A Lesson on ‘Common Ground’
These two men are philosophically opposed. Each sees the other as his inferior, motivated by hate. Each is determined to not subordinate himself to the other because of their philosophical differences.
U.S.
World War Us
The real blood and guts of the “switch” that gets flipped is all mental energy. It happens in the mind. Learning a choke hold might as well be basketball, or swimming, or wrestling class, but the ability to kill comes from deciding to.
The Paper Box
I began to wonder a little more, but just then I stepped in front of the paper box. I reached into my pocket for a quarter, placed it in the slot, opened the box and removed the top paper.
‘Twas Ever Thus
Black bodies, white agenda...
In Case You Missed It: The Unveiling
Michelle Obama calls out, nails, and destroys the sons and daughters of American White Privilege in one of the most insightful and poignant speeches ever given during a special event at the White House.
The Gold Buttons
Her career was many things, and among them was perseverance.
The Genisis of the Politics of Vaccine Misinformation
Currently, 16 vaccines – some requiring multiple doses at specific ages and times – are recommended from birth to 18 years old.
Some are required before entering public school.
The American Paradox?
It is virtually impossible to confer substantive, viable, and enforceable civil rights upon people whose basic human rights are not acknowledged and respected.
Darnella Frazier Awarded Pulitzer Special Citation
Her act of extraordinary courage and presence of mind has changed the course of world history and the nature of the conversation about police misconduct and the need for meaningful reforms in law enforcement.
Kindergarten 2.0
Now, we are into another adjustment. We have to find out how to live together. We have been, “on a break”, as Ross and Rachel used to say, from the cast of “Friends.” Our break, however, hasn’t been romantic…
Not Kunta Kinte’s “Kizzy”
Meet the woman who is being credited with designing the COVID19 vaccine being produced and distributed by Moderna...
For Those About to Walk…
The older man at the beginning is powerful already. His concern is about the loss of power, and displaying the trappings of power helps to project it. The younger man is pursuing power...
Walking Miles
The Highway patrolman came to the passenger side of the my vehicle. Miles was in the back seat. He motioned for me to put the window down.
Walking in the Dairy Aisle
While we were talking to mom, the daughter came running in with a kitchen knife. We spun toward the daughter.
Walking in America with Robert Ford and Jesse James
And at the time Lincoln was singing that song of America, Jesse James was playing a different tune. And judging from James’s popularity, many Americans were listening to a different tune.
Walking in Hollywood
One night in Hollywood Division I had to work with an officer that I really didn’t like. This guy was the cliche’d stereotype of what everyone hates about police.
Walking in Futenma Town
Walking down those narrow, shadowy streets, past widows that slid open and closed horizontally rather than vertically, my mind tormented me
The Plane that Lands
[T]here is professionalism among police officers. There are agencies which have higher standards than others. The criticisms I hear lately are moronic.
Civilization: It Really Could Work
I have had few experiences with government services since my time in the Marines, so my impressions of them basically remained from that time. Well, things have changed, and not for the better
Black History To Become A Required Offering in CT High Schools
All Connecticut high schools will be required to offer an elective course in African American, Puerto Rican and Latino history by 2022....
The Great Debate: Booker T. Washington vs. W.E.B. Du Bois
Both men wanted the same thing: socioeconomic equality for Blacks in America, but based on their experiences, they formed two contrasting opinions on how to get there.
Black History Month: Letter from a Birmingham Jail
"Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection."
----MLK
Black History Month: The Obama Effect
Many Republicans had become so crazed and incensed over the mere thought of a black man in the White House that they had literally lost their minds to the notion that: "If they'll elect a black man, they'll elect me too!"
The Prescience of Abraham Lincoln as a Young Man
"If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide."
Black History Month: Scoop There It Is!
On 10 June 1896, Alfred applied for a patent on his invention. He was awarded patent 576,395 on 2 February 1897.
Who Watches the Watchers…and Who Watches Them?
I keep wondering why the Capitol Police did not open fire on the rioters when they breached the perimeter. That is the standard operating procedure in such situations but as far as I have been able to determine, only one shot was fired, killing a rioter.
To Mom and Dad with Love
I had the good fortune of meeting and getting to know the woman in the photo. When I was a teenager she came to visit when my Dad was in the hospital with colon cancer.
Do it, Sandy! I’d Do It For You!
The contagion is the most troubling aspect of this problem because it limits our strengths and exacerbates our weaknesses. Our strengths include working together, as the invention of civilization intended. Our relevant weakness is the mere act of being together is part of the problem with contagion, and irritates what we dislike and mistrust about each other
Re The COVID Vaccine: White Folks First…Please
Why I don't trust anything coming from the government re medicine and medical treatment regarding black people...
