Throwback Thursday

Nature Center

Never Again.

France mourns a Roman Catholic priest, 84, who had his throat slit by ISIS invaders while celebrating Mass this morning.

An 84-year-old priest was killed and four other people taken hostage by two armed men who stormed his church in a suburb of Rouen in northern France.

The two attackers, who said they were from the so-called Islamic State (IS), slit Fr Jacques Hamel's throat during a morning Mass, officials say.

Police later surrounded the church, in St-Etienne-du-Rouvray, and shot dead both hostage-takers.
...
President Francois Hollande, visiting the scene, said the attackers had committed a "cowardly assassination" and France would fight IS "by all means".

Pope Francis decried the "pain and horror of this absurd violence".

UK Prime Minister Theresa May branded the attack "sickening" and offered her condolences to the people of France.
...
The Archbishop of Rouen, Dominique Lebrun, who was attending a Catholic gathering in Poland, said: "I cry out to God with all men of goodwill. I would invite non-believers to join in the cry.

"The Catholic Church cannot take weapons other than those of prayer and brotherhood among men."

No word yet on where President Obama is currently burying his head...

Perhaps he's off, busily helping his first-born move into her college dorm today?

#LackOfLeadership #midcrop
----------------

“Everybody screamed. They recorded what they were doing. It was like a prayer, a sermon at the altar in Arabic."

The assailants, who were both on a terrorist watch-list, were shot dead by balaclava-wearing BRI police commandos after sprinting out of the church. ...
The body of Father Hamel - who was ordained in 1958 - was found inside the church after the slaying.

Mourners have since paid tribute to the much-loved elderly priest, who was an assistant at the church and only taking mass because the parish priest was away on holiday.

An American Dialogue.

Are you listening?
Here, Jerry Hough of Durham, NC responds to Paul Krugman, of New York City, NY:

Jerry Hough is a trusted commenter Durham, NC July 22, 2016

Everyone knows the Upper West Side is doing well. The basic thing wrong with Krugman is that he thinks the Upper West Side is America except for some cranky old nativist white men.

It is not just "some Republicans." The last WS Journal-NBC poll says 73% of all Americans think the country is on the wrong track. That includes minorities. Of course, there are the 27% on the Upper West Side and Marin County in California--basically the people who have stocks in their 401 ks.

The market has tripled since 2009 while the Fed says wages for the bottom 90% have fallen during that period adjusted for inflation. That includes blacks and other minorities. When people answer Reagan's question "are you better off the last 8 years," the great majority will say no.

Trump has done a brilliant job of persuading anyone that he will introduce change. Last night he was brilliant. The nativism is code language for wages. He (Pence did so beautifully in his speech) says Hillary is the status quo and more of the same. Krugman is their chief spokesman. His criticism of Sanders said any significant change is impossible, but Trump will introduce radical change. Krugman frankly told Hillary to forget horizontal inegalitarianism (broad economic issues) and concentrate on identity issues centering on women and minorities. That is 25 years old, and people are sick of them. Black Lives Matter is Krugman's gift to Trump.

The only real question is whether Trump will win by 5 points or closer to 10.

Here is what Krugman wrote, to which Hough objected:

If you want to feel good about the state of America, you could do a lot worse than what I did this morning: take a run in Riverside Park. There are people of all ages, and, yes, all races exercising, strolling hand in hand, playing with their dogs, kicking soccer balls and throwing Frisbees. There are a few homeless people, but the overall atmosphere is friendly – New Yorkers tend to be rushed, but they’re not nasty – and, well, nice.

Yes, the Upper West Side is affluent. But still, I’ve seen New York over the decades, and it has never been as pleasant, as safe in feel, as it is now. And this is the big bad city!

The point is that lived experience confirms what the statistics say: crime hasn’t been lower, society hasn’t been safer, in generations. Which, of course, leads us to the Trump gambit from last night. Can he raise 1968-type fears in a country that looks, feels, and is nothing like it was back then?

I wish I were sure that he can’t. A lot of Republican-leaning voters apparently believe that the economy is terrible in the teeth of their own experience – that the pretty good job market they see is a local aberration. And “crime” may not really mean “crime” – it may just be code for “brown people.”

