Month: December 2018

Trump Done Shut It Down!

/ oleblacklady / Leave a comment
red metal padlock

Photo by Flickr on Pexels.com

It looks like the Republican controlled Congress has once again abdicated its Constitutional responsibilities. Congress holds the power of the purse. If they had any guts, they would have presented Agent Orange with the funding bill they passed almost unanimously in the Senate and negotiated with the House and dared Trump to veto it. And then bravely overridden the veto, thinking more about the country than political survival without MAGA support.

Republicans don’t have guts. They have Trump. And when he says boo, they jump. Agent Orange threw a tantrum over his Wall, after being royally thumped by his own FoxNews/Trump TV pundits. Laura Ingraham read him the gospel, leading the choir of Limbaugh, Hannity, etc. She called him a fraud (bout time she caught on). So Congress packed up their tents and went home to join their families for the holidays. The leadership promptly announced there was nothing for them to do. The deal was between 45 and the Dems. Once they came to the resolution, one of the Senatorial Trumpophants would polish it into a bill and voila, the keys to the kingdom would open the doors again and everyone could get back to work.

But come January, the House will have a new Democratic majority and Nancy Pelosi will return to leadership. Republicans hope they’ll be able to blame the shutdown on her, the diabolical ring of her name resonating in the right wing mediasphere. It’s hard to implicate her in an ongoing shutdown, but they’ll give it all they’ve got. It will convince the already convinced, but it’s got to start wearing thin with independents and any moderates still out there. Does the fault matter more than the lives of the 800,000 people who are out of work and their families and the ancillary businesses that serve federal employees? There are the restaurants that depend on government employees. There are federal contractors providing services like building maintenance and cleaning who will be out of work as well. These are often minimum and low wage workers. The consequences for these workers can easily mean eviction or repossession of a vehicle. Not just in DC but across the country. And none of those workers will get back pay without a magnanimous employer. 

The US Office of Personnel Management has offered helpful hints to affected workers by tweeting sample letters. One letter suggested that they negotiate to exchange odd jobs for a temporary reduction in rent payments. Part of their advice on dealing with creditors was to consult their personal attorneys. It doesn’t get more tone deaf than that; who can afford a personal attorney? The agency later backed away from the tweets, saying the samples, used in previous shutdowns, had been mistakenly posted. After all, the agency pointed out, it is short staffed as well.

Agent Orange has tweeted that these federal employees are mostly Democrats anyway, and so he’s unconcerned. He’s only playing to the Orangettes. He will bask in the sideline cheers from his TV/Radio Land, now that he’s righted his course. If federal employees weren’t Democrats before, they gotta be thinking about voting that way now. Feeling like a political football bobbled by the pass receiver can sure upend your political thinking.

Disdain is dripping from the CelebrityPresident’s every word. Disdain for middle class and working men and women. Who else works for the federal government? The right has turned regular men and women who provide the citizenry with vital services into the “Deep State” and cartoon boogeymen. Parasites who are sucking up tax dollars to carry out policies that are hurting Americans. With that, conservatives have lost all empathy for people who often live paycheck to paycheck or have only a little cushion.

Just to emphasize his point, 45 threw in an executive order to freeze federal employee pay raises in 2019. The action was taken to counteract a default pay increase that would have gone into effect without legislation. With the stroke of his pen, he used his executive powers to move against people he’s assumed belonged to his opposition. “Take that if you won’t buckle to my demand for the Wall!” But he’s also set up a scenario to reward his political allies within the administration. A 2013 freeze on salaries for senior political appointees is set to expire on January 5. This would result in raises for that group, including  Cabinet members, as high as $11,000. The longer the shutdown continues, the more advantageous it will be for his political posse.

It’s no wonder that officials at the Office of Personnel Management show such disregard for fellow employees. It’s completely in synch with the Oval Office. What happened to the dignity of work? Sherrod Brown, Ohio’s Democratic Senator, has been spreading a message about the loss of respect for the dignity of work and the worker. It didn’t matter what kind of work; it was pride in working and a job well done. It may be a lack of jobs and adequate compensation that have driven Trump supporters into his camp. Trump has managed to channel their anger against government and its workers. The mystique of the Wall may have blinded them to the angst of other workers. Or the government shutdown may provide a window of sanity to disillusionment with the Dealmaker in Chief.  