If a Woodchuck Could Chuck…a Racist
Let’s say there are two friends or associates across different cultural backgrounds who either work together or just enjoy one another’s company. And, within an ordinary course of events, one friend describes to the other a third association who is inarguably racist.
What’s Your Story?
We gathered for the wedding on a private island where TJ and Janie had another home. At the center of this island community is yet another golf course, and yet another club. Clubs are at the center of TJ and Janie’s life.
It Was a Shakedown Cruise
That headspace didn’t exist like that when I was 13. It was all dancing on the grass in front of anybody...in a speedo. By the time I was 21, I could low crawl up to you in the dark, grab you from behind and slit your throat, without you hearing a sound.
Jackie’s Dodgers Win the World Series
It wasn't until the early 60's that there appeared to be a seismic shift in political party affiliation from Republican to Democratic in the black community nationally...
A quintessentially American photograph
What’s so American about that is precisely that it’s ordinary.
When is the Horror of Oppression not a Horror? Never.
That is what the unseen experience is like in the US, and why it is so clever to have commentary with a horror theme. It fits for the unseen and the unheard.
Let’s Face It, People Suck
I am naturally curious about people, so I have logged lots of useless information, just as a preoccupation. In all of that time, and through all of those trials, the only thing as slippery as the subject of weight is racism.
Rock Bottom
What happens after an alcoholic or addict reaches bottom is they start to develop new habits and priorities that will help them remain clean and get prosperous. That’s exactly what I expect to happen to the United States.
Our Special Tonight is Sudden Death
Police work is directly analogous as an outsider status to being Black in America. Crazy assumptions about psychological motivations exist in ways, even among open-minded liberals, which would be condemned if the subject involved ethnicity or religion. Generalities which could not apply to a group so large are taken for granted. At 25, this curiosity was fascinating. At 56, it is exhausting.
Book Excerpt: ‘The Half Has Never Been Told’
And everyone who teaches about slavery knows a little dirty secret that reveals historians’ collective failure: many African-American students struggle with a sense of shame that most of their ancestors could not escape the suffering they experienced.
Hey Dad, May I Go to a Covid Party?
The funny thing about being a kid is that it is like a hobby. All the kid things are fascinating to the kid, but they gradually fall away.
Stop Hate For Profit v Facebook
We hope that you continue thinking about the consequences of what you have wrought and come back to the table soon with real change.
The Correct Response: Charged With Filing False Police Report
It's about time!
The Question Facing Facebook
Zuckerberg has become the poster boy for those who would argue in favor of internet accountability and regulatory intervention.
A Rorschach Test for Cops?
In other words, what defensively repulsed you at age 5 most likely will seem or be repulsive at age 50.
The Criminal Justice System and Systemic Racism
If allowed to do so, white folks will place all of the blame for systemic racism on the racism that is extant in law enforcement and policing.
A Matter of Proper Wording
“Activism doesn’t change the dictionary,” he said. “Activism changes the language.”
Having Their Noses Rubbed In It
White Americans have been forced to see themselves and their hypocrisy in a way that runs contrary to everything they've been taught to believe about themselves and the country they live in.
Rocky McBoulderstone and Me
And although these conversations have been rather one sided, as a typical human conversation goes, Rocky actually has contributed quite a lot.
Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due
Which, if any, of these awards should be given to Darnella Frazier for her cell phone video of the murder of George Floyd?
Alas, Poor Bitey. I Knew Him Well.
Humans are not quite the advanced creatures that I thought we were when I was a child. Humanity has a huge PR machine that gives an inflated view of what a human is or is capable of.
Honey, Did You Order More Law Enforcement?
Here is what I think will happen if that does happen. First, you have to consider that there is a demand for security. There always has been, and there always will be? Do we agree there?
Is It Different This Time?
This feels really different, so I searched myself for why. I wondered if it was because I have become accustomed to this tragic aspect of our society.
Dear Drew Brees…
If your answer is no, and you think my questions are ridiculous, then you may be beginning to get the picture. Human life is more important than any symbol...
In Praise of Detectives
The detective arrived after about 20 or 30 minutes. He asked me what I thought happened. I told him basically what I told you, with a few more details that would not be interesting to you.
Which Came First…?
Bandages, beans, and bullets can get very expensive, but most expensive is the human resource. To fight a war, a nation needs live bodies, and the coalition of the willing provided more in terms of public relations than actual fighters.
American Septic-ism
I think we all know that our government is setting us up for the “Melvin.” A President was impeached, and the US Senate would not even allow evidence or witnesses at the trial. We have probably been in a failed state for quite a while
Did the killer know George Floyd?
Both George Floyd and the cop who killed him worked security at the same nightclub
Curfews Didn’t Work. Now What?