My guess is that it won’t work, if only because the Democratic coalition is fundamentally bigger than the Republican coalition, and Trump will be an excellent get-out-the-vote motivator. But a little certainty would be very welcome.

George H. Blackford of Michigan similarly pushes back at Krugman's anecdote with facts:

The extent to which Democrats are out of touch with reality is astounding.

They adopted a conservative philosophy with Carter and began compromising with right-wing fanatics. The policies that led to the mess we are in today were passed by a Democratic congress through 94, and the legislation signed by Clinton made things worse.

Democrats managed to accomplish nothing after taking over in 06 leading up to Obama’s election; and all Obama accomplished before he lost congress was to pass the Heritage Foundation’s healthcare program. In the meantime average income of the bottom 90% fell from $37,017 in 07 to $33,068 by 2014; the labor-force participation rate fell by 3 percentage points; the Tea Party rose to become the dominant force in the Republican Party; and Trump is the Republican nominee. http://www.rweconomics.com/blame.htm

People are mad and want change while you and your friends supported a more of the same, let’s compromise candidate while the people want someone they can believe in, who is willing to stand up and fight for them. The only person in the race that met that standard was Sanders, who you belittled relentlessly. http://www.rweconomics.com/Sanders1.htm

The middle class has been virtually destroyed since the 70s, and you think that your “lived experience confirms what” what a few cherry-picked “the statistics say” should make a difference? Silly you! Come to Flint, Michigan and we’ll talk about it.
http://www.rweconomics.com/Deficit.htm

and finally, a reader in Idaho recommends Paul skip the American journ-O-list spin, and read what the Guardian reporters are finding by talking to Krugman's fellow Americans:

VPS Idaho July 26, 2016:
Maybe PK should read the Guardian piece written by a journalist who walked from Detroit to Cleveland and talked to everyday citizens that are voting for Trump, "I walked 170 miles to the RNC to talk to Trump supporters. They surprised me"

Subtitled: "The verdict: people simply don’t care about Melania’s plagiarism when they’re worried about paying the mortgage"

Paul should spend more time in the flyover country.

"We Want Barabbas! We Want Barabbas!"

The Democratic storyline -- with Wasserman Schultz officially out on the eve of teh convention, and the people still crying out for their preferred candidate over the preferences of the party elites -- is assuming Biblical proportions:

It is your custom for me to release to you one prisoner at the time of the Passover. Do you want me to release 'the king of the Jews'?"

But they shouted back, "No! Not this one. We want Barabbas!"
(Barabbas was a revolutionary.)
~ John 18:40

Donald J. Trump looks positively like a party unifier, compared to the Dems.

“We have got to defeat Donald Trump and we have got to elect Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine,” Mr. Sanders said.

However, his words were immediately met with loud boos which lasted several seconds even as he tried to continue his speech. The senator then paused and waited for people to quiet down. But as he spoke, many continued to sign (sic) loudly and shake their heads.
...
The reaction from Mr. Sanders’s supporters was consistent with the anti-Clinton message delivered by demonstrators earlier in the day. Some pro-Sanders protesters took a harder turn on Monday, chanting “Lock her up” in an echo of the message of the Republican National Convention a week earlier, fueled by the resignation of the chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee.

When a truck with the message “Hillary for Prison” cruised by City Hall, where hundreds of Sanders supporters were gathered, several cheered and rushed to pose for pictures.

It seems, in unifying the media coverage and the party elites, the Democratic party forgot about serving the needs of its primary constituents. Will their appeals to identy-group voters overcome the national divisions the party has sown over the past years?

I think it's much too late for a unity drive at this late date...

“She’s crooked as all get out,” said Brianne Colling, of Canton, Mich., who asked friends to take her picture in front of the sign. “All the proof that’s coming out is that she’s stolen this election from Bernie.”

Ilene Cook, an emergency room nurse from Petosky, Mich., said of Mrs. Clinton, “For the first time in my life I will vote Republican to keep her out of office.” She used a vulgarity to refer to the presumptive Democratic nominee that was common among Republican delegates in Cleveland.


