January 25, 2019

Nancy went right after Donald's weak spot, his vanity

...she went right after his appearance before millions, she pulled the rug out from under his planned great performance at the SOTU.

Speaker Pelosi is still holding the SOTU speech at bay, saying the date is still to be negotiated - effectively dangling it in front of Trump to keep him focused on what he agreed to today.

With the federal debt ceiling extension date coming in March, I'm thinking she might not agree to a SOTU date (or shouldn't) without a more permanent agreement to keep government open. Maybe legislation is needed to prevent federal workers' paychecks from being held hostage to someone's politics again.

January 23, 2019

"Is she seen as African-American -- is she seen as African-American?" Matthews asked.

Karen Finney @finneyk 1h1 hour ago
Dear ⁦@HardballChris⁩ - as someone who get asked this Question I can tell you this is what racism looks like - cut it out now! “Matthews: Is Kamala Harris 'Seen as African-American?'” https://t.co/xIJa6JFU7Z

from Mediaite:

MSNBC host Chris Matthews asked if 2020 Democratic candidate Sen. Kamala Harris is “seen as African-American,” presumably due to her mixed racial background.

Matthews asked the race question after mentioning her campaign’s aesthetic is inspired by Shirley Chisholm, the first major-party black candidate to run for president, with Democratic strategist Jamal Simmons Monday night.

“Is she seen as African-American — is she seen as African-American?” Matthews asked his guest twice-in-a-row.

“Yes,” Simmons replied. “She’s seen as African-American.”

read: https://www.mediaite.com/tv/chris-matthews-on-kamala-harriss-appeal-to-black-voters-is-she-seen-as-african-american-2/

...this brings me to something I wanted to share about questions of Kamala Harris' race or racial identification.

Kamala is a member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha, or AKA, a sorority established by and for African-American college women.

This fact very much reminded me that my mother was also AKA. She was very light-skinned, inherited from her African-American mother born of a slave who had married her master and bore him numerous children of varying complexions. She was also born 'albino' and had skin indistinguishable from most white individuals, with hazel eyes and blond hair.

She endured questions of her racial identity all of her life, and she adhered to the reality of her family history, enmeshing herself in the black communities where she lived and embracing all of the culture associated with her heritage.

In my mother's case, there were factors in her upbringing, consequences of the time she was raised in, which really didn't give her a choice of racial identity. In her West Virginia community, and in Molena, Georgia where she was born, any black blood in your past automatically made you a Negro, period.

Her mother, Rochelle Searcy was an African American woman with very light skin. She was the tenth of 26 children born to Jacob Knight in Molena, Ga., in 1902. Knight was said to have, literally, populated an entire town that he had built up on the 200, or so, acres of land he owned. In 1917, Mrs. Searcy graduated from the Seminar English Preparatory School of the Morris Brown University of Atlanta, Ga..


Rochelle and Henry Searcy
from the Fullwood Family Collection

Charleston, in a state which was founded on its resistance to slavery and its allegiance to the Union in 1863, was adapting to the changing demographics of its refuge and opportunity for migrating blacks.

"Between 1919 and 1921 T. G. Nutter, Harry Capehart, and T. J. Coleman, three African-American legislators, were responsible for the creation of several state-funded institutions for blacks. The West Virginia Industrial Home for Colored Girls in Huntington and the West Virginia Industrial Home for Colored Boys in Lakin, the West Virginia Colored Deaf and Blind School at Institute, and the West Virginia Hospital for Colored Insane at Lakin were all given state funding. The institutions were to be run by African Americans. Other publicly funded institutions for African Americans included the West Virginia Home for the Aged and (Infirmed) Colored Men and Women in Huntington, the West Virginia Colored Orphans Home in Huntington, and the West Virginia Colored Tuberculosis Sanitarium at Denmar." Source: Posey, The Negro Citizen of West Virginia, 58-62; Acts of the West Virginia Legislature.

Charleston wasn't exactly a progressive town, but it was one of those regions which contained a sufficiently large black population to facilitate and require a proportionally adequate number of institutions, facilities, and amenities to satisfy the African Americans community's needs, wants, and concerns. Those would require a workforce able and adequate to the tasks, as well.

It bears emphasizing that, although my mother was born with skin that was indistinguishable from most white Americans (and with beautiful blond hair and hazel eyes as a compliment), she was still considered and designated on her birth record as 'Negro' and was not allowed to advantage herself of any of the non-black medical facilities, for instance.



