Five Toxic, Devisive and Thoroughly Un-Presidential Aspects of Obama's Proclamation for this Black History Month

Barack Obama's failures as POTUS are becoming legendary.  But none is so unfortunate and full of irony as his failure to racially unite this nation, despite that being the principal promise he was qualified - and elected - to fulfill.

Yet, when Barack Obama leaves office early next year, he will leave this country more racially divided than it's been since the Civil Rights Era of the 1960s.  By all accounts in all camps across racial lines, this is undeniable, and the reasons are all laid out in his long-winded Presidential Proclamation reaffirming February, 2016, again, as African American History Month.  The full text is printed below the fold, but here are the five ways that this statement proves Barack Obama could never do anything but divide America racially.

There's NO EXIT STRATEGY:  Like all good Progressives, he claims much "progress."  But the entire tone of his statement is one of endless struggle.  He even refers to slavery as "our Nation's original sin."  Like in Orwell's 1984, "challenges persist," forever.  This war is never going to end, and it is never meant to end.  Why?  Because then we won't need Progressives any more.  While they are in charge, there will never be honest talk of a post-racial America, which was Dr. Martin Luther King's real dream.  Yet this implication of endlessness is a horrific deceit.  Americans just elected a black President TWICE.  With only 13% of the population, it was not only black Americans who did this.  Leaving us with no end in sight makes this lie the most toxic aspect of this disgusting statement.

Outrageous Blame-Storming:  The single example given for how our nation remains rigged unfairly against blacks is the fact that they are disproportionately represented in the nation's prisons.  This much is true.  And Barack takes credit for reducing, by extra-legal methods, this number every year of his tenure.  But the truth he neglects is that blacks overwhelmingly commit the most crime in this country, and that percentage has grown while he's been in office, partly due to increased urban anarchy that he has encouraged.  That tragedy is not make-believe.  That problem exists, and Barack completely neglects (see next item) to address any aspect of it in this statement.  But worst of all, he completely blames this problem on the pervasive racism and unfairness of our criminal justice system that is STILL in desperate need of "reform!"  Did you get that?  Almost all those black men are in prison because of our persistent racism!  Americans really suck, don't we?

Outrageous Denial:  The elephant in the room does not get mentioned.  Though he takes credit for springing more blacks from prison, and healthcare gains among blacks, he neglects to mention the shameful degradation of moral leadership in black communities that can only be traced to the influence of Progressives.  The fact remains that during the era of Civil Rights, fatherlessness among blacks was around 7%.  It is now in excess of 50%, and that number has increased while Barack Obama has been President.  Has he addressed this tragedy in which he is uniquely positioned to provide leadership?  He has not.  And there is zero mention of it, even in the form of moral encouragement, in this statement, even though studies consistently link fatherlessness to crime among all young men, regardless of race.

Temptation to Bash All Southerners Is Not Resisted:  A little restraint here would have been appreciated, in light of the horrendous cultural upheaval going on across the American South, where activists are demanding that any historical trace of the Old South be swept away immediately.  Statues are coming down, flags are dropping and names are changing.  It's like the plantations are being burned all over again.  But in his statement, Obama could not resist talking about post-war blacks, "bound by the chains of slavery" that "broke free and headed North."  Wonderful.  That's not exactly what happened, since the majority of freed slaves stayed in the south.  But Barack makes it clear in his statement that, even today, the American South is an accursed place that is only fit to flee from.  Got it.  Thanks for the sensitivity, Boss.

Shameful Bragging and Pandering:  It shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that a politician like Barack Obama might use a cultural proclamation like this to shamefully brag about his accomplishments, tell all African Americans to not forget to "vote" (wink, wink), and to lie about his horrifying legacy that has increased the poverty of all Americans, but especially those of color.  That's because he can't help himself.  What a dick.

In Defense of Samuel L. Jackson

I like to think of myself as a pretty mainstream conservative. Other than, perhaps, my choice of a presidential candidate for 2016, I am used to my views being at least tangentially close to that of my fellow conservatives. That's why it's just a bit unsettling to be out here by my lonesome on this issue.

Consider poor Samuel L. Jackson. Okay, that was intentional. He's anything but poor. He could probably buy and sell me thirty times over, but he's catching an awful lot of flak for a comment he made that just doesn't seem all that terrible to me.

“When that thing happened in France, we were sitting there going, 'Oh, my God, these terrorists!' And I can't even tell you how much that day the thing that happened in San Bernardino — I was in Hawaii — how much I really wanted that to just be another, you know, crazy white dude, and not really some Muslims, because it's like: 'Oh, s**t. It's here. And it's here in another kind of way,'”

First of all, he was honest. A failing I suffer myself most of the time. And I can identify exactly with what he said. Before you assign a motive based on racial prejudice, think back to the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, MO. A black youth was shot in the street, apparently resisting arrest, but the identity (and race) of the police officer was not immediately revealed. I can very specifically remember thinking, "Man, I hope it was a black cop". Not because I wished any of the emotional trauma that so often accompanies even justified shootings, to be visited upon him, but because I did not want the race baiters and poverty pimps to turn what may have been (and was proven to be) a justifiable shooting into some occasion to stir up racial unrest.

