Red Cloud (Lakota: Maȟpíya Lúta), (1822 – December 10, 1909) was a war leader and a chief of the Oglala Lakota (Sioux). He led as a chief from 1868 to 1909. One of the most capable Native American opponents the United States Army faced, he led a successful campaign in 1866–1868 known as Red Cloud’s War over control of the Powder River Country in northeastern Wyoming and southern Montana.
After signing the Treaty of Fort Laramie (1868), he led his people in the important transition to reservation life. Some of his US opponents mistakenly thought of him as overall chief of the Sioux. The large tribe had several major divisions and was highly decentralized. Bands among the Oglala and other divisions operated independently, even though some individual leaders such as Red Cloud were renowned as warriors and highly respected as leaders.
Red Cloud was born close to the forks of the Platte River, near the modern-day city of North Platte, Nebraska.[1] His mother, Walks As She Thinks, was an Oglala Lakota and his father, Lone Man, was a Brulé Lakota chief. These were two of the major seven Lakota divisions.
Red Cloud Quote: They made us many promises, more than I can remember, but they kept only one; they promised to take our land, and they did.
Native American Drums: The Heart & Soul of the People
Felt by many to be the heartbeat of the Oyate (the people), the drum is much more than a tool for making music. It is often considered as a living being with a powerful spirit and a life all its own – it speaks to its owner with a resonating tone that belongs only to that drum.
Once you hear the drum, you will never be the same.
Another reason to hate the prison industrial complex (PIC)
Prisoner bound for Sweetwater County escapes from private prisoner transport company near Independence Rock
by News Desk September 4, 2013
http://tinyurl.com/m32k39t
I need to read more, but he is considered extremely dangerous. Just wanted to get a tweet out. By the way, he’s white, or looks vey white. It almost sounds like an inside job. They waited an hour before reported to authorities. My husband read it in our local paper, so I found it on the web. He escaped about 120 miles from here.
The person I met at the rally just called me about my talk in October and said that I could also touch on the “Doctrines of Dispossession”. I had not heard about these doctrines issued by a Pope as Europe began its era of exploration and conquering.
Here is a link to a page I found:
http://www.un.org/WCAR/e-kit/indigenous.htm
Excerpt:
Scholar Calls on Pope to Pull the Bull
from Under U.S. Indian Law
By Jerry Reynolds
Today Staff
http://ili.nativeweb.org/ictarticl.html
Yahtc
Good luck with your speech. I wish I could be there. Give us every detail. :)
Disgusting. Hope Pope Francis will revoke it. But it sounds like all nations have signed on, whether Catholic or not.
&e-ru @dvnix13m
“First order of business: let’s agree upon what Jesus actually looked like.” #NAACPmeetsKKK
Elon James White @elonjames19m
“So we both agree that Miley Cyrus needs to stop, right?” #NAACPmeetsKKK
debradickerson @debradickerson6m
“No we will not teach you the Electric Slide.” #NAACPmeetsKKK
Elon James White @elonjames19m
“So we both agree that Miley Cyrus needs to stop, right?” #NAACPmeetsKKK
debradickerson @debradickerson6m
“No we will not teach you the Electric Slide.” #NAACPmeetsKKK
Malcolm Johnson @admiralmpj23m
“Wow, so it doesn’t come off?” #NAACPmeetsKKK
debradickerson @debradickerson13m
“U better put it on silent cause if I hear your Steppin Fetchit ringtone one more time its on.” #NAACPmeetsKKK
Tulsa school sends girl home over hair
Deborah Brown Community School is one student short for the remainder of the school year.
Terrance Parker said the school hassled him and didn’t leave him a choice. Parker said he yanked his 7-year-old daughter, Tiana, out of classes because of a disagreement that left her in tears.
Parker, who’s a barber, said school officials at Deborah Brown told him Tiana’s hair didn’t look presentable.
“She’s always presentable. I take pride in my kids looking nice,” said Parker.
The charter school has its own set of rules. While no one at the school agreed to speak with us on camera, administrator, Millard Jones told FOX23 that Terrance Parker was fully aware what was expected. However, for his young daughter, it just hurts.
“They didn’t like my dreads,” said Tiana.
FoX23 reviewed the school’s dress code. It states, “hairstyles such as dreadlocks, afros, mohawks, and other faddish styles are unacceptable.”
The school feels that could distract from the respectful and serious atmosphere it strives for.
“She went to the school last year and didn’t have any problems,” said Parker.
Parker said her hair looked the same.
“It hurt my feelings to the core,” said Parker.
“I think that they should let me have my dreads,” said Tiana.
Tiana, a straight A student, wears a different school uniform now, but the same hair style, which looks perfectly fine according to her new school.
http://www.fox23.com/news/local/story/Tulsa-school-sends-girl-home-over-hair/sGcEwBSrm02W8ZSBNnGoXQ.cspx
‘The Butler’ and black male identity
By Stephen A. Crockett Jr.,
For eons the pendulum of portrayals of black masculinity has swung toward two extremes: Martin on one side, Malcolm on the other. You’re either down for some non-violent protesting against injustice or you’re ready to take up arms until you get justice. That’s it. Nothing else really exists in the murky waters of black maleness. You are either an Uncle Tom or an A.B.M. (Angry Black Man). For every Huey P. Newton there is a Clarence Thomas.
Lee Daniels’ “The Butler” puts the extremes of black masculinity under one roof as Forest Whitaker’s character, Cecil Gaines, becomes a long tenured butler at the White House, while his oldest son, Louis, takes a decidedly different path. The tension between the two plays out on screen as the father and his eldest offspring battle with what being a black man means. The struggle for Cecil is not to lose himself to his profession while maintaining his place as the king of his castle. Louis sees his father as less than because he is a butler, so he seeks outside interest to define himself.
……………………..
