NY Pays 4 Killing An Unarmed Teen & Scaring A Family

There ARE things blacks and whites have in common - and probability ain't one of them.

It's like when white people say blacks are yelling, but we're not:

“Police said they pursued Ramarley, 17, into the building after he ran from them.

But surveillance video showed the teen walking calmly into the E. 229th St. house.”

We want the truth - and money, the whole truth - and money, and nothing but the truth - and money.

From what I've seen, getting busted - specifically for racist acts - does seem to be why white people are so scared of surveillance:

If whites will do this to you, they'll do anything, is the operating idea - until they stop.

Not surprisingly, concern for blacks still isn't coming into it:

And we've been watched, like a hawk, since we got here,...

ADDED - the NYPD is on a roll again:

14 year olds are really, really dangerous,...

This country's vision is - shit, it has no vision, blind as a bat,….

 

In The Black: Rand Paul, Roger Simon & Glenn Reynolds

"We look at slavery like its a thing of the past, but you can go to any penitentiary in this nation and you will see slavery. That was the reason for the protests by prisoners in Georgia in 2010. They said they were tired of being treated like slaves. People need to know that when they sit on trial juries and sentence people to prison time that they are sentencing them to slavery.

If a prisoner refuses to work and be a slave, they will do their time in isolation as a punishment. You have thousands of people with a lot of prison time that have no choice but to make money for the government or live in isolation. The affects of prison isolation literally drive people crazy. Who can be isolated from human contact and not lose their mind?" 

 I've been reading the letters of Ray Jasper, a black murderer who was just executed. They're part of Gawker's Death Row series.

"I am aware of the truths that Jasper writes of." 

 That one's from the victim's brother, Steven-Alejandro. These were men who understood this country, if not each other.

“Whatever you think of Rand Paul, he’s actually doing something that politicians rarely do — talking at length to audiences who don’t usually agree with him. And winning over new friends in the process.”

This is Pajamas Media's Roger Simon, being quoted favorably by Glenn Reynolds while giving us the "whatever you think of Rand Paul" routine. Paul's a man who also seems to know this country pretty darned well, but he doesn't want to talk about it. He didn't at Berkeley. Good for us, right guys?

 

 Paul discussed the NSA. He stuck to a tightly-controlled script and still came off, to me, like a delusional paranoid white supremacist twerp. Did Roger Simon hear the NSA speech - or something else?

"The country is changing. Whole new groups are ripe for the picking, most obviously the young who are being so completely raked over by the Obama administration via Obamacare and the rest of the entitlements so many of them know they will never see. They were ready to applaud at Berkeley." 

 So Simon DIDN'T hear the NSA speech. He's hearing other things. ObamaCare speeches. Speeches on entitlements. Speeches on getting scammed and "raked over". And he's hearing voices. Voices that tell him to use his PJ apparatus to publicly pump up Rand Paul, by launching into those very "social issues" Paul has said we'll have to "agree to disagree" on - by not discussing them.

But I'm chilled by Simon's phrase, "ripe for the picking," signaling, as it does, such malevolent concern. Excellent choice for a fan of Paul's reptilian charms. It's amazing how, when doing the white supremacist/white privilege thing, those on the Right can achieve a perfect pitch they fail to find with minorities.

I don't know how Simon can type while vigorously rubbing his hands together, but that's just me. He does see a power dynamic, with himself perched above, though. I wonder if Simon, like his hero Rand Paul, would have a difficult time deciding if he'd let Martin Luther King sit at a lunch counter? I know now to *duck* when such men voice their "concern":

"And African Americans — when, since the end of Jim Crow, have they done worse than under the Obama administration with its record black unemployment numbers and horrifying statistics on out-of-wedlock births in their community? Consciously or unconsciously, Democrats have been waging a 'War on Blacks' since the days of the Great Society. It’s been a disaster for African Americans, a nightmare, in truth." 

 And the guy who had Wolf Blitzer drag a statement out of him, affirming the Civil Rights Act, is going to save us? Roger Simon needs to take off that damned hat - the headband's getting too tight.

"But where are the Republicans, the party of Lincoln, on that? They should be in the black communities talking to them about it, suggesting ways to make things better. Instead, they just sit around getting annoyed when the Democrats call them racists. Play offense, not defense." 

 Look, why don't you guys cut the crap? Blacks don't have any "friends" - friends would bring us justice - not try to figure out a new way to keep us working for you. What we've got is a bunch of unthinking, insensitive, clods who still think we're desperate to hear them tell us what to do. 

Rather than being jerks, "suggesting ways to make things better", I strongly suggest you non-racists read Gawker's Death Row series. Or pick up a copy of Richard Wright's Native Son, and reacquaint yourselves with what you - and "colorblind" Rand Paul especially - are all so desperately running from.

