#america is racist and the national anthem is to

[tariah23]

aisjsjjensnJAJAJ

[dorothylarouge]

US Presidents as Dril Tweets

George Washington: another day volunteering at the betsy ross museum. everyone keeps asking me if they can fuck the flag. buddy, they wont even let me fuck it

John Adams: "ah boo hoo hoo i want to post Foul comments to content leaders" Fat Chance, Dimwit. I will annihilate you under bulwark of the Law and God.

Thomas Jefferson: Q: If your post was proven by a counsil of wise men to be racist, or bullshit, would you bar it from the record? A: I do not delete my posts

James Madison: (sniffing a crumpled up one dollar bill i found on the floor of a dog kennel) ah.. thats greenbacks baby

James Monroe: for decades i have traversed the unforgiving mountains and rivers of south america, hoping to catch a glimpse of the fabled "ass downloader"

John Quincy Adams: "This Whole Thing Smacks Of Gender," i holler as i overturn my uncle's barbeque grill and turn the 4th of July into the 4th of Shit

Andrew Jackson: handing Faves over to my enemies is FRAUD !! base, contemptible FRAUD!

Martin Van Buren: Food $200

Data $150

Rent $800

Candles $3,600

Utility $150

someone who is good at the economy please help me budget this. my family is dying

William Henry Harrison: (spends all of 7 seconds skimming some blog posts) yep. just as i knew all along. having pnuamonia is good

John Tyler: fuck "jokes". everything i tweet is real. raw insight without the horse shit. no, i will NOT follow trolls. twitter dot com. i live for this

James K. Polk: thhere is no such thing as charisma, and art is fake. the only metrics by which we must determine the worth of a man are Strength and Wisdom

Zachary Taylor: the doctor reveals my blood pressure is 420 over 69. i hoot & holler outta the building while a bunch of losers tell me that im dying

Millard Fillmore: trying to heal..... please donate to my go fund me... $10 will make me less racist... $100 will make me extremely less racist...thank you...

Franklin Pierce: blocked. blocked. blocked. youre all blocked. none of you are free of sin

James Buchanan: #NationalGirlfriendDay please cherish your gal's.. in honor of us, the single Boys who must sacrifice all companionship to #CarryTheBrand...

Abraham Lincoln: unloading an entire belt of ammo at me with a minigun or some such device will now get you "Blocked"

Andrew Johnson: who the fuck is scraeming "LOG OFF" at my house. show yourself, coward. i will never log off

Ulysses S. Grant: i regret being tasked the emotional burden of maintaining the final bastion of morality and Nice manners in this endless ocean of human SHIT

Rutherford B. Hayes: using the toilet when i hear Our national anthem start to play. i do what i must. i stand tall in complete agony; as shit runs down my leg,

James A. Garfield: too much truth in such little time. feeling the heat cominh down to silence me... signing off........ for now

Chester A. Arthur: i WILL wise the fuck up. i WILL super charge my content for 2017. i WILL get blue check mark

Grover Cleveland: the way i see it, people who come on here and submit content that is not up to par, could possibly be considered the "Villains" of this site

Benjamin Harrison: i help every body, im not racist, i keep myself nice, and when i ask for a single re-tweet in return i am told to fuck off, fuck myself, etc

William McKinley: boy oh boy do i love purchasing large amounnts of Fool's Gold. wait a minute... fools gold fucking sucks. this stuff is no good..!! Fuck !!!

Theodore Roosevelt: IF THE ZOO BANS ME FOR HOLLERING AT THE ANIMALS I WILL FACE GOD AND WALK BACKWARDS INTO HELL

William H. Taft: ah.. the perfect Souffle! cant wait to dig in to t(*EVERY PIPE IN MY HOUSE EXPLODES AT THE SAME TIME, COVERING ME IN SHIT AND BOILING WATER*

Woodrow Wilson: the conflicted supersoldier stares over the horizon as he smokes a cigarette. "war is the most fucked up thing ever." he takes a sip of beer

Warren G. Harding: somebody please Bribe me

Calvin Coolidge: aggressively joyless oaf hhere. painfully obnoxious respect demander checkign in. extremely dim witted frowning man looking for pals

Herbert Hoover: it is really quite astonishing that I have yet to win The Lottery, given how good I am at selecting six numbers and saying them out loud

Franklin D. Roosevelt: ive never heard of this “europe” but it sounds like a big bunch of shit to me

Harry Truman: everybody wants to be the guy to write the tweet that solves racism once and for all because it would look good as hell on a resume

Dwight D. Eisenhower: my "F*&k It!! Let's Go Golfin" t-shirt maintains a tenacious stranglehold on my life. after 1,125 days of Golf my body is twisted, deformed

John F. Kennedy: when you do sutuff like... shoot my jaw clean off of my face with a sniper rifle, it mostly reflects poorly on your self

Lyndon B. Johnson: incredibly handsome , charismatic famous boy credited with ending income inequality after saying that slumlords should be called "dumblords"

Richard Nixon: i attribute the complete failure of my brand to the actions of detractors, oor my “trolls”, as it were, as well as my own constant fuckups

Gerald Ford: shutting computer down until the shitty moods & attitudes can fuck off., if you need me ill be on my other computer, sititng 60° to my right

Jimmy Carter: i warnned you all that bad things would happen if you kept letting your wives wear jeans. AND NOW LOOK! the damn gas prices are up again

Ronald Reagan: spend a lot of time thinking about how sometimes even war criminals can be heroes sometimes... Dont like it? Click the unfollow buttobn

George H.W. Bush: just thought off an idea i believe to be bad ass. lets find the address of the leader of isis, and mail him/ her pieces of our SHIT

Bill Clinton: were at the point now, that when i offer to impregnate my girl followers, people assume my motives are sexual. disgusting, grow the fuck up,

George W. Bush: friday night gathering up together a big pile of things i like to respect (flags, crucifixes ,etc) and just roll around in it ,give kisses,

Barack Obama: my IQ has increased 10 points ever since i stopped tollerating people mucking about, on the time line

Donald Trump: THERAPIST: your problem is, that youre perfect, and everyone is jealous of your good posts, and that makes you rightfully upset.

ME: I agree

Joe Biden: I will shut the fuck up , IF , it will restore the Harmony. I will get on my knees like a dog and make that sacrifice, for the sake of Calm

[darkeagleruins]

From David Thomsen:

An Open Letter to Leftists: On July 13, 2024 things CHANGED. For too long you have mistaken our TOLERANCE for weakness and it emboldened you. That TIME has come to an END. Things are going to happen FAST now and you will find yourself wondering HOW you got here. So, here’s how.

You called us RACISTS while we were standing together as WHITE, BLACK, & BROWN Americans. You overwhelmed us with images of races unable to COEXIST. Then came DEI, reparations, & constant ATTACKS for even the smallest perceived slight. You needed us DIVIDED, which was the GOAL.

We supported GAY marriage and didn’t notice the TQIA’s at first. Then you went after OUR KIDS, openly flaunted your sexuality, & made PRONOUNS a weapon. You had men competing in WOMEN’s sports and invading their private spaces. And again you demonized those that DARE push back.