Daniels plays with the extremes of black masculinity throughout the film, and in the end, I am left wondering, which depiction of black masculinity does the viewer leave the theater thinking is the “right” one?
As a black man, I can tell the viewer that the answer is neither. It’s a lose-lose either way. Too far to the right and I am losing myself. If I stand up, say something, fight back, then am I embarrassing my family, my people and my upbringing. In the movie, Cecil watches as some of the biggest cases in the history of Civil Rights are happening while he is serving tea. He is there while presidents are deciding on whether or not to end segregation, or whether the U.S. should stand against Apartheid. If he says one word, interjects just one point, offers merely one opinion he is fired for the butler’s credo is to exist in a room like you are not there. On the militant side is Louis. He’s apart of the panthers and growing his afro and railing against the system. The thing that kept glaring out at me is while Cecil is essentially castrated to keep his job the only way that Louis gets to explore his upset is because he has the bulter’s shoulders to stand on. That militant expression comes only as luxury when a bulter’s salary helps keep the lights on. The more that the two characters ran from the embarrassment of the other, the more alike they became.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/therootdc/the-butler-and-black-male-identity/2013/08/21/bc34be54-0a94-11e3-8974-f97ab3b3c677_story.html
‘The Butler’ hits home for Chicago siblings
Brother and sister say work by uncle, father at White House opened doors for future generations in family
Dawn Turner Trice
September 2, 2013
In the hit movie “Lee Daniels’ The Butler,” there’s a scene in which lead character Cecil Gaines is trying to get a job on the White House service staff and he’s interviewed by the head butler, an African-American man.
Chicago siblings Loretta Fields and Clinton Fields believe that the head butler character is based on their uncle, Alonzo Fields, the first African-American to have that job in the White House. Fields worked there for 21 years, from the Hoover to Eisenhower administrations, and hired Eugene Allen, on whom the Gaines character is based.
The movie, despite fairly average reviews, has done well at the box office and resonated with a crossover audience. One reason is the all-star cast, including Forest Whitaker as Gaines and Oprah Winfrey as his wife, Gloria. But another is that the story, even with the Hollywood excesses, is simply compelling.
Think about it: At a time when the job prospects for African-Americans were not only severely limited but didn’t offer much advancement, here was a gig that afforded an ordinary man a bird’s eye view of moments in U.S. history that ranged from mundane to extraordinary.
It’s as though the silver tray he held in his white-gloved hands simultaneously rendered him invisible and superpowerful. There was always dignity in the hard work of being a maid or butler — the problem was that many blacks were often diminished and still treated like slaves.
“I read somewhere that Uncle Lonnie said he worked in a fabulous prison and the president was his warden,” said Clinton Fields, 58, a Beverly resident and retired Chicago firefighter. “It was the best house in the country to work in and yet he had to deal with all the racism.”
“Back then, if you were black, you were a Pullman Porter, if you were lucky, or a domestic,” said Loretta Fields, who lives in South Shore and sells real estate. “You didn’t have many choices.”
In his 1961 memoir “My 21 Years in the White House,” Alonzo Fields said he was frustrated by black and white servants having to eat in separate quarters. But he delighted in meeting the dignitaries of the day.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/ct-met-trice-butler-0902-20130902,0,2387976.column? fb_action_ids=10151628838987308&fb_action_types=og.recommends&fb_ref=s%3DshowShareBarUI%3Ap%3Dfacebook- like&fb_source=other_multiline&action_object_map={%2210151628838987308%22%3A503733803049708}&action_type_map= {%2210151628838987308%22%3A%22og.recommends%22}&action_ref_map={%2210151628838987308%22%3A%22s%3DshowShareBarUI%3Ap%3Dfacebook-like%22}
The Butler’ tells story of hard truths
By Leonard Pitts Jr.
This isn’t your average summer movie crowd.
It’s not just that they are largely African American, skin in all the shades of buttermilk, caramel and creamless coffee that we call “black.” It’s not just that they are largely old, with raincloud hair and been-there eyes, some leaning on canes for support.
No, the thing you really notice is that they come with grandkids trailing behind them as a kite string does a kite, young people born of the digital age who’ve been told they will spend this afternoon watching a movie with Nana and Pop-Pop. What’s more, it will be a movie in which no one pines for a hunky vampire or spouts quips while shooting bad guys.
No, they have come to see Lee Daniels’ The Butler, the fictionalized story of a White House servant whose tenure stretches from Eisenhower to Reagan. Watching them take their seats, you get the sense that, while these grandparents may have come for Oprah Winfrey and Forest Whitaker, what they have really come for, what they have brought their grandchildren to see, is The Truth. As in The Truth of How Things Were, and how that shades and shapes How Things Are.
That Truth has had a hard time of it in this country. It lives in books, yes, but given that so many of us regard reading as punishment and chore, that’s like saying it lives on Mars. Nor has Hollywood ever had much interest in telling that Truth and on the rare occasions it does, it pretties it up with so many Disneyesque evasions, dulls its hard edges with so much buttery compromise, that it hardly looks like itself.
………………………….
So what makes The Butler remarkable and necessary is simply this: It goes where we are seldom willing to go, shows what we are seldom willing to see, says what we are seldom willing to hear.
Black men hang from a tree like dead leaves. And that is The Truth.
A black man must watch his wife led away by a white man to be raped and there is nothing he can do about this act of psychological castration except endure it. And that is The Truth.
The butler sets out china and silverware for a glamorous state dinner, as, elsewhere, young men and women are being sprayed with ketchup and spittle, punched and kicked and called “nigger” for trying to buy a meal at a department store lunch counter. And that is The Truth.
America, someone says, turns a blind eye to what we do to our own people, yet has the nerve to look out on the rest of the world and judge. And that, too, is The Truth.
Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/08/20/3575158/the-butler-tells-story-of-hard.html#storylink=cpy
Thanks for posting this review, rikyrah.
May Hollywood have more films that speak to the TRUTH…..and may they be written and produced by African Americans, directed by African Americans and portrayed by African American actors/actresses. Only then will the African American experience be presented authentically and only then will TRUTH be revealed.
That is my wish too. I thought the movie was riveting. I cried off and on and especially at the end. Because it didn’t come to our town the first week-end I haven’t read all your reviews on the main thread. Because I’d read some thing’s and not all, I was unsure how much was really true about the Butler’s family. I thought it was a way for the director to bring several stories about black history to the masses. Similar to other movies on history I’ve seen. I knew most of the history but it was brought to life again on horrible it was. Since this is post on Native Americans, I wish they’d make historical films about them too. Each tribe is very different in their traditions. I might be wrong, but I don’t think there is any Native Americans in U.S. Congress. There might be one or two Natives of Hawaii, but not the same. Sorry if I’m wrong. I know Elizebeth Warren is part Cherokee if I remember right, but I think you kow what I mean.
By the way, did you see on F. Leatherman’s blog last night that the Supreme Court put a stay on the ruling about the adoption of the little girl that is part Cherokee?
Yes, I did see that, CarolMae.
Sheryl Underwood: Who Likes Nappy Hair? We Do
September 3, 2013 by Danielle C. Belton
Comedian Sheryl Underwood caught some Twitter fire recently when while on the TV show The Talk. She admonished the idea of supermodel Heidi Klum saving the curly hair of her biracial children after she cut it. Underwood said:
Then, it got worse. Wrote Tracy Clayton at The Root:
Everything about being black in this country we are taught, usually from outsiders but also from those we love, that there is something inherently wrong with us. Our hair, if too curly, is “bad.” Our skin, if too dark, is “bad.” Our noses, if too broad and lips, if too full, are “bad.” Anything that isn’t closer to the European standard of beauty is “bad.” You, by birth of your blackness, are bad.
The people who told me I was “bad” were not my parents, they were individuals like an old, hateful black elementary school library aide I had while growing up who regularly told us children (all black) how “bad” we were and how nappy our hair was and how that was awful and how the white children she taught at the other schools were much better, nicer, prettier children than us. They were people like some of the men I dated when I was much younger who would tell me they would break up with me if I ever cut my long, chemically straightened hair. My personality didn’t matter, nor were my face or charms. They dating a headful of hair – not me. And the hair had to stay.
Some folks on Twitter have asked who taught Sheryl Underwood to “hate herself.” More than likely she doesn’t see it that way like most people who’ve internalized that certain aspects of blackness are simply “bad.” She’s confused at the response she’s received because she was only stating the status quo, saying what others usually say in private to their daughters who go natural. What’s usually on heard by some grandmothers snickering about how your hair isn’t “good” enough to go natural, as if the 1970s and afros never happened. Mothers worrying about your “looks.” Strangers on the street, classmates and co-workers all passing judgment – does having natural hair make you some kind of radical? A feminist? A socialist? Did you just get dumped? Do YOU hate yourself for not straightening your hair, they imply?
http://www.clutchmagonline.com/2013/09/sheryl-underwood-likes-nappy-hair/
I just viewed it by searching “JAMES BROWN & THE J.B.’S – DOING IT TO DEATH.70S ”
Great Soul Train video!
Now I want to dance for the rest of the day! :)
You can Google search the words “Aretha Franklin-Rock Steady (Parker Remix) Youtube” to see what I tried to post. Be sure to include “Parker Remix” to see the dancing.
My favorite Soul Train dance video of “Doing It to Death” by the JB’s is gone. I want it back. :(
My reply for here appeared above your Aretha video, SG2 :)
@ SG2
PETA Angers Black People. Again
The group’s claim that eating chicken during pregnancy could lead to small genitalia in baby boys adds fuel to an already burning flameS
(The Root) — PETA — People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals — is known for its radical, even extreme views and methods regarding animal rights. From throwing buckets of blood or red paint on people wearing fur to showing graphic re-enactments of violence against women, PETA’s main course of action often seems to be to offend as many people as possible to further its anti-animal-cruelty cause.
On Tuesday some wounds were reopened when reports surfaced that PETA was claiming that eating chicken could cause underdeveloped genitals in baby boys. No, seriously. PETA wrote an open letter to the founder of the National Buffalo Wing Festival that “consuming poultry while pregnant may lead to birth defects in utero, including smaller-than-average penises for newborn boys.”
Black folks on Twitter reacted strongly to this latest effort from the organization, which doesn’t have the best track record with African Americans, what with its history of trivializing racism to further its agenda. Take, for example, the time that PETA members dressed up as KKK members to make some sort of a point, and the time they equated the slaughter of cows to the lynching of blacks.
http://www.theroot.com/blogs/grapevine/peta-angers-black-people-again
Horrible!
PETA ain’t ready to see my man’s PENIS; and he’s been eating chicken since he came out of his mama’s womb.
*skipstokitchenforsomefingerlickinchicken*
BWA HA HA HA…Somebody come get this woman.
‘The Butler’ Tops Box Office for 3rd Weekend
The author who introduced the world to real-life White House butler Eugene Allen speaks out on the movie’s success.
“Lee Daniels’ The Butler engineered a surprise victory over Morgan Spurlock’s 3D concert documentary One Direction: This Is Us at the Labor Day box office, becoming the first movie of 2013 to top the North American chart three weekends in a row,” Pamela McClintock reported Monday for the Hollywood Reporter.
The book version, “The Butler: A Witness to History,” by Wil Haygood, based on his 2008 Washington Post story, entered the New York Times best-seller list in the Times’ print editions of Sunday. It remains there for the Sept. 8 edition at No. 10 on the “Combined Print & E-Book Nonfiction” list and No. 13 on the “Hardcover Nonfiction” list.
