Understanding conservatives.

Before I drop tonight's cut and paste job, I have to mention a couple of stories that had me scratching my very bald head today.

They really make me question the sanity of some people.

The first one has to do with Donald Trump Jr. accusing Barack Obama of plagiarizing some of his speech. Think about that for a minute. The young Trump actually lifted the same lines from the president who used them long before his daddy decided to run for president, and yet he has the audacity to accuse the president of lifting his lines. Unbelievable!

"Melania Trump, the elder Trump’s wife, came under fire last week when it was revealed that she had plagiarized from a speech first lady Michelle Obama delivered at the 2008 Democratic National Convention. 

Inexplicably, Trump Jr. appears to be trying to spark similar outrage by claiming the president stole material from him. 

He has failed, largely because the line he’s claiming to have coined wasn’t even his ― elected officials, including Barack Obama and former President George W. Bush, have been using it for years." 

Then there is Bill O'Reilly, a popular conservative talk show host who actually had the nerve to declare on his popular talk show that slaves were well fed, and had proper  lodging while they built the White House.

It's nothing new, of course, conservatives have a long history of trying to delegitimize  the stain and pain of slavery. But to see one of them do it so openly and without hesitation was shocking.

Now, of course, after all the backlash, he is trying to clean up his statement.

 "As any honest historian knows, in order to keep slaves and free laborers strong, the Washington administration provided meat, bread and other staples, also decent lodging on the grounds of the new presidential building. That is a fact. Not a justification, not a defense of slavery. Just a fact. Anyone who implies a soft-on-slavery message is beneath contempt."'

Bill, that is a "soft on slavery message", and you are beneath contempt. But we all already knew that; your history, both professionally and personally, proves it.  

So on to the must read article of the day:

"It is not Barack Obama’s fault that Donald Trump is the Republican presidential nominee, any more than the proverbial hurricane is the fault of the proverbial butterfly. But just like the butterfly and the hurricane, the fact that Trump’s ascension comes at the end of the Obama era is hardly a coincidence — and it’s hard to imagine one without the other.

More specifically, Obama’s election helped pave the way for Trumpism: not the idiosyncratic and often incomprehensible campaign that Donald Trump himself is running, but the anti-immigration, anti-trade, "law and order" populist sentiment that he’s brought back into the American mainstream and that will probably outlast his (probable) loss in November.

One of the reasons Trumpism has surprised political and media elites with its passion and strength is that it draws from a deep well of anxiety about America losing its culture and values in the face of (among other things) multiculturalism.

The idea that America is being both overrun and taken over by people with different values is partly inspired by reminders of difference in everyday life: seeing people in the streets who "look like" unauthorized immigrants; having to press 1 for English. But it’s also reinforced by the media, and by who represents America on the world stage.

And for the past eight years, that’s been a man of Kenyan ancestry — with, as Obama himself said during his 2004 convention speech, "a funny name."

Obama’s election was the result of the underlying demographic changes that have provoked so much anxiety that something’s being lost in America. But it was also a symbol of it.

More importantly, it offered a way for people to express those anxieties under the banner of disagreement about politics — which is acceptable in polite company — instead of under the banner of "complaining about nonwhite people," which is generally considered racist and frowned upon discussing openly.

Accusing African Americans or immigrants of being un-American or disloyal is a longstanding theme, but it’s not a polite thing to say. But asking whether President Obama was really born in America anyway, or saying he has a "Kenyan anti-colonialist" outlook because of his father, or darkly hinting that he is more sympathetic to America’s Islamist enemies than its allies because he has something in common with them? All of those are pretty strong and ugly criticisms, but they’re criticisms of a politician — of the most powerful man in the world, in fact. That makes them more acceptable than if they were about someone else.

Birtherism, of course, is the issue that made Donald Trump a conservative hero in 2011. The swell of support he felt then was almost enough to tempt him into a run in 2012, and it was definitely enough to tempt him into a run in 2016.

Trump had been toying with a run for president for decades. And while some of his policy stances have definitely shifted (to say the least) since then, his history as a racial provocateur goes back decades.

