Might I remind you, the Republican party has lost the popular vote in 5 of the last 6 presidential election cycles. But hey, keep hope alive.

Yes, because this, like 2012, is the, “We’re tired of this n*gger,” and now, “Anybody but that Clinton b*tch,” election campaign. You know, the typical bigoted tripe and weaponized stupid that fuels the ideological bankruptcy that is the Republican party. Just look at the current frontrunner!

The best thing that could have happened during tonight’s debate on FOX would have been a group of GOP voters screaming, “Black lives matter!” But, that didn’t happen; nor did I ever expect it to. Hell, the Republican party has given no fucks about black people since slavery. If they did, maybe, just maybe, there would be at least some form of general consensus about the value of the lives of black people, other than the racist dog- whistle political pandering to its knuckle-dragging base.

You know, the ones angry and brave enough to shoot and kill black people at churches and the occasional movie theater? Yes, they’re included in that group of America-loving patriotic voters.

But, we expect Republicans to care all of a sudden?

My man Charles D. Ellison makes a good point on The Hill:

We haven’t really seen a true #BlackLivesMatter “win” — oh, yeah, save embarrassing moments for presidential candidates suddenly forced to rescript already scripted messaging. Yet, embarrassing moments and taped rants that go viral don’t necessarily mean group empowerment. It’s all momentary face-saving and low hanging fruit. Calibrating a talking point can be briefly fulfilling, but is the candidate really in your pocket? Sure, those moments are currently forcing folks on both sides to not forget about black voters, but the jury is still out on whether that’s forced any significant realignment on the issues beyond mere wedgie-inspired statements that “yes, OK, OK, you got me, stop, it hurts … Black Lives Matter, Black Lives Matter!”

 

But, what’s the policy pledge beyond that? Is anyone saying they’ll push or sign a law that forces rigorous national policing standards or demands totally enforced federal tracking of police brutality or gives real teeth to Justice Department audits of state and local agencies? And what’s the plan to combat linked issues such as crumbling schools, high poverty and systemic housing segregation once they get elected?

 

With one known national weekend convention in Cleveland under its belt, there is no real sense of what the big plan or mission is. When you ask, organizers are unresponsive. Some are outright dismissive: either you’re in or you’re out (a strange feed-the-crowd mindset for any social justice movement pushing for universal equity, fairness and transparency). Keep inquiring or offering insight on the essential political mechanics, and it becomes a generational shutdown (that’s “old school”) or visceral the-system-can-kiss-my-ass anarchy (“we tried that already” when, um, sorry, no, you really didn’t). Or, ask more and you are slowing down momentum and attempting to dismantle the cause, even if the questions are coming from a good place.

 

But these are important questions; decisive questions that will determine if it’s a one-hit wonder like its Occupy Wall Street cousin or whether it can really last. Will there be a sophisticated, multi-state voter registration and mobilization campaign in 2016? Is there a robust national political action committee in the works? Are you relying on conditional grants or are you raising the kind of grassroots money that makes public officials – and the law enforcement bosses they hire or approve – wet their bed at night when they think about it?

 

Graduate students from Yale University and the University of California, Berkeley recently conducted the first “randomized’ field study that showed what we sort of knew all along: “money equals access to candidates.” So, what’s your government relations or lobbying effort on Capitol Hill since, with Republicans controlling both chambers of Congress, lots of bills are being introduced but not much has passed (well, you’ve got the feds tracking police shooting data now, but what good is that if loosely enforced?). Several senators ban together on legislation in response to Cecil the Lion’s death — including one of only two black members of the Senate — and you’re wondering why they haven’t pushed anything yet on #BlackLivesMatter?

 

People might be talking about #BlackLivesMatter. But do candidates, policymakers and influencers really fear it? If not, you’ll still find yourselves frustrated and faced with the same issues and the same folks in power with no change of guard or policy in sight.

The fact that there were black folks on social media who were upset because‪#‎BlackLivesMatter‬ wasn’t acknowledged at the GOP debate, on FOX News – I repeat, on FOX News – made me laugh really hard. Like, really hard. I mean, it’s FOX News! They practically lynch black people on live television over there, for fuck sake. Okay, so I’m only kidding; but just a little.

Some were even more upset that the name Tamir Rice wasn’t even mentioned, although the debate was held in the very city where he was killed by a police officer. Which is really a joke when you think about the fact that Cleveland, Ohio is a blue collar working city long ignored by the Republican party since its industrial manufacturing heyday. Tamir Rice? Are you kidding me?

Hell, thanks to Republicans in congress, we can’t even get a jobs bill to land on the desk of President Barack Obama that would surely bring joy to the many unemployed black people in America. But yet y’all are upset that a bunch of REPUBLICAN candidates running to become president of these United States had the gall to ignore the lives of black folk?