Let’s say there were four lanes on the expressway to pass under the bridge. If my uncle John was one of the drivers, there would be five cars shoulder to shoulder aiming for the four spots
We the People…
In order to form a more perfect union...
The Legend of Covid the Kid
Bing bing, bong, bing bing...
We Are All Crazy On This Bus to Nowhere
WE ARE ALL AWARE THAT SOMETHING HAS GONE TERRIBLY WRONG WITH OUR GOVERNMENT, OUR MEDIA, OUR RELIGIONS, AND, INDEED, WITH OUR CULTURE AND OUR CIVILIZATION. Bob Dylan put it this way back in 1965:"Because something is happening here but you don't know what it is, Do you, Mr. Jones?"
What Just Happened Here?
So, Kyle Larson, NASCAR driver in one of these meaningless...yet televised...virtual races, gets online and asks if he can be heard. Presumably he determined that he could not be heard, then he said...
There is a Balm…
My skin was burning. I clasped them together, and rolled my right hand over to expose the palm, and rubbed my left thumb over my palm. My hands are burning from all of the extra hand washing in our “Silent Spring” of “Social Distancing.”
A Call To Arms for American Jews
The difference between these two incidents was that, in Poway, California, there actually was a “good guy with a gun” in the synagogue…but the shooting
Immigration: Courts, and Where Women Will Likely Be Murdered
You would be in rather poor company.
A Fetus and a Gun Walk Into a Bar
A Fetus' Gun Rights
My Wife Killed a Man and Stuffed Him in with the Linens
She wrapped the body in linen.
Mr W’s College Recommendation Fee Schedule
Cash only, please.
Whistle-Blower Complaint Full Transcript
What we have now.
The Summarised Phone Call Transcript-The Violation is the ASK
What is he not willing to release?
Irony: North Carolina, Abortion Destination
Charlotte, Raleigh, Greensboro....
At Six, My First, Unfortunate Impression of Police
As to the fingerprints, the police said, "Don't you worry at all, sir, I'm sure they'll all..."
Vaccines – Who Does Not Belong in Health Policy Debate
No Legitimate Place
Harriet Tubman Liberated Herself 170 Years Back, Today
A New Person, Free
Bleaching ‘Huck’
Interrogate the text.
Audio: Passionate Justice VIII-11 TRUMP, FOX, 8-CHAN, CORPSES
A Clear Line of Sight
Why The Sanders/Warren Pairing Doesn’t Work for Me
I could easily vote for....
Skepticism, Cynicism, and Just Wars
Whatever else Vietnam did, whatever else the murdering of young, civilian protesters at Jackson State and at Kent State did, they tended to undermine many in my generation's willingness to gauge and engage foreign policy issues, particularly military ones, with enough subtlety, nuance, and healthy skepticism.
We’re a Terribly Gullible Lot–Mental Illness/Gun Fraud
Never give up.
Birth-Control as Preventive Medicine
Ask yourselves....
Oedipal Obit
Imagine my surprise....
Ratted Out to the Cops By a Four-Year-Old
Ratted Out!
Woman Steals Leg at Eagles Game
A New Low for Eagles Fans
Your Illegal Ancestors
Many of us don't know and many do not wish to know.
Last Words
We'll See....
Passionate Justice VIII-10 Fascism’s Never Going Down of Itself
Fascism never ends of itself; it must be taken down.
As to ‘Reverse-Racism’
...revealing nothing more meaningful than fear....
US Attorney: How to Stop Stupid Shooters in Their Tracks
A vigilant citizenry is the most important mechanism in the process of maintaining the safety and security of the people of any nation or state. This article is about precisely how citizens can serve as the eyes and ears of a vigilant society.
Passionate Justice VIII-9 “Abortion-Reversal” Fraud … more >>
The "Abortion-Reversal" Fraud is But One Religious-Right Scam.
“The Women’s Micro-Chip Implant Act”
"The technology is really very sound."
You CAN Take It With You
Your Latte to GO....
Taking a Brick to His Head–Advice to the Bullied
A Brick to His Head
Celibacy’s History, Psycho-Sexually Compromised Churchmen Now
Why the history of celibacy matters now....
Color-Struck
Don't Burn, Baby, Burn....
Our “Ragtime” Ethical Culture
Dragging us Back
The War on Women–They’re It
These people are the War on Women.
Dark Irony–Expelled for Being a Lesbian
Darkly ironic...
What Our Kids Need Most Now
We must have uniform national educational standards.
Grounds
Get out while you can.
Blackout Sex
Were Dr Kinsey still around....
At the Causeway
That was a close call.
I’d Join the NRA
I'm in.
My Brief, Brief Career in Ivy League Admissions
"Is there a marijuana problem on this campus?"