We got behind “ME TOO”, not knowing the intent. The slightest accusation became grounds for MOB RULE. You cancelled and shamed. You made being a MAN the problem. Toxic MASCULINITY was the phrase of the day. So we watched you TEACH AND RAISE a generation of SOFT, feckless boys.

WE’RE ALL immigrants and our ancestors did it RIGHT. They learned English, got JOBS, and assimilated into the culture in order to be a part of this GREAT NATION. Then you allowed an INVASION, gave them handouts, and let them do as they LIKE. Hell, you even wanted them to VOTE.

You changed the NAMES of mountains, and buildings, and teams to ERASE our history. You took the pledge out of schools, knelt during the anthem, and burned our FLAG!! And did it while proudly displaying those of OTHER countries and movements. You made PATRIOT a dirty word.

You took away our VOICE. Media STOPPED even talking about OUR side. You PREACHED to us during our shows, on the NEWS and in the theatres. VIRTUE SIGNALING at every turn. And you LIED. Telling us not to BELIEVE what we were seeing with our own EYES. We felt isolated, even CRAZY.

Then HE came along. He was brash, RAW, but grew on US. He wanted to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN. He spoke to the helplessness we FELT. You said RUSSIA was his handler. You attacked his CHARACTER, his family. And yet, HE WON. You didn’t let us CELEBRATE though. You said he CHEATED.

So you took to the STREETS. You PROTESTED, and BURNT, and THREATENED, and ATTACKED. Our fascist response was to remain SILENT. We heard every single day that, ORANGE MAN bad. The economy was STRONG, the world was SAFE, and the WALL was going up. You couldn’t let that STAND.

Then came your VIRUS. You locked us in OUR HOMES, hurt our businesses, stole moments from our CHILDREN they won’t ever get back. Keeping us separated became LAW. You killed our ELDERLY and VULNERABLE. Then you FORCED us to inject a CURE. If we refused, you SHAMED and fired us.

You LIED some more. A lot more. You covered up LAPTOPS, mobilized your ARMY of celebs, and smeared the man’s RECORD and reputation. Worse yet, you CHEATED. At least you told us the BLUE WAVE was coming. We didn’t expect it to happen while we were SLEEPING. You STOLE an election.

The best of US finally stood & took to the STREETS. You provoked us and let us walk into that BUILDING. You killed a woman and PROSECUTED the rest. You locked us up. You CENSORED us. Made sure we couldn’t RISE. You weaponized LAW and laughed as YOU DID IT. You thought you’d WON.

We sat and watched you destroy our COUNTRY. You defunded our POLICE, allowing crime to run RAMPANT. You spent to the point we couldn’t AFFORD to live. You abandoned BASES, and EMBASSIES, and allies. You made us WEAK. Then OTHERS began to awake. So you became DESPERATE, more vile.

You convicted him of CRIMES he didn’t commit on CHARGES you didn’t define. You tried to take his FORTUNE. Your leaders called him a THREAT and a fascist. You called him HITLER. And you DEMONIZED EACH AND EVERY ONE OF US. We lost friends and FAMILY. MSM spent everyday on our EVIL.

Then SHOTS rang out. YOU NEARLY KILLED HIM. But the man ROSE. He lifted his FIST in the air and told us to FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT. This selfish, HATEFUL, ugly man nearly gave all to save a COUNTRY he LOVES. And we’d been afraid to wear a RED HAT? Our eyes teared with ANGER, respect.

He withstood all you could MUSTER. And in doing so, he EMPOWERED us. And so now you see, the REAL men and REAL women are coming to take our COUNTRY back. We won’t be SILENCED, we can’t be STOPPED. You will watch as every ounce of POWER you once held is returned to the PEOPLE.

We will restore LAW AND ORDER and ILLEGALS will be shown the door. WE will retake our SCHOOLS, our cities, and our STATES. The minority will NO LONGER dictate to a once silent MAJORITY. We the PEOPLE of the United States of America LOVE this man and country. We will and are MAGA!

[tomorrowusa]

MAGA is really just a variant of fascism. The racist anti-Latino orgy of ethno-nationalism at MSG on Sunday has removed all doubt.

Dean Obeidallah at SubStack walks us through it.

Here is a sample of the hate buffet served up to the cheering MAGA crowd. 1.        Anti-women: Donald Trump again called VP Harris a "very low IQ individual." Tucker Carlson said to cheers if Harris wins she will be “the first Samoan, Malaysian, low IQ former California prosecutor ever to be elected president.”  Grant Cardone, a businessman said VP Harris and “her pimp handlers will destroy our country,” obviously suggesting Harris is a  prostitute. -David Rem a person the campaign identified as a childhood friend of Trump, brandished a crucifix and called Vice President Kamala Harris “the antichrist” and “the devil” to huge applause. 2.        Anti-Black: -The rally played Confederate favorite “Dixie” before Black GOP Rep. Byron Donalds came out at Madison Square Garden. -“This cool Black guy with the thing on his head, what is that a lampshade? Believe this guy? Just kidding, that’s one of my buddies. He had a Halloween party last night. We had fun, we carved watermelons together,” said podcaster and alleged comedian Tony Hinchcliffe. 3.        Anti-Latino and anti-Migrant hate: -Referring to Latino migrants, radio host Sid Rosenberg declared to cheers that they are causing crime and that: “The fucking illegals, they get whatever they want, don’t they?!” -“I don’t know if you guys know this, but there’s literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. I think it’s called Puerto Rico,” said Tony Hinchcliffe. -“These Latinos, they love making babies. Let’s know that they do. They do. There’s no pulling out. They cum inside. Just like they did to our country!’ again Hinchcliffe. 4.        Anti-Arab/Palestinian hate: -Rudy Giuliani declared: "The Palestinians are taught to kill us at two-years old. There may have good people. I'm sorry I don't take a risk with people who are taught to kill Americans at two." He then declared to big cheers, “I’m on the side of Israel…Donald Trump is on the side of Israel.” 5. Anti-Semitism: -“You also know the Jews having a hard time throwing out that paper, you know what I’m saying?’ Hinchcliffe stated while mimicking holding money, playing on anti-Semitic trope that Jews are cheap. Before this MAGA event, some invoked the hate-filled February 20, 1939 Nazi rally at MSG billed as a "Pro American Rally" which featured a huge image of George Washington in between swastikas. After Sunday’s Trump rally, that comparison was no longer speculative, it was 100% accurate.

Yes, they even played "Dixie" – the Confederate anthem.

This event was held at a large venue in America's media capital with the intent of exposing as many Americans as possible to their message. They are not trying to hide anything. They want to make sure every last nutcake hears their words.

As David Frum via Charlie Sykes on SubStack observed:

This rally seems aimed at the crucial bloc of swing voters who like Donald Trump but worry that maybe he's not quite stupid and obnoxious enough. They need him and his team to squeeze out of the tube that one last plop of stupidity and obnoxiousness.

The stupidest thing for us to do is to freak out. Michael Tomasky wrote an excellent piece in The New Republic.

If You’re Being Fatalistic or Panicking, You Are Helping Donald Trump

It's way easier to prevent dictators than it is to get rid of them once they're here. So quit doomscrolling and do stuff in real life to save a whole lot of work in the future.

