Hoodwinked and bamboozled -- yet again Part 1 the ubiquitous thirst for "firsts" is just plain insanity!

I said I wasn't going to watch this shit but, I had to -- if I wanted to critique it.

The unquenchable thirst for a "first this," or "first that" doesn't always denote the accomplishment of some, one-of a kind superhuman feat -- it's merely power's permission to let one play too, and usually for their benefit.  Such is the scam known as the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination -- Exhibit A ("The Donald's" wedding):

http://thehill.com/blogs/in-the-know/in-the-know/345560-clintons-attend-same-wedding-as-trump-daughter

http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/08/07/tiffany-trump-parties-with-hillary-and-bill-clinton-jennifer-lopez-and-alex-rodriguez-at-hedge-fund-heiress-wedding/

"The question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be... The nation and the world are in dire need of creative extremists."

“Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows, or both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress." (emphasis mine)

Frederick Douglass, 1857

I'm sure those who "felt the Bern" thought they'd made a demand (and in some ways they did!).  The problem though, was they weren't paying attention to the machinations of  "power" which counted on the people's desire for yet another "first."  So -- here we go again!

I had a conversation about Bernie with my alabaster brother, Alex in Key West last year and he was definitely "feelin' the Bern," particularly once Trump proved to be a legitimate GOP candidate!  In support of my argument that this was all a scam to get Killary Hillary elected being perpetrated on the American people by the powers that be, I shared this piece, written by Bruce Dixon on  May 6, 2015 over at Black Agenda Report:  Presidential Candidate Bernie Sanders: Sheepdogging for Hillary and the Democrats in 2016

“Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe.”

“It is not light that we need, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake.”

Frederick Douglass

46:14 -- 46:24 click
49:49 -- 51:50 click



Before Hillary Clinton, there was Shirley Chisholm

Bernie Sanders’s New Political Group Is Met by Staff Revolt -8/24

Freedom Rider: The Clinton and Powell War Criminal Charade - 8/23

Colin Powell Says Hillary Clinton's 'People Have Been Trying to Pin' Email Scandal on Him - 8/21

Related:
- Young students in Haiti get a new school thanks to Seahawks' Cliff Avril
- Freedom Rider: Liberal Hate for Stein and Baraka
- What Do We Do Now That the DNC Rigged & Stole the Primary
- Say Her Name
- All Hail the Queen of Exceptionalistan
- Sanders Signals He'll Work With Clinton to Beat Trump
- Elizabeth Warren to Endorse Hillary Clinton
- The Presidential Election is Over -- Was Trump Ever Truly a Threat?
- Sanders Prepares to Bow Down to Hillary, But Many of His Supporters Won’t

Some bell hooks "therapy"...

Even though bell doesn't begin speaking until nearly the end of the first video, I included it because I thought the DR.'s (she IS in Texas - guess she wanted to make sure the white folk present didn't get shit twisted - you'll see what I mean when you listen) information on studying abroad in Ghana was important.

Sort of in the same vein, when you get a minute, check out this post that my Lil Sis over "At the Bar" wrote about kinfolk going back to Africa.  If it doesn't move you to action - it should at least make you think!





(A little sound problem from the :26 click to the 1:25 click - but do go past it.)



(Now here's a good example of those "multiple intentionalities" (from Slick Willy in Haiti) that bell talks about near the end of the above video - h/t The Haitian Blogger.  So, your blue helmets bring the damned cholera - infecting thousands upon thousands - and NOW, you plan on selling "cholera insurance," to already poor people, to supposedly protect them against the damned cholera you brought?!  SMMFH)

Some TANGIBLE, "Clinton-is-racist" shit right here...

From The Nation:

"A recent Nation investigation conducted by Isabeau Doucet and Isabel Macdonald revealed that the shelters in Haiti provided by the Clinton Foundation are dangerously flimsy and filled with toxic chemicals such as formaldehyde. Similar shelters were used in the US as temporary FEMA trailers immediately after Hurricane Katrina, and Clayton Homes, the company that provided those trailers to Americans, is now being sued for formaldehyde levels in the trailers. Why is it that shelters known to be toxic are acceptable for Haitians but not Americans.

