Good Is Not Always Good; Police Killings and Race Relations

By Arelya J. Mitchell, Publisher/Editor-in-Chief
The Mid-South Tribune and the Black Information Highway

Good is not always good. When passiveness, apathy, and excuses masquerade as Good, it can be a killer.

During a Black Lives Matter peaceful protest, five white Dallas police officers were assassinated in cold blood on Thursday, July 7 by a Black shooter who vaunted that he was getting revenge because two Black men, Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, were killed by white policemen. And before I could get these thoughts out, another incident in Baton Rouge, Louisiana happened on Sunday, July 17 in which three policemen were assassinated and the perpetrator, as in the case of Dallas, was Black and was killed. To be perfectly honest, I along with many others am not surprised that ‘things’ have escalated to the point of some African Americans taking the law into their own hands.

Those who want to blame the police officers’ deaths on the Black Lives Matter movement need a reality check. But why should Black Americans care if its critics get a reality check or not? They will no more get why this group is protesting than a Nazi would a group of Jews protesting. After Hitler, the Jewish community made sure the world knew that Jewish lives matter. The Jewish community didn’t care to have love fest politically correct town hall meetings.

If the Jewish community had waited around for ‘understanding’ and had town hall meetings on love and healing, it would have long been exterminated which was Hitler’s plan.

Of course, African Americans are on their way to economic extermination.

Of course, any decent human being hates that five white officers’ lives were cut short. Yet, as always Black Americans show more sympathy toward such tragedies than whites show when these tragedies result in the taking of Black lives.

See, grief is not an exclusive club like the country club. It is not restrictive.

We all know white lives matter. As I have written before, ‘when did white lives not matter?’ We all know blue lives matter. When in this nation did blue lives not matter—even in those days when Black men were not allowed to wear blue?

The same trauma that these officers’ families are now going through is the same the Charleston nine black church members’ families went through; it is the same as Tamir Rice’s family went through; it is the same that Trayvon Martin’s family went through; it is the same that Michael Brown’s family went through; it is the same that Freddie Gray’s family went through; it is the same that Emmett Till’s family went through; it is the same that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s family went through. Yet— Yet, this remains a nation which believes underneath it all that Black people should accept being pulled over for alleged broken taillights, being followed in stores, having Black children primed for prison in a quasi-prison public school system. Yes, even the killing of Black people should somehow be tolerated with a ‘well, that’s just how it is’… live with it. Yet, it is quite acceptable and expected that the nation must mourn for one set of victims and not the other set of victims.

Yes, these lives were cut short through gun-violence, but gun-violence is a symptom – not the cause. And this is why I didn’t give a damn when the Democrat Party Establishment had a sit-in protesting gun-violence wrapping the issue in anti-N.R.A. rhetoric. I didn’t give a damn when the nation’s first Black president sat in some politically correct town hall meeting sponsored by CNN to talk about race relations (Haven’t we heard this bull(h)it before?), I didn’t even give a damn that he invited policemen and Black Lives Matter members to the White House for a powwow. These pretentious gestures in the short run and long run have nothing to do with the problem. As stated earlier and throughout time, the problem is Black poverty and a growing poverty. Poverty begets frustration and frustration begets violence. Underneath this poverty is the impetus of white fear which views even the word ‘Black’ as a threat. Black Lives Matter and Black protest critics do not have a problem with the Jewish Anti-Defamation League which protects its own or with Jews hunting down Nazi criminals. The Jewish community doesn’t give a damn when it finds a Jewish hater who is in his 90s and pulls him out to stand trial for participating in the slaughtering of over six million Jews during World War II.

See, when Black lives are cut short, I don’t want to see a Black person stand up saying they forgive the haters. Yes, I understand the Christian philosophy behind such acts of ‘forgiveness’ but I, too, understand the political ramifications of making this act public which has the perception that anybody can do anything to Black people and Black people will ‘forgive’; thus, inviting in more violence and yes, more poverty. If another event of slaughtering occurs in the Black community or with Black victims, these family members should go inside of a church and proclaim ‘forgiveness’—not in the secular sector where it is historically perceived as weakness and re-invokes the stereotype of Black people in the folds of mythological white paternalism where the white ‘father’ can whip his ‘Black child’ into righteous submission. Or better yet as an example, kill him. Like it or not, or agree with it or not, this is the perception of Blacks forgiving white perpetrators like a Dylan Roof or a bad police officer. This is where Psalms 91 should be invoked, if one wants to get religious about it. Better yet, invoke Psalms 35.

Of all the ethnic groups in America, only and ONLY the Black community wants to turn something political into ‘religion’. Yes, we all should love one another. We get that. We all want healing. We get that. We all want understanding. We get that.

But what is seldom gotten in the Black populace is that any politician regardless of race, color, or creed can fool the Black populace to have these meaningless ‘come together’ moments and ‘love one another moments’ to secure votes. Even Jesus provided bread and fish while preaching love.

There are those who say that politicians and even the President are politicizing these police assassinations. Of course, these events are political. What else could they be? A mercy killing? Racism is political. Assassinations are political.
Yes, I was proud to see Black Lives Matter continue its national peaceful protests after the Dallas tragedy. But they march recklessly when they arbitrarily close down bridges and block byways and highways or trample through shopping malls putting other ‘lives’ in danger. This is cold-blooded. This is stupid.

But I ask again of them: How long can you march?

Post-1960s, marching has become a ‘caricature’ of nothing getting done except exercise, because there is no written economic agenda to present to politicos and presidential candidates. Passion can only take you so far and that’s to the bus stop where you never get on the bus to go anywhere. Mrs. Rosa Parks getting on the bus was hard. Freedom Riders getting on the bus was hard. Marching amid police hosing you and putting dogs on you was hard. The March on Washington was hard.

Marching in the 21st Century is easy.

Yanking the microphones from presidential candidates is easier than writing out an economic agenda to yank in their faces.
And yes, Dallas Police Chief David Brown was truthful in asserting that policemen are not supported in what they do and are not appreciated. In the history of my life, I have covered enough to know that most Black citizens want the police in their neighborhoods because too many of these citizens have pulled me aside and whispered that they want more police but were afraid to say this aloud because this was a politically incorrect thing for them to say as Black people. To reiterate, they want the police there, they just don’t want bad police there.

Both Black Lives Matter and police departments have a respective painful lesson to learn here: Get rid of Black on Black crime; and get rid of bad police.

I don’t want to hear ‘Good’ policemen ‘talking about having more diversity training’. What the hell is that? Diversity training? These bad policemen know what they’re doing. They’re not stupid; they’re not untrained; they’re just bad.

By the same token, the Black community needs to stop excusing Black criminals and Black thugs who have taken over the community. There was a time in the Black community when Black seniors could sit on the front porch, when Black children could go to safe schools, and anybody could walk down to the Black-owned corner grocery store. And now the thugs one of whom could assassinate a nine-year-old boy or take the life of a little black girl as she slept in her own bedroom have literally attributed to Black genocide. These Black criminals, too, are a fraction in the community; yet, like the bad police officers, they dominate. They are the kings. They are the rulers. Why? Because Good sat down. Good closed its eyes and turned its head. Good did this in the Black community, and Good did this in police departments. Because it was never Good anyway; it was an imposter a.k.a. Irresponsibility, a.k.a. Appeasement, a.k.a. Fear, a.k.a. Political Correctness.

It’s time for the Black trash to be taken out, and it’s time for the Blue trash to be taken out.

Post-Dallas and Baton Rouge phrases I don’t want to hear are euphemisms called ‘diversity training’ and ‘conversations on race’ or see another town hall meeting where Black folks sit around with white folks to ‘talk’ about their ‘feelings’. I don’t want to see that or hear any of this when Black people are starving, can’t pay the utility bill, losing homes, drinking bad water, can’t bathe or cook in an American city, can’t pay the rent, can’t get a decent education, can’t get a job, can’t get access to business capital to grow Black employment, can’t create livelihoods for their Black lives, and can’t even ‘can’t’! I don’t want to hear empty talk of Blacks and whites loving one another.

Because in the wise words of Tina Turner, “What has love got to do with it?”

End

*The above is on the Editorial lane on The Mid-South Tribune and the Black Information Highway at http://www.blackinformationhighway.com . Welcome, Travelers!

Bulletin: Mitt Romney Comes Down from Mount Elephant

By Arelya J. Mitchell, Publisher/Editor-in-Chief
The Mid-South Tribune and the Black Information Highway

I don’t know what to make of this boy. Yes, my favorite white boy is at it again. The poor little rich boy can’t believe the renegade rich boy has claimed the Republican Presumptive Nominee title. Now my favorite little white boy has decided ‘him’ wants ‘him’ own party. Boohoo.

Yes, people-linos, I am talking about my boy, Mitt as Mitt Romney. That 47% Mitt who cannot believe he has been beaten once again, and this time by the politically incorrect upstart Trump and that Trump has essentially told him to kiss his rump.

If my boy Mitt hadn’t been so rich he would have been locked up as a bona-fide nut job under the illusion that he is king of America. All others regardless of party affiliation are mere pretenders to the throne.

While the ruckus was going on about Trump, the Mittster was donning on his long red robe. He then went before his subjects (I mean citizens) to deliver a televised speech to denounce the Donald. He turned and waved his wand, pronouncing that the Donald must go, that he is not fit to be the nominee, that he is not fit to be President, that he is not presidential. Yes, my boy came out and rattled on in a long forgotten speech before the American public that this must not happen… but, alas, by the time King Mitt came out, the Donald had whipped the behinds of nearly a dozen or more contenders. Yes, what Mitty had thought was an arrogant jester was now the Republican Presumptive Presidential Nominee.

My little white boy held up his arms to part the ‘Red’ Sea to get the Republicans to see the right light. I was there. I witnessed this.

Then I looked up – and behold—there was Mitt climbing Mount Elephant. I along with others waited for Mitt. America waited for Mitt. The world waited for Mitt. We all waited for Mitt with the same belief that Pluto would once again become a planet.

My beloved Mitt… Come back, Mitt… Come back, Shane—I mean Mitt—come back!

I sat and wept along with the rest of America. What sin had we committed for Mitt to go up to Mount Elephant?

Yes, we are now waiting and waiting… It is getting near Republican Convention time…

Lo! Lo! I fall on my knees! I believe I see my beloved white boy coming down from the mount to save the Republican Party—to save America! Alas! But who is with him? Is it Ryan’s Hope? Yes, there is a group following him. They’re wearing ‘Dump Trump’ armor. Mitt is still wearing his long red robe. His hair has turned white! He looks elegant! Magnificent! A figure to behold!

