#DNC2016: Obama is the Opiate of the People

President Obama is one of today's best orators. Obviously, his speech was excellent as usual. Philosopher Karl Marx said that religion is the opiate of the people. The same can be said of Obama.

With his eloquent and beautiful speeches selling false hopes, fairy tale dreams and childlike optimism, Obama is the opiate of the people.  He is heroin in a spoon bubbling over a flame. His speeches and his mere presence in the White House give our people an illusion of true progress. He temporarily numbs the pain and dulls the senses. Sadly, even noted black activists and scholars nodded off into a silent Obama stuper. Those "leaders" left their watch posts and exchanged their principles for proximity to power.

Even after the killings of Trayvon Martin, Rekia Boyd, Michael Brown, Sam Dubose, Walter Scott, Freddie Gray, Alton Sterling, Philando Castile and others, Obama still speaks of one America. Those brutal killings and the bleak absence of justice remind us that there are still two Americas, Black America and White America. The persistent poverty, high unemployment, failing schools, violence, drugs, mass incarceration and dilapidated buildings remind us that there are still two Americas. The emergence and rise of demagogue Donald Trump is an evil sign of the times as well. America is not, and probably never will be, post-racial.

Post-partisan speeches helped Obama win the election in 2008. Despite of Obama's rhetoric of changing how business is done in Washington, Washington is still bitterly divided and highly partisan, probably more so. Like a pimp running game on a prostitute, Obama sold us a dream that never came true.

Now, Obama expect us to support a woman who used race baiting tactics against him. As noted in the Los Angeles Times and the Huffington Post, Hillary Clinton tried to paint Obama as fundamentally foreign, circulated a photo depicting Obama as a foreign Muslim, attacked Obama's pastor, attempted to link Obama to Minister Louis Farrakhan and blew racial dog whistles for "hard working, white Americans". Obama expects us to support a woman who will "say anything to get elected and change nothing."



Obama expects us to vote for a woman who invoked the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy to justify staying in the 2008 presidential race. Obama expects us to support an untrustworthy woman who supported mass incarceration, welfare reform, Wall Street deregulation, reckless wars and disastrous trade policies.

No thank you, Mr. President.

President Obama Delivers His Last SOTU Address

Good Afternoon. Yesterday, President Barack Obama gave his final State of the Union address.

Obama Discusses the New Jim Crow

This past Tuesday, President Barack Obama spoke at that NAACP National Convention. For me, that was the highlight of the Convention. Unlike some of his past speeches to black audiences, he did not lecture us about personal responsibility.  He did not entertain us with singing and other Negro antics. In his speech, President Obama discussed real problems plaguing the black communities, problems such as mass incarceration, sentencing disparities, poverty, unemployment and housing discrimination. Obama talked about hope, redemption and reformation. His speech was substantive, timely, relevant and solutions oriented. Even Obama's critics on the left will have a hard time criticizing that speech.

The brother talked about how America incarcerates more people than all of Europe combined. Obama explained in stark terms how the black incarceration rate greatly exceeds the white incarceration rate. He explained how African Americans receive much harsher sentence than whites who commit the same crimes.

No only did Obama discuss the problem, he put forth concrete proposals to address the problem of mass incarceration. He discussed reducing sentences for non-violent drug offenses. He mentioned how he commuted the sentences of over 40 people. He discussed increasing educational programs and other beneficial programs for people who are in prison. Such programs will reduce the recidivism rate and help transform ex-offenders into productive citizens. He mentioned the need to restore voting rights for ex-offenders.  Obama further discussed how investing more in education and other preventive measures is fiscally responsible. The costs of such measures is much lower than the cost of mass incarceration.

The President's proposed reforms are crucial. We must make sure that Obama's speech is not just another speech. We must pressure Congress and the President to actually implement and enact those proposals.

By the way, today, President Obama became the first sitting U.S. President to visit a federal prison.

Integration is not the Answer

As reported in the Washington Post article entitled Obama administration to unveil major new rules targeting segregation across U.S., the Obama Administration announced “long-awaited rules designed to repair” the Fair Housing Act’s “unfulfilled promise and promote the kind of racially integrated neighborhoods that have long eluded deeply seated segregated cities like Chicago and Baltimore.”  The new rules would “require cities and towns to scrutinize their housing patterns for racial bias.”

While President Obama’s efforts are well intended and noble, integration is not a true solution to our problems. There is no guarantee that Obama's late action will last beyond his Administration.

Why does one have to live in a predominately white community in order to have opportunity and prosperity? Sadly, we have accepted the myth of white supremacy.  Unfortunately, many civil rights leaders equate opportunity with one’s proximity to whiteness. They have placed a premium on whiteness. Instead of focusing on improving black communities, they tend to believe that one must escape from predominately black urban jungles and seek refuge in civilized suburban white enclaves in order to enjoy life.

In their minds, one has to attend predominately white schools to get a good education.  When our children arrive at those precious white schools, too often, our children encounter new problems and roadblocks. They are experience problems such as blatant racism, social ostracism, exclusion from honors classes, unfair assignment to remedial courses and disproportionate discipline.

Here are a couple examples of the racism that black students experience. As reported on the Atlanta Blackstar, two white students repeatedly called Phoenix Williams the N word at Bloomfield Hills Middle School in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. Remember the heartbreaking video of 4 year-old London James crying because a white girl refused to be her friend because she is black.

In such environments, our children are not only subject to ridicule and racism, they are not educated about their history and culture.  As our children desperately try to assimilate and adapt to that white world, their racial identity and pride melt away into nothingness.