Dr. Paul Farmer, the author of Haiti: After the Earthquake and a colleague of Bill Clinton's in Haiti, joined Amy Goodman on Democracy Now! this morning to respond to The Nation's investigation.

—Anna Lekas Miller"

This is but one example, of the kind of shit that's been over-crowding my brain for the past six months or so.  I know it's not just me - this FOB (Friend of Bill), even after a 45-second warning, never even deemed it necessary to answer the damned question:

"Why is it that shelters known to be toxic are acceptable for Haitians but not Americans?"

Just a quick aside here, because this is how history slowly gets "revised" (making it seem as if there was all this concern from white folk, for Black folk).  They weren't "acceptable" for Katrina survivors either!  They got them though - these same, "known to be toxic" trailers. Weren't they "Americans?" Weren't they, as the abolitionist, Josiah Wedgewood's medallion entreats:

The answer to the first question is, of course, Yes!  And to the second?  A resounding, of course not!  Because, "Americans" though they were, there was certainly no "...Man and a Brother" thing going on for them in most of these United States before, during or after the storm.  So while I appreciate Ms. Goodman's hammering of the non-answering, Dr. Farmer about why Haitians got these trailers that weren't "acceptable" for "Americans" - let's be clear - she obviously wasn't talking about Black "Americans." 

And that's why "framing" or "shaping" an issue, versus just coming right out and telling the truth and shaming the devil, bothers me.  Alluding to, rather than facing, head-on, that big ole, pink elephant of white supremacy and its spawn (racism), is part and parcel of why it's still here in America - and in Haiti, and in the countless other environs inhabited by non-alabaster,"Others" (Sorry, just had to parse her question out for myself).

Carrying on - I've no doubt that, as Slick Willy's foundation kicked it around, they said, "She-e-e-et, they got absolutely nothin' but wooden boxes topped with tarp right now - what does a little toxicity or unsafety matter??  Besides!  We'll come out smellin' like roses while we pocket all that donated "aid" money!"

Hell, after the Katrina debacle, FEMA - stuck with thousands of dollars of formaldehyde-laden trailers - decided to gratiously donate them (to include a small fee of course) to another group of  "Americans," who said exactly that!:

"Compared to some homes on reservations, FEMA's homes are like "castles," said Cheryl Causley, chairwoman of the National American Indian Housing Council.  "It shows you the vast discrepancy and the uneven treament among the citizens of the United States," Causley said.
"Our people would go miles to receive those units.  If there's any more ofg them, we would love them.  Our need is that extreme."

And I totally understand - the need.  But so pervasive is the "divide and conquer" bullshit, Ms. Causley actually sees those trailers, sitting unused in all their toxicity and unsafety - as "the vast discrepancy and the uneven treatment among the citizens of the United States!"

The U.S. government, knowingly "donating sickness" to THE AMERICANS in particular, is just so wrong (and so, typical) is it not?

But white supremacy, doin' what white supremacy does - ensured they put warnings on those trailers going to those "Others" (ever the ass-coverers, no?) - as if a silly, old warning would ever trump extreme need (one neither the MSM, nor the government cares to really address).  Haitians felt the same way - until the "alluding to" of The Nation.

I guess we do have to give them credit for exposing that.

UPDATE:  Clinton Foundation pledges to fix Haiti trailers (7/14) - exactly as with Fema/Clayton Homes being sued by Katrina survivors - it took Slick Willy's Foundation being ass-out before doing the right thing (after having benefitted publicly, politically and financially - from doing the wrong thing - of course).

Richardson steps down, before he even steps up

In my No Permanent Friends, no permanent enemies... post back in April '08, I pretty much summed up what I thought about Gov. Richardson - nothing's changed. Though I am a bit surprised that in exactly one month, we went from this... To this...