On the other hand, Pelosi knows how to drive a hard bargain. With new wind in her sails, she’s said no Wall, no way. The country should get ready to settle in for a long dog fight. Pelosi has said that the House will vote to reopen the government when it convenes. The Senate will have the ball in their court. The House can also address the salary freezes for 2019 as well as reinstate the senior political appointee salary freeze. Perhaps, that will become a bargaining chip. Pelosi is not talking about bargaining now but eventually, some compromise will have to be struck.

What will the New Year bring? Here’s hoping government will be opening within the first week. Since that’s really up to the BullyPresident, he’s likely to disappoint. That’s probably the thing he does best.

Fire The Bum!

/ oleblacklady / Leave a comment

 

There’s no excuse for it. There are no rules or regulations to support it.  No outrageous precedents for the ruling by a New Jersey wrestling referee, Alan Maloney, that forced an African American wrestler to choose between his hair and competing in a match. The referee created some imaginary problem with dreadlocks and head gear, so they had to go! The athlete, Andrew Johnson, stood with his gaze cast downward, while a white trainer took a scissor to his locks, randomly chopping them off. Couldn’t they at least have found a Black person with some knowledge of Black hair to salvage some semblance of style to wear out of the arena. But that was exactly the point. To shame, humiliate and diminish a Black boy. No doubt, Alan will wear a ski cap home.

This is all about race. The action screams white supremacy. Straight forward, white and black. There is no gray area to support the ref’s action. The ref inflicted his racial prejudice with the power of the athletic association behind him. It is that institutionalized power that defines racism.

This is not the man’s first public racist interlude. He had been disciplined in the past for calling Preston Hamilton, an African American referee, a “n_____” at a social event. Hamilton slammed him and both men were suspended. Maloney, apologized, appealed and was reinstated, as was his victim. A mere apology sufficed to keep him employed. Taking the absence of consequences as approval, he felt free to continue plying his racial prejudices. As the old saying goes, actions speak louder than words. Sports officials were unhappy with his words, but not enough to treat it as anything other than a minor hiccup. Perhaps if his livelihood had really been at stake, he might have tried to tame his baser instincts.

The question must be asked, how has his prejudice affected his decisions on the wrestling mat. Have his calls favored white competitors over minority ones? Has anyone even thought to look. It matters not. He should be fired for this shameful act alone, the shearing  of a Black boy’s locks in front of his family and the residents of the state of New Jersey. Did he secretly believe that, like Samson, he could sap some of Andrew’s strength so he would lose the match? Alas, that effort failed; Andrew was the victor.

The governor can tweet his disagreement. The school can prevent the man from refereeing any of its future events. But why was there not a single indignant official in the arena or available by phone to stop the man from disrespecting and denigrating the poor athlete?

The New Jersey Interscholastic Athletic Association can investigate. Maloney can be banned from any assignments until the investigation is concluded. It’s a toss up if he’ll resume his duties. The legalities are murky since the ref “offered” the kid a choice to compete with a haircut or forfeit, all while the injury clock was running. The coaches argued as the clock ticked. Andrew decided under duress.

The white coaches couldn’t have imagined what it meant, this public humiliation of a Black boy. You could tell, as one coach, patting him on the shoulder, said “It’ll be alright” as the scissors clicked.  It won’t be. Ever.

The NJ Division of Civil Rights will probably find nothing illegal, despite the fact that the boy was clearly harassed and his rights were violated. Andrew will be bruised for a lifetime, no matter the apologies and regrets. No one can erase it from the athlete’s memory.

Alan Maloney should be fired. So he can’t wield the power of racism on any other athlete.

Remember How Presidential Appointments Were Announced

/ oleblacklady / Leave a comment

 

Two years into the reign of Donald Trump, it’s hard to remember how presidents used to announce appointments to their administration. Part of the difficulty lies with the sheer number of appointments. This guy’s in, then he’s out. Yes, it’s almost always a guy, but a number of women have fallen by the wayside as well. Frequently, the victim is surprised with a Tweet notification, although it’s sometimes preceded by a torrent of Twitter abuse. Presidential Twitter storms are, after all, the mercurial chief executive’s weapon of choice to scramble the media’s focus away from areas that offend him. He’s impetuous and farts out tweets according to his mood, gobbling up cues from Fox News/TrumpTV.