As a select few of our people manage to flee to these white so-called “opportunity zones” and reap the benefits, problems such as inner city violence, high unemployment, concentrated poverty, mass incarceration and other significant crises continue to plague our communities.  Such problems continue to loom over the black underclass even when they leave their black communities for whiter and greener pastures.

Why can’t we focus on improving black schools, black neighborhoods  and black institutions? White people do not need us in order to thrive as community.  We should not need them in order to thrive as a community. We look pathetic groveling at the feet of white society begging them to acknowledge that our lives actually matter. We look like naïve children begging those people to accept us as neighbors. We look disgraceful begging those people to allow our children to play with their children. Where is our dignity? Where is our pride?

No new rules will socially engineer white people to accept us. As more black people enter those white neighborhoods, many white people will do what they have always done, take flight. So-called integrated communities will only re-segregate and be transformed into black communities.

As we run from our urban areas, upwardly mobile whites will gentrify and reclaim dominance over our communities.  As black students continue to attend failing urban schools, affluent urban white students will attend elite private schools to avoid the Negro problem. Well known businesses and excellent services will magically appear in those new gentrified, predominately white urban communities. Housing prices will soar.  The District of Columbia is a prime example of this phenomena.  It is no longer the Chocolate City that I remember from my years at Howard University. 14th and U Street, N.W. is practically all white now.  Nonetheless, isolated and segregated black pockets of despair persist in the nation’s capitol.

The Eulogy and the War on Black People

Good morning, family. Yesterday, President Obama delivered a moving eulogy honoring the life of Rev. Clementa Pinckney, slain Member of the South Carolina Senate and senior pastor at Mother Emanuel A.M.E. in Charleston. White supremacist terrorist Dylann Roof brutally slaughtered Rev. Clementa Pinckney and eight other African Americans while they were attending Bible study at Mother Emanuel A.M.E.

No doubt, Obama is a brilliant orator and a symbol of progress. However, symbols alone are insufficient. Obama is the one who told us that "there is not a black America and a white America and Latino America and Asian America — there's the United States of America." The Charleston massacre is a cold blooded, gruesome reminder of how wrong the President was. In this great age of progress, America still is not a post-racial society. Unfortunately, America will never be one. Even as a black man occupies the White House, the relentless war against black people marches on with no end in sight.

Although the other victims have not even been laid to rest yet, Obama celebrates forgiveness. As good, little, loyal Negroes repeatedly forgive their oppressors, there will be more Travyon Martins, Jordan Daviss, Michael Browns, Freddie Grays, Walter Scotts and Clementa Pinckneys. Wake up! Wake the hell up from your deep slumber, black man, black woman!

Obama Says "Nigger" and Speaks the Truth About Racism

Politico reports that:

President Barack Obama did not mince words in discussing race in a recent interview, going so far as to use the N-word in talking about America’s complex racial history when speaking to Marc Maron on the comedian’s “WTF” podcast in Los Angeles last week.

“The legacy of slavery, Jim Crow, discrimination in almost every institution of our lives, you know, that casts a long shadow, and that’s still part of our DNA that’s passed on. We’re not cured of it,” Obama said in the interview, posted in full on Monday. “And it’s not just a matter of it not being polite to say ‘n——-’ in public. That’s not the measure of whether racism still exists or not. It’s not just a matter of overt discrimination. … Societies don’t overnight completely erase everything that happened 2-300 years prior.”

The President's remarks come a few days after Michael Eric Dyson mustered up the courage to say this:

"The question is, Ed, when will this president finally see that he doesn't have to run from his race or run from blackness which are obviously there, and the tether to the issue of gun control and violence in this country," Dyson said. "He must use his bully pulpit to excoriate those forces that are demonizing all American citizens, in this case those who happen to be African-American."

"If you look at the descending order of greatness of nuance there, Bernie Sanders talked about the ugly stain of racism, Hillary Clinton talked about race, guns violence and division," Dyson said. "And then President Obama, oh, who by the way, Martin Luther King, Jr. talked about this, and then he talked about hatred across the races. Huh?"

"When a young man goes into a church and says, I'm here to kill black people, the president cannot pretend this is an issue of gun violence because if that man had a knife, he would have tried to kill the people with a knife. It doesn't matter the implement," Dyson said

Apparently, President Obama got the message.

Some are offended by the President's use of the N word. I am not. We must stop giving that word unspeakable power. Obviously, President Obama's intent was not to insult. His intent was to inform, to inform White America about the true, pervasive, structural and institutionalized nature of racism. Racism is bigger than a word. It is a permanent system of oppression.

President Announces Tentative Nuclear Arms Deal With Iran

Good evening, family. May peace prevail over war and hatred. Hopefully, this deal will make the world a safer place. Congress must have the courage to stand up to the war mongers.

Selma and the Embodiment of Hope

Good morning, family. When those protesters faced the police clubs and dogs in Selma in 1965, the idea of a black President of the United States of America was probably unimaginable. Yesterday, a black President, President Obama gave a powerful and inspiring speech at the foot of the Edmund Pettus Bridge to commemorated the 50th anniversary of the historic Selma March. In many ways, the election of Barack Obama is the embodiment of our hopes and aspirations.

Islam is Not Your Enemy

The President is correct. Islam is not America's enemy. Terrorism and extremism are the enemies of America and Islam. ISIS, Boko Haram and other similar terrorist groups pimp religion to justify their barbarism and brutality. They exploit and hijack Islam in order to achieve calculated political objectives. 

Their primary targets are other Muslims. ISIS is killing Muslims in Iraq and Syria. Boko Haram is killing Muslims in Nigeria. Both groups kidnap, enslave, rape and massacre innocent civilians. That is not Islam and they are not real Muslims. That is evil and they are devils. They do not belong in the modern world.