Mrs. Clinton’s low marks for honesty in polls have driven the belief by some Sanders supporters that she and the Democratic National Committee interfered with the nominating contest at Mr. Sanders’s expense. Now die-hard “Bernie or Bust” supporters have seized with greater intensity on what they believe are acts of criminality after the resignation of the committee chairwoman, Representative Debbie Wasserman Shultz of Florida, after the disclosure of leaked emails that showed her staff disparaging Mr. Sanders.

Mourning in Munich.

Goood Morning, America!

How are ya?

Donald J. Trump ‏@realDonaldTrump 5m5 minutes ago
Pocahontas wanted V.P. slot so badly but wasn't chosen because she has done nothing in the Senate. Also, Crooked Hillary hates her!
284 retweets 714 likes
2. Donald J. Trump ‏@realDonaldTrump 12m12 minutes ago

   Tim Kaine is, and always has been, owned by the banks. Bernie supporters are outraged, was their last choice. Bernie fought for nothing!
4. Donald J. Trump ‏@realDonaldTrump 16m16 minutes ago

   The Bernie Sanders supporters are furious with the choice of Tim Kaine, who represents the opposite of what Bernie stands for. Philly fight?

Northwestern, Stanford, Vikings, Cardinals.

RIP Dennis Green, dead at 67 of cardiac arrest.
He blazed a path in the pro ranks, and left with a 113-94 professional record in the NFL.  Well done!

Green is the Vikings' second-winningest coach in franchise history behind only Bud Grant. He led Minnesota to the playoffs in eight of his 10 seasons, and was the coach of the 1998 15-1 team that set a then-record for points in a single season with 556.

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

Green grew up in a working class household in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. His father was a postal worker and his mother a beautician. His father died when Green was 11 and his mother died when he was 13.
...
In 1981, Green was named the head coach of Northwestern University, a school that had gone 1-31-1 in its last 33 games. In 1981, he was only the second African American head coach in Division I-A history.
...
The high point of Green's Vikings career was the 1998 season, when the team went 15–1 and set the NFL record for the most points scored in a season (the 2013 Denver Broncos under John Fox currently hold this record). The Vikings advanced to the NFC Championship game, losing to the Atlanta Falcons after Atlanta's Morten Andersen made a field goal in overtime.

That's Good Enough for Me. *

America is a nation of believers, dreamers, and strivers that is being led by a group of censors, critics, and cynics.

Remember: all of the people telling you that you can’t have the country you want, are the same people telling you that I wouldn’t be standing here tonight. No longer can we rely on those elites in media, and politics, who will say anything to keep a rigged system in place.

Instead, we must choose to believe in America.
History is watching us now.

It’s waiting to see if we will rise to the occasion, and if we will show the whole world that America is still free** and independent and strong.

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

*  Cougar (Mellencamp):

No, I cannot forget where it is that I come from
I cannot forget the people who love me
Yeah, I can be myself here in this small town
and people let me be just what I want to be...

Got nothing against a big town
Still hayseed enough to say:
"Look who's in the big town!"
But my bed is in a small town
oh, and that's good enough for me.

Well, I was born in a small town
and I can breathe in a small town...

**  Are you still free?  Can you be?

Stand up in a clear blue morning
Until you see what can be
Alone in a cold day dawning
Are you still free? Can you be?

When some cold tomorrow finds you
When some sad old dream reminds you
How the endless road unwinds you...

While you see a chance take it
Find romance, take it
Because its all on you.

(Don't you know by now:
No one gives you anything?
And don't you wonder how you keep on moving?
One more day, your way...  )

~ Winwood.
 -----------------------

Bonus Trac:  The Finer Things.

Think about it...
There must be Higher Love.

The World is Black. The World is White.

It turns by day, and then by night...

(c) Copyright 1956 by Templeton Publishing Co., Inc.
- SONG HITS, Summer 1974.

"Black and White" is a song written in 1954 by David I. Arkin and Earl Robinson. The most successful recording of the song was the pop version by Three Dog Night in 1972, when it reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

The song was inspired by the United States Supreme Court decision of Brown v. Board of Education that outlawed racial segregation of public schools. The original folk song was first recorded by Sammy Davis Jr. in 1957.