Volunteer | Kamala Harris for President

[grits-galraisedinthesouth]

Dr. Phil Risks It All with Explosive Speech Supporting Trump — Calls Out Democrats as Bullies Trying to Silence Free Speech and Punish Independent Thinkers | The Gateway Pundit | by Jim Hᴏft

“I’m here to talk to and stand up for the people who have declared their support for Donald J. Trump,” he said. “Because you know what happens when somebody says, ‘Hey, I’m going to vote Republican’? They get canceled, intimidated, marginalized, excluded, or even fired.”

The television psychologist likened this phenomenon to bullying, claiming that those who dare to support Trump face severe repercussions, a theme he revisited throughout his address. You guys look just like you do when I’m on TV. Except for you, you look a little different. Listen, I love you guys for caring enough about the United States of America to come out here tonight. Thank you so much for caring enough to come out here tonight.

I have to tell you, I love this country. I do. I love this country. I stand up when our flag goes by. I put my hand over my heart when they play our national anthem. I’m so proud to see so many people take time out of their day to come out here and stand up for this country. Strangely enough, I’m not here just to stand up for Donald J. Trump. Lord knows he doesn’t need me to stand up for him. He’s tough as an old army boot. He’s got lots of enemies, different groups that are scared. Between them, they have impeached him, indicted him, raided him, railroaded him, shot him, and sued him. And where is he? He is still standing. He just keeps on coming because he loves this country, too. I can be honest and say… I can be honest because we have free speech in America.

I can be honest and say, I don’t like or agree with everything that Donald Trump does or says. I mean, come on. Nobody agrees with everything or likes everything somebody else says or does, right? No human is perfect. We don’t strive for perfection. We strive for excellence. But you don’t have to love everything about someone in order to love them. The last thing he needs is some celebrity endorsement. What the hell do I know? I know I’m no celebrity to begin with, and celebrities don’t know anything about policies or politics.

The only difference between me and them is I’m willing to admit it. Why am I here? Well, I’ll tell you why I’m here. I’m here to talk to and stand up for the people who have declared their support for Donald J. Trump, or they got found out, or they want to do it, but they’re too intimidated. Because you know what happens when somebody in this country says, ‘Hey, I’m going to vote Republican. I’m going to vote Donald J. Trump’? They get canceled, intimidated, marginalized, excluded, or even fired or boycotted. You know what that means? In short, that adds up to being bullied.

Now we’re talking about something I know a hell of a lot about. Now you’re in my wheelhouse, buddy. I may not be an expert in politics, but I am an expert about bullying. Bullying is when you seek to harm somebody, you seek to intimidate, coerce, cause distress, fear, risk to their well-being.

It can be physical, verbal, relational, or cyberbullying. It’s always wrong. You said it, my friend. It is always wrong when you bully somebody. That’s what’s going on. Now, let me tell you what the critics are going to say when they hear me talking about this. They’re going to say, ‘Well, now, wait a minute. Isn’t Trump a bully?"

Let me tell you why the answer to that question is no. Because to be a bully, there has to be an imbalance of power. When there’s not, it’s just called a debate, and he’s just better at it than anybody else. It’s called debating. It’s called arguing. It may even name-calling, but it’s not bullying unless there’s an imbalance of power. Whoever he talks to, they’ve got a microphone, they’ve got on their big boy pants, they’ve got a stage, they’ve got everything else.

He’s just better at it. The same thing is true. When the Democrats or Harris call him fascist, Hitler, racist, misogynist, or crook, is that bullying? Well, not really. It’s ugly.

But with the First Amendment, which we all want to keep, there’s no imbalance of power, so it’s not bullying. It’s just like when he does. It may not be the best use of energy. But when you attack civilians, when you attack a citizen, and you use the power of the internet to use a mob mentality, you incite people to gang up and cause boycott, then it’s beyond ugly.

That’s what’s happening in this country right now, and that’s not okay. There is an imbalance of power there, and it’s time that every one of us close ranks. We have to stop this now. It’s time that we push back against cancel culture. It’s time that we push back against intimidation tactics.

That is exactly the reason that I launched Merit Street Media, which, by the way, we didn’t choose the name for that by random. Merit Street Media. This country was built on hard work, added value, and talent, not on equal outcome, not on DEI.

This country was built on hard work, and it needs to continue to be built on hard work. The legacy media has sold out. The legacy media has sold out. I’ll tell you, one night, I was sitting at dinner with my wife Robin, and I was complaining as we were flipping around and listening to the spin, spin, spin, spin, spin, spin on what’s supposedly news.

I said, ‘Damn, I’m tired of listening to all this media spin and everything.’ Without even looking up, she said, ‘Well, you are the media. Why don’t you do something about it?’ She said, ‘If you’ve got bigger ratings than the four of them combined, why don’t you do something about it?’ Well, as usual, she was right. That’s why I launched the new network, because we want people to think for themselves. You guys aren’t dumb. You don’t need to be told what to think. You just need the facts. You’re here because you have the facts, right? You’re here because you recognize when legacy media edits answers and gives you what they want you to hear instead of the truth. When they start editing their candidate’s answers, they’ve lost their moral compass.

“They’ve lost their way. I would love to say it’s equal on both sides, but I’ll guarantee you when Beyoncé, George Clooney, De Niro, and Lizzo come out and say, ‘They’re for Kamala Harris,’ when they all come out and say, ‘They’re for Kamala Harris,’ did you read anything or hear anything in the media criticizing it? No. But you watch what happens tomorrow morning when people find out I came here to talk to you. You say this in Hollywood, and all of a sudden, you ain’t got a job. Problem is, I don’t need one. I don’t need a job because I got you. I’ve got a question for all of us. Have we lost our minds?

We have the First Amendment in America where our government has said we will pass no laws to infringe on our freedoms for religion and speech. So that’s the law, but we’re muzzling each other. What is going on? We have a law that protects free speech, so we start taking it away from each other? Are you kidding me? We can’t allow that to happen. We cannot encourage it. Let me tell you something about bullying. Bullies are bad, right? Yes. Let me tell you what else is bad. “Bystanders. If you are a bystander, if you are watching somebody get picked on, if you’re watching somebody get bullied and you don’t do anything about it, you’re just as guilty as the bully that’s doing the bullying. Am I right? Am I right?

I have talked to so many children in schools that tell me the worst feeling they’ve ever had is being bullied and feeling alone and abandoned when they are picked on and intimidated, when they wish even one person, even one other kid, would step up and say, ‘Hey, come sit with me at lunch. Don’t sit in a stall in the bathroom and cry your way through lunch and eat alone. We’re not going to let you be alone.’ It’s the same thing with adults. Adults don’t want to be cut out of the herd and feel like they’re alone. The number one need in all people is acceptance. The number one fear is rejection, and bullies prey on that. We must claim the right to our point of view. We must be critical thinkers. When you see somebody being picked on, then you’ve got to be willing to step up and say, ‘Hey, I’m with you.’