Islam represents enlightenment and guidance, not darkness and ignorance. We cannot allow anyone to commit such sick and demented atrocities in the name of God and Islam. They must be challenged, condemned and ultimately destroyed.

#SOTU: It's Good News, People!

Good morning, family. Here are a few excerpts from President Obama's State of the Union address.

Tonight, after a breakthrough year for America, our economy is growing and creating jobs at the fastest pace since 1999. Our unemployment rate is now lower than it was before the financial crisis. More of our kids are graduating than ever before; more of our people are insured than ever before; we are as free from the grip of foreign oil as we've been in almost 30 years.

Tonight, for the first time since 9/11, our combat mission in Afghanistan is over. Six years ago, nearly 180,000 American troops served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Today, fewer than 15,000 remain. And we salute the courage and sacrifice of every man and woman in this 9/11 Generation who has served to keep us safe. We are humbled and grateful for your service.

America, for all that we've endured; for all the grit and hard work required to come back; for all the tasks that lie ahead, know this:

The shadow of crisis has passed, and the State of the Union is strong.

At this moment -- with a growing economy, shrinking deficits, bustling industry, and booming energy production -- we have risen from recession freer to write our own future than any other nation on Earth. It's now up to us to choose who we want to be over the next fifteen years, and for decades to come...

Here's one example. During World War II, when men like my grandfather went off to war, having women like my grandmother in the workforce was a national security priority -- so this country provided universal childcare. In today's economy, when having both parents in the workforce is an economic necessity for many families, we need affordable, high-quality childcare more than ever. It's not a nice-to-have -- it's a must-have. It's time we stop treating childcare as a side issue, or a women's issue, and treat it like the national economic priority that it is for all of us. And that's why my plan will make quality childcare more available, and more affordable, for every middle-class and low-income family with young children in America -- by creating more slots and a new tax cut of up to $3,000 per child, per year.

Here's another example. Today, we're the only advanced country on Earth that doesn't guarantee paid sick leave or paid maternity leave to our workers. Forty-three million workers have no paid sick leave. Forty-three million. Think about that. And that forces too many parents to make the gut-wrenching choice between a paycheck and a sick kid at home. So I'll be taking new action to help states adopt paid leave laws of their own. And since paid sick leave won where it was on the ballot last November, let's put it to a vote right here in Washington. Send me a bill that gives every worker in America the opportunity to earn seven days of paid sick leave. It's the right thing to do.

Of course, nothing helps families make ends meet like higher wages. That's why this Congress still needs to pass a law that makes sure a woman is paid the same as a man for doing the same work. Really. It's 2015. It's time. We still need to make sure employees get the overtime they've earned. And to everyone in this Congress who still refuses to raise the minimum wage, I say this: If you truly believe you could work full-time and support a family on less than $15,000 a year, go try it. If not, vote to give millions of the hardest-working people in America a raise...

Forty percent of our college students choose community college. Some are young and starting out. Some are older and looking for a better job. Some are veterans and single parents trying to transition back into the job market. Whoever you are, this plan is your chance to graduate ready for the new economy, without a load of debt. Understand, you've got to earn it -- you've got to keep your grades up and graduate on time. Tennessee, a state with Republican leadership, and Chicago, a city with Democratic leadership, are showing that free community college is possible. I want to spread that idea all across America, so that two years of college becomes as free and universal in America as high school is today. And I want to work with this Congress, to make sure Americans already burdened with student loans can reduce their monthly payments, so that student debt doesn't derail anyone's dreams...

Just when I was about to criticize the President for not mentioning the Voting Rights Amendment Act and Ferguson, he said this:

We may go at it in campaign season, but surely we can agree that the right to vote is sacred; that it's being denied to too many; and that, on this 50th anniversary of the great march from Selma to Montgomery and the passage of the Voting Rights Act, we can come together, Democrats and Republicans, to make voting easier for every single American.

We may have different takes on the events of Ferguson and New York. But surely we can understand a father who fears his son can't walk home without being harassed. Surely we can understand the wife who won't rest until the police officer she married walks through the front door at the end of his shift. Surely we can agree it's a good thing that for the first time in 40 years, the crime rate and the incarceration rate have come down together, and use that as a starting point for Democrats and Republicans, community leaders and law enforcement, to reform America's criminal justice system so that it protects and serves us all.

Instead of mentioning those important issues in passing, he should have elaborated and focused more on those vital matters.

Moreover, although the President's proposals are impressive, unfortunately, it is improbable that the Republican dominated Congress will pass most of his bold initiatives. What did you think about the President's State of the Union address?

On that note, I will leave you with the swagger moment of the evening.

Obama had that Muhammad Ali confidence. He's a badddddd man!

Morning Thread: President Obama Announces Plan to Take Executive Action on Immigration

Good morning, family. What do you think about the President's immigration plan?

Is Cornel West Right About Obama?

About a week ago, Salon posted an controversial interview with Cornel West. Here are a few excerpts from the interview:

So that’s my first question, it’s a lot of ground to cover but how do you feel things have worked out since then, both with the economy and with this president? That was a huge turning point, that moment in 2008, and my own feeling is that we didn’t turn.

No, the thing is he posed as a progressive and turned out to be counterfeit. We ended up with a Wall Street presidency, a drone presidency, a national security presidency. The torturers go free. The Wall Street executives go free. The war crimes in the Middle East, especially now in Gaza, the war criminals go free. And yet, you know, he acted as if he was both a progressive and as if he was concerned about the issues of serious injustice and inequality and it turned out that he’s just another neoliberal centrist with a smile and with a nice rhetorical flair. And that’s a very sad moment in the history of the nation because we are—we’re an empire in decline. Our culture is in increasing decay. Our school systems are in deep trouble. Our political system is dysfunctional. Our leaders are more and more bought off with legalized bribery and normalized corruption in Congress and too much of our civil life. You would think that we needed somebody—a Lincoln-like figure who could revive some democratic spirit and democratic possibility...