John Kelly, also on his way out, was sent to follow up the tweet firing, presumably with the appropriate paperwork and a reminder to honor the nondisclosure agreements required to serve in any capacity near the RealityTV President.

Similarly, the appointee process has never been so transparent. It‘s just another way to fill the news cycle. The surprise Tweet is prominent here as well, because the free press has chosen the Twitter Chase as part of priorities. Names just pop up out of the blue, stimulating a trail of twitter responses: I’m in or I’m out in 240 characters.

Ah, remember the good ole days. Potential appointees were interviewed by the staff for suitability, resulting in a list compiled for the president. The candidates were vetted and background checked. Then interactions, probably several with the chief executive to assess commonality of vision. The press was alerted through intermittent shortlist announcements. The position was then offered and the candidate’s acceptance preceded the announcement. We saw these scenes played out in TV shows like “The West Wing” and “Scandal”. The appointee must complete security clearance, financial disclosures, divestitures and ethical evaluation before the announcement, particularly for appointments that must be approved by the Senate.

In contrast, like almost everything in the current West Wing, chaos now reigns. Certainly, 45 has a limited talent pool, shrinking bit by bit. Any new appointee has to consider the cost of a legal defense in the swarm of investigations swirling around 45. Service for the president comes with the taint of the Trump brand, corroded with the stench of corruption. Not that corruption is a deficit inside the Beltway; it’s often business as usual. Still, most people would rather have the cover of a reputation for honesty even if it isn’t completely true.

By Agent Orange’s own account, he can establish a great relationship in a matter of moments, even on a phone call. His assessments seem to reflect his own feelings without considering the other person. If his new friend compliments him obsequiously, they have a great relationship. But because his ego is easily bruised and his is a vengeful spirit, a friend can become an enemy in the blink of an eye. With that, they are summarily dispatched to be abused whenever it strikes the Master Showman’s fancy. Often, it’s as a media diversion from the latest hot spot. Beyond whatever kompromat ties Trump has with Kremlin, Putin has yet to badmouth him personally, at least in any of the limited sources 45 consults, and so remains a favorite. Vladimir is strategically savvy enough to understand as much. He criticizes the US and its policies, but not his bosom buddy/puppet.

Underlying 45’s choice of appointees is a profound disdain for the apparatus of governance along with a deep antipathy to the rule of law. In his mind, the law’s only relevance comes in how to circumvent or simply ignore it.

The RealityTV President often relies on a mixture of his infallible intuition and his friendships to announce his office picks. Take Ronny Jackson’s elevation to the head of the VA. Jackson extolled 45’s health based on a malfunctioning weighing scale and lab tests into a prediction of longevity that no honest clinician can make. In return,  45 promoted him to head a $199 billion agency with 366,000 employees. A simple review of his background check should have raised red flags. The Washington Post had no difficulty unearthing his reputation as the Pill Doctor and drunken partying.

Underlying 45’s choice of appointees is a profound disdain for the apparatus of governance along with a deep antipathy to the rule of law. In his mind, the law’s only relevance comes in how to circumvent or simply ignore it. Appointments are not transactional and so, not particularly interesting if they have no partisan implications. As far as we know now, they bring no personal gain for Trump. There’s probably some there there; we just have to wait for it to be revealed.

We have more of the appointment free-for-all to go. Thankfully, it’s great chum for the late night comedians; humor is a salve for the vicissitudes of the times. As more people take advantage of the midterm turnover and more seek to short circuit investigations, like Ryan Zinke exiting the Interior Department, the Tweets will go on. At the Department of Interior, an oil magnate is rumored to be the frontrunner for safeguarding our natural resources. That’s not the Climate-Change-Denier in Chief’s take; that’s just what the misinformed public thought. True to its history, the department has had its share of self enriching sweetheart deals, like the Teapot Dome Scandal in 1921.

No doubt, new Tweets will hold a kernel of surprise for retirees and new appointees as well as the public. As the Chief of Staff job finally landed on Mick Mulvaney, a well suited pitbull veteran House member accustomed to lying artfully, Mulvaney’s job will be to navigate the troubled waters of the Mueller investigation, the potential legal pitfalls of campaign 2020, if conducted with the crooked business as usual of 2016, while wrangling the West Wing personnel shuffle. He will have to join the battle over the Wall with the incoming Congress, assuming the government shutdown is avoided by a compromise, and weather the storm of Congressional investigations, with what one must assume will be resistance to subpoenas.