But Trump is a good marketer. He understood, when he ran this time, that his ability to make controversial statements was a close relative of the conservative resentment of "political correctness," and the yearning to more openly express certain people’s fears without courting offense or censorship. He saw his time had come." [Source]

American gumbo, and twenty five thousand reasons not to take money from a racist.

That Anthony Karen is one special kind of photo journalist. Forget the great pictures (just look at Uncle Jeb in this one), how did he even live among these people to take them? Oh well, I guess it takes all types of stew to melt in this great pot of ours to cook American gumbo.

"New York-based photojournalist Anthony Karen has a knack for getting inside of some of America’s most secretive organizations.

A former Marine, Karen is the author of The Invisible Empire: Ku Klux Klan, and White Pride, both of which document white supremacist culture. In dozens of photo essays, Karen has dealt with American subcultures ranging from skinheads to Kansas’ Westboro Baptist Church.

“

I have a keen interest in religious ideology and marginalized subject matter. I prefer documenting long-term stories, because I feel a story can always be improved upon; there’s always some nuance that you’ll discover with subsequent trips. This methodology has proven helpful as I develop as a photojournalist,” Karen told Slate in an email.

“I think a lot of the credibility I’ve earned also stems from my basic philosophy that you need to give some of yourself in order to receive anything back,” Karen told FotoEvidence.

“I spend time with people, I listen to what they have to say, and I treat each person as an individual. I don’t have to believe what they believe, but whenever I’m in someone’s space, I feel I’m obliged to observe without judgment. That's not to say I wouldn't intervene if I felt a situation called for it, but I choose to observe moment to moment and simply take in what I see and experience without presumption or pretext.” [More]

Whatever dude. Better you than me.

Finally, I have a message for Rev. Al: Just because someone gives you money doesn't mean that you have to take it. Not all money is good money.

Now Bill O'Reilly is using the fact that he broke you off to take the "some of my best friends are black" card to a whole different level. I know you saw that check and it made your eyes get big, but sometimes you have to consider the source.

If someone who is dealing illegal pharmaceuticals here on the streets of Philly  wants to break me off with some dollars just because he can, I would politely decline the offer because I know that somewhere down the line my interactions with this individual would come back to bite me.

Actually, Bill O'Reilly might be worse than a Philly drug dealer, because if a drug dealer gave me $25,000.00 and he said that it was for Christmas gifts for kids I doubt that he would later use it to advance another agenda.  

Rev. Al, consider yourself bitten. 







 

Two turkeys!

"Glenn Beck paid a visit to his old stomping grounds on Tuesday night, talking to Bill O’Reilly about the election. Beck recalled his prediction that Mitt Romney would win and offered an explanation of why he ended up being wrong. Part of the problem, he said, is disillusioned voters.

“What happened there that you weren’t anticipating?” O’Reilly asked.

“I anticipated actually people coming out, you know,” Beck replied. “We actually went down in some numbers.”

When O’Reilly noted that the turnout was more than enough for Romney to win, Beck offered his take on the problem. “The parties have gotten to the place to where I don’t think anybody believes either side,” he said. “They just don’t see a difference.” People, even in his own family, Beck added, don’t believe one side will be better for the country than the other.

But that simply isn’t true, he said, noting that the 2012 election was “most stark choice” the country’s had. O’Reilly agreed.

He then asked Beck about the conservatives, including Beck himself, who predicted a Romney victory — noting their surprise when Romney actually lost. Beck said he’d gone to bed feeling confident the night before, telling his wife he couldn’t wait for Romney to win so “we can relax a little bit and our life will settle down.”

Asked if he sees the outcome as “a divine providence situation,” Beck said everything will work out. The pair agreed: It’s all going to work out, but there’s “a lot of pain” coming."

Sorry fellows, like all the other turkeys this time of year, your pain has already come and gone. Now it's time for the rest of us to just enjoy you.

Crazy season.

Maybe I should make Rachel Maddow my honorary field Negro of the week. It's nice to see that she has Bill O'Reilly figured out. Now if we can just get her to say what she really thinks of the guy on the air.