A graduate from the the all-black Garnet High School, which closed in 1955 due to integration, Mom went on to become a teacher, attending and obtaining degrees from West Virginia State College; Atlanta University; UDC; Catholic University; and Trinity College. At West Virginia State, she was secretary to the Dean of Women. After graduating Garnet High School, she became a supervisor at the West Virginia Industrial Home for Colored Girls in Huntington, W.Va..

Mom achieved a position on the membership committee of the Xi Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha (her joy). Mrs. Fullwood was also a member of the NAACP and a lifetime member of the National Council of Negro Women.

In fact, after marrying and moving to Metuchen, New Jersey, Mom joined the local Auxiliary Memorial VFRW Post and took a secretarial position at the local Raritan Arsenal.



I'm intrigued by the notion that we can be driven away from our ancestry by those not willing to accept that history - or denied our own view of ourselves based on our racial heritage.

Kamala Harris rightly identifies with all aspects of her culture, but deserves to be recognized for that part of her heritage which she embraces with her heart and soul. If that's not clear to folks like Matthews, they just haven't bothered to notice or care.



Mom
from the Fullwood Family Collection

January 21, 2019

We need a president who will honor our leaders and our history

...remember?



tweeted by, Team Barack Obama ‏@TeamBarackObama 5m
Pres Obama: "Because they marched, America changed for you & for me" #LetMyPeopleVote #mow50 pic.twitter.com/cNCbdo3kG8




TheObamaDiary.com ‏@TheObamaDiary
President. pic.twitter.com/dAerFGgVwq




Nerdy Wonka ‏@NerdyWonka 8m
A Powerful Sight: Barack Obama, the two-term African-American POTUS honoring Martin Luther King Jr's legacy. #MOW50 pic.twitter.com/Dozr5oOQpA




Kamala Harris ‏@KamalaHarris 5m
President @BarackObama: "Freedom is not given. Let's keep marching." #AdvanceTheDream pic.twitter.com/8OAdxmP8r




Charles Dharapak ‏@Dharapak 9m
PHOTO: POTUS, FLOTUS, Carter, Clinton, Lincoln at end of MLK March on Washington celebration via @AP pic.twitter.com/6QZtxpzN3j





watch President Obama's address:

Washington Post ‏@washingtonpost 3m
A transcript of President Obama's speech http://wapo.st/1914Tfx #MarchonWashington #MOW50

January 18, 2019

So, why did Mueller give Cohen the green light to testify to Congress?

...it could be he's reached that bridge too far we've been wondering about.

On one hand, Mueller is tasked with following his criminal investigation to the end of the evidence. On the other, there's the question of his responsibility to act to restrain targets of his investigation if he believes they are a threat or a danger.

If Trump is a guilty as the news reports suggest, he shouldn't be allowed access to the levers of our democracy, he shouldn't be in charge of our institutions of investigation or law enforcement, he shouldn't be allowed to direct our military forces, he shouldn't be allowed to make decisions concerning the nations finances.

Maybe Mueller agrees, but he's not the authority to actually hold Trump accountable. If he believes, as reported, that Trump can not be indicted in office, yet he believed him guilty of crimes, he would then be obligated to direct his efforts to inform Congress.

That's where Cohen may figure in. With such explosive revelations about what Cohen knows and is prepared to say under oath, his appearance before the newly-validated, Democratic-controlled House committee will serve as direct messaging from the Special Counsel to Congress, beckoning them to use their constitutionally mandated authority to act against the president.

Just a thought, and a hope.

January 12, 2019

Julian Castro: "With big dreams and hard work, anything is possible in this country"

CBS News @CBSNews 2h2 hours ago
Julian Castro makes it official: "I am a candidate for president of the United States of America" https://www.cbsnews.com/news/julian-castro-announcement-2020-white-house-bid-candidate-for-president-today-views-stance-issues-age-live-updates-01-12-2019/ …

watch: (31m)



Adrian Carrasquillo @Carrasquillo 4h4 hours ago
@JulianCastro and @JoaquinCastrotx on the bus in San Antonio on the way to Castro’s announcement for president at Plaza Guadalupe near where they grew up feels like something new. https://www.facebook.com/97458155742/videos/822633254751908/ …




NYT Politics @nytpolitics 2h2 hours ago
Mr. Castro, one of the most high-profile Latino Democrats ever to seek the party's nomination, will make his first campaign stop in Puerto Rico, where he will meet with residents struggling to recover from Hurricane Maria https://nyti.ms/2FtaILR




Road to 2020 Politics @roadto2020pols 2h2 hours ago
“With big dreams and hard work, anything is possible in this country”-@JulianCastro... 🇺🇸




Ryan Lizza @RyanLizza 2h2 hours ago
Julian Castro, announcing his presidential campaign, notes he once wanted to be a journalist and calls press, “the friend of the truth in this country.”