Newsflash: It’s the Republican party! They haven’t given a damn about black people since the cause was ending slavery. And, this was at a time when the GOP was largely a party of northerners before realignment after the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964. But hey, perhaps the cause is better served by tweets of righteous indignation, rather than crafting and advancing real policy positions for which we can hold elected officials accountable. But, of course, it’s a lot easier to sit around waiting around for that hope and change will magically rain down upon us from the White House before Obama leaves office. You know, anything that’s not like actual work to build political influence outside of the silly hashtag that issues an ultimatum to the Democrats.

Yeah, good luck with that…

And while you’re doing just that, do remember that it is the Republican party leadership that’s trying their damnedest to make it harder for people of color – and black people in particular – to cast votes. Oh well, I suppose black lives do matter after all.

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No seriously, if anyone paid half-assed attention to the presidential debates — especially the final debate on foreign policy where Romney practically cupped Obama’s balls all night long and told 24 lies in 41 minutes — there’s no way that the race for the White House should not be this close. But then again, maybe I’m underestimating the strength of the idiot vote. Because at this point, it’s hard to take undecided voters seriously.

This from Talking Points Memo:

Americans are both warming up on the economy and to Republican Mitt Romney’s candidacy, according to a national poll released Sunday by NBC News and the Wall Street Journal.

Romney and President Obama are tied among likely voters at 47 percent apiece, although Obama holds the advantage among registered voters 49 percent to 44 percent nationally. Obama also holds wide leads on a host of personal qualities, including a 16-point lead on which candidate is better at “looking out for the middle class,” 13-percent lead on “being knowledgeable and experienced enough to handle the presidency,” and a large 32-point advantage on “being easygoing and likable.”

But Romney is ahead on who’s “better prepared to create jobs and improve the economy over the next four years” by a 4-point spread, 45 percent to 41 percent.

“What appears to have benefited Romney, especially after the first two presidential debates, is that voters are more comfortable with him,” NBC News Senior Political Editor Mark Murray wrote about the findings. “A combined 47 percent of registered voters say they are either optimistic and confident or satisfied and hopeful that Romney would do a good job as president — up five points since the last NBC/WSJ poll.”

Romney maintains a tiny advantage in the PollTracker Average of the presidential race nationally.

I know, some of you are tired of me pulling the race card; and yes, I know for some of you liars Obama being black has no bearing on your decision to support Romney. Sure, I believe you: You’re supporting Romney because he has better policies, and Obama has made things worse.

But you want to know what’s funny about that position? What’s quite peculiar, is the fact that Romney hasn’t said as much as anything remotely close to anything like a plan for fixing the economy. All I ever hear from Romney is blah, blah, blah… five point plan… blah, blah, blah… 12 million jobs… blah, blah, blah… the black guy sucks…. blah blah, blah… vote for me… blah, blah, blah…. the black guy sucks…. blah, blah, blah… I’ll make your wildest dreams come true.

Yes, just ask economist Paul Krugman:

I’ve been delving a bit into what the Romney campaign and its economist fellow-travelers have been saying, and I think I have figured out the true economic doctrine Romney and his inner circle have in mind. It is, needless to say, not what the campaign has claimed.

The official line has been that the five-point program will create scads of jobs. This has a couple of problems. First, the program is vacuous — for the most part it’s a statement of desired outcomes, not policies. Second, as Glenn Kessler points out, the studies claimed as justification for the 12-million jobs number actually don’t say at all what the campaign asserts.

[…] So the Romney campaign is lying about the rationale for its boasts about jobs.But what’s the real story?

The answer is actually pretty clear: CONFIDENCE. The Romney notion is that we’d be having a rip-roaring recovery right now, except that Job Creators feel that Obama is looking at them funny. And so all Romney has to do is show up, and happy times will be here again. No, seriously: in Boca Raton Romney declared that simply by being elected he could start a boom, “without actually doing anything”.

And boy did Romney show up at the debate in Boca Raton, Florida last night.Basically, a there was different Mitt Romney on the debate stage. It was as though somehow he was transformed by Mormon Jesus into a peace-loving, weed-smoking hippie who rolled into town on a horse with no name and binders full of bayonets. For a minute I forgot that he was actually the cold-blooded corporate Sith Lord surrounded by neocons hell-bent on going to war with everyone in the world unwilling to work for pennies like the cheap Chinese labor from which he profits. And please believe, the world is watching; and from the looks of it, they’d rather have Hitler back than Mitt as POTUS.

At least Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson can admit that race has a lot to do with it…

The post Mitt Romney Isn’t a Liar, He’s Just Schizophrenic appeared first on Madness & Reality.

Sesame Street character Big Bird’s name came up at Wednesday night’s first presidential debate between President Obama and Mitt Romney.

As Romney noted what entities he would stop funding, he mentioned the president’s health care law, then added that he would also stop a subsidy to PBS.