That’s exactly what everyone was saying at the time.

That’s right. That’s true. It was like, “We finally got somebody who can help us turn the corner.” And he posed as if he was a kind of Lincoln.

Yeah. That’s what everyone was saying.

And we ended up with a brown-faced Clinton. Another opportunist. Another neoliberal opportunist. It’s like, “Oh, no, don’t tell me that!” I tell you this, because I got hit hard years ago, but everywhere I go now, it’s “Brother West, I see what you were saying. Brother West, you were right. Your language was harsh and it was difficult to take, but you turned out to be absolutely right.” And, of course with Ferguson, you get it reconfirmed even among the people within his own circle now, you see. It’s a sad thing. It’s like you’re looking for John Coltrane and you get Kenny G in brown skin.

I support President Obama. I voted for him twice. I have written blogs and posted YouTube videos defending the President from right wing attacks. I will continue to do so.

However, I support the brother Cornel West as well. His persistent, consistent, constant and piercing criticism of President Obama is, for the most part, painfully true. Even Obama's most loyal and devoted supporters know that West's analysis is factual and true. That is evident by their utter and complete failure to provide any solid or substantive response to his interview. Instead, they desperately try to drown out his bold voice with an ocean of insults and ad hominem attacks.

West is wrong about one thing. Obama never campaigned as a true progressive. Ending poverty was not a top priority during his campaigns. He never campaigned as a black activist. He never promised to be a strong advocate for African Americans. In fact, his rise to national prominence was based, at least in part, on his post-racial rhetoric about one America. During the 2004 Democratic National Convention, Obama said:

"There is not a liberal America and a conservative America—there is the United States of America. There is not a Black America and a White America and Latino America and Asian America—there's the United States of America."

No one should be surprised when the Obama Administration and its parrots constantly repeat the silly mantra that "he is not just the President of Black America." You will never hear any other group of people embracing and repeating such a self defeating and pathetic slogan. Imagine the Jews saying Obama is not just the President of Jewish America. Imagine the LGBT community saying that Obama is not just the President of gay America. Imagine the Latino community saying that Obama is not just the President of immigrant America. Imagine white feminists saying Obama is not just the President of women. Those groups would never spout such nonsense. Unlike the black community, those groups do not surrender. They do not accept symbols over substance. They vigorously push their agenda. Unfortunately, we are pacified by symbols and gestures. We are so intoxicated and infatuated with the concept of black president that many of us have lost our minds and our principles.

Anyway, no one should be surprised by Obama's attempt to reach a grand bargain with the repugnant Republicans. During his first campaign, Obama did not promise to a strong opponent of the Republican Party's right wing agenda. Instead, he sold the American people the post-partisan pipe dream of changing the way that Washington does business. He promised to find common ground and to bridge the partisan divide. Obviously, that goal was unachievable. If it was in fact a goal, the President has failed miserably. Partisanship has never been more intense and stark than it is now. The Republican Party and the Tea Party have done everything in their power to obstruct Obama.

Moreover, no one should be surprised by Obama's stance on the crisis in Israel and Gaza. Obama never campaigned as an advocate for the Palestinian people. Like all of his predecessors, Obama bowed before the altars of AIPAC and Israel. During his first and second campaigns, Obama laced up his shoes and tap danced for them like Bojangles.

During his first campaign, Obama said that he would bomb terrorists in foreign land like Osama bin Laden without authorization from those nations. No one should be surprised by Obama continuing and expanding Bush's drone policy. Again, Obama never posed as a true progressive. Otherwise, West is correct.

Many avoid that truth by contrasting Obama and his past election opponents like Mitt Romney and John McCain. Clearly, Obama was the better choice in those elections. That is why I voted for him. Unfortunately, both parties are owned by Wall Street and AIPAC. In this two party corporate dictatorship, true progressive candidates and parties are not viable alternatives. Too often, they are unelectable. They do not have sufficient funding and resources to compete with the Democrats and the Republicans on a national level. They do not garner the same level of media attention as the corporate parties. Until that changes, we are forced to settle for people like Barack Obama.

Obama Calls Out the GOP for Voter Suppression

Good morning, family. Yesterday, President Obama spoke at the National Action Network National Convention. The President called a spade a spade. He called the Republicans out for suppressing the black vote. The Grio reports that:

In an unsparing critique of Republicans, President Barack Obama on Friday said the GOP is threatening voting rights in America more than at any point since the passage of the historic 1965 law expanding rights at the ballot box to millions of black Americans.

“The stark simple truth is this: The right to vote is threatened today,” Obama said in a fiery speech at civil rights activist and television talk host Al Sharpton’s National Action Network conference.

The election-year warning comes as Obama seeks to mobilize Democratic voters to fight back against state voting requirements and early balloting restrictions that many in his party fear will curb turnout in November. The president vowed that he would not let the attacks on voting rights go unchallenged, but offered no new announcements of specific actions his administration planned to take.

The president pinned efforts to curb access to the ballot box directly on the GOP, declaring that the effort “has not been led by both parties. It’s been led by the Republican Party.”

The President spoke the truth. Republicans supported striking down Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act ("VRA"). As Think Progress reports, "the Republican attorneys general of Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, South Carolina, South Dakota and Texas filed an amicus brief in the Supreme Court arguing that a key provision of the Voting Rights Act is unconstitutional." In Shelby County v. Holder, it was Republican appointed Supreme Court Justices who decided to strike down Section 4 of the VRA. Moreover, all around the country, the GOP is deliberately attempting to suppress black voters and other voters who tend to vote for Democrats.