“Don’t let that happen. You’ve got to know why you’re strong on the issues you’re strong on. You’ve got to know why you’re strong on affordability and safety and security and the border and family care for men and women and law and order and your core values for your children’s education and our military. Know why you’re where you are. When you come to your friends and coworkers being bullied, don’t be a bystander. Don’t be a bystander. You can’t let it happen. When you say you love America, that’s a verb. That also means you love Americans. You’ve got to push back and call out the bullies. You’ve got to stand with those that have targets in their lives, targets if they’re picking on them by calling their jobs to get them fired, boycotting, or kicking them out at their jobs at church or their groups at church. I’ve spent 45 years listening to people.

I was just in North Carolina after the hurricane hit down there. You know what? I saw neighbors helping neighbors, and not one of them asked, ‘Are you a Democrat or a Republican?’ I saw neighbors helping neighbors, and we need to unify this country. You have the right to vote for who you want to vote for President, and we need to step up and claim it, and we need to stand with each other. There are so many who want to, but they’re bullied, so they’re afraid to. Let me tell you something. One of the most important days in American history was 9/12, 2001. Not 9/11. We all know what happened on 9/11. One of the most important days was 9/12, because on 9/12, we all woke up and we were all Americans on 9/12.

If you were an American on 9/12, stand up right now. If you were an American on 9/12, stand up right now. That’s who we were. That’s who we are. The difference between winners and losers is winners do things losers don’t want to do. We have to stand proud to help our neighbors who want to vote their conscience and not be afraid. No one should be alone. No one should feel abandoned. No one should have their business boycotted. If you hear somebody’s getting their business boycotted, you should get your friends and make sure their business gets doubled. If somebody pulls their advertising from your friend’s business, you should let those advertisers know you’re going to spend the rest of your life making sure that advertiser is boycotted until they do the right thing.

“You need to let people know this is over in America. We’re going to unify this country. We’re going to listen and not be intimidated. We’re going to go out and lead by example. Let’s quit complaining about what is and start doing about it. If your neighbor wants to vote the other way, say, ‘Fine, go vote the other way. I’ll love you anyway.’ Let’s lead by example. If they want to do it, let them do it. Love them anyway. But as for you, the collective you, I don’t want you to just listen and say, ‘Nice talk, Dr. Phil.’ I want you to march in your life. I want you to march with your beliefs. I want you to not be intimidated.

Don’t be stopped, and don’t just vote. Take five people with you. Like I said, the difference between winners and losers is winners do things losers don’t want to do. What they do is they take actions toward known outcomes. They deal with the truth, they set goals, and they go after them with passion. It’s time for us to bring it home. It’s time for us to bring it home. It’s time for us to be winners. Winners, winners, winners. I started by telling you I love this country. I’ll finish by telling you I love this country, and I love you for loving this country. God bless you, and God bless the United States of America.”"

[nicklloydnow]

“Ta-Nehisi Coates’s fundamental problem is that he is a narcissist. Other people interest him only insofar as they reflect his own thoughts and feelings. That is what makes him such a bad reporter, a shortcoming he freely admits to. “Part of me would have done anything to go home,” he writes in his new book The Message, about his 10-day trip to Israel and the Palestinian territories in the summer of 2023. “The part that always grouses about the rigors of reporting, the awkwardness of asking strangers intimate questions, the discipline of listening intently.” Readers, if listening to other people is a chore, then journalism might not be the career for you.

It could also be that Coates hates reporting because he is bad at it. Every reporter knows the a-ha moment of living through the anecdote that will make the perfect lead or kicker. No such perfect anecdotes have ever happened to Coates or, if they did, he was oblivious to them. His previous book, Between the World and Me, was an indictment of America as a racist hellscape, yet the worst act of racism he recounted from his own life—not something he read about in a newspaper or a history book—was a white lady on an escalator who shouted at his dawdling son, who was blocking her way, “Come on!”

(…)

The conclusion he comes to is that the Jewish state is the equivalent of the Jim Crow South. “I don’t think I ever, in my life, felt the glare of racism burn stranger and more intense than in Israel,” he writes. “‘Jim Crow’ was the first thing that came to mind, if only because ‘Jim Crow’ is a phrase that connotes an injustice, a sorting of human beings, the awarding and stripping of the rights of a population. Certainly, that was some part of what I saw in Hebron, in Jerusalem, in Lydd.”

If his luck had been different, and he were less self-involved, Coates could have come up with a better checkpoint anecdote than the lame one he offers. Something like the incident in November 2009 when a Palestinian music teacher on his way to teach a lesson was held at the Beit Iba checkpoint and forced to take out his violin and play it while Israeli soldiers laughed. There you have something more than inconvenience, a vivid and poetic illustration of the dehumanization ordinary Palestinians often face. There, too, you have a rebuttal: The 2001 Sbarro pizza shop bombing in Jerusalem, which killed 16 Israelis including a pregnant woman, was committed by a Palestinian who hid his bomb in a guitar case.

These are the kinds of complexities Coates has no time for. Since he first publicly embraced the Palestinian cause, his liberal friends have been telling him that the issue is complex. “Horseshit,” he told the New York magazine interviewer. Palestine is no more complicated than slavery or segregation. “It’s complicated,” he said, “when you want to take something from somebody.” When the interviewer asked him about Hamas’s attack of Oct. 7, 2023, Coates compared it to Nat Turner’s slave rebellion: “I would’ve been one of those people that would’ve been like, ‘I’m not cool with this.’ But Nat Turner happens in a context.”

The real reason Israel bothers Coates so much is something he waits until the very end of the book to confess:

Israel felt like an alternative history, one where all our [Marcus] Garvey dreams were made manifest. There, ‘Up Ye Mighty Race’ was the creed. There, ‘Redemption Song’ is the national anthem. There, the red, black, and green billowed over schools, embassies, and the columns of great armies. There, Martin Delaney is a hero and February 21 is a day of mourning. That was the dream—the mythic Africa . . . What I saw in the City of David was so familiar to me—the search for self in an epic, mythic past filled with kings.

There you have it. The problem with Israel is that it shames him. How can it be that the Jews carved their Israel out of the desert, and yet no place in Africa, least of all Liberia, remotely resembles Wakanda?

Earlier in the book, Coates talks about his 2014 Atlantic article “The Case for Reparations,” which cemented his status as America’s most prominent public intellectual. “In the months before the article was published, I felt that I had at last discovered the answer to the haunting question of why my people so reliably settled at the bottom of nearly every socioeconomic indicator,” he writes. “The answer was simple: The persistence of our want was matched exactly to the persistence of our plunder. I was blessed with a gift, and the gift was not simply the knowledge that ‘they’ were lying (about us, about this country, and about themselves), but the proof.”

What he loved most about that article, in other words, was the feeling of finally being able to blame all the problems of black America on other people. Israel took that away from him. All the excuses for why his father’s black paradise remained a fantasy applied equally to the Jews, but they overcame the hostility of the world to succeed where Garvey & Co. failed. That, and not any resemblance to Jim Crow, is the reason Coates hates Israel so bitterly.

(…)

For a while, it looked as though a similar divorce might happen again in our day. Many liberals were genuinely shocked by the support for Palestine on college campuses in the wake of the Oct. 7 attack. It caused many to rethink their support for “wokeness” and its crude division of the world into oppressors and oppressed, evil whites and blameless people of color. Wealthy liberals like Bill Ackman defected. Suspicions of anti-Semitism among Black Lives Matter activists, which The New York Times had covered as far back as 2018, gained new credence as campus protesters chanted “From the River to the Sea” and some embraced paraglider iconography. The tensions threatened to bring about a split in the left as far-reaching as that of the 1970s.