“The success of the movie is overwhelming to me,” Haygood told Journal-isms by email Monday. “I wanted to write about someone who had worked in the shadows at the White House. And now Eugene Allen, who loved his country ferociously, is out of the shadows.” Allen is the real-life butler on whom the movie character is based.
Asked what journalists — especially black journalists — should take away from his success, Haygood replied, “I think a lesson for black journalists is not to shy away from our history, no matter how painful. There are still folks who have a difficult time dealing with the term BUTLER.”
“The Butler” might be the first book-and-movie success ever to come from a newspaper story written by an African American journalist. Haygood also has associate producer’s credit.
The major Hollywood studios turned down the movie, which was ultimately made by the Weinstein Co., Sheila C. Johnson, the co-founder of Black Entertainment Television, explained at Washington’s Politics and Prose bookstore on July 30 as the book was released. Johnson completed the fund-raising required to make the film. “Without her, there would be no ‘Butler’ movie [video],” Haygood said then.
http://www.theroot.com/blogs/butler-tops-box-office-3rd-weekend
Man who returned ring no longer homeless: ‘I feel human now’
[….] As a way to say thank you, Darling and her husband Bill Krejci
started a fund to raise money for Harris to help him get his life back
on track. “We set a goal for a thousand dollars,” Darling told TODAY in March. “We set it up because a lot of people who had been touched by the story expressed interest in helping Billy Ray.” The fund raised far more than any of them expected — in just three months, people donated more than $190,000.
Harris talked to a lawyer, who helped him put the money in a trust.
Since then, he’s been able to buy a car and even put money down on a house, which he’s fixing up himself. And that’s not all: After he
appeared on TV, his family members, who had not been able to find him for 16 years and had heard rumors he was dead, were able to track him down. They were happily reunited, and Harris is now working on his relationship with them, including nieces and nephews he hadn’t even known existed.[….]
http://www.today.com/news/homeless-man-who-returned-ring-living-new-life-i-feel-8C11044196
Harris’ story makes my heart sing!
Beautiful!
Wonderful story. We can be so generous. If only the news would be fair with Pres. Obama. I’m not asking for the loyalty they had to W. but the was they treat Pres. Obama is pitiful.
I am going copy excerpts from the report listed below to show the extreme sentences imposed on African Americans and the time they served before being pardoned. We can only guess at the number of African Americans who were NOT pardoned for the same types of “crimes”.
I have to ask what happened to these African Americans who were pardoned and set free. What was the fate of some of these African Americans upon leaving the jail or prison? Were there any white mobs? Did any lynchings occur?
I have this report (fragile condition) in my library and probably will copy more excerpts as time permits. Important also will be quoting manslaughter crimes of whites and the short prison terms (only 1 or 2 years) handed down to these whites. Whites are listed in this report just by their names while African Americans have “(colored.)” by their names except in the cases of the crime of interracial marriage (labeled adultery) in which cases the color of the white person was noted also.
Some cases from 1882 Montgomery, Alabama report of “Pardons, Commutations and Reprieves for 1878 to 1880 and 1880 to 1882”:
Here is an instance of a white person getting a ONE YEAR sentence for manslaughter and then being pardoned soon thereafter:
Weeping for the sins of our Country. Slavery, segragation, the genocide of Native Americans, the poor, etc. We must face those sins and atone for them. (The White Privledge Class) Yes, we have done it to most ethnicities, but the Irish, Italians, blended in faily quickly. Of course they all have their terrible nicknames. My husband hears more racial slurs than I do from people he works with. It makes my skin crawl. So does my youngest son. I once heard my boss come out of his office on a Friday afternoon and said he had the black ass? I looked at him quizzically and asked him what he meant. He sheepishly explained while I glared at him. I’m much more expressive with my eyes than I am at writing. Never heard anything again except when we need to take our son to Denver to a specialist. It just happened to fall on Martin Luther King Holiday. So he asked if I was taking that holiday off? We had a choice of taking it off or another day. This was in the office of a coal company. They didn’t even hire women when they first opened the mine. Soon changed because there weren’t many people living here. Herd they pulled a few men off bar stools to get workers. ;) You can even find our town in Wikipedia. It’s under Gillette Syndrome. We moved here in ’77. We both grew up near Sioux Falls. Me on a homestead, still in the family, and my hubby about seven miles north on forty acres very close to Hartford. We went to high school together. What’s really strange about hearing racial slurs here is that we have very few minorities, especially Blacks. We have Asians, mostly Chinese and now more Hispanics. Another hairdresser said Chinxs in a conversation with my hairdresser and got the evil I too. My son is married to a young woman who is half Thai. She was born and raised in Thailand. Moved here with her family at eighteen.
Someday our country will live up to the Preamble of the Constitution. It must. SOON!
I pray for this, CarolMayWY.
We are called to speak out against every instance of instance of inequality, every attempt at voter suppression, every time a person is profiled by police or individual citizens based on stereotyping, every time that an individual does not have the same benefits and advantages that white citizens enjoy, and every time that there is an instance of inequality in the justice system.
The pamphlet that I quoted from above shows that African Americans were not experiencing equal justice after Emancipation, and we know that this has continued up to the present day with stop and frisk, inner city residents being targeted and jailed for marijuana possession while suburban whites are not, etc.
CarolMae
I weep along with you.
:'(
Obamacare to get a boost from Super Bowl champs
By Steve Benen
Wed Sep 4, 2013 10:38 AM EDT
In 2006, a Republican governor of Massachusetts — I believe his name was Mitt Romney — had just approved a sweeping health care reform plan and needed to inform Bay State residents about new benefits they were entitled to. State officials did the obvious, smart thing: they partnered with the Boston Red Sox and launched a campaign to inform the public.