And, by the way, social isolation from the culture you grew up in, even online - for saying exactly the cultural truths no one wants to hear - that's one of America's prisons, too…

Nationalized Slavery In America (NSA)

What would Miles have thought of drones?

American political surveillance is older than the republic itself.

Think about it this way. Slaves were controlled in a largely totalitarian society, even before the American Revolution, and this lasted until the Civil War. This society involved radical restrictions on peoples’ ability to read, travel, work for pay, trade, own property, marry, and not be physically and mentally abused. At the core of slavery was an aggressive need for control, it was the mother of all totalitarian surveillance cultures,....

The TMR Challenge: TMR Vs. Instapundit On The N$A II

So, no one took me up on my bet - that my grasp of reality will beat law professor Glenn Reynolds' legal mind regarding the NSA - but, the fact still remains, I was right and he was wrong, again ("culture is more powerful than politics") as always:

N.Y. judge rules NSA phone surveillance legal

And TMR's judge has ruled the conservative blogosphere a joke,…

 

The TMR Challenge: TMR Vs. Instapundit On The N$A

Here's something else Instapundit wasn't telling you, during the last election, while he was all Rah-Rah for Romney:

[Discredited vitamin supplements are] the business Honest Abe - I mean, Mitt Romney - made his $250 million dollar fortune in,...but it gets better. According to the original link PW sent me on [Mitt Romney's] Nutraceutical, it's 'beginnings date to 1993, when Bain Capital, Inc.--a Boston-based private equity company--paired with senior management to organize Nutraceutical and consolidate what its leaders thought was a very divided nutritional supplements industry.'" 

- TMR, "You're So Bain, Part II (The Vetting Of Mitt Romney,...)" - June 10, 2012

How do we square Glenn Reynolds' claim, today, that Mitt Romney's "quite possibly the best human being to run for the White House in quite a few election cycles," with the fact Romney's industry - supplements and vitamins - just took a huge hit ("Enough is enough") for perpetrating a massive decades-long fraud on, not only the American people, but the entire Western world?

Some would say there's something very wrong with Glenn Reynolds (I didn't make this artwork). Here he is, backing Mia Love, who shares Romney's "faith" that started the bogus supplement industry - you know, the other massive, decades-long, easily-debunked racist con job Reynolds recently backed by liberally throwing "bigot" around.

As Reynolds' popularity proves, being involved in con jobs are, apparently, what can make you "the best" online.

But, since I know (because I'm black) it's not enough for me to merely say and prove Glenn Reynolds is DEVO's "Mongoloid,"  I'm willing to back it up: 

 Since Reynolds says he's "not so sure" the judge’s decision striking the NSA Program will not stand - and since I am sure Instapundit speaks without a firm grasp of reality - I'm willing to bet anyone a dollar ($1.00) that Glenn Reynolds will be found wrong again.

Yes, Glenn Reynolds, you can bet, too.

It's A Gentlemen's Bet, to make a point - and since TMR's Right-Wing Racial Reality Check™ isn't winning me any friends - it'll raise some money so my non-finishing-college-because-I-couldn't-afford-it ass can eat on Christmas, too!

So, if you think The Blogfather has a track record worthy of your participation and readership, take The TMR Challenge and possibly render me even further bankrupt - one buck at a time.

   

"Take my word/please beware/of the man that just don't give a care,..."

It's a Twofer, Wingers:

You can redeem your Mistra Know It All - AND fulfill the white conservative dream of stopping black fingers from ever typing anything they can't abide hearing again.

Like Glenn Reynolds is part of the problem.

 Go on - take The TMR Challenge - and "Win From Losing" once more,...

 

I Spy - Bill Cosby: Nobody Minded 'Til The "Jello" Thang

Chain now sufficiently-yanked, we'll "move on" to other things: 

"As shocking as the recent revelations about the NSA's domestic eavesdropping have been, there has been no evidence so far of today's signal intelligence corps taking a step like this, to monitor the White House's political enemies."

Scandals, no - Skittles. No, sandals (That's good),...

 

Tin Foil Hats? Nice Accessories (But Never Fashionable)

Yesterday I wrote, "Privacy and the NSA wouldn't be a problem if the Right Wing had some common sense". This, after avoiding the issue since it began. Today, John Fund has a column that opens with:

“It’s time to ask tough questions about the National Security Agency’s surveillance activities — even for conservatives who have given the NSA the benefit of every doubt up until now.”

You can read the rest for yourself, because I'm interested in telling you what I object to - though I wouldn't say I give this government anything - even after reading John Fund:

From Day One, there's been a kind of hysterical shock and anger that a program even exists, which has struck me as so immature I'm not surprised anyone involved would be reluctant to deal with the accusers.