There is little reason to expect a replay of history, however. The demographics have changed too much. In 1970, the American electorate and Harvard’s undergraduate student body were both close to 90 percent white. Today. the situation is very different. Last year, people of color made up a majority of children under 18 and a majority of every Ivy League freshman class, except at Dartmouth. At the same time, Jewish enrollment at Harvard is lower than it was during the bad old days of quotas in the 1920s. Demographics don’t perfectly predict political opinions, on this issue or any other, but defectors from the left may be surprised to discover that wokeness, the ideology of valorizing all people of color, has quite enough inertia to carry on without their help.

The future we face is encapsulated in an anecdote that occurred when Coates stopped pontificating to himself and listened to other people for a change. Avner, who leads a group of former Israeli Defense Force soldiers who now favor a more liberal policy toward the Palestinians, is showing Coates around the West Bank with their driver Guy. Coates asks these two Israelis what they would do differently if they were in charge. Avner says he favors self-determination for both peoples. “The question is, can there be a way to have the right to self-determination for Israelis and to Palestinians? I think the answer is yes, there has to be. I mean, there’s no other way.”

Guy doesn’t have time for Avner’s waffle. “I see the establishment of Israel as a sin. I don’t think it should have happened,” he says. “It’s something I can’t live with. And I think in order to have some kind of sustainable, reasonable life here, there should be a real change.”

Coates was instrumental in bringing American elites from having Avner’s view to Guy’s, in respect of their own country. Before, America was flawed but redeemable; now, it was sinful from Day One, founded on slavery and plunder. This line sounded good to many American liberals when its implications weren’t entirely clear. It is much easier to see what abolishing the occupier state means in the context of Israel. The idea shocks many Americans. Whether the future belongs to the liberalism of yesterday or the wokeness of tomorrow will depend on their ability to apply the lessons of that shock to their own case.”

“And here is where I largely agree with him: The problem Israel faces isn’t morally complicated at all. It might have been on October 6, 2023. But after October 7, things got simple.

The terrorist organizations Coates whitewashes or ignores openly and proudly insist that they want Israel destroyed. I’m not even referring to those insipid chants of “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!” one hears from Western apologists for terrorism. I mean that their leaders and founding documents plainly state that their goal is to eradicate Jews and their country.

Hamas and Hezbollah have never been subtle or ambiguous: They want Israel gone and the Jews living there dead or exiled. The Houthis’ official slogan is “God Is the greatest, death to America, death to Israel, a curse upon the Jews, victory to Islam.” Coates could find this out by spending five minutes on Wikipedia.

When someone clearly expresses an intent to murder you and your family, a lot of complexity melts away.

And when they back up their words with actions, things get simpler still. A year ago, Hamas launched a brutal attack in which they murdered men, women, and children; raped women; and kidnapped hundreds. This wasn’t the rhetorical cosplay we’ve seen on American college campuses. This was a deliberate and wanton slaughter of civilians. And in the wake of the attacks, Hamas’ leaders vowed to repeat them again and again.

Except for the issue of retrieving their hostages and adhering to the laws of war rejected entirely by Hamas, Israel’s options were decidedly uncomplicated. And that’s why Coates’ cartoonish understanding of Israel and the Palestinians is so pernicious.

(…)

If you tell the Israelis that compromise is pointless because their country should not exist or be able to defend itself, they will simply ignore you, and rightly so. And if you tell Americans they must choose between terrorist organizations that proudly rape and murder civilians and a democratic ally that doesn’t promise death to America, the odds are good that they’re going to pick the latter.

If Palestinians had eschewed violence in favor of peaceful resistance and moral suasion, they probably would have had a viable state long ago. But Palestinian leaders and Arab governments rejected that approach for decades. Indeed, the Oct. 7 attack was intended to prevent such an approach. The normalization of relations between Israel and Arab governments was a major motivation for it.

Coates and his defenders insist that they want “moral clarity” on the conflict. I believe moral clarity is on Israel’s side. It’s a democracy whose Muslim and Arab citizens have rights that they wouldn’t enjoy in most Arab and Muslim countries. Israel tries to protect civilians and is called genocidal. Hamas calls for genocide, and they are called victims.

I could go on, but even if you reject such facts as irrelevant, Hamas has forced Israelis to either defend themselves or die. Such a choice makes everything clear and simple very quickly. Israel’s flaws vanish before that existential test. That’s why complexity is the only hope the Palestinians have.

“Supporting Ukraine and Israel is morally right and advances America’s strategic interests. Siding with Russia against Ukraine or with Hamas against Israel, by design or negligence, is un-American. Ukraine and Israel are faced with life-or-death threats to their populations and to their democracies. But their struggles are also a test for our democracy, which has served as a beacon of hope and stalwart supporter of these kinds of fights for freedom and democracy throughout the world for generations.

(…)

Hamas and Russia are first and foremost enemies of Israel and Ukraine, but not exclusively. They will continue to unleash terror around the world until they are stopped. It is essential that the U.S. provide Israel and Ukraine everything they need to fight and win: anti-missile defenses, ammunition, access to intelligence, humanitarian assistance, training and more. The aid both countries are requesting, combined, is a minuscule percentage of the U.S. budget — defense or domestic. But that aid could mean the difference between victory and defeat for Israel and Ukraine and for the future of democracy across the globe. Israel and Ukraine are not asking one single American soldier to risk their life. All they want is for us to give them the tools so that they can do the job.

This is an inflection point for democracy and freedom. We have seen with our own eyes, in real time, the barbarism of both Hamas and Russia. The torture and slaughter of civilians — women, children and elderly, unarmed and begging — and the capture of hostages to serve as human shields are acts not of war but of terror. We cannot stand idly by, bearing witness without providing help. That’s not the American way.

For their sake, for our sake, for the world’s sake, we must fully support Israel and Ukraine in their struggle, in our collective struggle, against the darkest forces of human nature.”

“Asked about antisemitism in Ukraine today, Korniychuk links his index finger to his thumb to indicate zero.

After all, other than Israel, Ukraine is the only country in the world that simultaneously had a Jewish president and a Jewish prime minister. Volodymyr Groysman served as prime minister from 2016 to August 2019. For the latter part of that period, Volodymyr Zelensky was already president, having come into office in May 2019, and it was common knowledge that both Volodymyrs were of Jewish parentage

(…)

How many Ukrainians live in Israel? As registration is not compulsory, Korniychuk cannot give an exact figure. Although 15,000 are registered, he estimates that there are approximately half a million Russian-speaking Ukrainians who have made their homes in Israel, plus a large number of Israelis who are entitled to Ukrainian passports.

Of the Ukrainians in Israel, 2,500 including dual nationals, left during the first two weeks of the war. During the first two weeks of the war in Ukraine, some 1,400 people lost their lives, says Korniychuk, underscoring that this is approximately equal to the number of people killed by Hamas during the massacre.