M-m-m-m... *smdh* This Andrea Mitchell video is interesting: "The Obama team has been rigorous about demanding......to have everything examined before their hearings are scheduled." Yep - and they knew about this too - even as he was being nominated. From the Hartford Courant: "A senior Obama adviser said Richardson gave assurances before he was nominated last month that he would come out fine in the investigation and the president-elect had no reason to doubt it. But as the grand jury continued to pursue the case, it became clear that confirmation hearings would have to be delayed for six weeks or even longer until the investigation was complete, said the adviser, speaking on condition of anonymity."

So what was this one-month appointment real-l-y about? Hubris? Strategy? What? I just do not believe Obama & Co left such an obviously long, and potentially garment-ripping thread hanging off the presidential cloak this close to the crowning for no reason. Look at the number of people jammed up under those huge charter buses of his for reasons way less important. Unless, there is a reason.

When asked, "Any idea who might be on this next list then to take over this job?" Ms. Mitchell said she frankly wasn't sure which way it'll go. Is that other Daley, you know, William M., former-Secretary-of-Commerce-in-the-Clinton-Cabinet-integral-cog-in-the-Chicago-Daley-Machine Daley? Is he still lurking around?

And doesn't it sound like there should be violins in the background as she quotes him saying he said, "I will remain in the job I love, governor of New Mexico and will continue to work every day..." (under investigation). More ammunition for Blagojevich? Hey! He only has to show there was no actual quid pro quo right? Then he can return to the job he loves - until impeachment and conviction anyway.

I read Earl Ofari Hutchinson's, "Richardson the Odd Democrat Out" over at HuffPo (Yes, I go there - sometimes). While I found nothing new as I scanned it, that very last paragraph seems awful prescient - for a few people, not just Richardson:

"The play for pay scandal just reinforced the notion that politicians who try so hard to be major players in the political ranks will often wheel and deal, cut corners, and or not averse to lining their campaign and even personal coffers with dubious contributions to get ahead. When they do, and they're called out on it, it insures that they remain not just odd men out of the rarified political circles they desperately want to crack, but disgraced ones too."

I'm sure if Molly Ivins were alive today, she'd have told the governor in that deep, smoke-laced, Texas drawl, "Now Bill, ya'll know ya'll gotta dance with them what brung you if you want to get anywhere!"

By the way, any statements from the Clintons yet? Why am I picturing that car insurance commercial with those squirrels jumping up and down, high-fiving each other as the car runs off the road?

No permanent friends, no permanent enemies...

“No permanent friends, no permanent enemies, just permanent issues.”-- Rev. Al Sharpton

I heard the reverend say this during one of his last broadcasts on what was Miami's only Black talk-radio station, WTPS-1080AM (Radio One sold WTPS to Salem Communications Corp. for approximately $12.25 million in late 2007. It's now Christian talk-radio.). I remember immediately writing in my Things to Blog About file, "more like, just permanent - opportunistic issues!" (I've got to check out the National Action Network's site to try and ascertain membership growth !).

Early in the primary race, the tenor of his show as it related to politics was surely not pro-Obama. His tone was notably different when, during her segment on his show, Jeri L. Wright, publisher of Trumpet Magazine and Rev. Wright's daughter, expressed her concern about Sen. Obama ceding to his handlers on the issue of having Rev. Wright speak at his coming out party on the Old State Capitol steps in Illinois. There were even rumblings that the reverend was jealous of the senator, particularly after he discussed Sen. Obama’s endorsement of Richard M. Daley for mayor with guests, Dorothy Brown and William "Dock" Walls, the two Black candidates who also ran for mayor last year. But that was before Sen. Obama started looking like he could win this thing.

He invited the three remaining Democratic candidates to come on his show via telephone to discuss issues. The last candidate was to be Sen. Obama, but he wasn't available, but Mrs. Obama filled in. After that call, I noticed a slow but sure turnaround in Rev. Al. Though he didn't say it then, I knew he'd soon be throwing his support behind Sen. Obama. He did. I’ll venture a guess the senator and Rev. Sharpton are not and never have been "friends" - at least he’s honest about that part.