Mitt is now passing a group known to many as the Elephant Elites…he is now passing a group known as the Elephant Establishment… The EE’s they are called. They are screaming, “Mitt, save us! Save us! The Donald will destroy what the Republican Party stands for… He will destroy what the Elephant stands for…what America stands for… Mitt, Mitt! We beg of you!”

But I cannot scream. I am in awe of Mitt as he passes. Yet, somehow I find the strength to look up at Mitt. He is carrying a tablet made of platinum. I can see there is something written on it.

Mitt pauses. He turns toward the crowd.

“Thou shalt not have Donald Trump as the Presumptive Nominee!” His voice thunders across the sky.

“But, Mitt—Mitt!” I scream, yell to the top of my lungs. “He already is!”

“Then I shall destroy the Republican Party!” Mitt declares. “I shall destroy the world! I shall make Pluto a planet again!”

“But, Mitt, my little rich, Ritchie Rich, angry little rich white boy, The People who voted for him in the primaries have already spoken. They want the Donald!”

“People?” Mitt yells. “What people? Who are The People to tell me what to do? I shall gather my troops, and we shall march into the Republican Convention and do what is necessary and what is best for the peasants!”

“What’s that, Mitty? My old pal, my rich spoiled lovable pal, my rich pal who is filthy rich and thinks nothing of the 47%, my old pal who loves the One Percent, my favorite white boy in the world!”

I see Mitt turning to me with a scowl. I shiver. I quake in ‘me’ boots! Then he glares at us all. “I shall sacrifice the Republican Party Elephant, because we all know the truth and the truth shall set you free.”

“What truth, Mitt? Tell us the truth, so we can be free!” someone in the white Middle Class yells out. “We have tried to remain Middle Class, but we cannot hold on!”

Mitt holds his head higher as he looks over this white middle class person. He turns and looks above the heads of the peasants. He turns yet again and climbs a little upwards on Mount Elephant, stops, then lets his eyes roam out over the sky in the direction of Pluto.

“Mitt, Mitt! What shall we do? Oh, what shall we do?” someone pleads.

Mitt sneers down at him and us all. He once again looks in the direction of Pluto then continues his climb. “We must replace the Republican Party’s Presumptive Nominee with one of ‘my’ own to defeat once and for all The People!”

“But, Mitt, we’re The People,” this lone voice whimpers in the wake of an avalanche.

END

*The above is on the Editorial lane on The Mid-South Tribune and the Black Information Highway at http://www.blackinformationhighway.com . Welcome, Travelers!

West Pointless and the 16 Black Female Cadets

By Arelya J. Mitchell, Publisher/Editor-in-Chief
The Mid-South Tribune and the Black Information Highway

I can’t let this go: This matter of one of America’s most venerable institutions on the Art of War threatening not to graduate 16 Black women cadets because they posed in a graduation class photo with clenched fists raised. The West Point elitist leadership viewed this pose as ‘political’ and allegedly pro-Black Lives Matter. I was especially incensed when I saw a description of the young ladies in the recent Time Magazine’s “Trending” column. That description read: “A graduation photo of 16 female African-American West Point cadets raising their fists in a racially charged salute was not in violation of the military restrictions on political expression, the U.S. Military Academy concluded after an investigation.” One must note in this “Trending” column the phrase “raising their fists in a racially charged salute” was printed in bold. “Racially charged?” Just let that part of the phraseology rest inside your brain. Why use the description ‘racially charged’? Exactly how was it racially charged? Oh, yes, of course, they were feminine black fists.

And they say there’s no bias in mainstream media?

And as for West Point’s ignorant leadership, we needn’t wonder why this nation has not won a war post-Vietnam or can even develop an exit strategy when it gets into war?
I was writing on this matter before it came down that the West Point elitists decided the young ‘American’ African American cadets would be allowed to graduate after some type of façade of an investigation. Time or any mainstream media never asked how this matter was investigated. Did they bring the young ladies into a room to feel their hair, bring in an Ebonics expert, water board them until they confessed that they only wanted to serve their country? Did they examine the ‘evidence’ against raised fists at sports events when fans raise theirs in victory?

But you see this ‘crap’ goes deeper and it mirrors the racism embedded in white fear, a condition which psychiatrists will not study. The psychiatry/psychology field is so busily exploring what it calls a Black Inferiority Complex, skipping over that white fear is essentially a White Inferiority Complex. This is the complex in which, systemically speaking, whites measure their self-worth against Black progress; thus, the reason why elitism rears its ugly bald head as in the case of West Point.

Elitism is racism in its rawest form. In its purest form. In its deadliest form.

Suspecting these young Black patriots is not about conservatism; it is not about liberalism but it is about the fact that African American cadets made it through the rigors of West Point academically and physically. And wow! Sixteen of them made it through, so the West Point elitists had to declare war on sixteen Black females. I am sure these elitists could not sleep at night because they had been frightened by these young women’s hair texture, skin tone, and most of all by their brain cells. But you can bet your bottom dollar that next year at this time there won’t be 16 Black Americans making it through because the West Point elitists will make sure this doesn’t happen again by any means necessary. (This attitude is one-step below their attitude of letting in too many non-pedigree poor whites from the Appalachian hills or thereof equivalent get in. Never mind if the person has brain cells or not… It is no longer about the best and brightest; it is about the whitest and wealthiest… but I digress).

Historically, West Point has treated its Black cadets like dirt when even one or two managed to get in and get through. Such as Col. Charles Young who is set to be honored in June. One of the most patriotic groups in America, the National Coalition of Black Veteran Organizations, has been trying to get Col. Young an honorary posthumous promotion practically since President Barack Obama became the Commander-in-Chief. Col. Young was the third African American to graduate from West Point. The White House had promised the call this venerable organization about their efforts to get this honor for an African American colonel who was not promoted to general because it meant white soldiers would have had to salute him. One can thank then Commander-in-Chief Woodrow Wilson for this stain in American history in spite of one of his most respected generals, Jack Pershing, pushing for Col. Young’s promotion. And, as one moves into the 21st Century, one sees that this West Point graduate and patriot is further snubbed in spite of Cong. Barbara Lee and Cong. Charles Rangel requesting from this president to promote the renowned Buffalo Soldier who gave his life for this nation.

Now here we are with West Point carrying forth its dangerous elitism on the heels of congressional legislation being moved to make it mandatory for women to sign up for military service, that is for them to be positioned to be called into war if needed. (Of course, with the elements of (a) poorly handling the war mess in the Middle East, (b) the fact that this nation is running out of boots to be put on the ground, (c) the guise of sending in U.S. military advisors, (d) the inhumanity of sending the same soldiers in for four or five tour duties, and (e) further screwing over them with the inhospitable veteran hospitals, it is only a matter of time before conscription will be reintroduced anyway…but I digress).

Of course, while all this “racially charged” mess was going on this Commander-in-Chief said absolutely nothing about how West Point was treating these young African American female cadets… though, he certainly had no problem defending Caitlyn Jenner who deceived two women.

All the while this ‘crap’ was going on with these young Black female patriots, even NOW or any other predominantly white female group did not come to these cadets’ defense. Yes, Harriet Tubman is set to be on the $20 dollar bill, but the echoes of Sojourner Truth’s ‘Ain’t I a Woman, Too?’ resonate in the stench of West Point, in the hypocrisy of West Point, in the archaic hierarchy of West Point, in the stupidity of West Point…

If these had been 16 white female cadets, there would have been no investigation; this gesture would not have been viewed as ‘political’ or in support of NOW. If these had been 16 Hispanic female cadets, there would have been no investigation; this gesture would not have been viewed as ‘political’ or in support of the Dreamers immigration movement. If these had been 16 Oriental-American female cadets, there would have been no investigation; this gesture would not have been viewed as ‘political’ or pro China or pro Japan. If these had been 16 Jewish female cadets, there would have been no investigation; this gesture would not have been viewed as ‘political’ or in support of Israel. Time magazine would not have printed in bold letters “racially charged”. It simply would have been viewed as triumphant gestures of women making it through an all boys network known as West Point.

But, of course, Black women are not viewed as females; they are threats to West Point wimps; therefore, they had to be investigated and further raped of their womanhood.

But what’s the point? It’s pointless to say that West Point itself should be investigated because what it did to these Black patriots was ‘political’ and in support of Jim Crow. Many Black Lives have been given to protect this nation in every war; many Black limbs have been maimed to protect this nation. Black blood has been spilt to protect this nation.

It is clear from how West Point continues to treat Black soldiers and Black women soldiers that my gesture as a girly girl civilian to West Point is a clenched fist which denotes ‘and up yours.’

Now, investigate that!

End

*The above is on the Editorial and Military lanes on The Mid-South Tribune and the Black Information Highway at http://www.blackinformationhighway.com . Welcome, Travelers!

Trump, the Campaign Manager, and the Brat Journalist

By Arelya J. Mitchell, Publisher/Editor-in-Chief
The Mid-South Tribune and the Black Information Highway

Michelle Fields is a disgrace to journalism. Those who are jumping on her bandwagon are equally so.

For those who do not know Fields, this is this little brat who has been showing off bruises she allegedly received from Corey Lewandowski, Trump’s campaign manager during an event in Jupiter, Florida. Also, coming to this brat’s defense are women journalists and a group of conservative women who are now demanding that Trump fire Lewandowski. Underneath their display of outrage is nothing more than hating Trump and not from some outrage of violation over Field’s journalistic integrity.

If this matter had happened at any other presidential candidate’s event, nary would a word be heard, but whatever Trump does or anything connected to him provides a feeding frenzy which borders on mass mainstream journalism insanity.

Bonnets off to Breitbart for accepting her resignation and from those sheep in their organization who followed her. Miss Crybaby Brat Journalist felt her editor should have stood behind her when she came running back to the office whining that she was ill-treated by the Trump campaign and attacked by Lewandowski. Video will show that this brat journalist wasn’t caught in anymore of a dilemma than what many journalists have been caught up in when trying to get a story—that is in an extreme crowded situation that sometimes turns into a scuffle. Yes, you may feel someone jerk you, pull on you, yank you and such. But this is more of an irritation than a matter which merits a police assault charge. This is not about her being slugged, slapped, or slaughtered, albeit by her actions one would have thought that Lewandowski had done all of this.

Fields represents what’s wrong with journalism today, because the support she is getting hasn’t anything to do with journalism but rather the politics of mainstream media deciding that such foolishness by Fields will help them advance their collective hatred of Trump and their goal to dismantle his campaign by any means necessary, mainly because Trump doesn’t fit their mode of a conventional politico in an Age of Political Correctness. Most of these journalists know they’ve come up against worse treatment. Yes, I am sure some even got bruises or were grabbed by the arm or collar and pulled back, or touched in a way to block them from getting to the object of their reporting.