Speaking of saying what she thinks; I am afraid I am going to have to talk about Sarah light again tonight. Folks, if you think I am focusing too much on Sarah light, just remember this: As November 2nd fast approaches, there are other candidates out there like Sarah light, who will, if elected, be making decisions which will have a profound effect on our lives.

"...But even for a Senate candidate who's lied repeatedly about her educational background, is suspected of campaign embezzlement, is suspected of tax fraud, rejects modern science, hates gays, has crusaded against masturbation, has talked about stopping Americans from having sex, and embraces a hysterically extreme political worldview, this is pretty extraordinary.

Republican Senate nominee Christine O'Donnell of Delaware said in a 2006 debate that China was plotting to take over America and claimed to have classified information about the country that she couldn't divulge.

O'Donnell's comments came as she and two other Republican candidates debated U.S. policy on China during Delaware's 2006 Senate primary, which O'Donnell ultimately lost.

She said China had a "carefully thought out and strategic plan to take over America" and accused one opponent of appeasement for suggesting that the two countries were economically dependent and should find a way to be allies.

"There's much I want to say," she said at the time. "I wish I wasn't privy to some of the classified information that I am privy to." [Article]

Stop laughing and read something else for a minute: This happened four years ago, so Sarah light cannot blame these statements on her youth.

But let's forget about Sarah light and think about all the blind support that she is getting from her conservative friends simply because she chose to identify with their political tribe. This is politics in A-merry-ca post Obama: I will support you no matter what, just as long as I can say that my party picked up a seat.

For a fleeting moment Karl Rove did what I thought -and now have come to realize- was the impossible. He showed some integrity in speaking out against Sarah light. But he was soon crushed by an avalanche of ignorance and forced to retract every honest word he said about her. Now he and his wingnut buddies might live to regret it. If, by some miracle, she heads off down I-95 to represent Delaware in the US Senate, the image of the republican party will be damaged for generations. But she won't be alone. There are a few other republicans who could end up in the senate and who will contribute to that legacy as well.

Jig Juan Jig! A-merry-ca is watching.

People like Juan Williams wouldn't bother me so much if they didn't have a platform to reach millions of people with their pronouncements.

Now here comes the latest from brother Juan: This clown was actually on national television equating the civil rights struggle with what Bill O'Reilly was doing in the midst of the Tiller controversy. Are you serious? Honestly, every now and then I have a momentary brain lock and get on the fence with Juan when it comes to where he chooses to align himself. This, in spite of evidence of Juan's Housiness. [I made that word up] But no more. Juan Williams is a straight up house Negro. Period!

This negro [he doesn't deserve a capital "N"] has written books on the civil rights struggle and yet he goes on a show with the most ignorant ego-maniacal buffoon in A-merry-ca. And then, inexcusably, he kisses the man's ring--not to mention his ass--- by telling him that his constant attacks of a man who is now dead (killed by a lunatic whose ideology is not far removed from his own) was somehow equivalent to the civil rights struggle in this country. Let that sink in for a minute.

I keep blogging about the dangers that these types of Negroes present, but no one will listen. Oh I get the usual bullshit from the pseudo intellectual types: "Field, why must you constantly harp on this silly house Negro field Negro dichotomy among black people. It' silly and it's pointless and it doesn't advance the cause." No, actually what doesn't advance the cause is what Negroes like Juan Williams are doing. Negroes who might be the only black person that's held up to be a black intellectual that some white guy in Iowa will ever see. Because all he [the white guy] watches is FOX News and the only other black people he sees on television or reads about in magazines are entertainers and athletes. So when he goes looking for political punditry and to try and learn something from the black point of view on issues that speaks to all of us in A-merry-ca, he gets Juan Williams.

But field why should we care what some white guy in Iowa thinks?

Because there are many white guys like that white guy in Iowa, who refuse to acknowledge that there are some serious problems in this country when it comes to race and poverty. Problems that with the right policies in place we can get on the road to solving. ( Notice I said get on the road to solving,because, ultimately, us black folks and poor people are going to have to do the bulk of the work ourselves.) But with Juan and other house Negroes shouting that everything is alright and minimizing the civil rights struggle by equating it with bullshit, solving some of the the problems that we face (like proper health care reform for all A-merry-cans) becomes that much harder.