David Mack @davidmackau
Castro: "If police in Charleston can arrest Dylann Roof...without hurting him, then don’t tell me that Michael Brown, and Tamir Rice, and Aiyana Jones, and Eric Garner, and Jason Pero, and Stephon Clark, and Sandra Bland shouldn’t still be alive today."

watch:
https://twitter.com/davidmackau/status/1084149630701658112

https://twitter.com/wpjenna/status/1084129481097441280

let's go! @thecolemansaur 3h3 hours ago
The crowd at Julian Castro's presidential campaign announcement! #JulianForTheFuture




Aaron Booth @ActorAaronBooth 2h2 hours ago
Julian Castro’s speech...










Ilana Panich-Linsman for The New York Times

January 12, 2019

Kamala Harris Irie With Bob Marley (and Jamaica)

Kamala Harris talks w/NYT about how she connects personal experiences to her professional life, the breakneck speed of the news cycle, the inspiration she takes from Bob Marley and more...

Who is a creative person (not a writer) who has influenced you and your work?

Certainly my mother. She was incredibly creative, as a scientist. But when I think about performers: Bob Marley. I first started listening to him when I was a child. My father had an incredible jazz collection but also a lot of Marley. I saw him in concert at the Greek Theater in Berkeley. I was hooked.

Jamaica’s history is actually not that well known in the context of the issues we deal with in the United States. But Jamaica grappled with vicious slavery for generations, and then colonists, with a very strong sense of identity in terms of what it meant to be particularly a black Jamaican. A lot of his music was about what it means to fight for the people. He was a very spiritual person also. I’m very spiritual. I don’t talk a lot about it, but the idea that there is a higher being and that we should be motivated by love of one another — that also requires us to fight.

interview: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/11/books/kamala-harris-book.html

"Hanging out with my family in Jamaica..." (Courtesy of Kamala Harris)

Donald Harris reflects in this essay on the ‘Jamaicanness’ of his daughter Kamala.

"As a child growing up in Jamaica, I often heard it said, by my parents and family friends: “memba whe yu cum fram”. To this day, I continue to retain the deep social awareness and strong sense of identity which that grassroots Jamaican philosophy fed in me. As a father, I naturally sought to develop the same sensibility in my two daughters. Born and bred in America, Kamala was the first in line to have it planted."

read more: https://www.jamaicaglobalonline.com/kamala-harris-jamaican-heritage/

urbandicdef: Irie

January 11, 2019

Watch Kamala Harris discuss her new book, 'The Truths We Hold' (1hr)

Politics and Prose @PoliticsProse 50m50 minutes ago
Watch @kamalaharris and @capehartj discuss THE TRUTHS WE HOLD

watch:

January 10, 2019

Kamala Harris photos of her childhood and life before politics

US Review of Books @USReview 8h8 hours ago
11 photos that show Kamala Harris' childhood in Oakland and life before politics http://twib.in/l/jrGKn8y7EMaE #USReview



Kamala Harris' new book presents photos of her youth in Oakland as she shares her memories of the moments: "Long before 'take your kid to work day,' my mother often took us to her lab in Berkeley. She had two goals in life: to raise her two daughters and to end breast cancer." (Courtesy of Kamala Harris)



“At twenty-five years old, Mommy had a college degree, a PhD, and me.” (Courtesy of Kamala Harris)



"Proud daddy on his way to a doctorate in economics at Berkeley. (April 1965)" (Courtesy of Kamala Harris)



"My favorite pleather jacket at age seven. (December 1971)" (Courtesy of Kamala Harris)



"Hanging out with my family in Jamaica. Maya is off to the right." (Courtesy of Kamala Harris)