In the capacity of editor-in-chief (having been in that capacity for two newspapers), I have had my share of reporters who got into trouble while covering stories, and let me tell you if one had come back like this whiny crybaby reporter upset that she got a few non-life threatening bruises while covering her subject, I would have either fired her, put her on suspension, or given her a desk job in Antarctica.

In the history of my journalism career, I have covered presidents, presidential candidates who receive Secret Service protection; I have covered Democrat and Republican national conventions. I have been caught in the middle of tight situations such as Miss Crybaby Brat. Yes, a good reporter would have tried to get to Trump after a press conference to get more if possible and risk being jerked back, pushed back, blocked off, or tapped on the shoulder. And if he or she did not succeed, he/she simply would have gone on with life until the next event or would have called up and try to set up an interview. It is what we do. It is the nature of the beast. I have had a Secret Service man practically pick up all of my 93 pounds (at the time) and place me aside. I didn’t get angry; I just thought, “Damn, I didn’t get it! (another statement).” And I’ve been placed in a holding room where the Secret Service searched through my purse (and moaned about it because I carry a really gigantic purse with everything but the kitchen sink) while I waited to interview a presidential candidate or president. Even after being cleared, I could only take my reporter’s notebook, pen, and tape recorder… I’ve covered an event in which I had a bottle of water in my purse and was told to drink it right then and there before I covered a president. I did and life went on… I have been invited to the White House and still I had to go through Secret Service procedures. Today’s world is even deadlier for presidents and for those who seek the highest office in the nation. I can go on in many, many instances of having to go through Secret Service, U.S. Marshals, police, etc. Again, it is what we do. It is our job as journalists. If you don’t have a thick skin, then you need to develop one.

As editor-in-chief, I’ve had reporters who were taken to jail when events got out of hand, and I have been awaken in the middle of the night by a photographer to say that the reporter was being carted off the jail. I’ve had one reporter who was adept in sign language to sign from the back of a squad car to the person she was with to call me. There have been many situations like this, but never and I do mean never did a reporter file an assault charge. I would not have allowed it because, honestly, taking such an action never would have occurred to me. And if it had, I would have thought it a repugnant one and an irresponsible one.

This 21st Century journalism has become fickle because of brat journalists who operate on the theory that people are supposed to be nice to them. (Pardon me, I have to go and throw up).

Sorry, but I equate Miss Crybaby Brat Journalist with the women who cry rape when nothing has been done to them, making it harder for women who are truly raped to be taken seriously. What news agency would want her after this? I wouldn’t, because the ramifications are so serious that if one were to send her on an interview which involves a male subject, he might go into a self-protection mode and not want her for fear she would file an assault charge against him because he looked at her cross-eyed, raised his voice, or that one of his people pulled her back.

Fields is a disgrace to female reporters from all media who have had to work like dogs and take the wrath of being called the female version of a dog (as I certainly have been on numerous occasions. Now ask me if I care.) to get where they are. I didn’t see Megyn Kelly crying and complaining when Trump derided her; I didn’t see Gwen Ifill crying after receiving insults as a Black female journalist when moderating a presidential debate; I’ve never seen Barbara Walters whining and filing assault charges as she pioneered her way into media; I didn’t see Katie Couric or Lesley Stahl whimpering when they covered major political events where crowd pushing was the norm. The great Black editor Ida B. Wells covered lynchings in spite of threats; and journalist Ethel Payne went through hell for being both black and female. Nellie Bly forged on. One also looks at the brave women journalists who have covered wars and are now covering wars while bombs burst overhead, or you look at those women who have given their lives and limbs as they worked to get information back to the homeland. Even in fiction, Lois Lane wasn’t whining!

These female journalists along with others broke down barriers only to have Miss Crybaby Brat Journalist set a precedent of filing assault charges because her feelings got hurt and a couple of bruises got on her arm which Noxzema or rubbing alcohol probably could have taken care of.

On the ‘male’ side of the issue: One only has to look at footage of the 1968 Democratic convention of Dan Rather and Mike Wallace being slugged, pushed back, and see that they kept on reporting. Never did they file an assault charge. This is what a good reporter is made of: Endurance and tenacity.

If you are a journalist worth your ink, you understand that. You deal with it. Damn it, you get the story. And for the record, journalists and politicians have gotten into it since time was a second. Behind the scenes they’ve cussed out each other, called each other names, hung up on each other— and yes I have been a banshee on occasion when covering politicos who think they can bully or ignore you because you are female. Trust me Emily Post is put away.

This is a world I chose to get into when I was eleven years old and wrote my first little newspaper article on a youth event and got my first little byline. This is in my blood. I like the hell and heaven of it. I love the mess! As a female journalist, it is harder but I didn’t expect it to be anything less. Many female journalists can say the same.

So, Miss Crybaby Brat Journalist Millennial, you need to get out of the business, because if you get your feelings hurt and a couple of light bruises, you need to go home and crochet and take some selfies and stop making it unnecessarily harder for those of us female journalists who still have a long row to hoe.

And to those journalists who are on Miss Crybaby Brat Journalist’s side, you know her complaint is about bull and that her complaint is unacceptable in the Old School of Journalism which still outranks whatever is viewed as millennial-let-me-not-get-my-feelings hurt journalism. And any judge who would rule in her favor needs to have his or her head (and motive) examined, because the history of the Fourth Estate bears out that what this brat is complaining about comes naturally with the territory.

Yes, Trump’s campaign manager should fight this and win it, for him to lose this is a loss for journalism—not politicians.

END

*The above is on the Editorial and Op-Ed lanes on The Mid-South Tribune and the Black Information Highway at http://www.blackinformationhighway.com . Welcome, Travelers!

Trump, KKK, Mitt Romney, James Meredith, and Hypocrisy

By Arelya J. Mitchell, Publisher/Editor-in-Chief
The Mid-South Tribune and the Black Information Highway

Donald Trump is no more enamored of the KKK than Bernie Sanders. I was waiting for the KKK card to be played on Trump well before now, because this card has been played when the words ‘Republican’ and ‘Conservative’ come up. Even the term ‘Evangelical Christian’ has come to connote ‘racism’. Never mind that Trump had denounced David Duke and the KKK as far back as 2000 (Even I remember this.). Trump’s only misstep was that he didn’t see this accusation coming, and once it came, he seemed angrier by it than reluctant to answer it. Never if seldom is KKK-lover applied to post-1964 ‘Democrats’ and ‘liberalism’. Now there is only one specific ethnic group this card can be played to manipulate: That’s the African American group. Now that the card has been played against Trump, mainstream press loves it; Black press loves it; Jewish press loves it; Hispanic press loves it; Democrats love it, liberals love it; the Republican Establishment loves it. They’re all having a proverbial field day burning the KKK cross on Trump’s campaign.

I’m loving the hypocrisy of it, because in the history of my life and career I have seen racist liberals who can only deal with poor, dependent Black persons. They exude what I call Jungle Jim paternalism or Jungle Jim liberalism.

Now some of those in the Republican Establishment get how detrimental it is for the Republican Establishment to go against those who voted for or caucused in favor of Trump. U.S. Senator Bob Corker, a Republican from Tennessee, can count himself among the few Republicans who will not play the game of trumping Trump just to jump on the anti-Trump bandwagon. For the record, Corker has not yet endorsed anyone, but he does have a reality check. Corker released the following statement on March 3:

“Here’s my message to the Republican Party leaders: Focus more on listening to the American people and less on trying to stifle their voice. What’s happening in the Republican primary is the result of two things: the fecklessness and ineptness of the Washington establishment in failing to address the big issues facing our country and years of anger with the overreach of the Obama administration. And to be candid, I think the American people should be angrier than they are.”
Black Americans are among those angry voters, but cannot bring themselves to examine their allegiance to a party which only has allegiance to them ONLY on Election Day. On the other hand, Black Americans continue to accept the treatment of being totally ignored by that other party which won’t recognize them as citizens. Moving on.

A few years back I received an advance copy of James Meredith’s book for review. Those who know civil rights history know of James Meredith and the hell he went through to integrate the University of Mississippi (“Ole Miss”). Those who are not blinded by political party affiliation know that both of America’s two major political parties have embraced the KKK and/or their kin, the Dixiecrats, at one time or another. They know of Mrs. Fannie Lou Hamer’s fight to ‘integrate’ the Democratic Party in 1964. This is what political parties do, embrace by whatever means necessary anything to keep them alive—that is in power, which in too many instances mean using Black citizens to determine and solidify that power.

Give me a minute and I’m going to get back to James Meredith. Just give me a little itty bitty minute.

First of all if anybody thinks this KKK and David Duke controversy is about stopping Trump on moral grounds then welcome to Utopia. Sent down from the mountain of Utopia was the apostle Mitt Romney to put the People on notice that the Republican Establishment will decide what is best for them. Romney stood in his designer suit robes to let the People know that they would be punished by the Great Elephant should they continue to vote for Trump. Yes, if the People continue to blaspheme the Great Elephant then the Great Elephant will stomp them and their candidate at the National Convention. Take that, you heathens!

What is clandestinely being played out by Romney et al is what has been done since time was born a second and that is to pit one group against the other. In this case, it is the Republican Establishment pitting itself against the Republican white middle class base. It has brought out the KKK card as a weapon and played it with the Black race card. This KKK card was played about two days before the SEC Super Tuesday.

In a televised message, Republican savoir Romney laid out the strategy, ordering Rubio and Kasich to win their respective states of Florida and Ohio to stop Trump.

As I’ve written: Trump is a billionaire renegade. Of all the Republican candidates, Trump is uncontrollable. That makes him dangerous. Trump like so many (especially those in the white Middle Class) was duped into thinking that NAFTA was a good thing; that it was manna. They’re now being duped into thinking the TPP deal is manna.

When NAFTA was introduced, I wrote against it. For the life of me and other anti-NAFTA pundits, we did not buy the idea that America’s manufacturing infrastructure could be outsourced without killing off the middle class – that modern economic phenomenon which many nations have tried to emulate. NAFTA was signed off on during the Clinton administration getting approved by both Republicans and Democrats and by members of the Congressional Black Caucus. It, too, was approved by some heavy duty union leaders who didn’t mind throwing their rank and file under the bus because they, too, were assured that NAFTA would be manna for the ‘little person’. Back then, I read the NAFTA bill several times and just could not see how it would benefit regular everyday working people be they black, white, Hispanic, yellow, brown, Native American or Martian green. But the alleged Powers-that-Be were in their ‘Mega-Trends’ thinking (so named after the popular book which predicted that manufacturing was defunct and would and must be replaced by technology…I don’t have the space to elaborate here).

