COMMENTFOUR
Black Lives Matter activists. (photo: Getty)
Black Lives Matter to Begin Taking On Republicans
05 September 15
he Black Lives Matter movement has become a political flashpoint, stirring a backlash from the right and an increasingly heated debate about race.
Last weekend, conservative commentator Glenn Beck and Rafael Cruz, the father of GOP presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), joined 20,000 other protestors in Birmingham, Ala., in a march that argued "All Lives Matter."
But black activists say that they find such rhetoric offensive.
"Do all lives matter? Of course but the reality is that in our country some lives matter more than others," said Alicia Garza, co-founder of Black Lives Matter.
She said that "Republicans are out of touch with what's going on right now � they refuse to acknowledge that there's inequality in terms of race."
Garza called it is "shameful" for conservatives to attempt to marginalize their movement by blaming African Americans for their response to police brutality.
"Republicans are using a pattern and practice of violence against black folks to galvanize their base," she said. "They're trying to shift the conversation away from what's actually happening."
Republicans have lambasted such criticism. They've argued that liberal policies and government programs have not helped minorities.
�Of course black lives matter,� Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson, who is black, said last month campaigning in Harlem. �But what I feel instead of people pointing fingers at each other and just creating strife, what we need to be talking about is how do we solve problems in the black community?"
Garza said that Black Lives Matter will release a concrete set of policy proposals in the coming weeks in addition to hosting a public forum where the group will invite the presidential candidates to attend.
Garza said she expects Black Lives Matter activists to align with other movements, including "immigrants, environmentalists and those [critical of Wall Street]."
The criticism of the right comes as activists from within the movement have disrupted Democratic presidential candidates' speeches, such as Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley.
Garza defended some of the activists who have disrupted speeches.
"Candidates come and make speeches -- but actually what people want is a conversation," she said. "There needs to be a dialogue between impacted communities and the people who want to lead them. ... This is not going to be business as usual."
Democratic strategist Richard Fowler said that Black Lives Matter would ultimately end up helping the Democratic nominee.
"Whomever the Democrats nominate � they're going to have to turn out the same amount of Africans Americans that President Obama did," Fowler said. "That means they have to appeal to you African Americans. And that's exactly who Black Lives Matter appeals to."
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I have a visceral urge to regurgitate on seeing this repulsive individual.
I welcome the change. The 90s up to 2016 have been the worst years for democracy and human rights in the US. Hayden is right at the center of the destruction of our democracy.
- we'll look into it!
while you're at it? any more requests?
There is an interesting piece about the "only Stein progressives" and other some other leftist progressives and Russian games. It suggests Russia has been playing some progressives or taken them as useful idiots. Not saying I know enough to vouch for the article, but there are significant facts set out that give weight to the claims.
Sat. Morning update the new number that have accessed the site is 1.7 MILLION. This is OVER a million more in JUST 2 Days. Thank you Rachael Maddow and all the people so very much. A week later there are OVER 3000 Groups organized.
http://www.occupy.com/article/indivisible-practical-guide-resisting-trump-agenda#sthash.JrOQ45dY.dpbs
Thank Daily Kos and go here to get the phone number of ALL in congress and CALL, CALL, CALL.
http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/1/3/1616776/-The-simplest-resistance-tactic-is-right-at-your-fingertips-and-it-only-takes-a-minute
It just keeps growing and growing. Check out the Daily Kos article on Indivisible
Let's do try to stay on topic. There will be PLENTY of protests. This one is about healthcare. Let's see some great signs. Let's make the news.
This is Sanders' first show of bodies. We can scare the hell out of DC tomorrow. Show up.
For information go to BernieSanders.com
See you there!
Sen. Bob Casey, one of thirteen Dems who voted against Sanders' amendment allowing people to purchase prescription drugs from Canada, was the first speaker. About twenty people booed him. He spoke to a woman carrying a sign against the thirteen and told her he was working with Sanders on a number of issues.
The woman had heard from friends at a rally in NJ that 2/3 of the crowd booed their senators, Booker and Menendes, who also voted against the amendment.
Then-Sen. Barack Obama hung Clinton's Iraq vote around her neck like an albatross. I think a few senators ambitions may have just died this week, though they don't yet know it.
This .. on the verge of millions losing their insurance.
This is not the way to win back progressives. Oh no, it is not. 2018, DP. Tick tock.
People seemed excited about the protest in Washington on January 21st. I think that is the place to be.
About 8000 attended Sanders' rally in MI.
Not sure why they would put it out there if there wasn't something to it. If the agencies really are corporate capitalist tools, why would they bother...ultima tely Trump will be a corporate capitalist tool.
I have no great love or trust for Putin and Russia. He just reads to me like an old style Russian dictator. Just because we do not like our intelligence agencies does not mean that Putin is somehow our friend. Russia, with or without Communism, is pretty much Russia. They want to expand their sphere of influence and I don't see much in that for ordinary Americans...or ordinary Russians for that matter.
By the same token, I don't see ANY good in a Trump administration for ordinary Americans. Outrage is pretty much missing the point. Take back legislatures, reverse gerrymandering and get some real progressives in charge...don't care if they're Dems or Indies for No Party affiliation. It's the policies that matter.