The reverend falls into the same category as those Daley boys in Chicago. In December 2006, William M. Daley (former Secretary of Commerce in the Clinton Cabinet and adviser to the Gore campaign) became an advisor to the Obama campaign. The next week, Hizzoner himself (well, the son of THE Hizzoner - same difference), six-term Mayor Richard M. Daley, threw his support behind the senator's campaign as well (quid pro quo?). In this Newsmax.com article, "Daley Machine Backs Obama," writers Jim Davis and Tom Squitieri clearly laid out how beneficial it can be to have opportunistic issues in common. Politics makes strange bedfellows and the history of the Daley Machine (this post by Skeptical Brotha gives a short, but telling account) bears that out.

September 7, 2007 brought yet another opportunistic endorsement for the senator from Illinois - Former Denver Mayor Federico Peña (also former Secretary of Transportation and Secretary of Energy in the Clinton Cabinet as well as a "friend" of New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson). With that endorsement came the announcement that he'd also be co-chair of the senator's national campaign.

The recent endorsements from former senators Sam Nunn of Georgia and David Boren of Oklahoma are just more opportunism. Though they both bring extensive records on foreign policy and national security and are from states where Republicans historically dominate - as is usual in politics - their endorsements didn't come without some quid pro quo. Both will be serving as advisers on the senator's national security foreign policy team.

As for the Richardson endorsement, I'll just say, with "friends" like these, Sen. Clinton needs no enemies (Do you hear the O'Jays singing, "They smile in your face, all the time they wanna take your place..."?). And before you jump up and down, NO – friendship does not equal endorsement. But endorsement sure does seem to equal opportunity. In an April 12th interview with the Seattle Times, when asked if there was ever any talk of the vice presidency, or any other job, in an Obama administration, the governor's response was very telling - "I never say never in politics, but I'm not pining for it." According to the writer, the governor also suggested, he would not settle for just any Cabinet post, having served before. You be the judge.

I'd like to remind the governor of his reaction to his "friend," Federico Peña endorsing Sen. Obama before he was even out of the race. It might just help him understand why his "dear friends," one of whom for which his wife "has great affection," would be a little warm. And Robert Reich? Please! You would think that if your "friends" of 40 years were doing things which, according to Reich, his conscience wouldn't let him be silent any longer, he'd tell the friends - first!

Let’s be clear, as much as I talk about, think about and write about the necessity of real change - it is never, ever done in a vacuum. I understand how things are done in this country, from the bottom to the top. I know there is w-a-a-ay more, "What's in it for me?" than there is pure altruism or doing the right thing. Trust me, I get that. But somewhere in the midst of all the glad-handing, backroom dealing, false promises and the greasing of palms, it's hard to believe that actual, long lasting "friendships" can turn on a mere difference of issues. But I guess that's just me.

"Typical White Person" - a Bill Clinton Moment?

"It depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is."

Sen. Obama's supporters will likely immediately disagree, but there is a certain similarity in Mr. Clinton's statement and what Sen. Obama told 610 WIP radio host, Angelo Cataldi on his show in Philadelphia:

"The point I was making was not that my grandmother harbors any racial animosity. She doesn't. But that she is a, uh, typical white person who, uh, you know, If she sees somebody on the street that she doesn't know, you know, there's a reaction that's been bred into our experiences that, that don't go away and that sometimes comes out in the wrong way."

I can hear it now, media clamoring at each campaign stop from here on out:

• Reporter: "Ah, Senator Obama? May I ask, what a "typical white person is?"
• Sen. Obama: "Well, that depends upon what typical is, uh-h-h, typically."
• Reporter: "And can you describe what is typically typical about a typical white person, I mean, since you didn't address that in your speech?"

Parsing didn't look good on Bill, nor does it look good on the senator. Either she is, or she isn't. Isn't she? Isn't it time to let people choose (or not) based on who he really is and not on Dunbar's "mask?"