, poet, and activist. in 1968 concerning the race riots of that day.  Still so very poignant--and necessary--today, of course, sadly, even maddeningly.



Let's do better, America.

Examples of How and Why America Needs to Change

Just looking at the facts of a few situations here in America point out what, exactly, and how we need to change here in America, regarding race, specifically for blacks and African-Americans.

Number one:

From the "What Never Happens to White People" file.

Philando Castile Was Pulled Over 49 Times in 13 Years, Often for Minor Infractions

Not Minneapolis but the other Twin City, St. Paul, 4 years ago.

"On July 6, 2016, Philando Castile, a 32-year-old African American man, was stopped while driving--apparently for a cracked tail light-- then fatally shot by Jeronimo Yanez, a 29-year-old Hispanic-American police officer from St. Anthony, Minnesota.

Castile was driving with his partner Diamond Reynolds and her four-year-old daughter when at 9:00 p.m. their vehicle was pulled over by Yanez and another officer in Falcon Heights, a suburb of Saint Paul, Minnesota. After being asked for his license and registration, Castile told Officer Yanez that he had a firearm (Castile was licensed to carry) to which Yanez replied, 'Don't reach for it then', and Castile said 'I'm, I, I was reaching for...' Yanez said 'Don't pull it out', Castile replied 'I'm not pulling it out', and Reynolds said 'He's not...' Yanez repeated 'Don't pull it out' and then shot at Castile at close range seven times, hitting him five times. Castile died at 9:37 p.m. at Hennepin County Medical Center, about 20 minutes after being shot."
Dead.

Because of a possible cracked tail light.

Next up:

"I can't breathe": Death of black man in Tacoma police custody ruled a homicide

"Manuel Ellis...died on March 3 (this year) in handcuffs while being restrained on the ground by Tacoma police.,,At one point, Ellis can be heard saying, 'I can't breathe.'"

Sound familiar?
Third:

This Is The Toy Gun That Got Tamir Rice Killed

On 22 November 2014 Tamir Rice, a 12-year old boy, was fatally shot in Cleveland, Ohio by Timothy Loehmann, a 26-year-old police officer. Rice was carrying a replica toy Airsoft gun; Loehmann shot him almost immediately after arriving on the scene.
The police officer shot and killed 12 year old Tamir Rice within 3-1/2 seconds after arriving on the scene in his police car.

3-1/2 seconds.

Dead.

For a toy gun.

Fourth:

Breonna Taylor killing: 

FBI opens investigation

A young woman.
26 years old
An EMT.
Alone.
At home.
In her bed.
Killed.
By police
March 13.
No knock search warrant.
Wrong address.
Middle of the night.

FBI is now opening an investigation. June 4. And they're likely only just now opening this investigation because of the George Floyd protests. Who knows what would have happened, if anything, and when it might have taken place without these protests.

Finally, his one broke yesterday. It's stunning.

Bills QB Jake Fromm apologizes after saying guns should be expensive so only 'elite white people' can buy them

How do you face your fellow teammates after saying something so deeply ignorant, racist, stupid and offensive?

Sadly, maddeningly, even, there are far more than just this brief list, too. This photo shows far more and it's just a fraction of the tragedies and horrors---murders--that have taken place in our nation's history.

   (Click on picture for easier reading. And please do read it all).

Hopefully our time has come, America.

Berkely Professor Robert Reich made a great proposal.

Robert Reich @RBReich

"What if — and hear me out here — we invested in Black communities rather than mass incarceration and the police?"

And that, actually really would be a fantastic and intelligent, very real solution, especially given how much we imprison people.

The US incarcerates more than any other country

We need to be over this. We need to be over the racism. We need to put this all behind us. We need to never have these senseless murders take place again. Think of it. We have a FRACTION of the population of either China or India but we incarcerate more, far more, than any other nation. Additionally, of those incarcerated, a far higher percentage of those are African-Americans.

Black Americans incarcerated five times more 

than white

We can do this. We have to. We must.

Let's do this.

Quotes of the Day -- Clueless, Shameful, Shameless Presidential Edition

From the article:

'The Bible is not a prop': 

Religious leaders, lawmakers outraged over Trump church visit

The Rev. James Martin, a prominent Jesuit priest and author, said in a statement,

"Using the Bible as a prop while talking about sending in the military, bragging about how your country is the greatest in the world, and publicly mocking people on a daily basis, is pretty much the opposite of all Jesus stood for."