Make no mistake, when Romney came out to denounce Trump, this was about keeping in place global deals which probably have already been made by the Big boys in the backroom who represent Big Banks, Big Corporations, Big Wall Street, Big Oil, Big Lobbyists, Big Bailouts, Big Big. Simply put, this anti-Trump movement is in the Republican Establishment’s interest to make sure that no one who would rock the boat will sit in the Oval Office. Period.

Now back to James Meredith and this following quote from his book, “A Mission from God: A Memoir and Challenge for America”: “I am a civil rights hero who once endorsed David Duke, a former Ku Klux Klan leader, in his campaign for governor of Louisiana. I did it for three reasons. First, he had very clearly repudiated and disavowed both the Klan and racism at this point, and had never been convicted of any violent act. Second, I agreed with many of his positions in the campaign, which were mainstream conservative. And third, he was a better man than his main opponent, who was a criminal. Duke lost. He also appears to have later re-embraced much of his racist ideology. Many people think I was absolutely, certifiable insane to have briefly befriended and supported David Duke. Well, it made perfect sense to me at the time, like a risk worth taking. And I’d probably do it again. I have always considered white liberals just as capable of racism and racial hypocrisy as white conservatives.”

Outside of thinking Meredith was off in endorsing Duke, I do agree with him on the concept of white liberal racism—this is not the white liberalism of days of yore in connoting the Underground Railroad movement or the 1960s Civil Rights Movement. All of which is to say that Black Americans themselves need to stop the practice of letting such labels as ‘liberalism’ and ‘conservatism’ set their economic and political agenda. (Anyway, I highly recommend Meredith’s memoir as a must read… because it also illustrates that Black people would stand on the porch with their shotguns when the KKK came around).

The Establishment doesn’t really care how many heads ISIL chops off, how many babies’ heads are chopped off, how many Americans are imprisoned or become imprisoned, how many boots are on the ground or how many times the same soldiers have to be reused. To reiterate, this KKK accusation against Trump is about the Big Boys keeping their Oil deals, telecom deals, Silicon deals, and other global deals safe and secure—not the lives of everyday American citizens.
After all, a righteous man such as Mitty boy has no problem in throwing away 47 percent of what he perceives as rednecks, Blacks, poor whites, Hispanics, Native Americans, the uneducated Americans in one garbage bin while bamboozling the 52 percent middle class to keep the One Percent happy.

You see, hypocritical indignation is manna when it’s benefitting the plutocrats financially. Greed is even better, especially if you can afford to spend millions and millions to wipe out the People’s Choice.

All this is to say that at the end of the day, Trump and the American populace had better be aware of the (billionaire) Boys ‘n the Hood(s), and I don’t mean the KKK.

End

The above is on the Editorial and Op/Ed lanes on The Mid-South Tribune and the Black Information Highway at http://www.blackinformationhighway.com . Welcome, Travelers!

Presidential Endorsements for the March 1 SEC Super Tuesday Primary

By Arelya J. Mitchell, Publisher/Editor-in-Chief
The Mid-South Tribune and the Black Information Highway

Politics needs to be put back in the gutters where it belongs. Someone has to clean the cesspool.
On this assessment, we make our endorsements in the Tennessee Super Tuesday SEC presidential primary to be held on March 1: One Democrat and one Republican.
Our choice for the Democrats is Hillary Clinton; our choice for the Republicans is Donald Trump.
In short, to Bernie Sanders, we can only put a spin on the Bible verse and say, “The rich will always be with you,” and that this is no time for classic class warfare, because at the end of the day the One Percent still will have the mansion(s), exotic vacations, corporate welfare and bailout entitlements. And, Bernie, we know it always has been in vogue that no one loves a poor Black person like a white liberal who tends to romanticize poverty and Black and join them together in Holy Matrimony as a couple in socialism.
For the record, African Americans already live under socialism. It is the only ethnic group in America to have been forced into quasi-socialism under Jim Crow restrictions. Since the Civil Rights Movement, this ethnic group resides under one party, the Democrat party, which has morphed from the party of the KKK to what it is today, Jungle Jim liberalism.
Under both political parties, the tenets of Adam Smith have never been allowed to develop in the Black populace. Even when Black capitalism was on the rise behind the bars of Jim Crow, the government stifled it. All one has to do is look at what happened in Rosewood and the Black Wall Street of Tulsa, Oklahoma then fast forward to post Katrina when the government claimed it could not find a Black-owned construction company to help rebuild the City of New Orleans or one can dial back to how the Department of Agriculture aided and abetted Big Banks in stealing Black farmland. American history is filled with this irrational fear of Black capitalism.
Of course, we believe that there should always be general goodwill and general welfare for when hard times hit and to be humane to those who fall through the cracks. But the truth of the matter is that collectively speaking, the African American populace has fallen beneath the cracks and continues to sink further into unemployment, underemployment, dismantling of HBCUs, housing discrimination, and the blocking of access to capital to own and operate businesses.

Yes, bad things happen to good hard-working people, healthy people. But we do know that socialism like any other economic system of government begets plutocracies. Sanders promises to eliminate inequality of income. Now what does that mean? In socialism, everybody gets a shack and one chicken. But we all know that whatever plutocracy socialism produces the leadership at the top will get two shacks, five chickens, a rooster, and some eggs.
Sanders’ promises are right up there with ‘Forty Acres and a Mule.’
America has for too long thought it in its best interest to keep Black Americans poor, disenfranchised, and uneducated and these underlying goals of systemic racism have encroached themselves onto the 21st Century in spite of this nation having elected its first African American president which has ironically given it an excuse to renege further on the American Dream—King’s Dream.

This fear of Black capitalism has pushed the nation into a downward economic spiral.

In sharp contrast to Sanders, Hillary Clinton has laid out an economic agenda. She at least mentioned the words Black entrepreneurship, Black-owned businesses, and yes ‘access to capital.’ She has also put in her political vocabulary Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) which are dying, and we believe this is not a death HBCUs deserve seeing that they were there first to educate African Americans when other educational facilities blocked their doors. No other ethnic group has come to America and by written law had to attend a certain college because of its race, color, or creed. HBCUs should be enhanced to take on the burden of education, a matter we shall expand on at a later date.

Whether Clinton is all talk if she is elected remains to be seen. But as of this date, she has at least presented more than an agenda of free colleges, free love, and a white liberalism which dutifully served its purpose in the 1960s but is ill equipped to do so in the 21st Century. Over the decades that white liberalism has sunk into Jungle Jim paternalism. The last half of the Civil Rights Movement which is economic empowerment should be first.

Regarding Clinton’s email predicament: The government’s accusing her of negligence is like the pot calling the kettle black, seeing that any fourteen year old nerd or a cyber savvy Chinese can hack into their computers and get free rein in stealing intel. Instead of going after Hillary Clinton, the government needs to beef up its own cyber security and overhaul its rules and regulations and bring them up to 21st Century standards for all departments.

We endorse Donald Trump. And we make no apologies for that, as it seems in this 21st Century politically correct atmosphere there is still no room for Black dissension. Trump is a global businessman; therefore, economically oriented to deal with people of all races, colors, and creed. This also makes him qualified to deal with a variety of situations. His having made international business deals also qualifies him in foreign policy and international relations matters.
Business is politics.

African American-owned businesses and entrepreneurs have been so conveniently cut out of what is quickly becoming the new frontier of African capitalism, as socialism is showing itself to be an utter failure in African nations. Black-owned businesses and entrepreneurs have also been cut out of Cuba and the rebuilding of Haiti with the same disregard as they have been cut out of Silicon Valley which seeks to expand its internet presence in African, Cuban, and Haitian markets. The Valley represents a Jungle Jim paternalism by not hiring Black Americans.

We believe Trump understands that the Black ethnic group must be involved in developing Black capitalism as an impetus not only to create jobs for other Black Americans but to alleviate the nation’s overall economic burden. America is spiraling into a Third World status because it will not adjust to basic economic principles. One of which is that you cannot have an ethnic group as large as the African American community spiraling downward without taking the whole nation with it. Because of systemic racism, this group has reached the point of stagnation, and stagnation stinks.

Indeed, it should be incumbent upon every Black voter, Black civic group, and Black organization to examine every presidential candidate regardless of party affiliation. Black Americans have failed miserably at doing so and continue to walk through the Elephant’s dung to worship the Golden Donkey.
We applaud the Black ministers who went up to Trump Tower simply to meet with Trump. Yet, these renegade ministers were ridiculed and called out by mainly Black cliques which continue to deliver the Black vote on a silver platter to one party and by doing so these cliques have made it impossible for Blacks to negotiate and strategize. Yes, negotiate and strategize, two words Trump isn’t afraid of using. Two words early civil rights leaders weren’t afraid of using if they didn’t get what was needed. We have heard from Black citizens who are afraid to voice their support for Trump because they feel they will meet the same hazing as the aforementioned ministers.

A society which does not engage in dialectics can only stagnate. To reiterate, the Black community is stagnant and with that stagnancy it has become economically victimized, economically impotent. It has become irrelevant in political power play. It has become the litmus test for each party to measure how conservative or liberal it is only for each party to garner votes. It has become the group every other ethnic group or interest group can go to and obtain a body count then forget it once they have what they want. This is the only ethnic group which has not learned the art of retribution voting. This is why the Black Vote has become America’s butt joke.
At the end of each election, it is flushed down the toilet.
We make this move of endorsing Trump. And we don’t intend to back down, back up, or back track!

We have seen time and time again how Trump can say something such as closing immigration to Muslims. That part of the statement is reported, yet, the other part of what he said which was ‘until we can see what the hell is going on’ is conveniently left off and the first part becomes the proliferated sound bite. We have seen time and time again how Trump can present his idea of solving a problem only to see other candidates rip it off and mainstream media portray those ideas as coming from everybody but Trump. This is an age of terrorism which emanates from a particular region of the world and, unfortunately, that region is the Middle East. This is not an era when Paddy and Molly came over to get away from the Potato Famine. This is not the 1800’s or 1900’s when the Statue of Liberty symbolized ‘give us your tired, hungry and huddled masses.’ This is an era when the Statue of Liberty is apt to be blown to bits.
In one debate, Trump praised policemen and this was presented as his being anti-Black, when in FACT, Trump stated that there were bad policemen and these should be dealt with. Yet, that wasn’t added to his sound bites. Yet, these same mainstream media pundits have yet to explain how they have failed to cover the white militia group holed up in a federal facility in Oregon fighting the police in an armed stand-off which has lasted for months. If this had been a Black anything taking such a stand, the mainstream media would have covered it 24-7. But it is in the corporate media owners’ elitist-racist interest to portray the Black Lives Matter group as anti-police when Black Lives Matters is in fact anti-bad police. We, too, have covered too many years how Black citizens who want the police in their community, but do not want those policemen who abuse their power. We have had Black seniors who have pulled our reporters aside and whispered that they want the police there to keep them safe. One only has to ask those like the Black mother who saw her child killed by stray gang bullets or those who saw a nine-year-old boy assassinated.

