Flipping the Bird

I'm (well, we're) on an adventure. 

Two evenings ago we made it to D.C., for a few days before we continue on.

There was much discussion on whether we should. Personally, I voted against it. Clearly I lost. 

With multiple states sending National Guard units to the capital to save it from imminent peril (and hand to g-d, BLOTUS riding with them last night!.........with three dozen Secret Service folks), I really wanted little to do with this. 

710 felt the folks of DC shouldn't have to be punished for this dickweed's actions, and while I get that, I was hoping to send a message that not going is financially impacting the city. 

I told 710 to have bail money ready, because no doubt I am going to piss off the wrong someone. He nodded in the affirmative. Not about the bail bonds, but about me. 

For the record, I've seen six National Guardspeople (two were women). All were on my morning run. All on the Mall, where in fact there was zero crime.  ....and expected to be zero crime other than some homeless who might be sleeping on a bench. 

Except there were none. Nor in Farragut Square where homeless not only congregate, but where I've never not seen a truck there feeding them and tending to them. 

I do believe the government shipped them all out. Is ANYONE asking 'to where?'.  Of course not. They're homeless and undeserving of you know, just breathing. It is so fucking heartless. It's possible they had them all killed. It's unclear. 

But yes, I went on my morning run. Pre-dawn. Well.......there was no dawn. It was so grey the black just lightened up a bit. 

I had an idea of where I wanted to run, but set no map nor time. Once again, as last time I ran in DC, not one person did the normal runner wave or nod. Not one. Including me. I opted not to be the only guy who tries. 

The time on my run was ok, but not great. Mostly due to needing to cross busy roads with long 'don't walk' times (yes, even at 06:30), or circles which have multiple crosswalks. 

Oh, and I stopped thrice to take a few pics. Not that those were horribly time consuming, but they must be counted. 

You see the top one. 

To be fair, 2015-2020 I took similar images a lot. At first I said it was for the man not the office. This time it is both. I needed the updated pic.

To be honest, I wasn't sure I would (or could or should) take the image. The area in front of (well, back of?) is usually crowded. Yesterday, it was just me. Well, me and Secret Service. I was half convinced I would be tackled, arrested and deported. 

Worth it!

But there was zero fan fare. I mean, it took like 4 seconds to take. And then I ran. Not like a coward, but like I needed to finish my run. 

And to cover all bases, I got the legislative branch too. 

It somehow made me feel slightly better.

Song by: Garbage

Milk

My plan for June wasn't to do a post on Pride daily, but I'm not sure how the next 25 days are gonna go. 

Alcoholic and State Secret Revealer, Peter Hegseth has ordered the USS Harvey Milk to be renamed. 

I suppose this shouldn't be shocking, but it kind of hit like a gut punch. 

Since he is a dick, Hegseth, not Milk, he could have chosen to do this at any time - months ago, or months from now.

Waiting until Pride I'm sure was well planned out. 

But - that's not all. I mean, of course it isn't. 

Since their white male egos are so incredibly fucking fragile, other vessels named after prominent leaders are also on the Navy's renaming "recommended list." 

Among them are the USNS Thurgood Marshall, USNS Ruth Bader Ginsburg, USNS Harriet Tubman, USNS Dolores Huerta, USNS Lucy Stone, USNS Cesar Chavez and USNS Medgar Evers.

Let's see: Black Male. Jewish Female. Black Female. Hispanic Female. Equal Rights Female. Hispanic Male. Black Male. 

Not a white dude amongst them. SHOCKING!

I'll assume they'll all be renamed after BLOTUS, Oliver North, Robert E Lee, John Wilkes Booth and the likes. I'm sure Jeffrey Epstein is on the short list too. 

710 said he waits for the day someone will change these all back. But that's the thing. They won't. Should there be another election and should someone with half a brain get the job, all of this shit that has been done will stay that way. New leadership will move forward with some things, but decimated / eliminated departments will stay that way. Naval ship names aren't going back. 