The original lyrics of the song opened with this verse, in reference to the court: "Their robes were black. Their heads were white. The schoolhouse doors were closed so tight. Nine judges all set down their names to end the years and years of shame..."

The ink is black. The page is white
Together we learn to read and write...
A child is black. A child is white.
The whole world looks upon the sight, a beautiful sight...
And now a child can understand
That this is the law of all the land, all the land... 

The world is black. The world is white.
It turns by day and then by night...
A child is black. A child is white.
Of mixed race, he grows to see the light, to see the light...
And now at last we plainly see
We'll have a dance of liberty. 

Liberty!

Get It.
-----------------------
Added:  BONUS TRAC 

My Father's House Has Many Rooms.

If that were not so,
would I have told you I am going there to prepare a place for you?
...
You know the way to the place where I am going...

Thomas, ever the doubter, said to him, "Lord, we don't know yet where you are going, so how can we know the way?"

Jesus answered,
"I am the Way and the Truth and the Life.
No one comes to the Father except through me."

~ John 14

Two Wrongs Don't Make It Right.

Giuliani attacked Hillary Clinton over the Obama administration’s decision to help depose the Libyan dictator Muammar el-Qaddafi. He said, rightly, that Libya is now in chaos. But he conveniently left out that President George W. Bush’s decision to wage war against Saddam Hussein and Iraq was the gigantic blunder that set up most of the subsequent horrors in that part of the world.

Here's an idea:  let Donald Trump's truth-talking do to Hillary Clinton what his truth-telling did to the Bush Bros.  Send 'em all packing!

The media never successfully confronted George W. Bush (that scamp!) for his war crimes.  They were too embedded with his crimes. The media also has conveniently ignored all the ways Americans have abetted our enemies over the years.  Truth is one of the biggest casualties in these never-ending wars.

If we want true change, we really have to do more than lip service:  we really have to Change ourselves, and soon...

The lives we save might be our own.  Respect national sovereignty.  Declare war only as a last resort, with the American people's backing.  Otherwise, who will be paying these bills?

Someday, the American Baby Boomers will have to answer to the next generations...
They've set the world on fire, all right, but the world will not be a better place for their having intervened.

Trump - Pence - Glynn.

Count me in. On the team.
(It's the voters who are going to have to win this thing, after all...)

ADDED:  How refreshing, really, that an immigrant woman and potential first wife -- if not in chronological order --  is seemingly copying the tone and style of her African-American, Princeton-educated predecessor.  That's America, folks.  Strivers -- black and white, male and female.  Native and foreign-born citizens alike.

Michelle should be flattered, not offended.
I would think.

11 Dallas Police Officers Shot, 5 Killed.

The American president releases a statement from Poland:

There’s no possible justification for these kinds of attacks, or any violence against law enforcement,” he said.

He added: “Our police have an extraordinarily difficult job, and the vast majority of them do their job in outstanding fashion.”

Leadership abroad,
or leadership at home?

Leader, leader... who'll be our leader?

Who do we have out there who could appeal to the younger demographics and teach them to reject the current American cycle of violence and revenge that has proven so costly and ineffective, and to use instead their brains and the 21st century thinking tools to overcome the destruction caused by guns and violence and to build a lasting legacy as the killings abate?

"Obama... out!" (Nope, not him, afterall...)
-----------------

Psalm 121

A Song of Ascents.

1

I lift up my eyes to the mountains—

where does my help come from?

2

My help comes from the Lord,

the Maker of heaven and earth.

3

He will not let your foot slip—

he who watches over you will not slumber;

4

indeed, he who watches over Israel

will neither slumber nor sleep.

5

The Lord watches over you—

the Lord is your shade at your right hand;

6

the sun will not harm you by day,

nor the moon by night.

7

The Lord will keep you from all harm—

he will watch over your life;

8

the Lord will watch over your coming and going

both now and forevermore.

On that note,

make it a great weekend!

Climb every mountain.

Ford every stream.