Long before Trump got as far as he has, we had read and re-read Trump’s immigration position paper which is on his website for the reading. Nothing in media was reported on what Trump said about African Americans in this immigration paper. For the written record, in his “Put American Workers First” section of this paper, Trump stated: “Decades of disastrous trade deals and immigration policies have destroyed our middle class. Today, nearly 40% of black teenagers are unemployed. Nearly 30% of Hispanic teenagers are unemployed. For black Americans without high school diplomas, the bottom has fallen out: more than 70% were employed in 1960, compared to less than 40% in 2000…”

Yet, Trump continues to be painted as a racist, anti-Black, a buffoon, a white monkey. Why? Simple, the boys at the top of the establishment and media mainstream establishment can’t control him. Their medium is their message.
We welcome the renegade Trump.

And to the rest of the Republican field, especially to you, John Kasich, in this time of crisis we don’t want to see someone trying to be ‘presidential’ and above the fray. Besides, do you really think Americans would be tuning into a debate if Trump were not in it? One can be presidential after he or she wins, seeing the mess that this nation is in, and after the swearing in, he or she better be ready to put on blue jeans and go to work.

Regarding Trump’s foul language, that would be the least of this nation’s problems should North Korea drop a nuclear bomb this way as ISIL grins and Russia winks. When you’re Number One, you automatically have a target on your back. The foreign policy game is like in any other game: Whoever takes out Number One becomes lead dog.

What is so perturbing about “Making America Great Again”? Americans were duped into NAFTA. Its manufacturing infrastructure has been outsourced; workers have been emaciated, including Black Americans who could at one time count on Detroit for jobs, but instead have gotten the lead poisoning of Flint. There has been talk of relocating Syrian refugees in America; yet, there is no talk of relocating the poor white and Black citizens of Flint to a healthier environment. Even the damn EPA was so politically correct with their protocols that they have F-up a generation of babies.

As for the rest of the Republican field, we still ask ourselves WHY just WHY does this major political party continue to disrespect its African American citizens? When the Nine parishioners were murdered in Emanuel Church by a terrorist (regardless of his color), this Party of a democracy by the People and of the People could not extend condolences for fear it would be perceived as being pro-Black. Yet, this Elephant decided it could reach out to Parisian victims of terrorists and extend condolences. This was morally wrong and unpatriotic towards a community which has fought in every war to keep America safe.

This now has become a nation where there is more of an outcry about Syrian refugees being ill-treated than about citizens being poisoned in Flint! One of the loudest voices heard in advocating to place Syrian refugees in America came from the President who stood up to chastise Americans, yelling ‘this is not who we are!’ When in fact it is exactly who we are for we have morphed into a nation that neglects its own. We have become a nation which treats its veterans like what rhymes with ‘hit’. This is the same President who refuses to return a call to the National Coalition of Black Veteran Organizations. This call was promised to them as far back as 2012 when they asked for and continue to beg for an Honorary promotion of Col. Charles Young, a Buffalo soldier who fought with General Jack Pershing, but was not promoted to general because it meant white soldiers would have had to salute him.

Yes, ‘this is exactly who we are.’

Need we wonder why Americans of all ilk, colors, religions, creed are mad as hell! Yes, this is exactly who we have become: A nation that mistreats its veterans and soldiers. It ignores its Black minority as being in economic domestic crisis; it ignores its Black children, its Appalachian children, its poor white children, its brown children, its red children, its Oriental-American children, its public school system, its mentally ill, because it’s too busy being politically correct to see to its own. And lo and behold if you profess the Christian faith then you’re either painted as anti-Muslim, a redneck, a Black shouting dancing ignorant Holy Roller, or a 13-headed jingoistic monster!

Damn well! Americans are angry, even to the point of foaming at the mouth like mad dogs!

For the record, we don’t want to see cute, politically correct debates. We don’t care about the foul language, because we don’t see ISIL saying, ‘Please, may I chop your head off’ or ‘Please, may I burn your babies alive’ or ‘Please, may I lock your loved one in a cage, douse gasoline and burn him alive while you watch the matinee.’

Yeah, go ahead and ask those parents how they sleep at night knowing their child had his head chopped off; Yeah, go ahead and ask these parents if they can still feel their child’s last pain of horror as an ax came down. Go on. Ask the people who found bodies of children doused with gasoline and burned alive! Go ahead and ask the parents of the little Nigerian girls who were taken and raped and turned into sex slaves. Yeah, ask the parents whose babies’ heads were chopped off as if they were small animals or no better than rats being exterminated. Yeah, ask them how they feel about Herod’s return in the 21st Century.

Our rage rages on.

We are presently engaged in several war fronts. Yes, there is enough blame of the previous administrations and the present one to go around, but where does that get us? We’re in this mess now and now is the time to find a way out. This is no time for another Neville Chamberlain II.

This nation needs an unconventional leader for unconventional times, because the only thing we have to fear is stupidity.

Yes, in this election, it is time to put politics in the gutters. It is time to put politics in the outhouse. Someone has to clean the cesspool—to clean the crap to come up with clean solutions.

And if America wants a nice, cute, politically correct president then all we can say is (D)uck that!

-End-

*The above is on the Editorial lane on The Mid-South Tribune and Black Information Highway at http://www.blackinformationhighway.com . Welcome, Travelers!

Politically Incorrect Naughtiness and Year End Mutterings

By Arelya J. Mitchell, Publisher/Editor-in-Chief
The Mid-South Tribune and the Black Information Highway

It’s that end time of year again when one looks back to see what one would like to change and look forward to changing what one had looked back to change but continued to look forward to changing as each end of the year begins. Now if this doesn’t make all that much sense, then that’s pretty much the status of most New Year’s resolutions.
So anyway, I am going to take my chances at being naughty and politically incorrect in my year end mutterings and not offend anyone. Here goes:

I heard when Secretary Kerry was on the phone to Iran trying to get back the 10 sailors who were taken by the Iranians, someone said that they overheard Kerry saying, “The check is in the mail.”

***
Then there’s the rumor that the Iranians felt they’d better take that deal of a $100-plus billion and run, just in case Donald Trump becomes president.

***

I hear that Karl Rove is coming out even stronger to attack Hillary Clinton. Now I find that surprising because I’d heard that Karl was slated to be the face of Dog TV, but the bitches complained so he was let go.

***

The rich get richer and the poor get whiter.

***
In the latest Fox Business debate, there was this back forth between Trump and Cruz about Cruz not being qualified to run for president because he was born in Canada. Cruz retaliated saying that he was an American citizen because his mother was an American. Anyway, one has to wonder that if Cruz were born of an American mother in Russia, or Syria, or Zimbabwe, would we really be having this argument?

***
I heard that a giant bottle of Clorox by the name of Mr. Clorox B. Bleach had complained to the FCC about not being an anchor at the networks’ presidential debates. Mr. Bleach said that he’s the real white moderator and the others are light pink in comparison. He has filed an EEO charge. His case will be heard by Justice Antonin Scalia. It’s said that Mr. Clorox B. Bleach stated that just because NBC had African American Lester Holt moderate the latest presidential debate still didn’t make up this grave offense against him. He now wants to host the Oscars.

***
I frankly don’t understand why Black folks are getting upset over Antonin ‘Dred Scott’ Scalia suggesting that Black students should find a slower educational path in educational facilities befitting of their slower learning rate. Black folks should handle Scalia with utmost respect and simply say to him, “… and yo mammy!”

***

When I heard that Antonin Scalia was the father of nine, I thought maybe if he’d taken a slower path to the bedroom…

***
I was wondering why Crest was sponsoring the Republican Party’s response to the State of the Union address. Then, I discovered that this was not their spokesperson. It was Nikki Haley.

***
I heard that mainstream media has been taking the credit for breaking the story of contaminated water in Flint, Michigan’s predominantly Black neighborhoods. But wasn’t this story first hammered hard on TV One which kept hammering away until mainstream press decided to jump onboard and take over and make it a ‘legitimate’ story. Yeah, mainstream media coverage made it okay for the President and presidential candidates to weigh in. Mmmmm, I guess white politicians have yet to recognize the Black press and Black journalists as being a part of the Fourth Estate. What? Oh, I hear it now. They thought Black press was the Fourth Plantation.

***
Blacks in Flint, Michigan should have declared themselves Syrian refugees so that they could get clean water. Katrina victims couldn’t get water or food either for the longest time. Yes, it’s best that Black folks should reside in an enemy’s nation to get treated like a first class American citizen.

***

President Obama gave his final State of the Union address. Now, what did we learn from this about how the President views terrorism? What we learned is that this President resides on a strip of land between Oz and Wonderland called Delusion. I’m frightened, Aunt Em, I’m frightened!

***

Mmmm. I saw where the President praised a Syrian refugee he had there as an honored guest, which was fine. But—ta—but I didn’t see a family member of one of the nine Black victims killed in a Bible study class from Emanuel Church in the president’s box.

***
President Obama recently gave a press conference on gun control and mounted further an ongoing campaign against the N.R.A., and guess what? The next day North Korea allegedly tested a hydrogen bomb. Hope, the Iranians didn’t take what they had left over to the North Koreans.

***
And speaking of the President and that gun violence press conference… Do you really want to see your president crying? Before the day was over every news media and viral media had a photo of Obama with big crocodile tears rolling down his eyes as family members of gun victims stood stoically behind him. Of course, it goes without saying that we all feel for these family members on losing their loved ones… but I ask you again at the risk of being politically incorrect, do you really want to see your president crying? Yes, it’s okay for others to cry publicly, but these folks are not the leader of the western world. I ask again, do you want to really, really want to see your Commander-in-Chief crying? Surely, this must be historical because throughout history, I don’t recall any president crying. Can you imagine Franklin Roosevelt, John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Jimmy Carter, or Harry Truman crying? I did not see George W. Bush crying during 9-11? I certainly can’t imagine Ronald Reagan crying while uttering, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” One did not see Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. crying while he was leading the Selma march? I didn’t see the president of France crying after the bombings in Paris. Did we see Jacqueline Kennedy crying? Did we see Coretta Scott King crying? Did we see Nelson Mandela crying? Most people in leadership or role model capacities manage to hold themselves up because they know the world is watching them and looking to them for moral strength. To make matters worse, Obama being the nation’s first Black president and a Black male certainly didn’t help. Maybe the president felt that boo-hooing would make him seem less of a threatening Black male (Yes, I said it!). The mainstream press ate these crocodile tears up like liquid cookies. In mimicking Tom Hanks in “A League of Their Own”, “There’s no crying in public when you’re the president!”