Even Chris Christie, desperate as he is (was?) to join the Trump administration, quickly decided that the political contributor chair at ABC is a less precarious perch. He might have jumped at Attorney General, his original desire, but not a subcabinet one. Even his enthusiasm for the chief executive seems to have waned as the “witch hunt” evidence has unfolded into indictments. He knows 45 is an unscrupulous operator, not unlike himself; he’s just disappointed that he wasn’t better at covering his tracks, like Christie did in the NJ Bridgegate scandal.

On the other hand, Mulvaney might not last all that long. He’s been rolled out as a temp, even though 45 wanted a commitment from Nick Ayers for two years. So if he quickly exits his tryout, they will both have cover. Mulvaney will simply join the ranks of the fallen.

Chief of Staff sounds like a big job. And yet, Agent Orange doesn’t seem to think so. After all, Mulvaney will stay as director of the Office of Budget and Management, which would seem like a full time assignment. Maybe it isn’t, since Mulvaney simultaneously served as the Director of the Consumer Protection Bureau. Of course, Mulvaney hoped he could coax the agency to shrivel up and die through malicious neglect, since he vehemently opposed its existence.

45 doesn’t see a need for a Chief of Staff. He wants to manage his own calendar which generally runs light with late morning starts, his “executive” time devoted to FoxNews/TrumpTV watching, lunch and early close of business to retire to his quarters for more TV time. He handles a few phone calls, meets with foreign leaders and evangelical groups, surely plans the details of his 2020 campaign, which began Jan 2, 2017. Then he’s off to play golf on Fridays. His trips outside the White House are his most frequent interactions with the press corps who question him on the way to a vehicle.

Obama was clearly doing it wrong. He was slaving away, pun intended, from early morning until late into the evening reading reports, holding policy meetings, getting daily security briefings, etc.  He broke for dinner in the residence with the family but returned to the grind of governance. Obama’s intensity reflected his career drive to throw himself wholly into transforming the world and to consult with others and take time to reflect. It was such a slow process that it often appeared indecisive.

On the other hand, 45 was never one to work intensely. After all, the “self-made” businessman was a millionaire at age 14, sustained by continued infusions of cash from his hard working father who made his money by building and maintaining housing rather than slapping his name on it. His primary interests are self enrichment and for that, he’s built a network of people coming to him. The rest of it is just window dressing to maintain a facade of populism for his political base.

For that reason, Agent Orange must be his own strategist; he doesn’t need a Chief of Staff to corral him or hold his hand. He wants his family, his closest advisors, to have free access to schmooze in his office. He doesn’t need congressional negotiations. He staged a negotiation video production with Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer in the Oval Office. But the meet was just a press reality show. He believes he can  just bully tweet his will and the legislature shall follow.

He needs only one thing from a Chief of Staff: to fire people face to face, something 45 has been unable to do, because he can’t use his infamous 2 word phrase without a camera rolling. The “You’re Fired!” Trump turns out to be as much a fictional character as the “self-made” Trump.

The addition of another position for Mulvaney is yet another Trump snub to governance. There’s too many people in it, he says; he can use the salary savings for some other personal luxuries he thinks. Seth Meyers captures it well in A Closer Look, “it’s getting to the point where there are only going to be 4 people in the administration and they’re each going to have 30 jobs.” (youtu.be/_84wP7a7mWo).

45 Cabinet Reshuffling

/ oleblacklady / Leave a comment

 

The nomination of Heather Nauert for UN ambassador is more than a reflection of a limited appointment pool. 45 has little choice but to hire from current staff for the high visibility appointments. For political bureaucrats in federal agencies, he has a different pool of lobbyists and business execs looking to dip their toe into the government money pool. Their qualifications are that they are amoral, unhindered by principles and anxious to expand their networks to return to better lobbying efforts after they leave government service.