Someone said something about 'thank g-d Elon is gone' (I don't know if that is actually true or not), but even if he is, the damage he has done isn't gone and isn't going anywhere. That will remain in place the rest of my physical life. 

And if I have to post shit like this over the next 25 days, that life is gonna be short. 

Song by: the 1975

Black is Black

So it seems there is nothing that a candidate won't say to get ahead in this country. 

That cunt - yes, I said it, Blogger - Nikki Haley had the fucking nerve to say, "No, we're — we're not a racist country. Brian. We've never been a racist country."

I'm surprised she didn't choke on her fried chicken, ham-hocks and watermelon when she got out that statement. 

I'm surprised she wasn't fashioning a noose out of a confederate flag during the interview, to be honest. 

Of course, Haley's Nimarata Randhawa's very next statement was that she faced racism growing up "but I can tell you today is a lot better than it was." 

Well which is it, hon??  How can you "face racism" if it didn't exist? 

She's "from" South Carolina, so, you have to help bury that critical race theory so her state and every other one it touches doesn't look so black-hating / lynching because not only are they deniers, but she wants their vote. 

Needs their vote. 

BTW Nimarata, there is an entire lynching museum over in Alabama you might want to check out. Or the National Museum of African American History and Culture.  Or maybe talk to any other person of colour other than your mirror. 

And I hate that BLOTUS thinks like me (or I like him), but I had raised the flag for the Dems to use Haley's actual name every time they could - especially regarding anything race related. Yes, I get it's baiting. Yes, I get it's profiling. But what the fuck do you think the GOP has done for decades??  Longer, even. 

But here is BLOTUS, using her full name. And yes, it is a racist dog whistle.

I mean, if we were a racist nation. Which we're not. Nimarata says so. 

Song by: Los Bravos

Fox on the Run

One year ago, I ran my first race, a 5k. The Fox Run, if you will. 

Blobby returned to the scene of the crime 365 days later.......for the same event, though for the half marathon portion. I pretty much told no one. 

There were a few in my running group who were there, some to do the half, some to do the 5k. 

It was semi-cold. Nothing like last year, but a day where I was on the verge of: shorts or leggings?  short sleeve shirt or short sleeve shirt and long one over it?

I mean, it was 36° at race time, but I knew a mile in I'd be warm. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and we were running directly into the sun. Blindingly so. 

I opted for leggings and two shirts because everyone else walking from the car to the park had them on. I'd regret this decision fairly early on. Kind of. 

By mile 4 I was hot. I was trying to think of ways of peeling off my long sleeve and not losing it. Too nice to toss to the side, too much to just tie around the waist, so I kept it as is. But glad I did. At mile 7.5 or so, it was cold again, and I needed it. 

I had an impressive first half of the run. The second half sucked eggs. I wasn't happy with my performance at all - and while I should have been happy just to finish (and in a way, I was) I thought the year of running and lots of races would have made me better. 

Since last year was my first, I had no real knowledge of post race anything. I knew this one was a chili / beer thing, but those are two things I don't want after a race.........or before 18:00. But all races have water, chocolate milk, bananas and protein bars. 

Well, they had bananas here. Almost frozen and about 8 days from being ripe. I took two bites and tossed it. In the trash that is - not like, my cookies. 

What I truly disliked about the race was me. 

All that self-doubt I had that somewhat dissipated as I trained for the marathon (save for the taper weeks) was back - and loud. "You can't do this!!!!" it said with almost every step from mile 7 on. It was mentally debilitating and truly affected the run. I need better coping mechanisms. 

Still, I finished. 

As for my physical health, with my first half last May, I really had to lie down afterwards, in the grass, due to dizziness. When I got home, I took a two hour nap. With my longer runs, and the marathon, my recovery time is quite different than it was six months ago. Yeah, I have sore calves, but that's about it. I got home, and then we took Shep out on a hike and came back and did chores.  After the first half, I took the next day off work; this time, I was back in the office like usual, and right after a gym work out (though I didn't run until yesterday). 