***

And speaking of crybabies, I saw where Rand Paul, bless his heart, couldn’t take being sent to his room for the debate. This was the room for those who didn’t quite make the big room cut for the debates. Rand “Baby Cakes” Paul hasn’t been heard from since. I didn’t see Carly Fiorina who has been relegated back and forth from the big debate room to the small debate room complaining. Carly, get Baby Cakes his pacifier!

***
I hear some demanding an answer from Donald Trump about white Klan-like folks robo-phoning other whites to vote for him. Well, Donald, you should take a page out of the Democrats’ playbook. Get their votes then ignore them once you’re in, just like the Democrats do Black voters once they’re in.

***
The Academy Award recently announced its nominees. There were no Blacks in the mix. The Academy is justifying this, saying that Sally Field was the only white to win an award for picking cotton (Places in the Heart) and this shows diversity. So, Will Smith shouldn’t feel bad. He portrayed a highly educated Black man who didn’t pick cotton or maybe it was an NFL conspiracy…
***
Oh, now there’s talk of African American actors boycotting the Academy Awards. Here we go again with the façade of white liberalism not being racist. When will Black Hollywood realize that the white Hollywood leadership follows the Jungle Jim model? It’s okay for Black actors to carry the load, as long as whites are in charge.

***
I hear Chris Christie will be co-starring in the next “Ride Along” movie.

***
Jeb Bush and Ben Carson can’t bring themselves to realize that they will not become president because of former associations. What associations? You ask (or don’t ask). Ben Carson has yet to realize that it will be a mighty long time before there is another Black president, and he can blame that on President Barack Obama who was the ‘We got one’ category. We all know about that “We got one?” category as that excuse for whites not dealing with too many Blacks at once. Now the ‘We got one’ is a practice handed down from Corporate America which translates into ‘We have done our affirmative action duty and hired our token.” Jeb Bush can blame his father and brother (both named George) that there won’t be a third Bush. Jebbie is now hearing, “We had two.”

***

I heard that if Hillary Clinton becomes president, she will be bringing back the position of Postmaster General to the president’s cabinet.

***
Bernie Sanders needs to understand that ‘the rich will always be with you’.

***

To African Americans, please pay attention to foreign policy. If this nation is ever attacked, your skin color won’t ‘matter’.

***
I heard that some members of Black Lives Matter offered to ride out to Oregon to support the Citizens for Constitutional Freedom. You know, that Oregon white militia group which is heavily armed and has been occupying a federal building for a couple of weeks now. The Black Lives Matter reassured the militia that they will have no weaponry and will only chant: “Hands Up! Don’t Shoot!” However, while they were enroute there, I heard that the leader of the militia called them back and yelled: “Don’t you dare bring your group out here! You want to get us killed!”

***
When shopping at Walmart, don’t go in there thinking it will take you a reasonable time to get out. Don’t complain about how long the lines are. Just get in one and plan to vacation there. It’s called a stay-in-line vacation. You might even meet the Trivago man there.

***
No matter how technologically sophisticated the world gets, there will always be a line to stand in.

***
Interesting how Republican Party members can extend condolences to Parisians after terror attacks but could not extend condolences to the families of nine African American church members who were gunned down in a Bible study class for fear that they might offend their base. I’m just wondering what type of base is this and if it’s located where there’s fire and brimstone.

***
The white middle class has yet to realize that it has become America’s latest ‘Negro’ or that NAFTA really wasn’t an entitlement program for Black folks.

***
Gee whiz, I wonder why no one has brought up the fact that NAFTA was passed in the Bill Clinton administration and was supported by both the Democrats and Republicans. Yes, NAFTA was even supported by some union leaders who threw their rank ‘n file under the bus while telling them rubber won’t hurt.

***
They say that Ted Cruz is not liked by the establishment of the Republican Party. Is that really a negative?

***

Only white teens get affluenza. Do you think black and Hispanic teens can use poorenza as a defense? You know like in that they’re so poor that they don’t know right from wrong?

***

The New York Jets’ head coach is named ‘Todd’. Now this should be enough evidence for those who believe in a post-racial society that it has now come to past. Yes, Todd is a Black man. However, it is believed that Todd got this position solely through his application. There is the conspiracy theory that Todd’s credentials were excellent and because his name was Todd, the application was swiftly sent to the head honk—I mean honcho. It was said that Todd’s contract was either emailed to him without so much as an interview. When Todd showed up for his first meeting with the Jets, everyone from the players to management waited for over two hours until they heard someone timidly ask, “Wh-what are we waiting for?” “For Todd,” the head honk—I mean honcho replied. “I’m—a—I’m Todd.” Last I heard, those in the meeting, except for Todd, have taken roles in AMC’s “The Walking Dead.”

***
I heard Chris Christie has been seeing a psychiatrist to get over that awkward Archie Bunker/Sammy Davis, Jr. moment he had with President Obama. This is the real reason why Christie has been losing weight. But there are rumors that Christie wants to be the New York Giants’ next head coach if this presidential thing doesn’t happen. He is sure he can beat Todd in shutting down lanes

***
I heard that a member of the NRA shot a cloud and that this was the real reason for global warming. I mean the NRA is blamed for everything which ails America. So why not blame them for global warming? This shot heard through the clouds was the real reason President Obama laid out climate control details in a press conference which again interrupted CBS’ “The Young & the Restless.” Of course, he or any other president wouldn’t think of interrupting the NFL playoffs for anything. Now being a girly girl non-sports sort of person, I would rather have him interrupt the NFL playoffs than my soaps. (Oh, do I hear threats being made against me…moving on. Quickly).

***
And speaking of talk…I thought when CBS’ “The Talk” returned for its new season last September that it would be re-titled “The Aisha Tyler vs. the Auctioneer Show”. But I understand that title was nixed because no one could find an auctioneer to keep up with her. To the ladies on “The View” and “The Real” bring on your own auctioneer and maybe you, too, can be nominated for an Emmy. Again, I’ve given up on seeing what the other ladies on The Talk have to say. They’re back in that mode of where they just let Aisha hog the show all in the name of being politically correct for fear if they told this Black woman that she breaks the speed of sound each time she opens her mouth that the NAACP will be after them. Oh dear, how can I forget? The NAACP gave this show an Image Award. I guess it pays not be Holly Robinson Peete who could sit and talk in a conversational tone. Holly, an African American Sarah Lawrence graduate, consummate actress, and businesswoman, will be starring in a series on OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network. Of course, we know she was kicked off the Talk for being for—for what – oh, what’s that word? ‘Overly qualified’.

***
There’s some talk that Donald Trump is now painting Ted Cruz as an ‘anchor baby’.

***

I see the Fox network is bringing in yet another sci-fi series. Don’t know what it is (Oh, someone said it was called “Second Chance”). But it doesn’t matter and I needn’t care, because I have learned that one mustn’t get involved in any Fox sci-fi series. This network will bring on a sci-fi show, let it stay for two seconds, yank it off with a hiatus which lasts forever, then put it back on schedule on the 8th Day of the week at 100 O’clock. Just a warning.

***
I see there are two new TV shows coming, “The Angel from Hell” on CBS and “Lucifer” on Fox. Looks the devil is getting his due.

***
I didn’t know NBC had other programs until I saw the network promoting them around “The Wiz”. I enjoyed “The Wiz”, the Black version of “The Wizard of Oz” for those whites who were complaining about there being no Caucasians in this live TV event. As for myself, I can’t wait for the white version of “Porgy and Bess”.

***

Speaking of NBC, I am now utterly confused because I no longer know that when “It’s Sunday, it’s Meet the Press”. Now this public affairs show comes on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. I can’t handle the stress.

***

Shush! Didn’t I just hear Jeb Bush whining to his campaign staff: “What we gwine do now?” Someone has just whispered to him, “Let’s get Lindsey Graham to endorse you.” Who?

***
Now I shall go into my office and sit on a raw egg. That should make some people happy. Maybe a lot?

END

*The above is on the Editorial and Op Ed lanes on The Mid-South Tribune and the Black Information Highway at http://www.blackinformationhighway.com . Welcome, Travelers!

Merry Christmas, Atheists!

By Arelya J. Mitchell, Publisher/Editor-in-Chief
The Mid-South Tribune and the Black Information Highway

Well, it’s getting near Christmas which means the atheists will be crawling out of the woodworks to tell us how much they’re looking forward to going to hell this time of the year. And I’m all for that if they choose to do so (God would know I would be lying if I said I wasn’t, and I fully well understand the ramification of expressing such because it could get me to hell with them.). I just wish they’d gone before this time of year, so the rest of us non-atheists can make a joyful noise unto the Lord, put up a Christmas tree, have Christmas parties, wait for Santa, crack open eggnog, watch for 24-hours “A Christmas Story” or “It’s a Wonderful Life” or watch Scrooge get redemption. Yeah, yeah, I know I’m being un-Christian by wishing them well on their way to hell, but I mean they want to go, so go. One of those expressing that he would be happy to go to hell is Ron Reagan, son of the late president. I watch Ron espouse his non-belief with profound faith (in nothing). Ron loves telling us how much he’s looking forward to going to hell because he’s an atheist. I thought his commercials were quite self-serving.

Then there’s Starbucks going through hell because of red cups sans Christmassy stuff on them this year because it seems they don’t want to offend the atheists and/or non Christians, and I suppose to make it easier for sinners to enjoy coffee (as if they don’t all year anyway.). I say the hell with that! I am going to enjoy Christmas the way I have always done come hell or high water. Now I have nothing against atheists. Some of my best friends are atheists (Okay, I’m telling a little fib here—only two of them are.).

I love me some Christmas. It’s my favorite time of the year. It’s my favorite holiday and holy day. These days I am rebellious about loving Christmas just because of all the attacks against this holy day and holiday. I don’t mind being part of a defense of Christmas, even a renegade in defending Christmas by yelling out “Merry Christmas!” and fighting red cup windmills with quixotic stubbornness.

I love Christmas memories when both my parents were alive and we kids would relish in our toys (and I with my numerous dolls!), Christmas cakes, my mother’s perfect lemon icebox pie, her delicious from scratch carrot cake (We could even forgive her for that one year she made that horrible peppermint candy cane pie which tasted like melted peppermint over a year-old biscuit.).

I love Christmas! Hear ye! Hear ye! I love Christmas!

