The President B*tch Slaps Dumb A$$ed Reporter For Asking Dumb A$$ed Question.

Jake Tapper does have a valid point here. But because he's an a$$hole who loves to grandstand (some consider this journalism, I don't) his valid point is drenched in condescension. Barack clearly wasn't havin' that, and let this fool know "where he's been".

Tapper is 1,000% correct with his (unstated) assertion here: Obama didn't bother going after assault weapons in his first term because that would have been political (and perhaps even real life) suicide. Obama is a politician, and policians get elected to get re-elected. No shame in the game there.

But come the f*ck on, man. You know you're asking this question to try and make the President look bad. You deserved to get smacked, and I'm glad Obama said what he did. His retort was about 60 seconds too long, and minus the essential mic-drop/walk away jack move, but it sent the message loud and clear.

Well done, POTUS. If only you treated the GOP like this.

Question: Did Obama get gangster on this fool or what?!?

AB.com Holiday Open Mic

I'm busy, so go on without me. Drop links, write your own posts. You know the drill by now.

Question: What's on your mind today?

GOP Appoints Black Man To US Senate. History Or Window-Dressing?!?

I'm sure I'm supposed to trumpet this nomination as historical and ground-breaking. And in a way, it is, as the GOP now has a black Senator, something the Democrats cannot (presently) say.

South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley will tap Rep. Tim Scott to replace outgoing GOP Sen. Jim DeMint, making Scott the first African-American senator from the South since Reconstruction.

The Associated Press has confirmed the Scott appointment, which will be formally announced by Haley at a news conference Monday at the Statehouse in South Carolina.

DeMint, an influential conservative and Tea Party favorite, will resign in January to become president of the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think-tank. His replacement will serve until a special election is held in 2014.

"This is historic for all of the South," said David Woodard, a political scientist at Clemson University. Tim Scott is "conservative and he's Republican. ... What African Americans need are capitalism and conservative values, and Tim Scott is a great vehicle for that. He represents a generation that is interested in entrepreneurship, conservative principles and volunteerism."

Scott, 47, was elected in 2010 to represent a U.S. House district in the Charleston area. A former member of the South Carolina state Legislature, Scott quickly became a favorite of House Speaker John Boehner and GOP officials in Washington and served in a leadership position for the 2010 freshman class.

He has a compelling life story, according to his biography in the Almanac of American Politics. Scott and his siblings were raised by a single mother who worked as a nurse's assistant. By his own account, Scott was on the brink of flunking out of high school when the owner of a Chick-fil-A franchise took him under his wing. He later earned a partial football scholarship to college, and ran an insurance company and owned part of a real-estate agency before entering politics

Woodard noted that Scott is popular and well-liked and has the support of his fellow members of Congress from South Carolina, which would give him an edge if he runs statewide for the Senate seat, as expected. The five GOP House members from South Carolina are very close, and they stuck together during a high-profile vote last year against Boehner's bill to reduce the deficit.

There have only been six blacks who have served in the U.S. Senate, according to the Senate website. They are Hiram Revels of Mississippi, who served in 1870; Blanche Bruce of Mississippi from 1875 to 1881; Edward Brooke of Massachusetts from 1967 to 1979; Carol Moseley Braun of Illinois from 1993 to 1999; Barack Obama of Illinois from 2005 until he resigned in 2008 after his presidential election; and Roland Burris, who was appointed to replace Obama and served until November 2010.

I don't personally think Scott's going to have an easy time getting re-elected, but that's just me. I don't know the mentality of South Carolina Republican voters, and don't care to hypothesize[1] any further.

Scott has been fairly lowkey in his only term in Congress, refraining from making any really stupid comments, save that one about not joining the CBC. His views are in lock-step with the Tea Party (of whom he's a favorite) but if he plays it down the center (again, not saying anything really stupid) I suspect he could even pull some share of the black vote if he escapes the GOP primary. Not necessarily because he's black, but because he's black and seems to be relatively sane. The key word here is "appears". Who knows what sorta foolishness he might spout when in the midst of the GOP nomination race?

That said, escaping with the GOP nod will be no small feat. I suspect we're gonna find out a lot of unsavory things about the otherwise spotless, never married, 47-year-old bachelor in the coming months. Some of Scott's "friends" who wanted that seat for themselves will be gunning for him. It will prolly get ugly, and ugly fast.