Nauert’s qualifications come from her stint on Fox News and her friendship with Ivanka and Jared. At least, she reads well and looks good. She has little experience in international affairs, having worked for Rex Tillerson, initial Secretary of State and working in the State Department as a spokesperson from 2017. But for this administration, experience is overrated. Given her origins, it’s unlikely that her knowledge of international affairs and individual national histories is extensive or that she’s inclined to expand her expertise. Given 45’s bias against career diplomats and the now shrunken staff at State, her resources are probably limited. Nikki Haley might have been a forceful speaker, but she was being fed lines from the Isolationist in Chief. Her tenure was not marked by the kind of initiatives Samantha Power, her predecessor, undertook under Obama.

But that’s not the point. Heather Nauert is Agent Orange’s snub at the UN. Her nomination may come from John Bolton’s moves to consolidate power around his America First war mongering foreign policy. 45 views international partnerships and organizations with disdain. Transactional victories come with one, maybe two opponents, not in multilateral committees. International organizations come with a host of obligations for poor people clamoring for relief. The UN holds a sewer of armed conflicts, threatening to overflow borders and drag the US into more military commitments. All of it costs money which Trump has no interest in wasting on people with brown skin from shithole countries.

Nauert started her career at an obscure conservative network. She emerged as a reliable conservative pundit on Fox by 2000, dubbed a fresh face. As a conservative student in a journalism class taught by Al Gore at Columbia’s journalism school, she began delivering derisive dispatches to Hannity and Bill O’Reilly in prime time. Those appearances were her ticket to the big time on Fox, even as she never was elevated to an anchor chair. The State Department job provided a new frontier. Tillerson, thinking her a spy for the administration, kept her sidetracked, outside the inner circle. But Pompeo has taken her under his wing and promoted her. Now, she’s on the verge of joining the Cabinet with two years experience at State. But then again, that’s more than some Cabinet appointees have had. However, there is some discussion of downgrading the position of UN ambassadorship  from the Cabinet.

Nauert will make a perfect decorative placeholder at the UN, unlikely to push back against any Trump request, like Nikki Haley occasionally did. She’ll be happy to push any level of Trump propaganda and given her Fox/Trump TV origins, happy to embellish his falsehoods. With her elevated status, she would make a handy addition to the Mueller bashing team too.

Michael Cohen’s Plea May Have Goosed 45

/ oleblacklady / Leave a comment

 

police money finance funny

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Michael Cohen’s guilty plea prompted Agent Orange to reveal some of his campaign strategy in 2016. His statements are entirely consistent with his transactional world view. Despite himself, 45 can be alarmingly honest, in part because he can retract any statement without impunity. He is after all, an impetuous man of the moment.

The Dealmaker President admitted that he did not expect to win the presidency, for the first time publically. That’s huge. He never concedes that he doubts a victory. Strategically, he portrays every outcome as a win. But his facial expression when his victory on November 8 was forecast by the media said it all. He had planned his candidacy to advertise his brand. He planned to generate a slew of deals and perhaps a TV network after the election. In this context, he was hoping his prominence as a candidate would influence Russian officials and Putin to finally approve his Trump Moscow Tower, a dream 30 years in the making.

On the other hand, to govern would have meant the sacrifice of his business. At least that was the tradition. So, Trump was boxed in. He couldn’t refuse this unexpected office for which he had campaigned so grossly or people would never take him seriously. So he had to figure a way to retain his wealth and shield his business affairs from disclosure. His solution was the beginning of his government busting campaign. When he got away with that, the sky was the limit. But that came much later.

45’s response was to reset normality once again. Of course,  he was running his business while campaigning as all of his predecessors had; there was nothing wrong with that. He skirted the issue of whether pursuing a deal with a national enemy being sanctioned was appropriate. For him every business opportunity is appropriate, easily visible in his choice of business partners in India, Azerbaijan, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. ADD LINK. He was not hampered by restrictions put in place by an illegitimate son of a Kenyan, secretly Muslim president. Ok that’s his propaganda but no one knows how much he buys into.

The Art-of-Deal candidate has extensive connections in the Russian oligarch community, built from years of business dealings to believe that he could pull this off Why is Donald Trump Putin’s Bonbon?. Cohen, with Felix Sater, a Russian born American business associate, who had worked on other projects, continued to pursue the deal throughout the campaign until June 2016. By then, Trump was clearly going to be become the Republican nominee.