The New York Times reports that:

Republicans in Ohio and Wisconsin this winter pushed through measures limiting the time polls are open, in particular cutting into weekend voting favored by low-income voters and blacks, who sometimes caravan from churches to polls on the Sunday before election.

Democrats in North Carolina are scrambling to fight back against the nation’s most restrictive voting laws, passed by Republicans there last year. The measures, taken together, sharply reduce the number of early voting days and establish rules that make it more difficult for people to register to vote, cast provisional ballots or, in a few cases, vote absentee.

In all, nine states have passed measures making it harder to vote since the beginning of 2013. Most have to do with voter ID laws. Other states are considering mandating proof of citizenship, like a birth certificate or a passport, after a federal court judge recently upheld such laws passed in Arizona and Kansas. Because many poor people do not have either and because documents can take time and money to obtain, Democrats say the ruling makes it far more difficult for people to register.

In sum, the President's assessment of the GOP is accurate.

The question is what are we prepared to do combat the GOP's voter suppression efforts. In addition to gathering evidence and filing lawsuits, we must combat voter suppression through intensive voter information and registration campaigns. We must ensure that all African American voters are aware of all new voter laws in their state. We must register record numbers of African American voters and inspire them to actually vote. While we inform the public and register new voters, we must continue to boldly define and vigorously push a black agenda. We must support or oppose politicians based solely on their demonstrated commitment to our agenda.  We cannot afford to vote for candidates based solely based on party affiliation. Our agenda must be primary, first and foremost.

Obama, Bush, Clinton and Carter Speak at the LBJ Civil Rights Summit

Good morning, family. TGIF. This week, President Barack Obama, former President George W. Bush, former President Bill Clinton and former President Jimmy Carter spoke at that Lyndon B. Johnson Library Civil Rights Summit. What did you think about their speeches and comments? What should be the top priority for today's black civil rights leaders?

Seymour Hersh: Obama's Rationale for War with Syria Was Wrong

Yesterday, on Democracy Now, Amy Goodman interviewed award winning journalist Seymour Hersh. On the program, Mr. Hersh explained how the Obama Administration's rationale for waging war against Syria was false. The Administration claimed that Syria crossed a red line by using chemical weapons against its own people. However, there is a strong possibility that the rebels, aided by Turkey, used chemical weapons in order to force the U.S. to attack the Assad regime.

Similar to the Iraq war, thousands of people could have been killed based on a lie. Sadly, many hypocritical, brainwashed "progressives" blindly danced to the beat of the war drums. Instead of challenging the Administration, they became its mouthpieces. Thank goodness, the war hawks did not have their way.

In Seymour Hersh's London Review of Books article entitled The Red Line and the Rat Line, he reports that:

The joint chiefs also knew that the Obama administration’s public claims that only the Syrian army had access to sarin were wrong. The American and British intelligence communities had been aware since the spring of 2013 that some rebel units in Syria were developing chemical weapons. On 20 June analysts for the US Defense Intelligence Agency issued a highly classified five-page ‘talking points’ briefing for the DIA’s deputy director, David Shedd, which stated that al-Nusra maintained a sarin production cell: its programme, the paper said, was ‘the most advanced sarin plot since al-Qaida’s pre-9/11 effort’. (According to a Defense Department consultant, US intelligence has long known that al-Qaida experimented with chemical weapons, and has a video of one of its gas experiments with dogs.) The DIA paper went on: ‘Previous IC [intelligence community] focus had been almost entirely on Syrian CW [chemical weapons] stockpiles; now we see ANF attempting to make its own CW … Al-Nusrah Front’s relative freedom of operation within Syria leads us to assess the group’s CW aspirations will be difficult to disrupt in the future.’ The paper drew on classified intelligence from numerous agencies: ‘Turkey and Saudi-based chemical facilitators,’ it said, ‘were attempting to obtain sarin precursors in bulk, tens of kilograms, likely for the anticipated large scale production effort in Syria.’ (Asked about the DIA paper, a spokesperson for the director of national intelligence said: ‘No such paper was ever requested or produced by intelligence community analysts.’)

Last May, more than ten members of the al-Nusra Front were arrested in southern Turkey with what local police told the press were two kilograms of sarin. In a 130-page indictment the group was accused of attempting to purchase fuses, piping for the construction of mortars, and chemical precursors for sarin. Five of those arrested were freed after a brief detention. The others, including the ringleader, Haytham Qassab, for whom the prosecutor requested a prison sentence of 25 years, were released pending trial. In the meantime the Turkish press has been rife with speculation that the Erdoğan administration has been covering up the extent of its involvement with the rebels. In a news conference last summer, Aydin Sezgin, Turkey’s ambassador to Moscow, dismissed the arrests and claimed to reporters that the recovered ‘sarin’ was merely ‘anti-freeze’.

The DIA paper took the arrests as evidence that al-Nusra was expanding its access to chemical weapons. It said Qassab had ‘self-identified’ as a member of al-Nusra, and that he was directly connected to Abd-al-Ghani, the ‘ANF emir for military manufacturing’. Qassab and his associate Khalid Ousta worked with Halit Unalkaya, an employee of a Turkish firm called Zirve Export, who provided ‘price quotes for bulk quantities of sarin precursors’. Abd-al-Ghani’s plan was for two associates to ‘perfect a process for making sarin, then go to Syria to train others to begin large scale production at an unidentified lab in Syria’. The DIA paper said that one of his operatives had purchased a precursor on the ‘Baghdad chemical market’, which ‘has supported at least seven CW efforts since 2004’.