Enjoy it while you can, Tim. And watch your back.

Your reign on the top may be short like leprechauns.

Question: Is this a truly historic event or is Scott merely a placeholder for the 2014 GOP contest?

[1] True (unrelated) story: my 4 year old's favorite word right now is "hypothesis". He uses it to describe his "theory" on everything, even dinosaur teeth. That's my boy.

Racist Tweets Get Football Player Booted From Team.

First of all, I'd like to say, Go Redskins! We goin' to the Super Bowl, baybee! #HTTR

With that formality out of the way, even I'll admit I was a little thrown off (no pun intended) when I flipped to Sunday Night Football and instead saw the President speaking from Newtown.[1] Not because I had an issue with the President pre-empting football, but because I assumed he was speaking earlier (like, at 7pm).

In any event, I can sorta understand why fans might be a slightly peeved if they wanted to see their team play, only to flip on the TV and see someone they really don't like speaking. The key word here is sorta. Reality is, in the wake of the worst school shooting in US history, pro sports should take a backseat, even if only for 20 minutes.

For some people, however, that 20 minutes was far too long. Lots of "fans" took to Twitter to voice their dislike. Some less tastefully than others. Sports blog DeadSpin collected some of the worst ones, their story went viral, and now a football player in Alabama finds himself booted from the team. Pun intended.

North Alabama football player posted a racist tweet about President Barack Obama tonight in response to NBC pre-empting the 49ers-Patriots game on Sunday Night Football to show Obama's speech at the Newtown memorial for victims of the Sandy Hook shooting.

Bradley Patterson, an uninvited walk-on long snapper, joined the team in the fourth week of the season, according to a UNA official.

He is no longer a member of the team, according to a tweet tonight by UNA Athletic Director Mark Linder. The tweet was confirmed to Al.com by a university official.

Patterson, who goes by the handle 2A_HogOfTheYear, tweeted; "Take that (N-word) off the tv, we wanna watch football!" The accounts has since been closed.

The school apparently said "Take that idiot off the football team." Good for them. No so much for Mr. Patterson, who was dumb enough to use his name and face on a racist tweet. Do people realize that while you're entitled to your opinion, that opinion can have repercussions? If you really needed to say something so ignorant, so hateful, why not have a dummy account, you dummy?

Patterson wasn't the only one to use his actual name and face on a racist tweet, DeadSpin has lots of em'. I mean, lots.

I wonder what these people are thinking. Actually, I know what they're thinking.

They love watching a n*gger run the football. Running the country? Not so much.

Question: Should this fine, upstanding young man have been booted off the team for merely expressing his desire to watch football instead of a memorial speech? Do people think before they tweet? Has social media emboldened people to say dumb crap or has this always been the case?

[1] Some think this speech was over politicized by the President's mention that he'll "do something" to prevent this from happening again (ie: gun control). I didn't think so. I think he used the moment, in front of a worldwide audience, to speak to a larger audience than just those in that auditorium. I can understand why some might find this a bit uncomfortable. But I think it needed to be said, and he did so in a way that didn't overshadow the event itself. I couldn't be prouder of our POTUS than I was last night. Imagine Mitt Romney doing the same speech. Actually, don't. Please don't.

Is There Really A Need For A White Student Union?!?

File this one under Things I (Thankfully) Can't Relate To Because I Went To An HBCU...

The founder of a “White Students Union” at Towson University cited Greece’s neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party as a model in an interview explaining his intentions to RT on Friday.

In the interview, Matthew Heimbach outlined his plans for the organization becoming a positive influence on the school, saying it was “kind of [like] the idea where you have political parties like Golden Dawn, which take care of Greek people first.”

After winning 18 seats in the Greek parliament for the first time in May, Golden Dawn’s leader, Nikos Michaloliakos, warned that “The time for fear has come for those who betrayed this homeland.” The party has subsequently been accused of engaging violent assaults against immigrants, a practice abetted by Greek police.

Heimbach obliquely referenced this practice, saying his group engaged in “safety patrols” looking for “people who have perpetrated violent crimes.”

The group will also bring in guest speakers to discuss “white identity” issues, Heimbach said, and protest policies like affirmative action, which he accused of being discriminatory against white students, and the North American Free Trade Agreement, which he said “sent our jobs overseas to third-world countries like Mexico that undercut our wages and put us out of work.”