It seems that if nothing else, Trump’s always gracious appraisals of the Russian dictator and his semi-policy statements about redirecting the country’s relationship with Russia were directed at improving his bargaining position for his Trump Tower when he lost. and yet, his campaign reaped so much more. He became more and more aware of Putin’s desire to assist his candidacy. There is no question that part of Putin’s motivation was his personal vendetta against Hillary Clinton. But more than that, the US was an experimental playground to test his active measures. If Mueller’s recommendation for Cohen’s sentencing is accurate, the Russians reached out as early as 2015. Cohen was approached through a phone call from a “trusted person” from Moscow. His offer was for the Kremlin to provide the Trump campaign with “ political synergy” on a government level. He proposed to set up a meeting between the Celebrity candidate and Putin.

One other detail has emerged. To sweeten the deal, the plans for Trump Tower Moscow included a $50 million penthouse apartment for Putin. Not only could Putin add to his already vast wealth, his presence would draw other oligarchs and government bureaucrats to the building. How could Putin not fast track project approval? A sure winner for post-election Trump International. But now a nuisance for President Trump.

Not yet revealed is any smoking gun evidence that Agent Orange had direct knowledge of the full scope of the grooming directed at campaign operatives by Russian agents. But he’s a pretty hands on guy and there is probably nothing Donald Jr does that he doesn’t run to tell his dad. Clearly, Trump was read in on the Trump Tower meeting with Russian agents because he helped craft the press messaging for Donald Jr. Contrary to all the pronouncements from Jr, Rudy Giuliani, Fox News pundits and 45 himself, obtaining information from foreign operatives is not normal or legal. The appropriate action is to report it to the FBI. Stupidly, they seemed unaware that the FBI and CIA monitor the activity of known Russian agents. They know better now. Their desperate attempts to shut down Mueller and the FBI investigations and sabotage Congressional investigations have propelled  them into the cover-up and obstruction arena. There may be no smoking gun, only a dribble of breadcrumbs leading through the forest.

They know they’ve done something wrong, even if the wrong is that it’s unpopular, or that they were careless and got caught. They’ve convinced themselves that it’s not treason. Denial is a beautiful thing. To a man, not a one of them possesses a patriotic bone, despite their nationalist pretentions. Transactionalists draw their guidance from the Star of the Deal which shines in the Global sky; it knows no national boundaries. And it knows no treason. Treachery for enrichment, but not treason.

This scenario complicates the Celebrity President’s landscape. There may be two convergent paths,  the economic motivation to expand the brand and the political maneuvers of a band of shadowy operatives under the candidate’s direction. Both apparently intersected with Russian active measures embedded in Putin’s global strategy to make Russia the ascendant national superpower. Interlaced in his strategy is the use of sistema and kompromat , both integral tools employed in Russian “active measures” in which Agent Orange is deeply immersed. Kompromat, More Complicated Than It Seems. 

Agent Orange as usual tried to tweet his refashioned truth in response. “AFTER TWO YEARS AND MILLIONS OF PAGES OF DOCUMENTS (and a cost of over $30,000,000), NO COLLUSION!” Make no mistake, he knows what’s in the testimony and what it means. Collusion is writ large over the campaign staff. Rudy G has kept him up to date on what he thinks Mueller knows, by way of the Manafort attorney’s backdoor agreement. Did they really think it was secret? Did they not understand that Mueller was reeling them in, feeding them more rope? 45 is just remaking the narrative, chiming in with the Fox TV/Trump chorus. No one spends two years lying if they’ve done nothing wrong. When will the GOP and Trump Land wake up to their betrayal by this Manchurian Candidate.

The Second Amendment is for Whites Only

/ oleblacklady / 1 Comment

 

 

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is whites-only.jpgThe autopsy report of EJ Bradford Jr, the Black man shot dead by Hoover police at a mall near Birmingham, was released. It held a number of findings completely at odds with the changing positions of the Hoover Police. On November 22, the 21 year old Bradford was killed with three bullets, shot from behind. Two had struck him in his head. The former army recruit was the son of a retired police officer.

After they shot him, the police dispatcher announced that the police had killed their man, allowing the real culprit to escape. That’s dereliction of duty, leaving the community at the mercy of a known shooter. They later announced that more than two people could have been involved in the fight that led to the shooting. Now they were looking for at least one other gunman, quietly adding that Bradford Jr had likely not fired a gun.