Follow every byway...

until you find your dream.

Turns Out, the 3 a.m. Wake-Up Call...

won't be related to foreign affairs...

It will be a domestic incident here at home.

A crowd of about 200 protesters turned up outside Gov. Mark Dayton's residence in Saint Paul, Minn. at 3 a.m. demanding for him to "wake up" and speak to them. They shouted "No Justice? No Peace!", and video shows them chanting Philando Castile's name again and again in a show of unity.

A man outside the Governor's mansion wrote on Twitter: "We're protesting at the governor's mansion. The police sent two delegates to make peace. They brought their guns."

And the incident -- or the direct aftermath -- will be televised:

The police officer, audibly panicky and afraid, continues to point his gun at Castile, and at one point screams 'I told him not to reach for it!'

The eyewitness in the vehicle remains calm as she confronts him: "You told him to get his ID, sir."
...
'I told him not to reach for it!' the cop screams, sounding close to tears. 'I told him to get his hand up.'

America First -- is that really such a bad thing, confronting and policing our own problems before we attempt to fix the world?

ADDED: Heartbreaking details about the deadly aftermath:

'Oh god, don't tell me he's dead,' they eyewitness says. 'Please don't tell me my boyfriend just went like that... please don't tell me that he's gone.'

The cop tells her to keep her hands 'where they are, please' and she agrees, but then goes back to chanting about her boyfriend's possible death. 'Please don't tell me this Lord, please Jesus, don't tell me that he's gone.'

'Please officer don't tell me that you just did this to him. You shot four bullets into him, sir,' she says, her voice finally beginning to crack with emotion. 'He was just getting his license and registration, sir.'
...
In the video, the 4-year-old daughter of the eyewitness is glimpsed a couple of times.

Towards the end of the video, as she begins screaming in anguish, her daughter says 'It's okay. I'm right here with you.'

Bearing witness...

The children will miss him, no doubt:

A website for J. J. Hill Montessori Magnet School lists Phil Castile as its cafeteria supervisor.

Clarence Castile, Philando’s uncle, told the Minneapolis Star Tribune that his nephew had worked in the school’s cafeteria for 12 to 15 years, “cooking for the little kids.”

ALSO: The dead man's mother asks an important question:

Valerie Castile described her son as a “laid back” and “quiet” man who worked to provide for his family.

“He’s not a gang banger; he’s not a thug,” she told CNN. “He’s very respectable and I know he didn’t antagonize that officer in any way to make him feel like his life was in danger.”

She said she assumes her son did have a firearm with him because “that was something that we always discussed” but that he had a license for it. She said she always taught him to “comply” with law enforcement.

“The key thing in order to try to survive being stopped by the police is to comply,” she told CNN. “Whatever they ask you to do, do it. Don’t say nothing. Just do whatever they want you to do. So what’s the difference in complying and you get killed anyway?

FINALLY:

“Y’all please pray for us,” the eyewitness says at the end of the video.

“I ask everybody on Facebook, everybody that’s watching, everybody that’s tuned in:
please, pray for us.”

Navy Kills Sailor in Deliberate Dunking Death

For shame.  The killer(s) should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.  Because Life Matters.

James Derek Lovelace, 21, was struggling during an exercise in which trainees tread water in the pool wearing combat fatigues and boots, according to the medical examiner's report. Multiple witnesses told investigators that prior to the instructor laying his hands on Lovelace, the sailor's "face was purple and his lips were blue."

During the exercise, "instructors are reportedly advised to not dunk or pull students underwater," the report says.

But in a video of the incident, the report says, "an instructor in the water approaches the decedent and apparently dunks the decedent underwater. Over the course of the next approximately five minutes, the instructor follows the decedent around the pool, continually splashing him with water. The decedent is also splashed by other instructors in the water. Throughout the time period, the decedent is observed to go under the water multiple times."

At one point, the report says, another student approached Lovelace and tried to help him keep his head above the surface. One individual considered calling a "time-out" to stop the exercise, the report says, but failed to do so.