The good news is I've kept up training and will continue to do so until the running group reforms in February. There should be no deficit in my abilities where I start from square one like I did this last February. 

I'm down, but not deterred. 

Song by: Sweet

Faster

People think I'm strong willed.  And I am. Or can be. But honestly, I'm a huge pushover for  bad decisions on many things:  drinking, sex, and apparently running. Specifically racing. 

There I was, minding my own business this last Saturday before our 10 mile run and people were chattering about a race the following day. I knew of the race, but weeks before opted not to participate. Yet people were asking me - yes, they talked TO me! - if I was participating. My standard answer was I hadn't planned on doing it. 

Oddly, almost all said the same thing, but they thought they would indeed do it. Blobby got caught up in the momentum and registered for said race once he got home. 

Push. Over. 

Or worse. A group that had ignored me for 17 weeks this last Winter and Spring is now acknowledging my presence and now I want to play in their reindeer games?  Apparently I've become Sally Field. 

My need of acceptance is primal - and somewhat pathetic. Yet, I recognize and acknowledge it. 

There were 5K, 10K and Half-Marathon options. The last one was out. I can't be ready for that with 14 hours to go. I toyed with the 10k, as it is doable, but I have gone of those already scheduled in the near future. So I just plopped down the $$$ for the 5k. 

This was going to be questionable anyway - Doug and Don came over the night before and I ate a lot and drank a bit. None of things you want (or should) eat and drink before a race. 

At worst, I'd get a t-shirt and a medal out of it. And a banana and bottle of water. The last two are always guaranteed. 

When I registered, I knew my "good knee" was smarting quite a bit. 

I amuse myself to think I actually have a "good" knee. But it's all relative, right? The 10 mile run just enflamed my soreness. Usually by mile two it's "gone", only to resurface when I try to get back out of the car. 

But Sunday at 08:00 the gun went off and off I went. Me and 517 of my closest friends. 

I did well. Even with a sore knee, I placed in the top 150 and with a new personal best for minutes per mile, but also for an overall 5k. I beat my previous best by 01:21, which when you look at it doesn't seem huge, but at a certain point in your training and your runs, you start measuring things in seconds in terms of progress, and an 81 second decrease isn't bad. 

Don't let the picture fool you. It did NOT take me and hour and a half to do a 5k. The clock was for the half marathon folks who took off an hour before my race. And a decent handful of those guys finished before I did. Even a guy from my group, who also signed up the day before, went into the half with low expectation and got his PB for a half. 

Blobby had his banana, protein bar and water. I gave away my ticket for a free beer and brat. It was 08:30 Even I don't drink that early..............anymore. And the beer was more of an option than having a brat before 09:00 on any day. 

So..........on to the 10k. 

Song by: Janelle Monáe

My Name is Emmitt Till

I know I wrote about this almost two years ago, when the ultimate douchenozzle (it's a word!) Rand Paul held up legislation on a national anti-lynching law. 

It amazed me that day, and then two years later, that we didn't have one. Or that it took 200+ years to do anything about needing one. 

Yes, half-hearted attempts were applied, but you know..........nothing. 

Signing the Emmitt Till anti-lynching bill doesn't make Pappy Joe better in my eyes, but at least he signed it.  I mean, these days - who knows. 

I didn't even know the legislation was back on the table. I assume anyone in the GOP who voted for it were afraid of the blog image:  it might happen to them!   ....and honestly, for some of them it should. 

This was first introduced - get this - 122 years ago!. And it's been up 200 times.  

What. The. Actual. Fuck. 

Segregation was well into the 60s, bussing by the 70s, majorly unfair sentencing law biases, and the continual police brutality against people of colour doesn't really scream for anyone at the DOJ or Congress to act on anything. 

The idea that we've gone this long without legislation astounds me. I assume Congress thought that there are murder and hate laws in place that would cover such thing, but...........I don't think that people who string others up are really thinking, "ooooh, there are laws against this". 

While it is deemed a national hate crime,  I cannot seem to find is how this law differs from murder laws and hate crime laws already on the books. I would like to think that punishment is more severe, but that might not be the case. Should it not be, then it is all just for show. 