I love sending Christmas cards. I even love the commercialization of Christmas because it puts me even more in the Christmas spirit. When I’m walking through malls or other stores, or riding up on escalators, I crave to hear Christmas tunes. Yes, I love to Jingle Bell my head off and twist my hips to “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus”.

I love Christmas trees— real ones which environmentalists wouldn’t approve of—and I also love artificial ones that come in colors nature didn’t provide. I love how the “Grinch Stole Christmas” but had to give it back, a lesson the atheists could learn. I love watching Barbara Stanwyck in “A Christmas in Connecticut”, and I love “Miracle on 34th Street”; I love the smell of Christmas cakes that promise to make you fat with joy and calories; I love oranges, apples, pies, cookies, spiked and un-spiked eggnog. I even love fruitcake! I love children’s laughter, I love the cheerful ho, ho, ho from Santa. I love the ringing of the Salvation Army bells, I love seeing people give gifts to those who are needy and non-needy. I love the love of Christmas!

I love me some Christmas!

I love Charlie Brown’s Christmas. I love walnuts, pecans, and nutty ugly Christmas sweaters! I love Nat King Cole singing the “Christmas Song” where he has chestnuts on an open fire. I also love Nat singing “The Little Boy That Santa Claus Forgot”, I love hearing Mariah Carey singing “All I Want for Christmas is You”, I love hearing B.B. King’s “Merry Christmas, Baby”, I love Elvis’ “Blue Christmas”; I love all of the Lifetime and Hallmark Channel networks’ million Christmas movies starting before Christmas. I love seeing a zillion shopping red bags with pictures of Santa and Christmas trees. I love Rudolf’s red nose!

I love Christmas office parties. I even love seeing Bruce Willis save Christmas day in “Die Hard”. I love putting on my Santa cap or my green foam cheap reindeer ears. I love my jingle bell earrings! I love your jingle bell earrings! I love ugly Christmas sweaters (Didn’t I say that earlier? Oh well!)

I love church services, Mass, re-enactments of the first Christmas, singing Christmas trees, and caroling. I love even seeing the atheists put up billboards trying in vain to stamp out Christmas, not realizing their gesture is a lost cause when it comes to fools like me who just love them some Christmas! I figure that after they put up those billboards, they should get on their knees and thank God that they have the freedom to put up billboards in the good ole U.S.A. I mean, non-atheists, we know they wouldn’t dare put up any billboards or buy air time in any place where ISIS or ISIL resides. (Oops! I guess they’re not that committed! Okay, so I’m going to get a piece of coal for that one!)

I mean I love Christmas so much that I can say to my fellow atheist human beings: “Merry Christmas!” I love it even more when I can override their “Happy Holidays” by yelling “Merry Christmas!” to the top of my Santa cap!

I love Christmas parades. I love the Macy’s Parade and the Disney Parade. I love even the equivalent of a Mayberry parade on the scale of small towns and rural towns. I love snow at Christmas. I love rain at Christmas. I love sunshine at Christmas.
I feel a warmth at seeing a manger—yes, yes, atheists, I throw at you the full throttle of the Nativity Scene.

In spite of all the mess, all the junk during the rest of the year, I still love Christmas!

Yes! I love me some Christmas!

Yes! To my atheist human being persons, I say to you and all of humankind, “Merry Christmas! And a BLESSED New Year!”

Ho! Ho! Ho!

End

*The above is also on the Editorial and Op/Ed lanes on The Mid-South Tribune and Black Information Highway at http://www.blackinformationhighway.com. Welcome, Travelers!

Putin, Obama, Syria, and Removing Sanctions on Russia

By Arelya J. Mitchell, Publisher/Editor-in-Chief
The Mid-South Tribune and the Black Information Highway

Whoever is the next president should remove sanctions from Russia.
At the end of the day and no matter how much it’s being said that sanctions are hurting Russia apparently they’re not hurting it enough, because Czar Putin is doing what he does best: Play chess with an opponent who’s playing checkers—not even Chinese Checkers. And the Czar is playing with an American foreign policy that continues to fail because it will not modernize and will not take into account intangibles.

This is not a question of my or anyone else’s patriotism. It is not a question of patriotism period, because patriotism too many times has served as an operative excuse to get into wars and prolong wars because there is no exit strategy. Like life, the area of international relations is not always fair. It is a world where perception equals a quasi-truth, and the quasi-truth is that since Vietnam, the U.S. has acquired the label of ‘loser’.
The Obama administration is now the latest embodiment of that label which still operates on a stagnant colonialist mindset that requires it not to think anything through; thus, no exit strategies.

Since Vietnam, presidents have gone so far to the right, thinking or semi-thinking that the Hawk is the answer while asserting “We are America” and that should be enough to make the enemy behave. Now this nation has a president so far to the left that he takes nil or no action seemingly thinking that all he has to do is charm and intellectualize his way out of a conflict. Either way the American military has been the entity most screwed, beginning with Vietnam to the present.

No matter how sophisticated the world is, when a nation treats its warriors like what rhymes with ‘hit’, that nation is further doomed to fail. VA hospitals have been put on such an inhumane level that perhaps PETA should be brought in as a consultant. And when a nation allows military families to starve to make ends meet then what else can be said?

Now I don’t claim to know what the answers are concerning Russia, but I do know what the answer was ‘not’, which was putting sanctions on Russia to humiliate Russia because of Crimea. Never mind that when the anti-Russian forces asked for weapons, they were ignored with President Obama giving them a gentle pat and a ‘hang in there’ pep talk.

The fact that Russia took Crimea is not a matter of right or wrong; moral or immoral in the world of international relations. This is how sovereign states historically have behaved and will continue to behave, especially if they view a piece of territory as being in their sphere of influence. The U.S. has long felt this way about Cuba. And speaking of Cuba, I am sure Putin continues to be pissed off about renewed relations between the U.S. and Cuba, seeing that the Czar had forgiven Cuba’s debt and was more than likely counting on Cuba becoming that second ‘C’ in BRICS which consists of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. BRICS was founded mainly on Russia’s leadership as an answer to the UN and other Western nations not letting in nations of color or those nations they deemed as Third World leftovers.

Exactly what was the point of this bold ass move for sanctions? This was about a naïve president and his equally naïve idealistic brat intellectual advisers wanting to show the world that they would be the ones to put Russia in its place. Yes, show the world that they dared to do the unthinkable to a former giant who once was on the other end of that scale of the Balance of Power. America’s Commander-in-Chief made his move, but the thing is you don’t send a professor to a street fight.

Russia is Russia, just as Great Britain is Great Britain. Never would the United States have put sanctions on Great Britain. Yes, during the Cuban crisis these two giants were on the brink of what could have been World War III, but it would have been both going toe to toe with each other. It’s how giants fight. Like it or not, sanctions have been left for those itty bitty nations outside of the super power structure. Just as there are rules of engagement, there are unwritten rules of how super powers behave with each other. Obama broke this rule. Now he is reacting to the fact that Russia stepped up to the plate in the Middle East. So, sit there. I’ll be back to this point.

I do know that Obama’s predecessors did not do anything to further annihilate a Russia when its walls came tumbling down after the economic collapse of communism.

The ‘intangible’ of respecting a foe which still has nuclear clout was not lost on previous presidents. George W. Bush had his share of problems with Czar Putin who was driving Georgia back under Russian auspices. In his book “Duty,” Bob Gates who served as both Bush and Obama’s Secretary of Defense had a realistic view of Putin.
Gates writes on this Georgian dilemma: “The Russians, Putin in particular, wanted to reassert Russia’s traditional sphere of influence, including the Caucasus. I was asked by a reporter if I trusted Vladimir Putin ‘anymore’? I responded, ‘Anymore’ is an interesting word. I have never believed that one should make national security policy on the basis of trust. I think you make national security policy based on interests and on realities’.”

Like Gates, hate Gates, or feel like flinging him in a pool of ‘Red’ Jell-O, he at least understood what this administration has failed miserably at understanding, which is that national security is about reality. And I might add that ‘reality’ in the realm of international relations has the added dimension of being based on ‘perception’.

International relations is not about theorizing in some pedagogic vacuum where you can flex your muscles and not have someone kick you in the ass after doing so.
Having to deal with these Obama idealists in Book Land (a.k.a. the White House) perhaps is the reason why Gates felt the need to get the hell out.

Now getting back to my point about Russia and sanctions: The president’s decision to up the troop number in Afghanistan was no more than a knee jerk reaction to Czar Putin’s decision to begin air strikes in Syria. This knee jerk reaction to expand the war was no more than Obama himself trying to save face. At this writing it seems now that the president even wants to put more boots on the ground in Iraq. Yet another knee jerk reaction to the Czar to save his own face for making these idealistic checkers moves while Putin makes chess moves. As I’ve written before at the risk of political heresy: Putin plays chess; Obama plays checkers. I have long been a Putin observer, and I again make the assertion that Putin moves on underestimation; he waltzes when acquiring territory.

Now where is the U.S. heading? Three war fronts? Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria? Maybe four, with a future Iran? (Of course, Iran marked the first time America paid billions for the enemy to keep American hostages. Great deal for the kidnappers! And we wonder why the U.S. is becoming the Rodney Dangerfield of foreign policy.)

When I saw Putin and Obama coming out of their UN meeting, I was watching hands, and I saw Obama once again grab the limp hand of Putin and was the first to shake hands.

I am still trying to wrap my head around how would President Obama not know that whatever meeting he had with Putin, Putin didn’t care and would pull a fast one. Let’s see now: Logic would follow emotions that: ‘Hey, United States, you led NATO into putting sanctions on my country, you’re starving my people, you’re screwing over my economy…and now you think I’m going to sit here and actually think I’m going do what you say? Sure, let’s all pretend here. Why not? Take some photos. Sure I’ll let you shake my hand. We’re all BFFs here.’
Just from his previous modus operandi, I knew the Czar would pull another fast one while he was on his UN public relations campaign via a speech to UN representatives. The speech, his meeting and photo ops with Obama served no more than a possum tactic to do what he had in mind anyway: Beef up the Assad regime and to position himself and Russia as the new savior in the Middle East. Brilliant move, Vladimir baby, especially when you’re dealing with brat advisers who feel studying Cold War history is beneath them.

Now Putin puts Obama in the role of Pavlov’s dog with the president’s latest jerk reaction to send in more troops not only in Afghanistan but, to reiterate, to Iraq, to Syria.

Am I getting brutal? Well, let me get worse.