Korniychuk notes that Israel was essentially founded by Ukrainian Jews, who though they came to reestablish a Jewish homeland, nonetheless carried Ukraine in their hearts.

(…)

Inasmuch as the hostage situation and the war in Gaza continue to occupy the attention of the international media, Korniychuk sees this waning soon in the same way that interest in the war in Ukraine has waned.

The longer that the war goes on, he says, the greater the need to keep up awareness.”

[dancing-to-architecture]

12 of 1001

Today's album: The Mothers of Invention - Freak Out! (1966)

Shit yeah, folks, we got some Zappa today!

When it comes to the Mothers, i know Weasels Ripped My Flesh and We're Only In It For The Money, so i can't wait to get seriously fuckin WEIRD.

A quick Wikipedia search tells me that Freak Out! is:

•the debut Mothers (and therefore also Zappa) album,

•might be the first concept album,

•and also was the first time anybody released a double album for their debut.

Hungry Freaks, Daddy-

Okay, as much as i wanted Tracy Chapman's revolution a few days back, i want these Hungry Freaks around even more.

Florida should be filled with hungry freaks. That feels right and natural, unlike Mr America.

A killer start, and i love any song with prominent kazoo.

I Ain't Got No Heart-

Aro anthem or "free love, no strings" anthem? Hard to tell, could go either way. I guess it depends on how you look at it.

Who Are The Brain Police?-

Who ARE the brain police? Why are the brain police? Kill the cop in your head.

Chaotic instrumentation and lyrics that wouldn't be out of place on a Death Grips album, only Ride would be *way* harsher with it.

MORE KAZOO. I got a fever that can only be cured with plastic and a piece of wax.

Go Cry On Somebody Else's Shoulder-

Doo-wop "nah we should stay broken up" song. "Red House" from the other viewpoint.

I have to wonder if this song was an influence for Weird Al's "One More Minute", as they have some very similar bones.

Motherly Love-

The somewhat rarely-seen "know what? groupies are kinda fuckin awesome" rock song.

Kinda creepy, but I've seen/heard much worse.

How Could I Be Such a Fool?-

Another "she done me wrong" song. Okay. Not great, not terrible. Just okay.

Wowie Zowie-

And now a love song. I know this is the start of side 2, but the tone of the songs are giving me whiplash here. That said, who doesn't like a flash in the afternoon?

You Didn't Try To Call Me-

And another i still love you but you don't love me anymore song. Frank, my dude- they're pissed off about the groupies. Simple as that.

Any Way The Wind Blows-

Okay at this point, if this is a concept album, the concept is roughly the same as How I Met Your Mother, in that it's the story of how a guy ruined every single relationship he was in.

At any rate, an "i don't want YOU anymore, i got HER now!" song. Meh.

I like the instrumentation here, but this song kinda feels unnecessary with all the other songs on the album that are so similar in theme.

I'm Not Satisfied-

Lol, love that Zappa gutteral Yeah! in the intro. There's the Frank i know and love.

The lyrics are sadly relatable, but I'm the dude who sucks plus i got depression. (that was an achewood reference I'm actually doing pretty okay more often than not nowadays, esp. when i don't think about my governor existing)

You're Probably Wondering Why I'm Here-

This is more what i was expecting, coming from the other, later albums.

Hell yeah, kazoo SOLO. *Multiple* kazoo solos, even.

"Oh, you don't like our band? Cool, go fuck yourself. We might be weird, but you're fucking basic and boring as shit."

Trouble Every Day-

Change the TV references to Twitter references and you'll realize that, in the last 57 years, nothing has really fundamentally changed in any way.

This song could be released tomorrow and still be relevant to what's going on. Zappa knew from the beginning that America was sliding towards a fascist theocracy, and it really shows here.

Cops are still racist pricks actively beating the shit out of people (well, they put down the nightsticks and picked up ARs, but yeah.)

This nation is still inherently extremely racist.

And the media and all the out-of-touch fuckers in charge keep telling us "there's nothing we can do about it (unless you give us more money)!"

Help, I'm A Rock-

The return of the Weird.

I've heard this song's title as a punchline before, but this is my first time actually hearing the song, and it's exactly as weird as i was hoping it would be.

It's a drag being a rock. Think I would rather be the mayor.

Chaotic as hell. Also, i was glad i was wearing headphones when the orgasm noises appeared out of the noise. I can't even begin to imagine how much people of the time hated this.

It can't happen here. Everybody's safe and it can't happen here. No freaks for us and if can't happen here.

(It's happening here. It has been for years and it likely won't ever stop happening here.)

The Return Of The Son of Monster Magnet-

Suzy Creamcheese's first appearance in the discography. (So, until today, I legitimately always thought Suzy Creamcheese was like a late 60s porn star or something. Come to find out just now that it was just an inside joke started by Zappa that blew out of proportion. Today i learned..)

Decidedly the most experimental song on the album. The sounds of Space Madness.

Ooh, picked out a theremin during the space madness section. Fuck yeah.

The lyrics on Spotify have officially broken at this point. They simply do not know how to handle this song.

Space Madness has devolved into more orgasms and speaking in tongues. Yeah, i bet people in the late 60s either totally loved or vehemently hated this, depending on their usage of... substances. (Love me a good substance. Especially some cream cheese. Put it on a toasted bagel and I'm set.)

The last half of this song is the sheer insanity i had been waiting for.

So, for a guy who claimed to never do drugs, this album IS drugs. It's been interesting to see where Zappa et al started from, because it makes me appreciate the later stuff that much more. Thank the gods that Zappa decided to fully Embrace the Weird as he continued his career.

Not my favorite album of theirs, but I'm glad i finally got around to listening to it.

Favorite Track: While i really want to say Trouble Every Day, i have to say Help, I'm A Rock beat it by a hair. Might be unfair to Trouble, since the latter song is like 3 times longer and 5 times weirder, but Trouble Every Day just made me too sad on reflection to give it the top spot.

Least Favorite Track: You Didn't Try To Call Me. This song is already on the album in 2 different spots. The album is long enough, imo it really doesn't need a third song about the exact. same. idea.

[alexbkrieger13]

Well yeah that’s what’s happened in Sweden as well. Nothing has been done in the past 20 years except for trying to invest resources in schools and in segregated neighbourhoods, which is good but it has not been enough. And so it has just escalated. For example all the criminals know that there is no punishment for anyone under 15, and barely any punishment for anyone under 18. So they take advantage of that. 16-17 year olds are commiting murder and even children as young as 12 are used for criminal acts.

Sweden is a small country, a small population. So when you have a very large immigration in relation to the population size, integration doesn’t work no matter how much you want it to. We have also been way to anxious and afraid to let people feel they are a part of Sweden. Thinking that it’s racist or offensive to teach the children of immigrants the Swedish national anthem or our traditions. Or asking people to speak Swedish or know our customs before becoming a citizen.

There has to be something to integrate into, a strong culture. That’s how it was when the big immigration to America happened in the 1800’s and early 1900’s. Within a generation the Swedes and Germans and Irish and Italians were all Americans first of all, that’s how they identified. But if there’s no strong majority culture to integrate into, people will take other options, and the culture that exists in large majorities is very strong. It’s not about things like what food you eat or which holidays you celebrate. The problem is when there is no unity in fundamental values. Such as respect for the law when it comes to freedom of speech, freedom of religion and equality for women.