Song by: Emmylou Harris

Missing You

Oh - to be young, female, blonde and white. 

If you go missing, EVERYONE looks for you. You're on every news show, every paper - real and electronic. Even if there's no confirmed actual crime, the FBI will come looking for you. 

However...................if you're not young, blonde and white.....well, good luck to you and the person who may or may not trip over your body......totally by accident. 

Nothing against Gabby Whatshername, but there are any number of people "missing" who no one talks about, looks for, let alone overtakes every news organization - and what is eventually will be an on-going trial on CourtTV (assuming the "missing" fiancé isn't dead or in Guadalajara - which is a kind of dead. 

2020 data tells you that more men went missing than females. 

Honestly, when is the last time you saw coverage of any kind of guy who hasn't shown up for something? Sure, now and again, some 88 year old wanders away from assisted living, but that's on the local news and the 9th story in.  ....and I'm being generous. 

90,000 missing person cases are unsolved. Most - and by that I mean, 89,887 of them - don't have manhunts (or womenhunts) for the person. 89,993 don't get this kind of attention. But many missing are Black, Native American, Asian or {gasp} poor!

The racial, age and gender disparities are glaring and every news organization overlooks that, or worse: mentions it in a half line in a news story, while unironically still talking about the missing white girl. 

Yes, "girl". Because let's face it ladies, if you can't get an acting part when you're over 40, no one is looking for you in the non-acting world either.  .....and I'm being generous.  

32 is probably the number before you age out of people wanting to know your whereabouts. Your odds do go up if your young kids go missing with you - but let's face it, the media is on it due to the kids, not the mom. 

In Cleveland, 11 (!!!!!!) women were killed at some guy's house and half-buried in the back yard. All of the victims were black. All of them poor. Some of them had been on the streets -.maybe even working them. None of them looked for - other than maybe family members. Certainly not by the police who - you know - didn't give a shit. There were certainly no Federal agents on the job, and not one report on the news about any of those missing women. 

I do have to say this about Gabby's family:

Your would be son-in-law comes home without her. You hadn't heard from her since before that. He doesn't say a word about why he comes back alone - or a word at all.  ........and you wait eleven fucking days to report her missing. I do believe that call was made shortly after they probably hired a PR firm. 

Of course, Gab's was engaged young and lived with her would be betrothed and his parents, in their house? She could have made better choices. 

Oh step down, I'm not blaming the victim. 

But true to nature, the bf was already tried and convicted in the media before there was even a body. Should he not have done it, he probably did the right thing by not talking and then taking off. There is no fair trial for this guy.

Song by: John Waite

Golden

If it weren't so funny, I wouldn't laugh. But it is. 

An award that literally no one cares about - except for Mike, to extract prizes for his contest wins - is in a diversity (as in, lack of) controversy. 

S. N. O. R. E. 

Until this last two years, welcome to the Academy Awards.  And Emmys. And Tonys.  And Nickelodeon.  Oh - and every Country Music Award Show. 

I mean, what the fuck are people talking about the Golden Globes for?  Of course they have a diversity issue. But so does Hollywood with deciding between Julia Roberts or Sandra Bullock - and only those two - for any role. 

The Hollywood Foreign Press has given best acting awards to Madonna and Pia Zadora. I don't think 'diversity' is in their vocabulary, like the word 'talent' isn't either. 

I'm not sure who raised the flag on the Globes, or that they've been singled out - as they are all guilty of this. ABC hasn't pulled the plug on airing the Oscars, though NBC has for the Globes. Of course, the sub-basement dwelling ratings probably was a money loser for them in the first place. 

Of course, I am howling over the headline above. 

My cynical self - or as I call it, 'myself' - assumes Cruise is getting out ahead of something else that makes him look bad. I mean, he and Scientology is the whitest of the white, right?  Sure, the 8.916 Mission Impossible movies has Vingh Rhames - but honestly, that is where diversity ended in those movies. Unless a 5'4" closeted gay man equals 'diverse'. 