I hoped it wasn't a white guy, because of the implications that would cause, not only in Ferguson, but nationwide. It was not racism on my part, but hoping there would be no cause for rioting. If you are a pro-life conservative, you should be able to relate to this as well. Just recently there was a shooting incident in Colorado in and around a Planned Parenthood facility. Look me in the eye and tell me that it didn't at least go through your mind that you hoped that maybe the guy was a bank robber, chased into the PP, or "some crazy white dude" with no affiliation with any pro-life organizations whatsoever. You didn't want a righteous cause to be smeared by an unrighteous act.

The Face of Everything That's Wrong With Chicago

 Hint: It isn't the police!

Why Is There No Starbucks In Ferguson?

On Monday, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz announced an initiative he dubbed “Race Together” in which he asked his company's baristas to write "Race Together" on coffee cups as an invitation to talk about race with customers. 

Commuters who simply wanted their morning java quickly became irritated at the company’s insipid notion and took over the Twitter hashtag #RaceTogether mocking it to a fare-thee-well.

The company's Senior Vice President of Global Communications, Corey duBrowa, was forced to delete his Twitter account after a torrent of wilting criticism “overwhelmed” him.

"We knew this wouldn't be easy, but we feel it is well worth the discomfort," duBrowa bravely wrote in an email to CNN Money

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The campaign started in cities where protests had erupted over rising racial tensions, like St. Louis, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Oakland.

If Schultz and his delicate flower, duBrowa, sincerely wanted to improve race relations they should have begun their campaign with Rev. Al Sharpton who, while fanning the flames of racial hatred in New York City following the assassination of police officers Wenjin Liu and Rafael Ramos led a protest march in that city with marchers chanting, “What do we want? Dead cops.  When do we want it?  Right now.”

The cops’ assassin was Ismaaiyl Brinsley who posted on his Instagram account, “I’m putting wings on pigs today.  They take 1 of ours…let’s take 2 of theirs.”

Some clever Twitter user decided to start a new hashtag, #NewStarbucksDrinks, and so I decided to Photoshop the rev helping Schultz’s campaign with, yes, a new Starbucks drink.

All That's Sterling is Not Golden

Of all the bread and circuses sent to us to distract us from the abysmal aftermath of the last five and a half years of the Obama administration, the latest slice is Donald Sterling, an uber-rich 1%'er, owner of the LA Clippers NBA sports franchise. The brash and brazen Sterling, who gives liberally to liberal causes and politicians, was caught on tape making some rather racist comments.

Finally! I thought, a poster child for dim witted, liberal trolls ( but I repeat myself) to gaze upon. Here's a guy who is rich, therefore evil and greedy (unless one is a movie star, sports star or scion of a wealthy political dynasty), and racist, in the court of public opinion, and clearly a liberal.

But, wait! I should not have underestimated the power of denial in liberal trolls! Donald Sterling does not fit their pre-conceived prejudices. Cognitive dissonance sets in. Finally, straw graspers like Mother Jones discover...Donald Sterling is (or was) a registered Republican! Huzzah! The balance is the Force is preserved. The Space/Time continuum is safe for the moment! Donald Sterling is an old, white, rich, racist Republican!!!!

Or, is he?

Facts are such pesky things! Sterling contributed heavily, twice to Gray Davis, uber liberal governor of California. Sterling contributed to liberal causes and liberal candidates for president. Strange activities for a supposed wascally Wepubwiccan! He has been feted and given awards by the left of center NAACP. In fact, he was set to receive a "lifetime achievement award" from them on May 15th, which has been quietly rescinded.

Why would a liberal register as a Republican? Happens all the time. I remember back when Jerry Brown was running for governor (the first time), and since he was pretty much a lock on being the candidate, there was talk among Democrats about registering as Republicans, and voting in the primaries, so as to give an edge to whomever they considered the weakest candidate or one with the most baggage, to make the Democrat's victory easier in November.

You may recall that something similar was suggested on the Right in 2008. Rush Limbaugh's "Operation Chaos" urged Republicans to register as Democrats and vote for Hillary in the primaries to keep her candidacy alive. Nowadays in California, such subterfuge is no longer required. We have an open primary, where, if your party's candidate is a shoe in, you can vote for your least favorite candidate of the opposition, hoping to cause a little chaos of your own.

I suspect that Donald Sterling, the old, white, rich, racist liberal, once registered as a Republican to cause mischief with that party, not from any ideology he shared with them. And unlike those businessmen who sometimes contribute to both parties, to hedge their bets whomever wins, Donald Sterling put his money where his old, white, rich, racist heart was...with liberal Democrats*.

Like Obamacare, liberals own this turkey. If they should ever approach anything, even remotely 'reality based', they'd have to admit that Sterling is their guy. Corruption and lapses of character are not the province of any one political party, despite the many, many, many efforts of this administration to prove me wrong.

*Sterling donated a combined of $4,000 to Democratic Sens. Bill Bradley of New Jersey and Patrick (Leaky) Leahy of Vermont as well as then-State Controller Gray Davis of California in the late 1980s and early 1990s, according to a database on OpenSecrets. 

...Two years later Sterling backed Davis over Dianne Feinstein in a special election for a Senate seat, donating $1,000 to Davis. Davis lost to Feinstein in 1992 and eventually became governor of California before being recalled. 

In 1991 Sterling also gave $1,000 to Leahy, who still serves in the Senate. OpenSecrets database goes back until the 1990 election, and basketball blog RealGM reported in 2011 that Sterling’s political donations totaled $6,000 over the years.

-Politico

Original art by John Cox. More at John Cox Art

Cross posted at Proof Positive

Photoshop™ Of The Day: Let’s Have That Conversation About Race