Yeah I think you can look at history and go segregating of Cultures just doesn't work (I studied the history of the Irish diaspora in America as part of my dissertation). The melting of Cultures is not something that happens overnight it takes subsequent Generations and various factors to get to the point where for example in the 1840s and 50s the Irish in America and the United Kingdom were seen as the lowest of the low whereas and it took nearly a century of integration to where Irish Americans are seen as a celebrated cultural group in America.

Each country's different in how they approach it I think we can all agree that there are good and bad ways to deal with this and for the most part it hasn't been dealt great within Europe.

[vivaciousoceans]

Half of the people mad about Sheryl singing are just racist who have no idea about the origins of the song and the other half are people in the diaspora upset that Sheryl is Jamaican singing the African American national anthem, completely ignoring the fact that her father is an African American man born in America. Moral of the story is everyone upset is just uneducated and loud.

[stevesociety8]

Nov. 11, 2024

Monday is Veterans Day.

And now that we’ve gone through a bruising political campaign, with Republican Donald Trump having the greatest comeback in American political history, winning the Electoral College and the popular vote, there is some talk–except on MSNBC–about American reconciliation and unity.

As they try to make sense of what happened to them, and what they did to themselves and to the nation, here’s my question:

Are we to open our arms to our leftist neighbors, even if they spat on the American flag and used the power of corporate media to compel many Americans to kneel during our national anthem?

Our memories are short in America. We are encouraged to forget much of what happens to us. Memories get in the way of commerce.

But I can’t forget what the left has done. I just can’t. I once loved watching pro-football on Sunday. I began to fall away from it with the mounting evidence that the sport created brain damage. And still, those of us who loved it, loved it. We ignored the moral implications of avoiding the truth.

Yet the universe changed. Those who refused to bend the knee, and kneel during the singing  of the national anthem–or worse, dared complain about it–were threatened with public shaming as racists and fascists. The corrupt corporate media was the lash that forced many to their knees. And once denounced as racists by the jacobin left, many believed they’d be isolated and fired, especially if they worked in government or for a corporation. And some were indeed fired, their lives upended, their families hurt.

The National Football League is a corporation too. Now the NFL is all about cammo and snappy salutes and Old Glory. The league of gladiators has become the NFL that loves America now, as it loved apple pie and Chevrolet. And like those other corporate interests, like the corporate media and the Democratic Party just loves the red, white and blue.

But like I said, November 11 is Veteran’s Day. Have we forgotten what they did to strike at Republican hearts?

Forgive me Jesus, but I just can’t easily open my arms to those who spat on our flag and compelled other Americans to kneel–not to God during prayer–but to the Godless jacobin left during the hateful rituals they spewed out on Sundays, with the Democrats of the American left that was finally slapped down on Tuesday by Americans who voted them out of office and elected President Trump.

I’m for redemption, yes. And forgiveness.

But how can there be public redemption without public confession? Without public admission of sin? Without saying: America we took your pastime and threw it in the garbage to weaken Donald Trump. I don’t know if I’m alone in this. If I am, it wouldn’t be the first time. And it’s natural that after a long, often an ugly political campaign, that Americans want to get back to “normal.” Ok that’s fine. But what is “normal” exactly?

Years ago, the argument over kneeling during the anthem at NFL games jumped to the Chicago Police Department. Two Chicago police officers, both African-American, made news for being photographed in uniform, kneeling in support of protests against police brutality.

Then Democrat Mayor Rahm Emanuel didn’t want to touch it. He had troubles of his own with black voters, having sat on that video of a white police officer shooting a black teenager to death until after his re-election was secure. Police were prohibited from engaging in political activity in uniform. But the mayor declined to engage about the cops on their knees. President Joe Biden made him ambassador to Japan.

And the hint of the lawlessness to come for Chicago during the next “Summer of Love” was revealed by Chicago’s politics. Democrat politicians were either of the hard left, like Kamala Harris or they were terrified by the left, and so, they capitulated as did Rahm.

Of his kneeling police officers, Rahm told reporters:

“They were somewhat betwixt, between two different aspirations.”

Betwixt? I’ve never heard a Chicago politician use “betwixt” before.

Remember that conservatives didn’t push this NFL protest drama. The Democrat Party, the left, pushed it for years. Remember also that in St. Louis and Washington, black NFL players raised their hands on the field, in the “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot” pose in support of slain Ferguson, Missouri, police shooting victim Michael Brown, who turned out to be a dangerous thug, not some hero. The remaking of Michael Brown into some kind of plaster saint was was a lie. It was a Democrat organizing stunt and the same thing was done with another thug, the BLM sainted George Floyd.

And it was all a lie.

Later came another try, with the hapless weakling Mayor Lori Lightfoot. It involved the left’s political point man and mediocre quarterback Colin Kaepernick — wearing warm-up socks with pink pigs as police officers on them — first sitting, then kneeling through the anthem to protest police brutality.

What did the political left want? It wanted a revolt of the gladiators on national television. And it got what it wanted.

And generations of politicians averted their eyes, to brutality and lawlessness. The Soros prosecutors amplified this trend.

The NFL watched the left march through the league and the corporate chieftains and the owners did nothing. That was fear talking. And confusion breeds more fear. The rogue gladiators pushed it and pushed it until it all became food for the “Summer of Love” overwhelming big city mayors who were also fearful of exerting leadership.

By the “Summer of Love” of 2020, the Black Lives Matter riots blossomed out of this firmament, and the cities burned. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker were terrified of angering black rioters and looters, so they let the cities be destroyed. Gov. Fat Boy and company they talk tough about Trump, but like the coward on the edge of a barfight, when it was really time to throw hands, they averted their eyes and just looked away wanting mommy to bring them cookies and milk.

Will it all be erased by loving the Cowboys and the Bears and the Lions? And perhaps buying some NFL cammo gear? Perhaps.

But what about those NFL kneepads, for kneeling on hard ground as Old Glory is stretched tight and thousands sing? Can we get those in cammo, to save the knees if not our national pride?

This isn’t the ’60s. It is cops who are are under siege. They’re the ones being shot for a color: blue.  On Sunday, a mass was scheduled for fallen Chicago Police Officer Enrique Martinez at St. Christina Church on the Southwest Side. Officer Martinez, only 26, was gunned down by three thugs during a South Side traffic stop on Monday night.

America is not a racist country. We twice elected a black man from Chicago as president of the United States. Rumor has it that his bid for a “third” term in the White House was denied, unequivocally by the American people, on Election Day.

So are we a perfect country? No. Not exactly. But lest we forget, we are a great one. Yet all too often, we’re encouraged to forget.

Even on Veteran’s Day when we honor all those who served

And today, I’m all about remembering.

[reasoningdaily]

Hello friends, non-friends and white people who claim they don’t see color. 

I want to give a special shoutout to the “colorblind” white people. Life must be so special for you. How do you even match your clothes on a daily basis? Is your colorblindness related to the racist bone that is not in your body? 

These questions need answers, but since we are already here, let’s talk about this idea that we should be a “colorblind” society in America.