It's funny, but is it just me, or do you all get the feeling that some people want it this way?

Calling all house Negroes, white man needs support

"I mean, it was exactly the same, even though it's run by blacks, primarily black patronship." O'Reilly went on to say, 'There wasn't one person in Sylvia's who was screaming, M-Fer, I want more iced tea.' "

I am sorry folks, I just had to post this again. Especially since Mr. O-lie-ly is all over FAKE NEWS complaining about how his words were distorted and taken out of context, and because some new to the house Negroes like Philly's own Stephen A. Smith, and Juan Williams --"They want to shut you up. They want to shut up anybody that has an honest discussion about race"-- has been supporting the guy. O-lie-ly says his words were taken out of context, and he is not a racist. After all, he told Rev. Al, don't we go out together in the hood all the time? And there, right on cue, was the good Reverend live from Baton Rouge, agreeing with the lie man and cooning in the Louisiana heat. (Although the heat and humidity didn't seem to affect his perm). How sad was that? And to top it all off, the other Reverend (Jackson) will be on O-lie-ly's show tomorrow. Oh oh, there must be a racial controversy, another white man needs public racial atonement, gotta call Jessie.

Now, for the record, the guy might not be a racist, because I could never know what's in someones heart, (although in this case I can take a pretty damn good guess) but his statements would sure lead me to believe that he is incredibly stupid and ignorant. Which if he is,what does that tell you about A-merry-ca when 1.5 million people tune in to him every night?

Gotta give it to O-lie-ly though, he has gone on the offensive, and, as is usually the case, he has found willing house Negroes to play along with his little game of spin my racist comments.

I know one thing; tomorrow I am going to Chinatown for lunch, and I am going to find a nice Burmese or Vietnamese restaurant so that I can chow down on some seriously spicy Asian food. And now, thanks to O-lie-ly, I can look for other things too. Lunch should be fun.

The Trivialization Of Black Suffering

With all the hoopla over racial comments made by the two Michaels recently-Richards and Irvin-everyone seems to be overlooking the comments that was recently made by one Bernard Goldberg. A contributor on HBO's "Real Time" with Bryant Gumbel, and the author of books, such as "Bias", and "The 100 People Who Are Screwing Up America". Mr. Goldberg is a former CBS reporter who has turned his wrath on the liberal press for what he calls liberal bias. Ever since he wrote an oped piece in the Wall Street Journal in 1996, he has been a darling of the right for his willingness to speak out against the, ahem, liberal media empire that is supposedly poisoning America. In truth, he is no more than a hustler and opportunist who has found a way to pimp the conservative discontent with what they perceive as a prevalent main stream media bias.

So anyway, this charlatan is on Bill O'Rielly's FAKE NEWS television program, discussing the Danny DeVito meltdown on "The View". Of course, they were upset at not at his alcoholic induced meltdown, and lack of decorum, but of his rant against their beloved President Bush. So after some discussion about the issue, Goldberg makes what I think is probably as outrageous a comment as the ones made even by Richards: He says, and I am paraphrasing here, that he, DeVito, being on the "View" was like being at a Klan rally-I guess he should know-because every one on the show was agreeing with him-DeVito- about the President,and it was all these like minded people gathered in one place. So what the f**k!!! Are you serious? Comparing an appearance on a television show to being at a Klan rally. Maybe Mr. Goldberg doesn't realize how serious the sh** is that he is saying. Klan rallies were where plans were made to lynch my people and burn out and scare hard working families from the South off of their property and their land. Klan rallies are where groups were organized-and still are- to terrorize my people and keep us oppressed and in fear for years. And Klan rallies were held in secret with many prominent towns people and citizens taking part in the conspiracy of hate. The last time I checked, "The View" actually had black people on it.-Yeah I know Star Jones is gone, but they have had a token on damn near every day since- So how dare Mr. Goldberg makes that comparison? And why isn't America talking about it except on maybe a few left wing blogs like News Hounds?