He said to moderator Jim Lehrer, who works for PBS: “I’m sorry, Jim. I’m going to the stop the subsidy to PBS. I’m going to stop other things. I like PBS. I love Big Bird. I actually like you, too. But I’m not going to keep on spending money on things to borrow money from China to pay for it.”

As Republican Mitt Romney pledged to cut funding to PBS — adding, “I like PBS, I love Big Bird” — commenters on Twitter leaped to the defense of their favorite “Sesame Street” characters. Big Bird was a major Twitter trend throughout the night, while Oscar the Grouch and Bert and Ernie also featured. Twitter said that shortly after Romney’s remarks, users were posting 17,000 tweets per minute mentioning Big Bird. A spoof Twitter account, @firedbigbird, quickly won thousands of followers, while others shared a jokey, doctored photo showing the character posing with a cardboard sign pleading for work. (source)

Yes, think the prison industrial complex, the military industrial complex, and all of the other complexes that encourages and promotes corporate welfare. Yep, no welfare for the lovable friends of children across the world that have magically entertained and educated many of adults as old as myself. But, thank God there are still child labor laws to protect the countless children short-changed by politicians who sell the idea that the problem with education is greedy teachers and unions. Because of those laws, children in America can be spared the humility pf being exploited sweat shop labor — because, American exceptionalism says we don’t do that to kids in America. Kids in Other countries however? Yeah well, somebody has to do it, right? After all, not every child in the world can be fortunate to sit in classrooms being prepared for either a prison cell or a war zone.

The post Why Exactly Are We Mad at Mitt Romney for Wanting to Fire Big Bird? appeared first on Madness & Reality.

In steps “Joe The Plumber”. Yup, like you, or the people who watched the presidential debate last night, I too thought he was a cousin of “Joe Sixpack”. Uh huh, I thought “Joe The Plumber” was just another made up dude used to refer to middle class White America. Well, low and behold, after the debate, I find out that “Joe The Plumber” was a real person. As annoying as it was to sit through and listen to McCain refer to him as if he were an old college buddy last night, today, I have a new found appreciation for “Joe The Plumber”.

Why?

Well, as it turns out, McCain’s man “Joe” isn’t even a registered voter. And what’s worse, is the fact that he owe’s the gov’t a substantial amount of back taxes, and that he’s not even a licensed plumber(YOU CAN READ IT ALL HERE). He is what is known, as a “Jack Leg”; a Jack of All trades and a master of none. Now, as a person who has had the privilege of working in the construction/home improvement industry in the past, its not common to come across a person like “Joe”. To be honest, most self employed contractors or “Jack Legs” usually have their share of tax problems. But, not all of them have the opportunity of becoming famous overnight through the continued reference of the losing candidate in a presidential race. Not all of them have news networks setting up camera crews in their homes as they watched the debate, only to find out hours later that they can’t even fuckin vote! Joe can’t vote, so who the fuck cares about what he thinks!!

I’m pretty sure John McCain feels like an idiot right now. Hell, he has yet to meet the man. But the way he looked at the camera and said, “Hey Joe, you’re rich…” makes me laugh. I’m sorry, but its obvious that “Joe” isn’t rich. If “Joe” were rich, he damn sure would have a plumber’s license. He damn sure would have sounded credible when he said in his street interview with Obama that he’s trying to buy a company. But once again, John McCain didn’t do his homework. Just like he failed to do homework on Palin, he failed to do any on “Joe The Plumber”. What if “Joe” had a $1000 per week crack habit? What if “Joe The Plumber” dare I say, was related to Timothy McVeigh? Would that not make McCain look like more of an idiot than he is today? There’s a rumour going around the internet that he’s somehow related to the Keating 5, but you now how the internet can be, so I don’t believe it. But either way, Joe The Plumber’s 15 minutes of fame is up, and has run its course. Damn the internet can be so cruel.

Speaking of fame, and declining 15 minutes thereof…James T Harris, you know, the Black guy who is supposed to get his reward in heaven as John McCain put it last week? Yeah, that negro. I think his run is just about over. He appeared on CNN in an interview, and got heated about being called a sellout, and stormed off the stage in the middle of the interview. Oh well, so much for him ever having a shot at replacing Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson as the resident self hating Black guy on Fox News Channel. The funny thing about the confrontation is the fact that his ass got called out by another Black republican. Now you know the “brother” has been catchin hell from negroes all across the country for his “Jig” act at the McCain rally in Wisconsin (a state that McCain has since pulled his campaign out of I might add). But to get blasted on National Tv, by a fellow Black Republican? Yeah, thats definitely a signal that the game is over.

Somehow I can’t help but to think of Jay Z’s old song…

“It Was Allgood Just A Week Ago”

As Dave Chappelle would say…

“Tough break nigga.”

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