The team played “a central role” in getting the word out to the public, and it worked like a charm. State residents learned what they needed to know; the uninsured got coverage; and “Romneycare” was a success.
Seven years later, the Obama administration would love to establish similar partnerships to help get the word out on the Affordable Care Act, but that’s proven to be quite difficult. Senate Republicans, eager to sabotage the federal health care system out of partisan spite, contacted the NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, PGA, and NASCAR in July, urging them not to partner with Washington on informing the public about health care benefits.
The unprecedented right-wing lobbying had some effect — in the months since, both the NFL and NBA informed the White House that it would not help with the public-awareness campaign. Every other sports franchise and league has also stayed on the sidelines.
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/09/04/20325475-obamacare-to-get-a-boost-from-super-bowl-champs?lite
I would think it would be illegal for the Rethugs to threaten the teams not to promote something. It’s one thing to ask, but I thought their letter was threatening. I would be more willing to do the opposite, FREE SPEECH!
https://twitter.com/ZoePerdue/status/375195029075021824/photo/1
https://twitter.com/ZoePerdue/status/375219575102529536/photo/1
Love to say it in person. ;)
September 04, 2013 9:20 AM
Obama’s Glass Half Full on Syria
By Ed Kilgore
The mood in Congress regarding the administration’s demand for a use of force resolution to enable a punitive attack on Syria improved overnight with the emergence of a new draft resolution that sharply limits the scope and duration of any intervention. Unveiled by Foreign Relations Committee chairman Bob Menendez and ranking Republican Bob Corker, it provides a 60-day window for military strikes with a 30-day extension possible upon notification of Congress. Just as importantly, it bans deployment of ground troops other than for some specifically justified rescue mission.
It’s generally thought this language can get through the Foreign Relations Committee by a comfortable margin, perhaps as early as today, though not without strong dissenting words from Rand Paul and possibly from Marco Rubio, who has been vacillating on Syria. The full Senate would then vote on it when it formally reconvenes next week. The timetable for—and prospects for passage in—the House remain uncertain.
On a broader front, there are no immediate prospects for a broadening of the international coalition supporting Obama on Syria. The acceptance of evidence that it was indeed the Assad regime indeed using sarin gas near Damascus last month 6/”>is growing, but not so much the sense that the issue is so urgent that it justifies circumventing the U.N. Security Council’s theoretical control over collective security actions, which Assad’s ally Russia can effectively block.
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal-a/2013_09/obamas_glass_half_full_on_syri046713.php#
My thought on what POTUS has demanded of his team is to put together something no one would expect. Very similar to the Bin Laden raid, the Pirates, etc. You’ve followed him closer than I have. What do you think? My iPad was more than I could have imagined to learn more than I ever would have known. I don’t know what the meaning of the phrase “The World is my Oyster” but I could probably google it. Just need a new iPad with more storage and a keyboard. Tired of pecking away and making typos and I can’t seem to catch them all. Also cellular. Since I don’t use a cell phone, I could splurge, couldn’t I? Hubby could use this one for playing games. The new iPhone 6 is debuting 9/613. Will people be line waiting for it? Please come out with a new iPad, Apple.
LOL You’re more up on the technical advances than I am, CarolMae. I put an IPad on my birthday wish list this month. We’ll see.
Here’s hoping you get your wish and the latest version. :)
When may e celebrate your birthday? :)
hellresidentNY @hellresidentNY11h
#DonLemonLooksLike he wants to know why Sal has no brothers on the wall of his pizzeria.
Lake Diamonds @lakedimes 36m
#donlemonlookslike he needs some D batteries! pic.twitter.com/NnbVFhPuKy
@djbeecan: #donlemonlookslike he just finished singing “Fair Eastside”
TheAngryFangirl · Angry Black Fangirl
“#DonLemonLooksLike Miguel minus the texturizer.” — My husband#lmao
DaRealBigJuice · JUICE BREES
RT @ABlackTV : #DonLemonLooksLike an extra for “Kid & Play” that didn’t know the audition was 15yrs ago..
@desusnice : #donlemonlookslike Khadijah’s new intern at Flavor magazine
HitDaBoogieZ · d’тнarιo roυrĸe ιv
RT @brokeymcpoverty : #donlemonlookslike he tried to sneak into that Bell Biv Devoe video with Will Smith
BWA HA AH AH HA H HA HA HA HA HA
You take care of Don. I’ve abandoned TV. Record Last Word, but haven’t watched it. Rachel’s blog written by Steve Bennen (sic?) is more informative than she is and not as loud. I mean news TV. I still like my HBO and Showtime, etc.
Right there with you CarolMae. HBO, Netflix, Hulu, PBS, and my own stash of DVDs.
Great video, Ametia.
That pizzeria owner only saw the customers’ money. He did not SEE his customers.
This speaks to what occurs in our society with white power structure responses to the African American.
And it’s Sal’s place. He has the right to post what he wants on his walls. If I were a customer, I’d think twice before entering and doing business. Green overides BLACK.
Rachel Maddow on more stuff given to the Grifting Governor of Virginia
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/26315908/vp/52917158#52917484
I’m sure by the time this investigation is over, we’ll discover that McDonnell and his wife had been GRIFTING from the day he took office right up until he leaves.
McDonnell used Colby “D” to get him the votes and then told him he they’d be running someone else for office.
LOL Yep, he used rent-a-negro to get into office and then flipped Colby D da BIRD!
Where’s that lady in pink graphic, SG2?
Rachel Maddow with her update on North Carolina Voter Suppression
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/26315908/vp/52917158#52917158
Mitch McConnell’s muddle
By Steve Benen
Wed Sep 4, 2013 8:29 AM EDT.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has found himself in an awkward position. He’s an unpopular incumbent facing a credible Republican primary challenger and a credible Democratic opponent. His own campaign staff doesn’t really like him, either.