Read more here.

It is a shame that the major U.S. media is not reporting on this story.

President Obama is "A Trained Ape"?!?!

"It has been said that the negro is the link between monkey and man, meaning of course the white man." Frantz Fanon

The Root reports that:

Belgian newspaper De Morgen has formally apologized after a harsh backlash over an image the paper published Saturday depicting President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama as apes, Al Jazeera reports.

The Flemish newspaper published the ape photo and another of President Obama with language describing him as a marijuana seller in a satire section, "The Obama Herald," jokingly stating that Russian President Vladimir Putin had submitted the photos. The joke did not go over very well, however, especially considering that the president was to be in Belgium on Tuesday as part of his European trip.

The apology, Al Jazeera notes, came in the form of an article, "Is De Morgen Racist?" In it, the paper acknowledged that the joke was "tasteless" and said that "we wrongly assumed that racism is no longer accepted, and that in this way it could be the subject of a joke."

Apparently, a former U.S. government official does not object to the first African American president being compared to an ape. Politico reports:

Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is blasting the Obama administration’s handling of Afghanistan, saying a “trained ape” could have done a better job in diplomatic relations with the country.

“We have status of forces agreements probably with 100, 125 countries in the world,” Rumsfeld said Monday night on “On the Record with Greta van Susteren” on Fox News. “This administration, the White House and the State Department, have failed to get a status of forces agreement. A trained ape could get a status of forces agreement. It does not take a genius.”

By the way, Rumsfeld should be the last person to question anyone's competence. Check out this video from the Young Turks.

For centuries, in order to justify the oppression of African people, the white man has depicted the black people as subhuman ape like creatures. The De Morgen photos and Donald Rumsfeld's outrageous statements are modern day manifestations of that despicable and racist tradition.

Those statements and photos are not just a personal insult directed against the President and First Lady. They are a racist insult against all African people. They are another reminder that some people will continue to view black people as subhuman no matter how much we accomplish in life. As far as they are concerned, we are just apes and niggers. We are not apes. We are not niggers. We are founders of human civilization.

We Must Be Our Brother's Keeper

Yesterday, the President announced the formation of the My Brother's Keeper Initiative, a program specifically designed to assist African American boys. The imagery of the President's announcement was powerful, compelling and undeniable. The first African American President stood on stage with young black men standing behind him. Trayvon Martin's family and Jordan Davis' family were in the audience. Political opposites, Rev. Al Sharpton and right wing nut Bill O'Reilly, were in the audience as well. It was refreshing to finally see the President do something specifically targeted to address the problems of facing his most loyal supporters, African Americans.

Instead of waiting on Congress to act, President Obama took bold action and gathered philanthropists, business leaders and the faith community to address the problems plaguing African American boys. The President stated that the private sector will invest $200 million over 5 years in various programs that have proven to be effective. That investment is in addition to the $150 million that has already been invested. I commend the President's courageous efforts. I sincerely hope that the President's initiative is a quantifiable success. I hope that it opens doors of opportunity and prosperity.

Although I salute the President's effort, it was disappointing to hear the President again lecture black people on personal responsibility. Certainly, personal responsibility and family life are key ingredients to success. However, our problems cannot be blamed primarily on absent fathers, laziness and other forms of black pathology. Rants regarding dead beat black fathers ignore reality. Contrary to the popular and false narrative, black fathers are involved in their children's lives. As reported on Think Progress,

Although black fathers are more likely to live separately from their children — the statistic that’s usually trotted out to prove the parenting “crisis” — many of them remain just as involved in their kids’ lives. Pew estimates that 67 percent of black dads who don’t live with their kids see them at least once a month, compared to 59 percent of white dads and just 32 percent of Hispanic dads.

While the President's statements about personal responsibility are sincere and less abrasive,  they are reminiscent of Don Lemon's and Bill O'Reilly repugnant rants about black people. Such rhetoric merely perpetuates stereotypes about black pathology and absolves society of its debt and responsibility. Trayvon Martin and Jordan Davis did not die because of absentee fathers. Instead of repeatedly lecturing black people, the President and the Congress must do more to address structural institutionalized racism and poverty.  We must be our brother's keeper.

What Did You Think About the State of the Union?

Good morning family. Last night, Obama gave his State of the Union address. Here are a few excerpts from his speech (New York Times):

But the debate is settled. Climate change is a fact. (Applause.) And when our children’s children look us in the eye and ask if we did all we could to leave them a safer, more stable world, with new sources of energy, I want us to be able to say yes, we did. (Cheers, applause.)

Finally, if we’re serious about economic growth, it is time to heed the call of business leaders, labor leaders, faith leaders, law enforcement — and fix our broken immigration system. (Cheers, applause.) Republicans and Democrats in the Senate have acted, and I know that members of both parties in the House want to do the same. Independent economists say immigration reform will grow our economy and shrink our deficits by almost $1 trillion in the next two decades. And for good reason: When people come here to fulfill their dreams — to study, invent, contribute to our culture — they make our country a more attractive place for businesses to locate and create jobs for everybody. So let’s get immigration reform done this year. (Cheers, applause.) Let’s get it done. It’s time....

The good news is, we know how to do it. Two years ago, as the auto industry came roaring back, Andra Rush opened up a manufacturing firm in Detroit. She knew that Ford needed parts for the best-selling truck in America, and she knew how to make those parts. She just needed the workforce. So she dialed up what we call an American Job Center; places where folks can walk in to get the help or training they need to find a new job, or a better job. She was flooded with new workers, and today, Detroit Manufacturing Systems has more than 700 employees. And what Andra and her employees experienced is how it should be for every employer and every job seeker.