The issue of the NSA has appeared to be a continuation of the election year "battle", with various groups still trying to score political points irregardless of substance, and to our detriment as a nation.

It's been conducted in the same unhelpful "gotcha" conspiracy theory-style U.F.O. hunters use - always built on the accusation, not only that something's hidden, but there's something to hide. That people, or agencies, make mistakes - though they complain about that fact daily - is swept aside.

While I understand why those who've set their own hair on fire don't see it this way, most of what they've "discovered" looks pretty routine, hardly what I'd expect from a huge agency working in the shadows with an increasing amount of data for the first time.

There's what - 300+ million people in the United States? And in 2012 they found 2,776 violations of privacy rules. Yawn. What kind of violations aren't mentioned, fueling the conspiracy theorists, who will gladly trade on what isn't known as though it has the same weight as truth. Like the characters you find at Roswell, N.M., the idea they could be mistaken in their framing of issues, innocently or otherwise, is a subject they haven't devoted equal attention to, before or after this event, and they wouldn't welcome it. Whether it's Satan-worshipping Day Care centers, or the government is out to get you, these Americans do love their hysterias.

What they hate is anybody should burst their bubble - or ruin their "fun",...

 

Painful Lessons

So my shit's gone from *sweet* to TARFU so fast it's making my head spin, but just as I thought to feel bad, I took a look at my peers:

Country music star Randy Travis suffered a stroke while at a Texas hospital and was in surgery late Wednesday, the singer's publicist said. 

Publicist Kirt Webster said Wednesday night that the 54-year-old Travis suffered the stroke while he was being treated for congestive heart failure because of a viral illness. 

The North Carolina-born Travis is a traditional country purist who is a pivotal figure in the genre best known for his hits "Forever and Ever, Amen" and "Three Wooden Crosses." His Warner Bros. debut album "Storms of Life" sold 3 million copies and helped return country music to its roots. 

The illness came as Travis was trying to put his life back together after a series of embarrassing public incidents involving alcohol. Travis pleaded guilty to driving while intoxicated in January following an arrest last year and received two years of probation and a $2,000 fine. He was required to spend at least 30 days at an alcohol treatment facility and complete 100 hours of community service. 

He recently made several public appearances, including a spot on the Country Music Association Festival's nightly concert lineup and a poignant performance at George Jones' funeral. 

His peers and fans have been watching Travis' progress closely.

And Storm Large - a female-type, inside baseball, friend-friend who once wanted to join my band - just came through town but, because I'm off Facebook, I had no idea:

She sang in Spanish, German, Japanese and Turkish. And then she sang about ketchup. 

Storm Large, the lead singer of Pink Martini, mesmerized the capacity crowd at Red Butte Garden on Tuesday evening with not just her lyrics, but also her stage presence. For a band that refers to itself as "a little orchestra," Large is anything but little. Her voice and constant dancing onstage commanded the Portland-based band as she seamlessly moved between samba mixes, swing jazz tunes and a little bit of humor.

It's a fact of existence - and why the NSA "scandal" doesn't scare me:

Trying to watch anybody's progress "closely" is never as simple as it sounds,...

 

It's Safe To Say This Subject Is Pretty Much Settled Now

Whoopi Goldberg: "Terrorists" Watch The View

And just so you know, even though we don't agree with Whoopi Goldberg on anything, if any rich "terrorists" are reading this blog right now, our donation button is fully operational and rarin' to go:

Blow it up, baby!

We Didn't Want To Do It (But We Were Touched)

From The TSA To TNA: Ain't No Way To Go On

Oh man, yesterday was supposed to have been this great blogging day, and then, like this fake Jack Webb TSA announcement, it turned out to be "not so hot." At least, in the end, it didn't have the charm of the old days:



We were going to write a lot of good things about Ann Althouse - actually, we did write a lot of good things about Ann Althouse, wrote all day even - but then, like these new TSA procedures, it got too personal (like a lot of our interactions with Ann Althouse) so we're settling for the least personal thing we can say about (who we think of as) our best fellow blogger, after watching her here:

Ann Althouse has got big balls.

Bigger than most male bloggers, that's for sure. We're talking big Sarah Palin-sized balls. Compared to Ann, the rest are waaay too pissy and obnoxious. And the women make no sense at all. See? We're doing it again - getting too personal. That's a picture of sperm!

See, in our opinion, anytime there's a reference to bodily fluids, and a man is discussing a woman, it's getting too bloody personal.

"Getting too bloody personal"? Oh Gawd. It will not fucking stop!

This has really not been our day,...