I watched the Globes for two reasons - one to see Ricky Gervais just slaughter those in front of him, and they had to semi-laugh in hopes of no attention on them. The second was to see how badly I'd lose to Mike.  That is less funny. 

Song by: Fall Out Boy

Knee Deep

 I couldn't decide to write about the 17 dipshit with a semi-automatic weapon that will hopefully be spending what little life he has behind bars. I'm hoping the constant rape pushes him to hang himself. 

Yes. I am THAT uncaring. At least of that turd. 

I'm also not here to give him any notoriety. 

I will give it up for the Milwaukee Bucks. 

Ok. Let's just get this out front. I didn't know Milwaukee had a fucking basketball team, let alone the name of one. I am not a total dolt when it comes to sports, but I'd have to run through a fuck of a lot of cities before ever assuming Milwaukee had a team that wasn't the Brewers.  

But good for the Bucks for boycotting game 5 of their play-offs. It's not every day that a team no one knew existed halts a season no one understands. 

But fuck - the ABA has BLACK LIVES MATTER on their temporary Orlando basketball courts. They sure as fuck had better halted their playoff games for what is going on in Kenosha.  I don't know they would have if the Bucks just hadn't said they weren't taking the court. 

I mean, my g-d, Roger Goodelle apologized to Colin Kaepernick this week. Sure, four years too late. Four years and being blackballed too late. But I suppose it's a start. 

And for historical sake, I will mention that this is all going on during the GOP convention, so you know they're loving this. ....but in all the wrong ways.  

Song by: George Clinton

Down on My Knees

My organization is a little behind the times. Just slightly. 

Last week, any number of large hospital systems did a support event for black lives - White Coats for Black Lives. 

UNC-Charlotte, Emory, THE Ohio State University Hospitals, NIH, etc. 

Docs, nurses, caregivers went to their probably one designated green area and knelt for eight minutes and forty-six seconds in silence - the same amount of time that George Floyd had a knee on his neck. 

I don't know how word got out to those other institutions, but ours didn't get the memo, or didn't act on it. Until yesterday that is. 

The day before, when they announced this, my medical director and I had a meeting scheduled during the event. She asked to see if I could get it moved, and if they refused, "tell them they're racist".  She made me laugh.  

I'm not a caregiver, but I went anyway. Honestly, I went to document it and hopefully get a few good pictures. That did and did not happen. 

I tried to get the high ground to get a better picture. I got two - both of which are here, as I combined them into one!!!  Ohhhhhh........sorcery !!!  And while there was an intro, I could hear nothing, and then all the sudden everyone was kneeling......................but me. 

Of course I took a knee. Quickly. 

On some kind of flagstone. 

For 8:46. 

I won't lie, it was uncomfortable. It was supposed to be. I mean, unless you were on the lawn. Still it should have been uncomfortable, right? 

I noticed many around me shifting their weight or switching knees. I get it. It hurt. In my mind, I was like: it's eight minutes and 46 seconds. It's not my life. It's not fearing for my life every time I walk down a street or into a park or into a store.

If people of colour can lose their life due to the colour of their skin, I can surely stay on one knees for that time period.  I did use a hand to brace myself on the ground. My head was up for the first half, but down the second, my face grimacing. This was nothing compared to what some people go through at the hands of some shitty police officers. 

Next to me was an older female physician who was African-American. She sat on a bench next to where I knelt. I'm making assumptions that due to her age, she might not be able to kneel, let alone for that period fo time.  I'd say about two-thirds of the way through she started trying to strike up a conversation with me - in a protest that was as much about silence as it was reflection. 

"You should have a cap on your head" (she wasn't wrong).  I whispered, assuring her I had 70 spf on my head. 

"That is a long time to kneel - does it hurt?".  I just shook my head a little. 

I didn't want to be rude and not acknowledge her, but I didn't want to be THE one person talking. Well, one of two people talking. 

When I got up, she asked me to take her picture with a sign she was holding - I honestly couldn't take it in, mostly because of - ouch - my knee. 