"The instructor appears to again dunk the decedent and continues to follow him around the water," the report says. "The instructor also appears to pull the decedent partially up and out of the water and then push him back. Eventually, the decedent is assisted to the side of the pool where he is pulled from the water."

...
The instructor involved, a petty officer first class who joined the Navy in 2008, had continued in his job immediately following the incident. He was removed from duty only after a story by NBC News and The Pilot challenged the narrative initially released by the Navy.

Good on the journalists who reported the story.
Because Truth still matters too... Don't let them tell you otherwise.

The instructor remains on administrative duty, Navy officials said, and no charges have been filed.

Naval Criminal Investigative Service Ed Buice said his agency's investigation into the death is ongoing, and no "conclusions have been reached regarding criminal culpability."

"It is important to understand that 'homicide' refers to 'death at the hands of another' and a homicide is not inherently a crime," Buice wrote in a statement.

Stupidity Kills. Never forget...

Don't Ask, Don't Tell.

If you remember correctly, that was the policy created for gays in the Clinton years:  those willing to hide who they were and who they loved were able to forge ahead with their military careers.  Those who found it a sham to hide, and who refused any special treatment for those who kept their heads down, found themselves without further careers.

Now it's 2016.
Some of the older folk are embarrassed to "admit" homosexuality, but for the most part, we are over that.  It's not illegal not to hire someone, or keep them employed, when you learn they are gay, but it's not the right thing to do.  You don't judge people by their skin color, gender or who they physically love.  The young people get that.

Does Hillary Clinton?
I hope I'm not spilling any secrets outside the Beltway here:  rumor has long held that Hillary Clinton and Huma Abedin -- her close aide -- share more than political factsheets, emails, and long campaign trails.  Some say they are lovers.  Some say they are in a lasting relationship, physically.  Some say, despite Bill Clinton and Anthony Weiner as spouses, that the two are lesbian lovers.

That's not a slur, nor is it mere gossip.  If the two women have found something, why the need to continue the lie?  Because of Clinton's career?  Because, even in 2016, a married lesbian -- married to someone else -- would not fare well in the eyes of voters who have known her back when she was but Arkansas' First Lady, raising her daughter and helping her husband's career.

If it came out that Mrs. Clinton and Mrs. F.D. Roosevelt shared a character trait other than being hard-working political women married to former presidents, likely Clinton would lose her career.

Again:  so what?
The Obama administration was itself rushed out of the closet by the giddiness of Joe Biden, who is too honest to keep too silent for too long.  What's the big deal, he asked.  The right-thinking people of our nation responded, and legal barriers fell...  That's progress.  That's hard work, coming to fruition.  That's America, right there.

How can you blackmail someone with something they are not hiding any more?

Yesterday, FBI Director James Comey was a brave man too.  Everyone understood Mrs. Clinton would do no jail time, face no charges, for her breach of security as Secretary of State, going rogue with her private email server.  But Comey did not quit there...

He spoke out.  He told us, Clinton like her husband was devious.  She cherry-picked which emails to present during the investigation, and the FBI found some that were not initially disclosed.  Were she a lower-level employee, her security clearance would have been snatched.

But she is Mrs. Clinton, and perks are privileges to people like that.
Today, Mrs. Clinton is blessed by the sitting president as the person "most qualified" for the office.

How sad that Hillary Clinton, she of the maid mother and the philandering husband, might still be lying to herself, marrying her lover off to a man who tweets his weiner to strangers for a little affection and attention online.  Why?

It's 2016.  The problems America has collectively made in the world with our military misadventures and refugees on the run -- even as we destructively "liberate" their homelands -- are ours to own.  Bush Obama Clinton ... the blood all runs together at this point.

Obama got the top job that Clinton covets, and now he allegedly is going to get the people who voted for him to magically vote for her.  Women whose own sons were labeled Super-Predators and locked up, safely off the streets, are going to give Hillary Clinton their vote, to put her in office despite her crippling baggage?

I don't believe it.
The law-abiding Hispanics are here because they know what it is like to live in 3rd world countries where strongmen are above the laws, and rules are arbitrarily enforced.  And the black people crave law and order too -- look at what is happening to their children, and their fathers and sons, on the South Side, where Obama had his one little bit of real life work experience before he started growing his political career...