So tonight, I’ve asked Vice President Biden to lead an across- the-board reform of America’s training programs to make sure they have one mission: train Americans with the skills employers need, and match them to good jobs that need to be filled right now. (Cheers, applause.) That means more on-the-job training, and more apprenticeships that set a young worker on an upward trajectory for life. It means connecting companies to community colleges that can help design training to fill their specific needs. And if Congress wants to help, you can concentrate funding on proven programs that connect more ready-to-work Americans with ready-to-be-filled jobs...

Of course, it’s not enough to train today’s workforce. We also have to prepare tomorrow’s workforce, by guaranteeing every child access to a world-class education. (Applause.)...

You know, today, women make up about half our workforce, but they still make 77 cents for every dollar a man earns. That is wrong, and in 2014, it’s an embarrassment.

Women deserve equal pay for equal work. (Cheers, applause.)...

 

In the year since I asked this Congress to raise the minimum wage, five states have passed laws to raise theirs.

 

Many businesses have done it on their own. Nick Chute is here today with his boss, John Soranno. John’s an owner of Punch Pizza in Minneapolis, and Nick helps make the dough. (Laughter.) Only now he makes more of it. (Laughter.) John just gave his employees a raise to 10 bucks an hour, and that’s a decision that has eased their financial stress and boosted their morale.

 

Tonight I ask more of America’s business leaders to follow John’s lead. Do what you can to raise your employees’ wages. (Applause.) It’s good for the economy; it’s good for America. (Sustained applause.)

 

To every mayor, governor, state legislator in America, I say, you don’t have to wait for Congress to act; Americans will support you if you take this on. And as a chief executive, I intend to lead by example. Profitable corporations like Costco see higher wages as the smart way to boost productivity and reduce turnover. We should too. In the coming weeks I will issue an executive order requiring federal contractors to pay their federally-funded employees a fair wage of at least $10.10 an hour because if you cook — (cheers, applause) — our troops’ meals or wash their dishes, you should not have to live in poverty. (Sustained applause.) ....

 

Now, I do not expect to convince my Republican friends on the merits of this law. (Laughter.) (Chuckles.) (Laughter.) But I know that the American people are not interested in refighting old battles. So again, if you have specific plans to cut costs, cover more people, increase choice, tell America what you’d do differently. Let’s see if the numbers add up. (Applause.) But let’s not have another 40- something votes to repeal a law that’s already helping millions of Americans like Amanda...

 

Today, all our troops are out of Iraq. More than 60,000 of our troops have already come home from Afghanistan. With Afghan forces now in the lead for their own security, our troops have moved to a support role. Together with our allies, we will complete our mission there by the end of this year, and America’s longest war will finally be over. (Applause.)

 

After 2014, we will support a unified Afghanistan as it takes responsibility for its own future.  If the Afghan government signs a security agreement that we have negotiated, a small force of Americans could remain in Afghanistan with NATO allies to carry out two narrow missions: training and assisting Afghan forces and counterterrorism operations to pursue any remnants of Al Qaeda.

 

Read the entire transcript here.

The President is a brilliant orator. I hope that his ambitious and noble goals become a reality.

On the other hand, I find it troubling that any US troops will remain in Afghanistan after 2014. I find it troubling that Guantanamo Bay remains open after all of the campaign rhetoric. In light of recent the killings of Trayvon Martin, Jonathan Ferrell, Jordan Davis and Renisha McBride, I find it troubling that the President did not mention race in his State of the Union address. Finally, the President should have said more about his plans to reform U.S. surveillance programs. He should have more thoroughly discussed the "prudent limits on the use of drones." America cannot fight terrorism with terrorism.

What did you think about the President's State of the Union address?

A Week of Civil Rights Victories

Good afternoon. This has been a good week for civil rights. The Department of Justice expanded the definition of racial profiling. In addition, there have been two significant developments in voting rights.

The New York Times reports that:

The Justice Department will significantly expand its definition of racial profiling to prohibit federal agents from considering religion, national origin, gender and sexual orientation in their investigations, a government official said Wednesday.

The move addresses a decade of criticism from civil rights groups that say federal authorities have in particular singled out Muslims in counterterrorism investigations and Latinos for immigration investigations...

“Putting an end to this practice not only comports with the Constitution, it would put real teeth to the F.B.I.’s claims that it wants better relationships with religious minorities,” said Hina Shamsi, a national security lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union.

It is not clear whether Mr. Holder also intends to make the rules apply to national security investigations, which would further respond to complaints from Muslim groups.

“Adding religion and national origin is huge,” said Linda Sarsour, advocacy director for the National Network for Arab American Communities. “But if they don’t close the national security loophole, then it’s really irrelevant.”

Moreover, the Nation reports that:

Representatives Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI) and John Conyers (D-MI) and Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) introduced legislation to strengthen the Voting Rights Act of 1965 in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision last June invalidating a critical section of the VRA. The legislation, known as “The Voting Rights Amendment Act of 2014,” represents the first attempt by a bipartisan group in Congress to reinstate the vital protections of the VRA that the Supreme Court took away.

In the Shelby County v. Holder ruling on June 25, 2013, the Court’s conservative majority struck down Section 4 of the VRA, the formula that compelled specific states with a well-documented history of voting discrimination to clear their voting changes with the federal government under Section 5 of the VRA. The two provisions were always meant to work together; without Section 4, Section 5 became a zombie, applying to zero states.

Section 4 covered nine states (Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia) and parts of six others (in California, Florida, Michigan, New York, North Carolina, South Dakota) based on evidence of voting discrimination against blacks and other minority groups dating back to the 1960s and 1970s. Since the Shelby decision, eight states previously covered under Section 4 have passed or implemented new voting restrictions. This includes onerous new laws in states like North Carolina and Texas, which the Justice Department objected to under other provisions of the VRA (Sections 2 and 3)....