No matter which direction McConnell tries to lead his caucus, the Kentucky Republican risks alienating some key constituency’s support, so he’s left to just bite his tongue, doing nothing.
Last month, for example, when much of his caucus was at odds over a government-shutdown strategy, Senate Republicans needed some leadership. McConnell went out of his way to steer clear of the fight.
This month, Senate Republicans are at odds over U.S. policy in Syria, and once more, McConnell doesn’t want to talk about it.
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/09/04/20323655-mitch-mcconnells-muddle?lite
The Rethugs haven’t had good leadership since forever, have they? Gerald Ford? Was he Speaker of the House? Scary thing is that Speaker is third in line for President. yikes!
TJ Holmes @tjholmes4m
Obama: “as much as we’re criticized, when something happens n the world, 1st question people ask is ‘what is US gonna do a/b it?'” #Syria
Georgia governor gets paid through secret PAC to obstruct Obamacare
By David Ferguson
Tuesday, September 3, 2013 10:01 EDT
Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal (R)’s family and business partner have been receiving payments from a secret Political Action Committee called Real PAC. Half a million dollars of the money donated to the PAC has come from corporate health care interests which — like the governor and Georgia state Insurance Commissioner Ralph Hudgens — oppose the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as “Obamacare.”
According to investigative reporter Jim Walls of Atlanta Unfiltered, the PAC hasn’t filed taxes or the required financial disclosures in two years, and the information it did file for 2011 was incorrect.
Contributors to Real PAC include Aetna, Humana, Blue Cross, United Health care and other interests that want to keep health insurance premiums and other costs as high as possible. Bryan Long of activist group Better Georgia told Raw Story that the list of donors shows who Gov. Deal really works for.
He goes out and he does their bidding,” Long said, “He’s working for them instead of working for the 650,000 Georgians who don’t have insurance at all or access to the Medicaid expansion.”
“What’s remarkable about this isn’t that there’s money in politics,” he continued. “We all know there’s money in politics. He knew that this was so wrong that he didn’t want to tell anyone. He tried to keep it a secret for two years
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/09/03/georgia-governor-gets-paid-through-secret-pac-to-obstruct-obamacare/
SMGDH
‘Boardwalk Empire’ embraces black characters in season 4
by theGrio | September 3, 2013 at 3:07 PM
Boardwalk Empire is back this Sunday and this season it appears to blacker than ever before.
Fans of the acclaimed HBO gangster drama are giddy with anticipation for the show’s fourth season, since the last season was the bloody culmination of numerous story-lines, savage twists, a quicker pace and more action than the previous two seasons combined.
Still, the African-American characters on the show, especially Chalky White, the tough-as-nails Atlantic City hood, played by Michael K. Williams, always seemed to take a backseat to the exploits of Nucky Thompson (Steve Buscemi) and Al Capone (Stephen Graham).
That all appeared to come to an end in the finale of season three, (spoiler alert) when Thompson, on the lam from his enemies, was forced to seek White out for refuge and protection. White saw his stock rise and his role on the show only grew in significance.
This new season thankfully continues that narrative thrust, while introducing a new African-American character to mix it up with White, Thompson and the rest — the debonair Harlem crime boss “Doctor” Valentin Narcisse, played by veteran actor Jeffrey Wright.
Wright has had such a versatile career on stage and screen he’s never really been associated with any one role or performance.
Narcisse provides a suave counterpoint to the countrified White (who he derides as a “servant trying to be a king”) and their turf war will provide plenty of drama in the upcoming new episodes.
http://thegrio.com/2013/09/03/boardwalk-empire-embraces-black-characters-in-season-4/
Obama’s Smart Syria Decision Has Fractured The Republican Party
By: RmuseSep. 3rd, 2013
There are myriad derogatory missives applicable to Republicans in Congress that would take ten thousand words to enumerate and justify, but the one overriding constant is that they are all related to Republicans’ devotion to their special interests without regard for the needs of others. In fact, Republicans lack of a sense of urgency to address any issue unrelated to enriching their wealthy donors or advancing their religious sycophants’ theocratic agenda and it is the hallmark of the GOP since President Obama was sworn in office in 2009. Now that President Obama gave Republicans what they wanted and expects them to address America’s response to Syria’s chemical weapons use against the rebellion attempting to topple the Assad administration, they are using the opportunity to advance various special and self-interest agendas with no regard for the task at hand; chemical weapon use against innocent Syrian civilians.
After Republicans return from their 5 week hiatus next week, they will have a small window of time (9 days) to address looming issues such as the budget crisis and debt ceiling deadline as well as debating and deciding whether America should take action against the Syrian government for using chemical weapons against the insurgency battling the Syrian government. Republicans have weighed in on the President’s request for authorization to launch a limited strike to send a message the world cannot tolerate any government using chemicals weapons, but they have splintered off into separate groups that inform an honest debate and resolution will not be forthcoming anytime soon. It is astonishing, really, that for a group normally opposed to anything President Obama proposes, most Republicans praised the President’s decision to revert to the Constitution’s mandate that Congress authorizes acts of war, but that is where the cohesiveness typical of Republicans ends.