Keep fighting among ourselves and we just make it easy for the oligarchs.
And then you answer your question:
"Keep fighting among ourselves and we just make it easy for the oligarchs."
Since no evidence has been presented that Russia, or Russians, let alone Putin himself had anything to do with the documents published by Wikileaks, your negative stereotyping of Russia is irrelevant, but frankly frightening. I had hoped that the one positive thing from HRC losing was the cancelation of Cold War II and the march to war with Russia. This CIA narrative is keeping those plans alive, and that is terrifying.
The now infamous 25-page CIA/NSA/DHS "Report" on alleged Russian hacking says this:
"Disclosures through WikiLeaks did not contain any evident
forgeries."
They admit that they could find no false information. But again, we are only discussing who might have leaked or hacked the information, and not the content.
Which again, is the answer to your question.
It's all bread...well, not much bread...but plenty of circus.
I'm neither for nor against Russia, but I certainly don't trust them just because neo-cons are against them.
What really matters are domestic policies that really work for ordinary Americans. If we made a serious commitment to becoming energy independent with renewable sources, a lot of our foreign policy nightmares would be irrelevant.
People criticized Bernie for lack of foreign policy but if you really followed his domestic agenda, so much of our big oil driven intervention would be meaningless.
But, one of the ways I don't trust Putin is that he could be in on the circus, too. The psychopathic 0.01% who are pulling the strings here, could well be puling strings in Russia, too.
Given what we do see though, it certainly appears that Russia, China and a few other countries are working together to defend themselves against decades of AAZ Empire expansionism in both wars and economics.
Clearly, in terms of body count, the US is, as MLK noted 1/2 century ago, "the greatest purveyor of violence in the world."
Trick is not to start the fight. As far as China goes, they're pretty much kicking the US butt right now economically.
I'm sorry but I refuse to romanticize Russia. I think I agree with the old school Revolutionaries I met in Cuba in 2000 who had gone to the Soviet Union for cultural exchange. They thought that the Russians got Communism wrong, that they were too dark about it...and these were believers in Communism.
(When we're counting bodies, don't forget Stalin's contribution.)
The American character is not monolithic. There is a deep seated regard for the idea of shared community among a lot of different groups of people. I have worked in shops and factories...sin ce shipped to low-wage countries...wit h a lot of so-called blue collar Americans and they were very decent people. Some became life-long friends. But often, their cultural prejudices get used by monied interests for their own ends.
Countries have interests, and our legitimate ones may not be the same as Russia's, or China's for that matter. I don't see Trump owing money to Russian investors...of whatever character and if it's true...as a good thing for an American president.
I look around and I see a lot of people who have lost hope, and pride in what they do. I don't really think a Putin-Trump bromance will do much to change that.
But of course, the USSR has been gone for a quarter century now. What remains are the nuclear weapons, and a firm resolve NOT to be invaded again.
Yes, a lot of USians have lost hope and pride in what they do. This is true from what I read in much of the world. And that is totally appropriate response to the global fascist world order that has been growing for decades (with bipartisan resolve in the US).
I do NOT trust Trump. I do not believe him to be "an outsider." His persona was created by the corporate media over the past 30 years. His wealth comes from Wall Street and Organized Crime. He is beloved by Netanyahu and the most right-wing Zionists.
And I certainly don't believe there is any "bromance" between Trump and Putin. The Zionists HATE Russia, and have since their founding in the late 19th century.
Buying into the CIA narrative about Trump being a "Putin Puppet" is dangerous because it excuses "liberals" to be pro-war against Russia.
I am more certain by the day that putting him in the White House has been the goal of the psychopathic 0.01% from the start. Insuring that HRC took the Democratic Nomination was part of that goal.
And therefore, war with Russia may well be in the cards anyway.
I'm mostly with you on all of this...
The last little bit though, I think that Hillary's team was just incompetent.
Just had a thought, I was considering the idea that the 0.01% really wanted war with Russia. It occurred to me that scaring people with Russia is far more effective for them than actually going to war. That they could not control for their own ends.
On a more fun topic...I just got back from the UK playing with the band Breakwater that I joined in 1975. You can search it on Youtube, it's the funky one. Not sure if I said before but that is a neighborhood Philly R&B/Funk band that started writing it's own material and did 2 albums on Arista that did pretty well in 1979 and 1980.
Band broke up in 1981...bands do that...but we got back together in 2009. Older and grayer but still had the feeling.
Well, seems like a lot of people in Britan had been big fans and we hooked up a couple of concerts over there. Amazing... A couple of thousand fans had been waiting for us for 35 years. Did a live 'unplugged' performance on BBC radio. Band killed but I didn't get more than about 7 or 8 hours of sleep in 5 days.
Totally worth it. I guess sometimes there are second acts in life.
Sweet...take care.
The arrogance of the "intelligence community" is just disgusting to see. Lots of people have called Trump a fascist, but the real fascism in the United States is centered in the "intelligence community." These are the ministries that make up much of the Deep State. They work for corporations, banks, and foreign governments, not for the US. They are all military institutions. Hayden above is a general in the US Air Force (now retired).