There was once in my life, a gay man on his knees is no big deal. But I'm no longer a young man, and even at a young age, flagstone.........ouchy. 

I'm glad I did it. I have no idea if anyone in the media covered it.  I hope so. The more exposure the better. 

Song by: Trisha Yearwood

Black Coffee

Could there be a more appropriate title for a blog post?  It works on several levels. 

....well......two.

Unfortunately, we had to have this Starbucks story unfold at dinner the other night with my mother, who was mortified.....................that people hang out at Starbucks (or Panera) and just use their wifi, or sit and chat and don't purchase a thing.

She was aghast that someone would go in and use the facilities without buying coffee.

Clearly, my mother has never interviewed anyone at Panera before.  Or had a screenplay to write out in public for all to see.

Of course this all went deeper. White folk sit around Starbucks all the time. For hours. No one calls the police on them for trespassing. Yes, I get that the manager asked them to leave and they refused, but the question really is - were they disturbing anyone to even get that request?

So that was one problem. Arresting?  Srsly? At least the Philly prosecutor had sense to not press charges - besides not having a case, why inflame a city?

I had to tell my mom it was most likely a race thing.

Say what you will about Starbucks, I think - after the fact - they did all the right things. Anyone else, if they addressed it at all, would have sent in a lacky......not a CEO.  Sure, he flew to town in his own jet (I'm assuming), but he came and he met with the gentlemen.

I think the closing of all 8000 stores in May to have racial bias training is an important move, even if it is just symbolic. Hopefully it won't be.

Starbucks does a few things that other employers should do:  pay a livable wage; engage their employees in social awareness; provide benefits and yes, even college tuition. You can mock their product all you want - they do the right thing most of the time.....and they make coin doing it, so the Papa Johns and Dunkins of the world can suck on it.

If there is a bigger downside to this - and I haven't been paying attention - is that the official word had been (and maybe it's changed):  "the manager is no longer at that Starbucks".   They never quite said if she quit, was fired or they just moved her to a different location.  I'm good with two or the three.



Song by: k.d. lang

Racism

I was going to make this image smaller just so text would wrap around it more cleanly.  But then I thought - 'no'.

I should make it bigger. It should be projected on any and every building that exists.

During the 2016 campaign, it could be argued that Dump was flirting with racism. Testing the waters....if you will.

Oh don't get me wrong, I called him a racist back then, but that was more of a gut feeling. As the shyster that he is, I thought, "welllll......maybe he's just building a base" 

And he did.  And if you build it, it WILL come.



SCROTUS IS A RACIST. 



And if you voted for him, and / or support him, you are too.

You can say you're not, but you are. If A=B and A=C, then B=C.


His pardoning of Joe Arpaio is another stitch to his white hood, to go along with the robe he had made for Charlottesville.

This is pardon is problematic for any number of reasons. The most obvious is that Arpaio is a racist - plain and simple - and he was convicted of violating the civil rights of non-whites.  ....and that is for which he was pardoned.

This is on the heals heels of Virginia. Dump can attempt to rewrite history by ignoring and leaving out parts of what he said, but he said it.......in print.

The other problem with the pardon is:  the pardon.

Before, it was just suspect that he might use it proactively.....mostly for his friends, supporters and family. I have no doubt he will indiscriminately use that power to let sooooo many off the hook.


I hate him.


I just saw video of Shrub being interviewed about Katrina years after the fact. Sure I hate / hated him too, but I'll give him this, he admitted he was wrong.

Those are words you'll never hear from Dump.  




....still, do not let this distract you from Russia and all the other shit he's doing.



Song by: Janet Jackson

Chinese Democracy

I pretty much have nothing.

The lotto losing thing has me in a funk. I really needed that $759 million.

Life has been work and...well ...work. And 05:00 dog walks.

I would think that the police officers who patrol the 'hood at that time of morning would eventually stop to say 'hi'. Usually I get the searchlight shone on me, as I'm a common criminal casing the houses whilst carrying a light-up dog leash......and a dog.