He added: 

"Let me be clear. This is revolting. The Bible is not a prop. A church is not a photo op. Religion is not a political tool. And God is not a plaything."

Rabbi Jack Moline, president of Interfaith Alliance, said in a statement Monday, 

"Seeing President Trump stand in front of St. John’s Episcopal Church while holding a Bible in response to calls for racial justice — right after using military force to clear peaceful protesters out of the area — is one of the most flagrant misuses of religion I have ever seen. This only underscores the president's complete lack of compassion for Black Americans and the lethal consequences of racism."

Additional link:

REPORTER: "Is that your Bible?" 
TRUMP: "It's A Bible."

Having defamed an Episcopal church, 
 Trump decides to violate the sanctity of Catholic shrine

Shameless.

The man is shameless.

Thanks, Republicans.

#VOTEBLUE

My Biggest Concern About This President--and His Political Party

"The Week" hit the nail on the head currently.

The Fabric of America Is Coming Apart

No overstatement, no exaggeration. A bit from the article:

Mass unrest engulfed cities across the United States over the weekend, as thousands of people protested the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd and police typically responded with violence. In some relatively isolated cases, riots and looting broke out — including in Washington, D.C., where President Trump turned off the lights at the White House and hid in a bunker.

It seems the United States was a powder keg just waiting for a spark. Police incompetence and brutality — carried out at enormous expense to the American taxpayer — have only added to the intolerable daily burden of poverty and misery experienced by the American working class, particularly its black and brown members. The fabric of America is coming apart.

Race protests and riots in the middle of the worst, most killing international pandemic the world has seen in over 100 years, with yet more tax cuts for the already-wealthy, with heavy spending to help Americans during the pandemic and so, heavy, heavy national debt, with absurdly low tax rates for the already-wealthy and corporations and so much more. We have problems, America.

Then this President is fomenting yet more violence, virtually each time he speaks, in the worst racial protests we've seen since the Rodney King riots of 1992, if not the Watts riots in the middle 60s.

Then Paul Krugman penned a similarly themed article for the New York Times.

Trump Takes Us to the Brink

A bit from it:

I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that America as we know it is on the brink.

How did we get here? The core story of U.S. politics over the past four decades is that wealthy elites weaponized white racism to gain political power, which they used to pursue policies that enriched the already wealthy at workers’ expense.

Until Trump’s rise it was possible — barely — for people to deny this reality with a straight face. At this point, however, it requires willful blindness not to see what’s going on.

...I still see occasional news reports that describe Trump as a “populist.” But Trump’s economic policies have been the opposite of populist: They have been relentlessly plutocratic, centered largely on a successful effort to ram through huge tax cuts for corporations and the rich, and a so far unsuccessful attempt to take health insurance away from poor and working-class families.

Nor have Trump’s trade wars brought back the good jobs of yore. Even before the coronavirus plunged us into depression, Trump had failed to deliver major employment growth in coal mining or manufacturing. And farmers, who supported Trump by large margins in 2016, have suffered huge losses thanks to his trade wars.

So what has Trump really offered to the white working class that makes up most of his base? Basically, he has provided affirmation and cover for racial hostility.

We have so, so many problems, so many national issues and we're not addressing them.

Meanwhile, this was his Tweet today, 2 hours ago:

Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump·

D.C. had no problems last night. Many arrests. Great job done by all. Overwhelming force. Domination. Likewise, Minneapolis was great (thank you President Trump!).

The nation is coming apart and he can only pat himself on the back. Stunning.

We know what needs to happen:

Trump must be removed. 

So must his congressional enablers.

What is most encouraging to me is that this article, this opinion piece was penned by uber conservative, ultra-Republican Party supporting George Will, not some "Leftist", Liberal member of the Democratic Party. Mr. Will has been writing similar pieces since Trump has been in office, at least. He sees this man Trump for what and who he is and knows its bad, really bad, for the nation.

Here's hoping, folks.

We have to take our nation back. We have to take it back for the people.

Vote. Always vote. And yes, you guessed it, vote blue.

We can do this.

We must.

Entertainment Overnight: America, What We Need to Do

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