Still, they always lead with the statement that the Black man was holding a gun. It’s an automatic trigger for a panoply of white citizens’ nightmares about armed Blacks as a threat to their police and by extension their own safety. Interestingly, other people in the mall had guns clearly drawn. The hitch is, they were white. The only person shot was brown skinned and he may not even have drawn his gun. Since he was shot in the back, the police didn’t even know he had a gun, even though they initially announced that he “definitely had a gun”.

Once the “he had a gun” statement came from the police, Bradford Sr said his son had a concealed handgun permit, leading many to jump to the conclusion that his son was brandishing a weapon. As usual, the police are sitting on the policecam tapes that could add some clarity. That is often a sign that they’re developing their spin on what it shows or they’re going to backpedal.  Who knows, they could be editing the tapes.

When the alleged culprit  was arrested a few days later in Atlanta, it turns out that at least they got the skin color right; he is also Black. He has pleaded not guilty, the first move that could lead to a plea bargain that saves him for the death penalty. Or he actually may not be  guilty and the police have got the wrong man yet again. That won’t deter the plea bargain, but it will stop the search. Most Americans have no idea that the average case clearance rate for the police in the US is a mere 50% and that includes a significant number of the wrongly convicted. Imagine that; at least half the violent crimes are never solved. The police are clearly doing a crappy job.

In the time since the shooting, the police have had varying accounts. He had a gun. Yeah, but did he have it in his hand? Did the police see a gun? Or just imagine it as they often do. Did they find a gun on him then use that as their time honored excuse? Bradford was directing shoppers to safe areas, moving away from police when they shot him. Why would he have a gun drawn?

Of course the officer, whose name has not been released, was placed on administrative duty. Where else can you keep working with pay when you’re being investigated for murder? Well, the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency and Hoover police are not investigating a murder. They’re investigating what they call “an unfortunate accident”, trying to figure out how to excuse the shooting as justified. This will relieve the State prosecutor of the responsibility of filing charges. And that’s only the first trick in his bag. If that doesn’t wash, he can present an inadequate case that favors not indicting the cop to a grand jury. No one will know, because grand jury proceedings are sealed.  

This police shooting follows another recent incident of being a good guy while Black. That African American man was working security at Manny’s Blue Room Bar in Robbins IL, near Chicago. Jemel Roberson, 26, was a law student and mentor in his church in Wicker, a neighborhood on Chicago’s North Side.

Few details of the story have been released as Illinois law enforcement agencies investigate. A bar patron returned with a gun after a confrontation with several others. He began shooting injuring 4 people. Roberson returned fire and had apprehended the shooter when the police arrived. Despite shouts from patrons that Roberson was “the good guy with a gun”, police shot him. He was dead on arrival at the hospital. Important questions remain. Did police identify themselves and ask him to put his weapon down? Isn’t that how it works on TV and movies? Isn’t that the law? Did the victim have time to identify himself; was he actually holding the gun when police appeared?

Where is the NRA?

Where is the NRA? Why have they not jumped to the defense of these citizens exercising their 2nd Amendment rights? These men are carrying out the good guy with a gun mission. Obviously, their law enforcement members would feel betrayed. The defense of anything African American is antithetical to all the most vocal parts of their membership.

Additionally, the organization has no empathy for people of color killed by members of their own race or their families. Let them kill each other off. They welcome the elimination of gang members and drug dealers. Everyone does; we would rather it be through the judicial system. But then again, the flawed judicial system is letting us all down. The police are so inept that most drug related criminals never even get there.

For the NRA, the hundreds of innocents and children are unfortunate collateral damage. But more than that, could it hark back to the intuition, dating back before the country’s founding, that Black people bearing arms are inherently dangerous to whites? Is there a primal switch that goes off in the white American medulla, grown from centuries of racialized slander deeply embedded in our social structure? Does it point to the assumption that all Black owners obtained their guns illegally? The NRA has deftly tapped into that well for its propaganda.

Why is it that white shooters, who are actively killing people in front of a SWAT team emerge from their confrontations at worst wounded? They only die when they kill themselves. And yet a Black man, armed or not, without any evidence that he’s shooting is killed instantly. Why do prosecutors and juries allow those murderers to return to their jobs to kill again on the flimsy excuse that they were scared by the Big Black Man? Unscathed, those officers will keep repeating teise behaviors. This is the United States of America where law enforcement is the tip of it oppressive spear.

Thanx to @Trevor Noah of the Daily Show for the title.