Hayden, Brennan, Clapper and the rest are just dead-enders. They want to make some noise and strutt their stuff before they all leave government and go to work int he weapons industry for millions of dollars a year. Ignore them. They are noisy and ugly dead-enders.
PLease recall that in Trump we have a new thing in US governmental history -- a President who has never before held either an elective position in government (or any government position for that matter).
Hayden and Donald's other advisors must of necessity go that extra advisory mile to guard against the pitfalls of presidential procedural ignorance and arrogance.
Since when does the president have to show THEM the proper respect or risk unsupported defamatory material coming out?
Good manners are nice, but toward the nation's propagandists and assassins, and a prerequisite for them to do their fracking job? I don't think so!
Are we not seeing the CIA blackmail a president right before our eyes? People may not like Trump -- but is this acceptable behavior from a (supposedly) government group with an unlimited budget and no accountability -- toward our elected executive?
Aren't we watching, in real time, the CIA go rogue? I hope Trump splinters those m-f-ers and farms them out to scattered DMVs across the land until allowed, if they show the proper gratitude, to retire without prosecution.
By 'guard against .. presidential ignorance" are you saying the intel agencies 'know better' and should act against presidential orders? Or should they just release more tapes .. and to what end? To install Pence or even Ryan?
I've taped Pompeo's hearing but haven't watched it yet. Whose man is he? What will the organization pull on him? Is it justified because they don't like Trump?
What about POTUS 46, with whom you might agree? Is that ok too?
I absolutely agree. I've often wondered how such a nice guy as Obama (and he really is a nice guy) could pursue such bloodthirsty and entropic military policies. I've concluded that he simply has implicit faith in his "intelligence" briefers, and through him he has been manipulated into implementing the Deep State's "war is good" perspective. Now they have to deal with Trump, who is rightfully suspicious. Whoa---loose cannon! Hope he knows how to maintain his personal security.
BTW, I don't like Trump; he's NOT a nice guy. Maybe it just takes one to know one, but Hayden is so obviously a snake that it's amazing he's so "wholesomely" accepted by the press.
Though even at that, he did end up with a minimal sentence. Literally a few days in prison and then 3 1/2 years of house arrest.
As Nick Turse made clear in his fully substantiated book, "Kill Anything that Moves," the order to commit such atrocities (or at least to permit them) came from very high up.
Because that one horrible atrocity became public knowledge, the Brass had to make a show court martial of Calley and a few others.
And again, as I wrote, even with that, Calley was the only one sentenced, and he spent a couple days in jail, and was ultimately pardoned.
The Pentagon and White House did NOT want the genie to come out of that bottle, since atrocities were so widespread, so they presented it as a "few bad apples." i.e.. a fall guy.
Perhaps you should look up what a "fall guy" is.
Coming from the US intelligence community?
Does anyone else see the irony in this?
As for the intelligence community being unafraid?
Why would they be?
They have already gotten away with murder.
...no happy ending indeed.
"Assange is a known liar, and how would he know the ultimate provenance of the emails, anyway?"
Maybe someone at RSN will list in detail Assange's lie or lies?
Alongside of that, list the "American intelligence community's lies.
Do that and Assange will come out most trustworthy.
Or look at how many times the American intelligence community has been wrong compared to how many times Wikileaks has been wrong. You should get the same results . . . Wikileaks is more trustworthy than the American intelligence community.
I await your response.
The degree of narcissism and ignorance about to take office is off the scale.
Suddenly the voices of Hayden, Graham, McCain, McConnell, etc.,are sounding relatively sane and reasonable. Wow.
What a mess.
Actually, I was thinking the opposite.
A different point of view:
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2017/01/13/guar-j13.html
Another instance of a different, and refreshing, point of view:
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2017/01/13/cybe-j13.html
Still another refreshing, different point of view:
http://www.counterpunch.org/2017/01/13/did-the-russians-really-hack-the-dnc/
I think they cannot BELIEVE the written or spoken word. Imagine what their world is like. Everything is a calculated maneuver. Nothing is true, only verifiable. Nothing is authentic, only desirable or not.
Further, they do not believe we should judge them by their past words and actions because they perceive this as a game, with winners and losers.
Also, because they never have to worry about funding or accountability, they have developed a hyperbolic sense of entitlement.
What keeps them from recognizing truth is their culture .. and their arrogance.
You may want to pretend that the intelligence agencies represent some type of thoughtful council of analytic minds who serve the American people, but this has never been the case.
As is obvious from the time it was created by Allen Dulles, the CIA has been a tool of the Anglo-Euro-Amer ican banking cartel and its corporations, who not only aided Hitler, but hired many of his intelligence officers when the OSS morphed into the CIA and doubled in size.
So, we get that Trump, for all his misogyny and ego-maniacal behavior, is not under your control and that you need to invent stories to impeach him, or worse.
Luckily, more and more people are seeing through your pitiful charade and, let's be frank, treason, as your controllers include foreign nationals.
http://coloradopublicbanking.blogspot.com/2017/01/us-intelligence-reports-fail.html