My goal on these walks is to avoid skunks.  They are seemingly plentiful now. I can guarantee three per a.m. walk. Oddly, our evening walks used to be fraught with squirrels.  I am now on a four day streak of not one squirrel sited. Poor Shep stops and looks up at every tree just to check. He's not been rewarded.

------------------------------------------

In other new...........I took a stupid-ass Facebook thingy. It's not really a quiz.  They look at your profile pic and determine your ethnicity.

Didn't they do a great job?

They at least got one right...............but not the percentage. Not even close.

However - - and it's too bad Birdie is dead, as she would mock me for not smiling in pictures. I would have to (re)explain it because it makes me look Asian.   ....and now I'm 24% Han Chinese.....whatever that is....and I'm not even smiling. So I've data now to back up that statement.

They need to improve their facial recognition software.

I don't usually work for the weekend.......but I am glad this week is over. I'm hoping we have fun weekend plans.......but they seem to be up in the air........................Meredity!



Song by: Guns N Roses

Talkin' Bout a Revolution

Cleveland is the new Ferguson....or Baltimore...or........(fill in the blank).

In reality, one our incidents of cops vs. the African American public pre-dates Ferguson or Baltimore, though I'm not bragging by saying "hey, we were first!". This is not a contest one wants to be winning.

And we were hardly first. There have been multiple cities with police and unarmed minority victims over the years.

A high speed car chase through multiple cities, involving dozens of officers, shooting (137 times) and killing two unarmed African American folks.

One victim had 24 wounds. One had 23.  That only makes 90 shots that went..........somewhere other than intended. Clearly, a few into the windshield.  .....but many of them came from the officer on trial, who was standing on the hood of the victim's car, shooting directly into it.

That officer was just acquitted of all charges yesterday.

While there is much to school the police in terms of process and procedure, somewhere on that 'to-do' list needs to be more time at the firing range.

Yes, the incident was tragic. Yes, there was clearly excess in terms of the number of police involved. Yes, police commanders on down completely ignored their own protocols in terms of pursuit and deadly use of force. Forgiving the pun, it was overkill.

Cleveland police, investigated by the U.S. Department of Justice and given a horrible report on their behaviour, has so far poo-poo'd their findings - which doesn't surprise me. But this car chase and two other cases pending - all eyes are on Cleveland and their court system.

Not only was no other officer charged in the incident, all - or at least most - who were called as witnesses refused to testify, or pleaded the Fifth. A big blue wall of silence.

The police kind of fucked up a few big cases: you know, three kidnapped girls sitting right under their noses for a decade. Then there was the 11 women who were killed and buried in a back yard - but you know, they were minorities, drug addicts and / or prostitutes, so the police didn't really look for them.

Still, the acquittal comes on the heels of other cops being let off the hook for similar behaviour. But in a way, I knew he would be - with one question from his defense to a witness:  yes, the officer's behaviour was against procedure. When followed up with - 'was it against the law?', the answer was 'no'.   ....and that was in the second week of the trial.

At least as of this drafting, no one has burned the city to the ground. No one has looted. There have been peaceful protests - mostly marching or blocking of traffic. Truthfully, I believe the local new outlets are disappointed. For weeks up to the verdict, they kept asking (hoping!) this would be the next Baltimore. Lordy, they wanted some action to report on - it was almost like they were baiting the public to do something.....anything.

I'd say these police actions with no legal repercussions cannot continue. But they might. And at some point there will be a breaking point, and it won't be pretty.

My fear is that even innocent law enforcement will be convicted in the attempt to appease a broken system and the fear of reprisal. Trust in the system has evaporated.





Song by:  Tracy Chapman

Black & White Boy

Is there any way a good outcome from the Ferguson grand jury?

I think not.

There are no winners. Possibly all losers.

I waited as long as possible to draft this post, but the Ferguson prosecutor held off on releasing the result of no indictment for the police officer.

I have to say, that surprised me. I almost figured that they'd wait until after the evening news to keep the clamour down. But then as night settled, I thought 'would it be wise to announce after dark?'.