"During my freshman year at Howard University, almost every weekend was spent at the Mall protesting apartheid and calling for divestment. Here I am with Gwen Whitfield. (November 1982)" (Courtesy of Kamala Harris)



Kamala Harris receives the oath of office from California Supreme Court Chief Justice Ronald M. George during inauguration ceremonies, Jan. 8, 2004. Harris’ mother, Dr. Shyamala Gopalan, holds a copy of “The Bill of Rights.” George Nikitin/AP



more pics here: https://www.latimes.com/books/la-et-jc-kamala-harris-young-photos-20180109-story.html

Watch Kamala Harris discuss her new book, 'The Truths We Hold' (1hr)
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100211656300

January 10, 2019

Trump Openly Admitting He's Declaring 'National Emergency' To "Make A Deal"

...is the most despotic thing from him yet.

Daniel Dale @ddale8 1h1 hour ago
Trump says he'd rather make a deal, but probably will end up declaring a national emergency: "Probably I will do it. I would almost say definitely." He adds: "If we don't make a deal, I would say it would be very surprising to me that I would not declare a national emergency."

...so, the 'national emergency' would be his inability to obtain 'deal' with Democrats on his political goals; namely his Wall, which was revealed to be a campaign hook, rather than an actual response to any emergency.

There's an artificial, Trump-induced crisis at the southern border, not a 'emergency,' with refugees piling up in detention camps on both sides of the border as a direct result of his tightened, restrictive amnesty policies which don't allow refugees to be released to sponsors while their petitions to stay work their way through the court. People have died as a result of the neglect and harsh conditions at these detention camps.

We are Germany, prewar Germany where an entire ethnicity was demonized by Hitler and forced into abusive camps. We are, in effect, the Germans. The more we acquiesce to this, the further the abuses against this specific class of refugees. There is not going to be an end to these crimes against humanity until we remove the source of the violence. We are challenged right now to be 'good Americans' and stand firm against the menace in the White House.

Congress should not bend to blackmail. Seeking to effect political goals outside of the democratic process through the coercion of a 'national emergency' is a gateway to autocracy of the worst sort, especially with this megalomaniac we have in charge directing and exploiting it.

Congress should stand firm, and move to severely restrain Trump's anti-constitutional power-grab.

January 7, 2019

Can you win the Democratic nomination having voted for NAFTA, the Iraq War, and the Bankruptcy Bill

...Joe Biden is asking himself the wrong question.

He's focused solely on a general election campaign against Trump as he ponders the Democratic field of potential candidates, but the former Vice-President is not necessarily a cinch to win the Democratic nomination. He's failed spectacularly in the past, and he's politically positioned apart from most potential Democratic contenders by a rather long history of center-left votes like support for the Iraq war, support for NAFTA, voting for the bankruptcy bill.

To be fair, he also has a long history of support for solidly progressive legislation and initiatives, like his authorship of the Violence Against Women Act, but there's a lot of centrism in his record.

I found this NBC tidbit from the one major Democratic candidate who went ahead and leapt into into the 2020 presidential pool without playing Cuomo at the airport, Elizabeth Warren:

In a November 2007 post titled "Presidential Leadership," she shared a Barack Obama campaign video on health care featuring an interview with her. Still, Warren did not endorse anyone during the Democratic primary, and was lobbying candidates behind the scenes to create what would become the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

But well before the 2008 race began, Warren had harsh words for Biden, one of its eventual contenders who has said he is still deciding whether to run in 2020. In March of 2006, Warren wrote that Biden's 2005 vote in favor of the bankruptcy bill that spurred her foray into blogging made him part of "a bi-partisan coalition to prefer powerful corporation [sic] over hard-working families."

"For years, Senator Joe Biden vied with Republican Senators Charles Grassley and Oren Hatch for head cheerleader for this bill," Warren wrote. “Even as he tried to position his national image as a strong supporter of women, Senator Biden was twisting arms to get the bankruptcy bill through Congress.”

There's a deliberate blind spot to Biden's self-serving entreaty to run. “If you can persuade me there is somebody better who can win, I’m happy not to do it, he says.” Can you imagine the reaction to any other potential candidate uttering those words? Imagine Hillary saying this?

Don't get me wrong, I think he should run, but he's making a big assumption that his perception of himself as the best dragonslayer on the horizon is going to survive a progressive-themed Democratic primary. If he does run we'll find out if his personal political experience is what Democratic voters actually favor.