There was a typical reaction from neo-con warmongers anxious to exert their imperialistic agenda of using America’s military to impose their will in the Middle East led by Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham who will not comport a limited military response. McCain and Graham want America to repeat Bush’s Iraq debacle of invasion for regime change because a limited strike will not satisfy their lust to antagonize and draw Iran, and likely Russia and China, into a full-scale regional conflict with the United States like an invasion force on Syrian soil. On Sunday McCain revealed his intent when he said the President going to Congress is “sending a bad signal to Iran, to North Korea, to Bashar al-Assad” that a decision to launch a war is no longer in the hands of one warmongering President.
http://www.politicususa.com/2013/09/03/obamas-smart-syria-decision-fractured-republican-party.html
North Carolina University Student Beats the GOP’s Vote Suppression Road Show
By: Adalia WoodburySep. 3rd, 2013
For years, the chairman of Pasquotank County’s Republican Party, Richard Gilbert went out of his way to challenge as many voters as possible at the historically black public college Elizabeth City State University. More recently, Gilbert challenged ECSU student Montravius King’s candidacy for city council based on the argument that he has always used. Gilbert claimed that since King lives in a dorm, he doesn’t meet the residency requirement. King who has resided in Elizabeth City since enrolling at Elizabeth City State University in 2009, would be the first student elected to the council, if he is elected.
The Pasquotank County Board of Elections accepted Gilbert’s argument and disqualified King’s candidacy. Interesting to note, when Gilbert challenged King’s candidacy, Sue Myrick of the John W. Pope Citivas Institute found time in her schedule to attend the meeting.
After the decision, Montravius King appealed to the state board of elections. Aside from King’s candidacy there was much more at stake with this decision.
Since the qualifications for candidacy on the city council and for voting are the same, this decision was seen as a first step toward disenfranchising all students living in ECSU dorms.
Richard Gilbert has extensive experience challenging the voting rights of ECSU students. He was behind previous attempts to disenfranchise Elizabeth City State University students by arguing they don’t really meet the residency requirement. Gilbert got 56 ECSU students dropped from the voting rolls earlier this year based on this very argument. That makes Myrick’s attendance at the meeting especially curious. Obviously, she wasn’t there to guide Gilbert through the process. The Institute for Southern Studies has a more plausible explanation.
Myrick’s presence at King’s hearing has raised questions about Pope’s involvement in efforts to roll back voting rights in North Carolina, which had made great strides in boosting turnout in recent years.
Fortunately, the State Board of Elections unanimously reversed the county’s decision on Tuesday.
http://www.politicususa.com/2013/09/03/montravius-king-run-city-council-richard-gilberts-road-hits-snag.html
It is good (and a relief) to hear that the State Board of Elections unanimously REVERSED the county’s decision to disqualify candidacy for city council!
Right Before The Holiday Weekend, Iowa Quietly Eliminated Abortion Access For Low-Income Women
By Tara Culp-Ressler on September 3, 2013 at 2:33 pm
Right as the Labor Day weekend began, Iowa officials took steps to severely limit reproductive health access for women in the state. Although that move went largely unnoticed before the three-day weekend, it could end up having a huge impact on the future of abortion care for people across the country.
On Friday, Iowa’s Board of Medicine voted to eliminate the largest telemedicine abortion program in the country. That means doctors in the state won’t be allowed to use video technology to prescribe abortion-inducing drugs to rural and low-income women who don’t have the means to travel to the nearest clinic — even though they’ve been safely doing so for the past five years.
Planned Parenthood of the Heartland has been operating its telemedicine abortion program since 2008, and there’s no reason it should have come under any kind of particular scrutiny this summer. Studies have repeatedly found that it’s a safe method of delivering reproductive care, and patients are just as satisfied after speaking with a doctor over a video conference as they are after making an in-person trip to a clinic. Nonetheless, the Board of Medicine has been considering banning the practice for the past several months — and the Friday vote makes it official.
http://thinkprogress.org/health/2013/09/03/2565221/iowa-telemedicine-vote-ban/
Ex Citigroup Chair Richard Parsons Opening Harlem Jazz Clubs
September 3, 2013 by EURpublisher02
Richard Parsons, the former chairman of Citigroup who was chairman/CEO of Time Warner until he stepped down in 2007, has turned his full attention toward growing businesses in Harlem.
He and wife Laura are opening two new uptown restaurants, Minton’s and The Cecil. Minton’s is a restoration of the famed 1930s/1940s Harlem jazz club Minton’s Playhouse. It will reside in the original location, redesigned as a contemporary jazz supper club. Next-door sister restaurant The Cecil will be an Afro-Asian-American brasserie that integrates the culinary traditions of the African Diaspora with traditional Asian and American cuisines
http://www.eurweb.com/2013/09/ex-citigroup-chair-richard-parsons-opening-harlem-jazz-clubs/
Bill Thompson defeated himself with Black voters. Sad to say, but Black voters don’t ‘ demand’ a great deal from Black politicians (the result being the crop we have right now), but there is a minimum bottom line that needs to be taken.
When a Black man ‘ evolves’ on Stop and Frisk….
And you have a White man who was out there saying point blank that Stop and Frisk was wrong and needed to be ended from the beginning…
and 87% of those stopped by Stop and Frisk are Black or Brown..
and those men have mothers, wives, girlfriends, sisters, grandmas, aunts…
You don’t need a Black man that is too mealy mouthed to come out against Stop and Frisk…
…………………………………………………………………………………………..
September 03, 2013 5:17 PM
De Blasio’s Perfect Timing
By Ed Kilgore
With just a week to go until New York City’s mayoral primary, Bill de Blasio seems to be peaking at the perfect time, according to the latest Quinnipiac survey, which shows the Public Advocate’s support-level among likely voters surging beyond the 40% threshold needed to avoid a runoff. Even though the Q-Pac poll has lately given de Blasio higher levels of support than other polls, the trend-lines seem universal, as does his broad base of support. De Blasio currently enjoys a 47-25 lead over African-American Bill Thompson among African-Americans, and a 44-18 lead over Christine Quinn among women. De Blasio also leads the field among every ideological sector of likely Democratic primary voters.
Quinn has steadily lost altitude since she led the Q-Poll at the end of July, while Thompson is pulling the same 20%-22% of the vote he’s attracted in every Q-Poll.