From what I could gather to the months leading up to this, that facts of the case meant little to nothing for most sides. This case was all based on emotion. But I worried that with acquittals from Casey Anthony and George Zimmerman, grand juries or trial juries would convict to avoid conflict in the press and / or the streets - regardless of evidence.

I haven't heard how the vote was split - or if it was.

For a MO Grand Jury, it has to be at least nine of 12 votes. Nine of the jurors were white.

The only only only way the Grand Jury vote could even possibly go over with the citizens of the town would be if all 12 voted to not indict.

This decision not to indict won't help a thing racially in Ferguson.

The thought crossed my mind whether a non-indictment would be better than a trial where the officer was acquitted. What would bring more understanding? What would bring less upheaval?

I don't know that it helps that days before a verdict, the mayor, the governor and the president all call for calm. It get that the dominoes are in place to fall, but it seems that the assumption that the first one would fall is already in place.

I don't know how police can help contain crowds when it is the police who are being rallied against. I see a never ending cycle of protests and attempted containment - and nothing good is going to come out of this. Violence on both / either side will breed violence and opportunities for lethal mistakes.

I'm going to bed with too little information and too little known about the fallout.

Again, no good can come out of this. I just don't know if this is the best case scenario.

Song by: Crowded House

Race

I think, as a blogger, I am contractually obligated to discuss Los Angeles Clippers owner, Donald Sterling.

I find it hard to believe that the allegations against him, at this point, are false, but I noticed no one took a nanosecond to even question them - media, "celebrities" and sports figures alike. Apparently because TMZ says so, it's fact.

And it might be. I mean, he was sued for keeping minorities out of his real estate deals.

But in the 24 hour news cycle, as I've pointed out, everyone is guilty until proven innocent. It's no longer the other way around, nor has it been for quite a while.

And it seems the über-rich are different than me and you.  Or at least me.  You 1%-ers are loftier than myself.

I can't give my black-Mexican girlfriend a Bentley and Ferrari and cash while my wife is seemingly aware.  But that's only because I don't have a girlfriend.

The man has balls though - and not just basket ones - as he rubs the fact in his wife's face, as he sits with his mistress at courtside.

Personally, I find it hard to believe that 30 years of owning the team that this is the first he's made a comment. Racism usually doesn't just come to the surface after that amount of time. It's there. Usually always.

Why he had a mixed race girlfriend is beyond me.

Why he owns a team in a sport, where the players are predominantly non-white, and that big of a supposed racist, is also beyond me.

It must be for the cash. People have done worse for less.

I'm no fan of Magic Johnson (oh, I don't want to hear it), but that's mostly because of his crappy theater chain, so I'm not sure I'd want him coming to my games either - but that's not quite the point. I do love how Sterling thinks there is a difference between white Jews and black ones.

I think the difference is that Sammy David Jr. is dead.  That was THE one, right?    (oh step down people, it's a joke!)

The sad thing - in a way - is that the NBA is so willing to act on this immediately, possibly even making Sterling give up his ownership of the team. But in the past have only given minor penalties to players using similar language, if you substitute 'black' for 'gay'.   ...and by 'gay', I mean 'faggot'. No suspension. No termination. And not even their first offense.

If there are other situations of Sterling saying things like this, why didn't the NBA act then (bc TMZ didn't report it to the world?).  If this is his first case - I guess the NBA thinks saying 'black' is a lot worse than saying 'faggot'.

But then there aren't a lot of "faggots" playing for the league.   ....at least that they know of.

And please do not discount me even writing this without the probable premise that I could somehow sneak in a video clip of Blake Griffin, who plays for Mr. Sterling's team. It might have been the only reason I wrote the post in the first place.

I mean, how can you not love the man, especially at the 0:22 mark?



Not so ironically, Kia was a sponsor of the Clippers and they have suspended that relationship, at least for the time being.

I don't know what Mr. Sterling thinks of Griffin, since he's mixed race. But I'm down with him.




Song by:  Prince