We must play the long game

White Republicans are revolting: They keep winning elections, and keep getting angrier http://flip.it/Usn4A

This issue ought to be a drumbeat

Bernie Sanders Slams GOP On Voting Rights: 'They're Political Cowards!' http://flip.it/qjctV

Is the Debt Limit Statute Even Constitutional?

John Boehner and Paul Ryan's Clean Debt Limit Imperative: Raise and then Raze the Debt Ceiling (Part II) http://flip.it/l1PV1

The GPS FACE off with Hillary over Benghazi and don't lay a glove on her.

Even conservatives admit the Benghazi show trial was a flop: “Could make you feel sorry for Stalin” http://flip.it/ZWsAn

Ending Mass Incarceration

Why some in law enforcement want to bring down mass incarceration http://flip.it/LgwYG

My Dream Ticket and We'll Never See It

You know what? There is a truly dream ticket to be had out there in my book. Its called Powell Rice 2016. In this combo we have two black Americans of unquestioned accomplishment, personal integrity,leadership quality and global stature, with conservative positions and compassionate viewpoints. That ticket in my view destroys any other ticket the democrats or GOP would hope to field. White America would vote for that ticket. Black America would vote for that ticket. America would vote for that ticket.

Its a ticket we'll never see. They won't run, separately or together. Both of these individuals have been the peoples' choice for President in the recent past. Colin is still remembered fondly by the American people and his name mentioned often as the one person in the Bush administration who understood the stakes going into Iraq. This is the man who told the President "If you break this country, you own it". He was a good soldier and did his job. He's combat tested and knows the cost of war and why you avoid it when its possible, but knows that when you can't avoid it, you fight with overwhelming force and you fight to win it decisively. We call that kind of thinking the "Powell Doctrine".  Condi is an outstanding administrator. A brilliant woman in every respect. Again, her accomplishment and integrity are above reproach. I would be proud for my daughter to emulate her. Though Alaine would say different, the fact she has done her duty for the President that appointed her in the prosecution of an unpopular war is no disgrace in my book. She has played the hand she has been dealt and faithfully discharged her responsibilities as best she knows how.

What cruel twist of political fate denies the American people candidates whose leadership they can truly respect? Neither of them appears to have any desire to serve in the White House and no doubt there are various political and personal reasons for this, all of which I'm sure are entirely legitimate. I generally tend to think that the Presidency is a post that an aspiring candidate should want to hold, but in the case of these two, their seeming lack of desire for the role makes me gravitate to them all the more. Colin, Condi, your country needs you. No doubt their reasons for not running are good, but at this time in the life of our country, we need leadership we can believe in again. Besieged by enemies from without, torn by division from within, we need leadership we trust. They'll make mistakes, but we'll believe they are honest mistakes. It doesn't matter why they don't want to run. The country requires their service. It requires that they try. Its a heavy burden but the American people will help them to carry it because they believe in both of them together.

You want an unstoppable ticket? Powell Rice 2016 is it; and we'll never see it. What's your dream ticket and why?  The comment section awaits your picks. 

Why Don't Black People Just Do What the Police Say?

A common response I hear to the different incidents of police killings of unarmed citizens due to excessive force, mostly from white people and from some blacks occasionally, is basically along the lines of "why didn't they just do what the police told them to do?....why didn't they comply?.... "why don't blacks respect police authority?"

So, to this point about compliance, watch the video for the context of what I'm saying. The police in Cleveland shot 12 year old Tamir Rice who had a toy gun within 2 seconds of arriving on the scene. Their vehicle did not even come to a full stop. John Crawford in Dayton was basically shot on sight in Walmart, again with a toy gun, in an open carry state. Those two and Garner in NY, who was also unarmed and who had NOT committed any crime at the time NYPD attempted to arrest him, were not given a fraction of the deference the armed and openly defiant white man in this video was given. Look at the number of officers on the scene. Listen to how much compassion and empathy they show this man.

No compliance. Armed. Openly defiant. Yet shown so much deference. You don't even have to ask what would happen if he were a black male behaving this way because we already know what happens to UNARMED black males who are even mildly non-compliant (Garner). Police would have responded with lethal force. So the operative issue in these situations is not about compliance with police authority.

Police can and do exercise their discretionary authority differently for white people and black people. A black child with a toy gun in Cleveland is shot dead in 2 seconds, while this armed non-compliant white male is cajoled, coddled and catered to in an effort not to harm him. Blacks in encounters with police rarely if ever receive such deference. You can find a variety of videos like this online that demonstrate how differently this issue of "compliance" with police authority is dealt with for blacks. His life seemed to matter to the cops. Too often it appears that ours do not. So I think the issue of compliance is merely a distraction from the real issue at hand, namely the arbitrary and racially discriminatory fashion in which police exercise their authority and discretion to act or not to act with escalating levels of force against people of color.

In other words, it is the wrong approach to define black noncompliance as the problem in these cases when this video clearly demonstrates the wide array of effective responses available to police to deal with a person who is ACTUALLY armed and dangerous. The problem is that when it comes to people of color, police far too often bypass such responses and jump right to the use of force to compel compliance, typically leaping over readily available intermediate steps in the continuum of force in the process.

12 year old Tamir Rice came to the attention of police in exactly the way this man did, a citizen called it in. He would be alive today if he had been handled as this man was.

"Why didn't they just do what the police told them to do?....why didn't they comply?.... "why don't blacks respect police authority?"

Respect is continually earned and can be easily lost. When black people repeatedly observe police engage in excessive use of force or otherwise exercise heavy handed tactics and poor professional judgement in our communities, police erode respect for their authority. Beyond that, when blacks easily observe wide vast differences in the exercise of police discretion to use or not use force to obtain compliance, differences that are clearly based on the race of the citizen involved, police degrade their authority.

Furthermore, when Blacks repeatedly see these behaviors result in catastrophic consequences to citizens in death, injury or other egregious harms for which their should be accountability and police mislead, mischaracterize, outright fabricate or lie about their actions, all while relying on the societal presumption of their veracity, to avoid accountability, police erode respect for their authority. 

When police departments and court systems tell the community that while its really too bad about what happened to your family member or loved one that was caused by police actions, its really not our fault, its not anyone's fault and no one will be held accountable, respect for police authority is lost.

Long story short: blacks have little reason to respect the authority of police if police are themselves not subject to any authority or accountability no matter how egregious or destructive their behavior is.