If de Blasio falls short of 40% next Tuesday, the Q-Poll shows him trouncing either rival in a runoff (Thompson by 56-36, and Quinn by 66-25). Given the city’s massive Democratic registration advantage and widespread fatigue with Republican rule after two decades of Giuliani and Bloomberg, it’s looking like de Blasio’s on his way to Gracie Mansion.
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal-a/2013_09/de_blasios_perfect_timing046710.php
Threat of prosecution looms over Virginia’s McDonnell
By Steve Benen
Tue Sep 3, 2013 4:36 PM EDT
We were supposed to know by now whether Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell’s (R) corruption scandal would lead to a criminal indictment, and yet, as of this afternoon, the Republican governor’s legal fate is unclear. Why is that? Well, it’s an interesting story, actually.
We are, in other words, looking at a story with quite a few moving parts. Federal prosecutors already met with McDonnell and his wife, which was supposed to help dictate whether criminal charges were filed or not. For reasons that are unclear for now, the U.S. Attorney’s office now wants another meeting, but even if an indictment is on track, Election Day in Virginia is exactly nine weeks from today, and prosecutors are sensitive to the larger political context.
That said, the controversy itself is slowly intensifying. Given how serious it looked before, it hardly seemed possible that McDonnell could look even worse.
But over the weekend, the story took an unexpected twist.
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/09/03/20311439-threat-of-prosecution-looms-over-virginias-mcdonnell?lite
I hope Gov. “GOOD HAIR” Mc D. goes to JAIL!
Jesse Jackson Jr went to jail. McDonnell needs to go to jail as well.
.And McDonnell’s wife needs to be sent to the POKEY as well., Just like JJJ wife.
September 03, 2013 3:09 PM
Free Vote
By Ed Kilgore
Amidst the united front displayed by Nancy Pelosi, John Boehner and Eric Cantor this morning in backing a prospective use-of-force resolution on Syria, there is this important cautionary note from Greg Sargent after a conversation with House Democratic leadership member Chris van Hollen:
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal-a/2013_09/free_vote046708.php
September/ October 2013Dropouts Tell No Tales
An African American journalist returns to his college alma mater to find out why so many students like him never make it out.
By Jamaal Abdul-alim
Back when I worked part-time as a crime reporter for the old Milwaukee Sentinel during my years as an undergrad at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM), one of my regular duties was to check the log at the county morgue. In cases where a death was demarcated by a red-encircled H, for homicide, I’d obtain a copy of the medical examiner’s report to learn more about the circumstances surrounding the person’s untimely demise.
During a return visit to UWM one rainy week this past April, I discovered records for a morgue of a different sort. These records were located in room 170A of Bolton Hall in the office of African American Student Academic Services (AASAS). There, amid stacks of printer paper, a microwave, and a sign that says “Your Mama Don’t Work Here: Keep the Area Clean or Go Home!,” a pair of black three-drawer file cabinets stood filled with transcripts of black students who’d dropped out of UWM.
“We have a file cabinet designated specifically for ‘almost-made-it’ graduates,” a confidential university source told me, referring to the file cabinet labeled “CLOSE TO GRADUATION.” “These are shoulda, woulda, couldas. They’re like three and six credits away, but they don’t come back.”
The other cabinet, labeled “INACTIVE FILES,” contains records for students who’ve withdrawn in recent years but needed significantly more credits to graduate. AASAS keeps these records, the source explained, so if the students return, the college’s advisers won’t have to create their files anew.
In many ways, these transcripts are akin to the medical examiner’s files I used to retrieve from the county morgue. Instead of reporting how individuals departed the physical world, however, these records tell of how students departed from the university without their bachelor’s degrees—of academic lives cut short before graduation. In three out of the five transcripts randomly reviewed at this writer’s request, students had not completed the university’s math requirement, which is one of the biggest stumbling blocks for students at UWM.
The transcripts represent a rare behind-the-scenes look at some of the circumstances behind the abysmal graduation rate for black students at UWM: only 19 percent graduate within six years. (The university’s overall graduation rate isn’t much better, at 40 percent.) The point of my return visit this past spring was to answer this question: Why are those numbers so low?
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/september_october_2013/features/dropouts_tell_no_tales046451.php
https://twitter.com/Stcrow/status/375221882976747521/photo/1
https://twitter.com/TheLocalSweden/status/375171048146104320/photo/1
Good Morning, Everyone :)
Good morning, everyone!
Good Morning, Everyone! :-)) Guess what day it is!
Good Morning!
SG2, thank you for your informative article on the life of Chief Red Cloud.
“Oglala Lakota Women and Buffalo”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bv1_Yf6vAsc
Powerful!
Excerpt transcribed beginning at timestamp 1:30 to 4:26 of the 8:59 of video above entitled Owe Aku “Bring Back the Way” Sacred Water Protection”:
Komiko Corporation might be spelled “Cominco” or “Coalminco”
Thanks for this great share, Yahtc. Oglala Lakota women like many Native Americans live the spirit of the land and all God’s creatures.
YW, Ametia.
“Oglala Lakota Women and Buffalo” is a beautifully produced video.
Thank you for the information you bring to the blog.
After watching the Battle of Little Big Hon, I can tell you the drawings/paintings and photos are very much how it looks now. When I first saw it as as a young Hilda I think the markers were wooden. That had changed a long ime ago. There I a little museum and souvenir store at the site. If I remember right it’s on a reservation.
Grrr, Big Horn
I live in Powder River Country. There are so many places named after the Powder River. I love those drums. You really can feel their spirit; maybe because I’m living on land they once roamed freely. I have chills going up and own my spine. Black Hlls State University teaches Ogala Lakota History in many different classes. What a beautiful campus, it’s in aspearfish, SD. Why my son left there and went to Purdue, I’ll never understand. Think it had something to do with a girl. ;)
It’s rich environment when the region continues with the native traditions and extol their language.
Yes, I really admired the school for that.