It's time for a change, for sure.
It's time for openness, and healing.
If Mrs. Clinton still has something to hide today, you deserves to lose because her time, like her husbands, was in the past when people played under a different set of rules, and hid who they were to serve their nation.  Today, it might be that Mrs. Clinton is still hiding who she is, but primarily to serve herself.  That is not how you make our nation great again, and both the Clintons, and the Obamas, know it.

Make it a great day, people.
Write about what you know?
----------------------------------------
ADDED:  A fight, a fight! A black and a white!  Frank Bruni adds his two bits to the mix.  (He's the gay republican from the big Italian family the NYT hired as a diversity columnist, elevating him from a food and movie critic to cover law and politics):

Clinton asked the North Carolina audience to think of “the early patriots who met in Philadelphia” in 1776.

“Nobody who looked like Barack Obama or me would have been included back then,” she said. “But we’re here today because the story of America is the story of hard-fought, hard-won progress.”

That’s the tale that Obama has always told. It’s the narrative that so many of us cling to. Where does Trump fit into it, and does it survive him? Instead of just wondering and worrying, the departing president has joined the fight.

 Somebody should explain to Frank the difference between a true story and a myth...  It's not too late, really. He's old enough to understand the truth and the price ultimately paid by those who keep silent for far too long.

SOUNDTRACK:  Erasure, Drama!

One rule for us, for you another.
Do unto yourself as you see fit for your brother...
Is that not within your realm of understanding?
A fifty second capacity of mind, too demanding?
Well then poor unfortunate you!

To quote Skynyrd: turn it up!

Hillary Will Never Be Commander-in-Chief.

How could she be, when she can't even get a security clearance now?

President Obama might think he can just use another executive action to anoint his successor -- passing the baton, he calls it.  But nope, she has to win over the confidence of the American people.

Do the blacks really want Super-Predator Clinton preying on their young, while she is above the law?  Do the voting Hispanics really want to tear up their citizenship papers, and live in a country where the imported workers do not have citizenship rights?

Will women really want to encourage their daughters to follow in Hillary's path, to claim success through cheating, lying and distorting the records?

Are we going to let Mrs. Clinton do to OUR country what she has done to Libya?  Overthrow the leaders because tribal warfare is best?

No, Mrs. Clinton makes a loyal wife, a fine grandmother, and a career elite.  But she will never hold the office as America's commander-in-chief.

It will take a lot more than scare-mongering over an alleged Star of David graphic to do that.  If you accept Orlando as the new normal, vote for Mr. Obama to baton-pass to Mrs. Clinton.

But if you want to make America great again?
You know what you have to do... voters will vote.
Obama/Clinton still have to deal with that messy fact on their watch.

Because Elite White Lives Matter More?

If you believe the political elites are above the law, vote Clinton.

If you believe white privilege is at play here, vote Trump.

Your choice -- SuperPredators gonna prey, prey, prey, prey...

Mr. Comey was clear that while these email habits weren’t criminal, Mrs. Clinton and her staff were “extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly classified information.” He added that “any reasonable person” in Mrs. Clinton’s position should have known that she was playing with fire.

Mr. Comey’s remarks also contradicted Mrs. Clinton’s repeated assertion that she didn’t send or receive material that was “marked classified” at the time. She did.

He went on to say, “None of these emails should have been on any kind of unclassified system, but their presence is especially concerning because all of these emails were housed on unclassified personal servers not even supported by full-time security staff.”

Perhaps more troubling was the F.B.I.’s finding that Mrs. Clinton “also used her personal email extensively while abroad, including sending and receiving work-related emails in the territory of sophisticated adversaries,” adding that “it is possible that hostile actors gained access to Secretary Clinton’s personal email account.”

Mr. Comey’s conclusions — legal recommendation aside — can be seen as nothing less than a censure of Mrs. Clinton’s judgment.

Either we are a nation of laws, or we are a 3rd world country...

Do our elites have to follow rules, or just ... your people?

Today is the day we recognize, and end, elite white privilege.

Yes we can!