You see, there are some white people who will tell you that bringing up race and color is the real issue. They say it’s divisive and only causes more problems. If only we would stop talking about race and color, all the bad things would go away, they say. 

That is a lie. The truth is that ignoring race and color means ignoring the injustices that go along with race and color in this country. Declaring yourself “colorblind” means you are also blinding yourself to the inequities and injustices suffered by Black people.

If we sit back and pretend not to see racism, how will it ever be eradicated?

I was reminded of this earlier this week when Jerod Mayo was named the first Black head coach of the New England Patriots in the team’s history.

During a press conference to announce Mayo’s appointment to the role, team owner Robert Kraft made mention of Mayo’s race, but was quick to declare that’s not why he chose him. He said he chose Mayo not because he is Black but because he is the best person for the job. 

And while it’s undoubtedly true that Mayo is the best person for the job, we cannot overlook the significance of him being Black. Mayo himself addressed that when it was his turn to speak. 

“I do see color,” Mayo said, “because I believe if you don’t see color, you can’t see racism.”

He went on to say that race does matter when you are trying to fix the problem. 

The NFL has a race problem. Specifically, the NFL has a problem when it comes to Black head coaches, but I would extend that further and say the NFL has a racist problem when it comes to its Black members period. 

Let’s not forget that this is the same sports league that took issue with Black players kneeling during the national anthem as a form of protest against the extrajudicial killing of Black people at the hands of police. 

My friend and colleague Michael Harriot did a deep dive into the lack of Black coaches and the way Black coaches don’t get the same opportunities and chances that white coaches do. 

In “Black coaches are better: a statistical breakdown of the NFL’s racism,” Harriot wrote: 

By every statistical measure, Black coaches in the National Football League have outperformed white coaches. 

In 1989, when the Oakland Raiders made Art Shell the first Black head coach in the world’s most profitable, most popular but most undercompensated sport (NFL players share a lower percentage of profits than any other major professional sport), the NFL was already majority-Black. Since then, Black coaches have won at higher rates than white coaches. Black coaches are more experienced, more capable and produce better results. They are more likely than white coaches to lead their teams to the playoffs. However, in the 102-year history of the National Football League, only 20 Black men have been allowed to coach an entire season.  I encourage you to read the full article because my friend does an excellent job of breaking down just how egregious the lack of Black head coaches and head coaching opportunities in the league for Black coaches is when you compare the stats. 

The NFL released its 2023 Diversity and Inclusion Report in March 2023, and it revealed that between 2012 and 2023, 81% of those hired to be head coaches in the league were white (a total of 62 head coaches) compared to 19% of head coach hires being of color (a total of 15 head coaches, and of those 15 head coaches of color, as of March 2023, only five of them still had head coaching positions.) 

All of that is to say that the disparities are stark and real, and this is just looking at football. 

Imagine how these disparities look in other aspects of the real world. 

The bottom line is simple. If you insist on people not seeing color, then you are insisting that they uphold white supremacy as a means of maintaining the status quo. 

People who claim to not see color want to turn a blind eye to the ways that race and color play a role in even the simplest day-to-day living experiences of Black people. 

They want to exist in their little bubble that is cushioned and protected by whiteness because that’s safe for them. 

They aren’t thinking about the safety of everyone else. 

A colorblind society upholds white supremacy, plain and simple. 

Anyone who says anything different is lying to themselves and the rest of us, too. 

[oldpoet56]

A Few Things To Think About ( #767 )

A Few Things To Think About ( #767 ) ( A few parables for the amusement and entertainment of my friends, family and loved ones ) 1.) Is it only in America that some people use something that is racists and divides to say that they are trying to bring the people together with? 2.) Should each race in our Nation have a separate National Anthem under the fraud of trying to bring people together? 3.)…

[2bpoliticallycurious]

Agreed, it is very sad but true, especially regarding how Trump, certain Republicans, and Trump's MAGA followers seem to perceive protests against racism.

Think of how they depicted the largely peaceful BLM protests as being violent.

Think of how they viewed attempts to take down Confederate statues as trying to "erase American heritage."

Think about how they reacted to Colin Kaepernick and others choosing to kneel during the national anthem at NFL games.

Think of how they have demonized attempts in schools and universities to increase diversity, equity and inclusion, and how they have banned teaching about systemic racism in public schools and universities.

And it is these very same people who claim that America is no longer a racist society--not to mention those like Nikki Haley who claim that America was never a racist nation. 🤦🏻‍♀️

Sad but often true.

[andimthedad]

If you don't want to mix politics and sports, then don't play the National Anthem during sporting events.

Me, in discussing the NFL #TakeAKnee with Luke, my 13-year-old. As a friend of mine added, “And don’t use taxpayer money to build the stadium.”

Also, if you’re more upset at the method of the protest than the reason for the protest, you need to examine your definition of patriotism. It’s a protest to bring attention to unarmed black men and boys — like Jayson Negron, Jordan Edwards and Darius Smith, just this past May — getting murdered by police who are then protected by the system. The American flag is supposed to symbolize “liberty and justice for all,” as the Pledge states. Right now, it does not represent that for all Americans. If you can’t see this then you don’t really believe in liberty and justice for all; you only want it for some.

[marty101sblog]

How to pick a side in the next Civil War.....

I used to think I was pretty much just a regular person, but I was born “white” into a two-parent household which now labels me as "Privileged", racist and responsible for slavery. I am a fiscal and moral conservative, which by today's standards, makes me a fascist because I plan & budget. But I now find out that I am not here because I earned it, but because I was "advantaged”.

I believe the Lord did not give me the heart to judge others. I am not a Muslim, which now labels me as an infidel. I believe in the 2nd Amendment, which makes me a threat to the liberals and I get labeled as being part of a militia. I am older than 30, making me a useless person with outdated ideas and values. I think and I reason, and I doubt much of what the "mainstream" media tells me, which makes me a "Right-wing conspiracy nut”.

I am proud of my heritage and our inclusive American culture, making me a xenophobe. I believe in hard work, fair play, and fair compensation according to each individual's merits, which today makes me a target of socialists and Antifa. I believe our system guarantees freedom of effort - not freedom of outcome or subsidies which must make me a borderline sociopath.

I believe in a strong defense and protection of America for and by all citizens, now making me a militant. I am proud of our flag, what it stands for and the many who died to let it fly, so I stand and salute during our National Anthem - so I must be a racist. I kneel only for The Cross, which makes me racist. I think that all lives matter, which labels me as a racist. I think the riots and destruction of property around our country are wrong and are just an excuse to push a political agenda, so I'm labeled a racist.

I support our law enforcement, servicemen and women, which labels me as a racist.

I question how fear is being used to control us during the COVID-19 pandemic and think the crisis is being used for political gain, so I'm labeled careless and non-sympathetic. Yet I know the virus is real.

Liberals have tried to make me feel bad about who I am! Based on everything above, some want me to believe I am a bad person; I'm not, I'm a good person who loves my God, my family and my country.

God bless America! Amen!

Feel free to copy-paste !!! I did!

[dragoni]

Find the American flag

#TrumpYacht #TrumpPatriotism #TakeAKnee #RacialJustice #SocialJustice