Well, I think I know why. It's this new trivialization of black suffering that America is so fund of doing these days. It's why you hear racist and ignorant rants from Michael Richards about stringing us up, in a public place like a comedy club. It's why my Irish and Italian immigrant friends tell me they don't want to hear about how blacks suffered, because when their ancestors came here they couldn't get municipal jobs, or they had to work in the mines of Western Pennsylvania, and the Irish were discriminated against because they were poor and they were different, and the Italians were discriminated against because of the stigma of being Italian....give me a f*****g break! With all due respect to my ethnic friends, they have no idea what discrimination is. When you are beaten beyond recognition for looking at a white woman, when one of your churches is bombed on a Sunday morning and four of your little girls killed, or when state troopers, and local police are given the green light to fire hose your ass, and beat you within an inch of your life, then get back to me. It's why I get so pissed when I hear conservatives quote all of a sudden their favorite line from MLK's I have a dream speech. You know the one, about "not being judged by the color of your skin but by the content of your character.." yeah that one. It's easy for you to say, the Klan wasn't plotting your destruction on a daily basis.

But this is what's happening in America now. The hurt and past suffering of black folks being minimized and trivialized in order for us to move forward. It's why that house Negro de jure, Ward Cooonerly, can push for, and get passed, his bogus anti affirmative action amendments. Who needs affirmative action when we are all equal now? When the past suffering wasn't as bad as we think it is. When, if you think about it, all ethnic groups suffered, and we all have moved past all that now. Yeah right, unless you are a Native American, don't even tell me about all suffering being equal in this f*****g country. And no, we haven't moved past it, because the sh** is still happening.

Which brings me to another point. Goldberg is Jewish. And I am not even going to get into that old argument about which one was worse, the holocaust or slavery. In my humble opinion, both rank up there as man's greatest inhumanity to man in modern history. You can argue 1 and 1A it doesn't matter to me. From the birth of the Gestapo in 1933 to the atrocities at places like Auschwitz after Hitler's "final solution" plan, where Zyklon-B was used to gas-with all due respect to Mel Gibson's daddy-millions of Jews, there is no doubt that the holocaust was a horrible time in world history. But so was slavery. The "Middle Passage" was no picnic in the park either, and if 20% of the slave cargo was lost at sea, and historians generally agree that about six millions slaves were taken across the middle passage to the West; well then you do the math. And I won't even get into the conditions on those slave ships because like the conditions in the concentration camps, it has been well documented. My point is, as a Jew, Goldberg should know better. But it was so easy for him to throw out the Klan reference, and so easy for America to over look it that it bothers the sh** out of me. If a non-Jew had made a reference like that about the Holocaust , the press would have be all over him.-and rightfully so- But because it's black folks, and black suffering is no big deal anymore, Goldberg gets a pass.

Well fu** that, he won't get a pass from me, and neither will anyone else who tries to tell me that
it wasn't always that bad for black folks. Hey, look at the bright side, if it wasn't for slavery, you people would still be in Africa. Yeah I have heard conservatives make that argument too. But I think I know what my problem is; and it goes back to the whole holocaust slavery thing. The people that were responsible for that Holocaust got what they had coming to them. The Auschwitz Kommandant, Hoss, was captured and hung. Herman Goring committed suicide rather than face hanging, as did Hitler himself, and at the Nuremberg trials, sixteen of those former SS officers were found guilty, and seven of them hanged. So in essence, many of the people responsible for that horrible chapter in history faced justice, and were prosecuted for their crimes against humanity. But that never happened here. Those responsible for enslaving and terrorizing my people were never brought to justice, and are still holding rallies today. Rallies, that Mr. Goldberg feels free to mention so flippantly, and with such ease.

"By the way that was a long overdue suggestion" That quote comes from Mr. Goldberg telling Allan Colmes about what he thought of Dick Cheyney telling Patrick Leahey to "go fu*k yurself" on the floor of the senate. Mr. Goldberg, may I suggest you do the same?