The bill is certain to have its critics, including on the left. Voting rights supporters will argue, justifiably, that the new Section 4 formula does not apply to enough states and wrongly treats voter ID laws differently than other discriminatory voting changes. Despite these flaws, the legislation represents a significant improvement over the disastrous post-Shelby status quo, which has seen states like North Carolina and Texas rush to pass or implement blatantly discriminatory voting restrictions after being freed from federal oversight. The legislation strengthens voting rights protections in a number of tangible ways and gives the federal government and voting rights advocates new tools to combat voting discrimination.

A recent ruling in Pennsylvania is a prime example why voter ID laws should not be treated differently than other discriminatory voting law changes. In another article, the Nation reports that:

Judge Bernard McGinley of the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania ruled against the state’s strict voter ID law today following a lengthy trial last summer. The law had been temporarily blocked since last October pending a full trial. The ruling is a big win for voting rights and a clear setback for voter ID supporters.

Judge McGinley found that the law violated the state constitution because hundreds of thousands of registered voters lacked the restrictive forms of ID required by the state, few had obtained the requisite ID since the law’s passage in March 2012, the state had not made it easy to get an ID and there was no evidence of in-person voter fraud to justify the burdens of the law.

Hundreds of thousands of electors in Pennsylvania lack compliant ID,” McGinley wrote. “Enforcement of the Voter ID Law as to these electors has the effect of disenfranchising them through no fault of their own. Inescapably, the Voter ID law infringes upon qualified electors’ right to vote.”

Noted McGinley: “In contrast to the hundreds of thousands who lack compliant photo ID, only 17,000 photo IDs for voting purposes have been issued.” Since the 2012 election, fewer than 150 new voting IDs had been issued by the state per month.

That’s because getting a voter ID in Pennsylvania was a bureaucratic nightmare. There are 9,300 polling places in the state, but only seventy-one DMV offices. There are only five DMV offices for the entire city of Philadelphia, none in nine counties and the in sixteen counties offices are only open one or two days a week . “The Voter ID Law does not contain, on its face, any valid non-burdensome means of providing compliant photo ID to qualified electors,” McGinley wrote. “Accordingly, the Voter ID Law is facially unconstitutional.” The lead plaintiff in the case, Viviette Applewhite, was a 93-year-old great-great grandmother who marched with Martin Luther King Jr. and had voted in every election for the past fifty years but did not have a driver’s license and was at risk of being disenfranchised by the new law.

Nor did the state present evidence to justify the new voter ID law. The state “wholly failed to show any evidence of in-person voter fraud,” McGinley wrote. “Certainly a vague concern about voter fraud does not rise to a level that justifies the burdens construction here. Therefore, this Court does not find in-person voter fraud a compelling interest the Voter ID Law was designed to serve.”

The struggle continues. Peace.

Mr. President, Don't Turn Your Back on Us

USA Today reports that:

Some of President Obama's staunchest supporters Monday announced their opposition to his nominees for federal courts in Georgia.

The group, which included civil rights luminaries such as Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., the Rev. Joseph Lowery and Rev. C.T. Vivian, Georgia's black congressional delegation and a long list of African-American civil rights groups and legal associations, is protesting six nominees to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals and the Northern District of Georgia. They say the nominees lack diversity and that one defended Georgia's voter-identification law and another supported flying the Confederate flag at the state Capitol.

"Somebody has made a tragic mistake," said Lowery, speaking from the pulpit at Ebenezer Baptist Church, Martin Luther King Jr.'s one-time congregation. "We've not come to attack the president. Somebody did this for him. And we say that he must undo it. It is insulting to come into Georgia in 2013 and bring a slate of nominees that is so unrepresentative of the state."

Lowery backed Obama early in his first presidential campaign when many black leaders were supporting Hillary Clinton; in 2009, Obama awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Obama also presented Lewis with the award in 2011 and Vivian with it earlier this year.

The group says that only one of the six nominees is African American. Also, they say that nominee Mark Cohen, an Atlanta attorney, argued in favor of Georgia's Voter ID law, which they say aims to suppress black voting power, and that nominee Michael Boggs voted to keep the Confederate battle flag emblem on the state flag when he was a state representative. Cohen and Boggs could not be reached for comment Monday.

The White House supplied statistics to say that its judicial picks are more diverse than those of previous administrations — 18% of Obama's confirmed judges have been African American, compared with 8% for George W. Bush and 16% for Bill Clinton.

Yes, Mr. President. Overall, your judicial nominations have been more diverse than previous administrations. I commend that.

However, your past record does not excuse or justify your current Georgia judicial nominations. As you know, nominee Mark Cohen supported Georgia's voter ID law. Your Attorney General, Eric Holder, is fighting such laws in Texas and North Carolina. Clearly, you know that such laws are designed to suppress the black vote. Why on earth would you nominate a man like Mark Cohen? Why would you trust someone like Mr. Cohen to make crucial decisions on important civil rights cases?

Why would you nominate Michael Boggs, a man who voted to keep the Confederate battle flag emblem on the Georgia state flag? The Confederate flag is a symbol of slavery, racism, Jim Crow and treason. Anyone who embraces such a symbol is not worthy of being a federal judge. The last thing that we need is someone with a Confederate mentality making decisions in important civil rights cases.

Mr. President, African Americans are your most loyal supporters. As your poll numbers continue to decline, we remain by your side. Certainly, we deserve better than this. Mr. President, do not turn your back on us now. Our concerns should be more important than appeasing your political opponents.