This 21st Century warfare is not your great granddaddy, or granddaddy or daddy’s warfare. Flip that 21st Century over into a 12 and what you have is a war fighting soldiers with a 12th Century mindset with a sophisticated knowledge of 21st Century technology. This enemy believes in heads on the grounds and not boots on the ground. There are no rules of engagement. There are no safe zones for civilians. Hell! Even the Red Cross is not given a pass. Yet, this president has flung out open arms and says to Syrian refugees with the same enthusiasm as Drew Carey on the “Price is Right”: “Come on down!” without realizing that ISIS can embed themselves among the authentic refugees and bring in homemade weapons of mass destruction or simply deploy a scavenger hunt here to get what is needed for chemical weaponry.

Both the Hawks and Doves need to face reality for this war on terror. America needs to restructure the military to include guerilla warfare as mandatory in basic training and whatever else the experts deem necessary for this new type of 12th Century warfare. This nation cannot afford to fight an unconventional war conventionally.
Yeah, yeah, we know President Obama inherited this war from President Bush, just as Johnson inherited the Vietnam War from Kennedy. When you sign up to become president you inherit crap, and he is not the first president and won’t be the last to find himself on latrine duty.

I watched both the Obama and the Putin interviews on CBS’ “60 Minutes”. In his interview with Charlie Rose, Putin made a mockery of both the interview and President Obama, even inserting “Ferguson” in answering one of Rose’s questions in the spirit of that old adage of the ‘pot calling the kettle black’ (no pun intended).
Then there was Steve Kroft’s raw interview with President Obama. No matter how much Obama tried to spin his post UN meeting with Putin which culminated in Russian air strikes over Syria, the president managed to live up to another adage of : “Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.” But if you ‘fool me three, four, five times, then I’m the damn fool’. (And we’ve all been damn fools at one time or another… moving on), but the shame should not culminate in American troops being spread out with no training for this type of warfare and where conscription can be readily reintroduced once the boots run out, because this Alice-in-Wonderland president made the decision to go down the rabbit’s hole to greet the queen who’s yelling ‘off with their heads.’

Czar Putin has fooled this rabbit too many times, and it’s always after some meeting or some telephone call where Obama stands up smiling as if all is well on the ‘Western Front’.
To reiterate, what American foreign policy LEGO builders have failed to take into account are intangibles such as the ‘natives’ fighting you back with brick, sticks, and stones and on sheer will (and now it is with their own brand of Internet propaganda and technological sophistication) until they run off the super power because said super power came in with an attitude that it can stay in a place forever and only has to say ‘boo!’

Yes, Putin made a smart move when he decided to beef up the Assad regime, the enemy of his enemy. I didn’t say it was a ‘good’ move, but a smart move. And don’t kid yourselves, members of the NATO alliance behind closed doors are probably jumping up with joy because they realistically know that they do not want ISIS on their front steps, and if that means dealing with Russia to help rid ISIS, then it is in their interest to want it. And whether one likes Russia or not becomes irrelevant, because by the very fact that Russia stepped in, Russia is viewed now as THE lone power player. And the ‘perception’ that the Czar pulled off all this with the same precision as the ‘Godfather’s’ Michael Corleone who was at a christening acting all innocent while his enemies were being wiped off the map, makes the Czar seem even more brilliant. At this point Obama became a joke in the realm of international relations because the Czar not only executed Syrian air strikes while at the ‘christening’, but was bold enough to order the U.S. to stay out of the way as a point of saying to Obama, ‘you can kiss my Russian ‘A’. Yes, Russia has pulled off all of this while under that ‘S’ word – sanctions.

In short: Putin will back Assad, rid Assad of his regime’s enemies, and then Putin will rid Syria and the Middle East of Assad.
I would even venture to surmise that Putin has already cut a deal or three with one of Assad’s generals to aid and abet him to get rid of Assad, and for that general to be Syria’s future new leader.
Assad has to go; it’s the only way for Putin to checkmate his NATO rivals and get the credit.
Yes, it will take a new U.S. president to remove sanctions and begin anew in some form or fashion a relationship with Russia. Obama cannot do it; he will look weaker than he already does.

And as time marches on, the lesson these 12th Century soldiers will learn with the same consternation as Russia, France, Great Britain and other Old World kingdoms is that ‘the people’ (citizens, peasants, migrants, tribes, have-nots, what-nots) will turn on them, because even these nouveau terrorists will come to their own headstone where they cannot blame the United States for every ill in their impoverished society. In other words, these nouveau terrorists will succumb to the natural order of politics (revolution) and morph into Third World plutocrats. Thus, another revolution begins ‘again’.

And to you, next American president, you needn’t feel too elated after the inaugural balls. The glass slipper would have cracked as America escalates into another war with boots on the ground not realizing that pretty soon you run out of boots and ground all because there is no exit strategy.
Welcome, to the rabbit hole.

End

*The above is on the Editorial, Op Ed, and Black Paper lanes on The Mid-South Tribune and the Black Information Highway at http://www.blackinformationhighway.com . Welcome, Travelers!

Why White Lives Matter

By Arelya J. Mitchell, Publisher/Editor-in-Chief
The Mid-South Tribune and the Black Information Highway

When the U.S. Constitution was written and declared Black human beings as a fraction of white human beings, when did white lives not matter?

When this nation allowed slave breeding farms to breed Black people as if they were farm animals to sell, when did white lives not matter?

When the 13th 14th and 15th Amendments were added to the U.S. Constitution in the 19th Century and were hastily reneged on, ushering in legal Segregation which lasted well into the 20th Century, when did white lives not matter?

When the Tuskegee Airmen, Buffalo Soldiers, and other Black lives which served to protect this nation during World War I, World War II, the Korean Conflict, and Vietnam came home to segregation, when did white lives not matter?

When public schools were separate but not equal with most of the funds being given to white public schools, when did white lives not matter?

When the NFL practiced that only white players could be quarterbacks, when did white lives not matter?

When Black athletes were not allowed to participate in professional baseball and NBA leagues, when did white lives not matter?

When Blacks were not allowed to be policemen and firemen, when did white lives not matter?

When Blacks could not sit at lunch counters or certain restaurants, when did white lives not matter?

When white immigrants came over and were given the freedom to build industry, eat where they wanted, live wherever they wanted, attend whatever school they wanted, and eventually became American citizens, when did white lives not matter?

When the U.S. government aided and abetted Big Banks to steal Black farmland and had to settle with Black farmers in the 21st Century, when did white lives not matter?

When unions fought having Black members, when did white lives not matter?

When laws were passed to deny Black citizens the right to vote and made them pay poll tax, when did white lives not matter?

When Col. Charles Young, a Buffalo soldier who had served his country but was denied promotion because it meant white soldiers would have to salute him, when did white lives not matter?

When medical experiments on Black people were condoned by the government such as in the purposely giving Black males syphilis, when did white lives not matter?

When this government condoned the wholesale massacre of Black people in Rosewood, Florida and Tulsa (“Black Wall Street”), Oklahoma because these townships were prospering, when did white lives not matter?

When the federal government condoned epidemic lynching by looking the other way, when did white lives not matter?

When Blacks were not allowed to go to white universities and those who were white and not citizens were allowed to be educated in these institutions, when did white lives not matter?

When Black children were hosed down with firemen hoses and had police dogs put on their small bodies to serve as dog food, when did white lives not matter?

When historical violations of Black U.S.A. citizens are not included in public schools’ American history books, when did white lives not matter?

When Black newspapers were not allowed in the South and had to be hidden on trains so Pullman porters could secretly distribute them in the South, when did white lives not matter?

When Blacks were not allowed to be in mainstream media other than as janitors not journalists, when did white lives not matter?

When white mainstream newspapers had the policy of not using ‘Mr., Mrs., or Miss’ in reference to Black citizens, when did white lives not matter?

When Black citizens are not welcomed in a 21st Century Silicon Valley, when did white lives not matter?

When white churches decided that Black Christian human beings should not worship inside white sanctuaries, when did white lives not matter?

When it took decades to bring killers of a 14-year-old Emmett Till to justice, when did white lives not matter?

When Mrs. Rosa Parks could not sit where she wanted on a transit bus, when did white lives not matter?

When Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. spent time in jail for asserting his rights as an American citizen, when did white lives not matter?

When Fannie Lou Hamer had her dress lifted and whipped like a child then beaten while in jail and had her water cut off from her house, when did white lives not matter?

When James Meredith wanted to go to a university which Black tax dollars also helped to build and had to have federal troops escort him to class amid racial slurs and threats to his life, when did white lives not matter?

When nine Black children walked to school in Little Rock, Arkansas and were spat on and had racial slurs and violence aimed at them, when did white lives not matter?

When the U.S. government claimed that it could not find Black-owned construction businesses to help rebuild New Orleans after Katrina, when did white lives not matter?

During the Civil War when Blacks were lynched in New York and the Colored Orphanage was stormed, when did white lives not matter?

When early Black musicians and singers could not get copyrights to their own creations, when did white lives not matter?

When then Senator John Kerry conducted 2007 hearings on SBA discrimination and presented letters on Black-owned construction and other businesses that were being blackballed and not given the same treatment as other non-Black businesses, when did white lives not matter?

When banks employ red-lining to discriminate in housing loans, when did white lives not matter?

When the following law was written: “Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio, that from and after the first day of June next, no black or mulatto person, shall be permitted to settle or reside in this state, unless he or she shall first produce a fair certificate from some court with the United States, of his or her actual freedom, which certificate shall be attested by the clerk of said court, and the seal thereof annexed thereto, by the said clerk.” When did white lives not matter?

When the following law was enacted “…[T]hat it shall not be lawful for any freedman, free negro, or mulatto to intermarry with any white person; nor for any white person to intermarry with any freedman, free negro, or mulatto; and any person who shall so intermarry, shall be deemed guilty of felony, and on conviction thereof shall be confined in the State penitentiary for life; and those shall be deemed freedmen, free negroes, and mulattoes who are of pure negro blood, and those descended from a negro to the third generation, inclusive, though one ancestor in each generation may have been a white person.”… When did white lives not matter?

When Black soldiers went to the frontline to take the first bullets during war to make it safe for white soldiers, when did white lives not matter?

When the KKK burned Blacks alive with the same hatred as does ISIS, when did white lives not matter?

When four little Black girls were bombed in a church and no investigation was launched, no FBI, no law came to give them justice, when did white lives not matter?

When Black citizens had to march through the street amid the LAW to demand that the Constitution’s 14th and 15th Amendments be enforced, when did white lives not matter?

When a government can fly over food and water to civilians of nations they have been at war with, but cannot fly in food and water and drop supplies down to mainly Black Katrina victims, when did white lives not matter?

Of course, white lives matter.
Of course, white lies matter.

END

*The above is on the Editorial, Op/ED, and Black Paper lanes on The Mid-South Tribune and the Black Information Highway at http://www.blackinformationhighway.com . Welcome, Travelers!