Here's the moving pictures, for those of you who prefer not reading...



Poor fella. He sees his America disintegrating before his very eyes and feels the need to do something, anything to prevent this atrocity. And in his eyes, there's not a single racist thing about feeling this way. And in a sense, he's correct. In post-racial America, nobody is racist anymore.

Besides, if you read between the lines here, this guy isn't saying much that differs dramatically from the core principles of the GOP. He's anti-gay. He's anti-immigration. He's anti-affirmative action. He's concerned about America's cultural shift to that of a 3rd world country. He thinks he's being inclusive, yet almost certainly is clueless that "the blacks, the Jews, and the Hispanics" would be offended by his idea of inclusion. He name-checks Pat Buchanan. He thinks the Founding Fathers built this country all on their own, from scratch, without the contributions of anyone else. He thinks multiculturalism is a slippery slope to becoming a 3rd world country. If he removed all the "pro-White" rhetoric, given his clever way with words and unflappable nature, he'd prolly be the next Newt Gingrich.

Instead, by spelling out such an ignorant, short sighted vision of a "pro-White" America, he's prolly just gonna find himself with some seriously short odds for future employment.

Pity this poor young man should he have to interview with a black boss.

Question: Do Mr. Heimbach's general sentiments vary that much from mainstream Conservatism?!? Does he look and sound like a young Newt or Rush to you?!?

Connecticut School Shooting Open Thread.

This is literally every parents' nightmare. You'll surely want to discuss this, here's your thread.



BTW, pray for the victims and survivors of this heinous crime, please. And lets not turn the threads into a "gun control" debate.

Not now, please. There will be plenty of time for that later.

27 Dead, Including 18 Children, At Sandy Hook School Shooting In Newtown [AP]

Is RG III Black Enough?!?

Robert Griffin III has been one of the few bright spots in an otherwise disappointing year for DC sports[1], and has singlehandedly made me a legitimate Redskins fan.[2] Dude is easily the most electrifying player to hit the NFL since Adrian Peterson, and has rejuvenated a once-proud big-market franchise. He is truly must-see TV, and has the Skins on the verge of the playoffs for the first time in years.

Playing for a frachise that has its share of not-so-savory racial history (last NFL team to integrate), in a city that's majority black, lots of people view RGIII's contributions beyond the prism of on-field performance.[3] There's plenty of cultural cache that comes along with being a winning black QB in Chocolate City.[4] It's why Griffin's great season transcends sports in many ways, resulting in ignoramus comments like those uttered by an ESPN talking head yesterday.

An ESPN spokesman called Rob Parker’s comments about Washington Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III “inappropriate” and said Thursday night that the network “is evaluating our next steps.”

Parker, in commentary on “First Take,” questioned RGIII’s blackness, asking, “Is he a brother or a cornball brother?” The comments came in reaction to an interview with Comcast SportsNet’s Chick Hernandez in which RGIII talked about his role as the leader of the Redskins and as an African-American.

“Whenever you can relate to the population of the team that you play for, I think it makes it that much more special,” Griffin said. “I don’t play too much into the color game, because I don’t want to be the best African American quarterback, I want to be the best quarterback.

“This is an interesting topic,” ESPN's Parker said. “For me, personally, just me, this throws up a red flag, what I keep hearing. And I don’t know who’s asking the questions, but we’ve heard a couple of times now of a black guy kind of distancing himself away from black people.

“I understand the whole story of I just want to be the best,” Parker continued. “Nobody’s out on the field saying to themselves, I want to be the best black quarterback. You’re just playing football, right? You want to be the best, you want to throw the most touchdowns and have the most yards and win the most games. Nobody is [thinking] that.

“But time and time we keep hearing this, so it just makes me wonder deeper about him,” Parker went on. “And I’ve talked to some people down in Washington D.C., friends of mine, who are around and at some of the press conferences, people I’ve known for a long time. But my question, which is just a straight honest question. Is he a brother, or is he a cornball brother?”

What does that mean, Parker was asked.

“Well, [that] he’s black, he kind of does his thing, but he’s not really down with the cause, he’s not one of us,” Parker explained. “He’s kind of black, but he’s not really the guy you’d really want to hang out with, because he’s off to do something else.”

Why is that your question, Parker was asked.

“Well, because I want to find out about him,” Parker said. “I don’t know, because I keep hearing these things. We all know he has a white fiancée. There was all this talk about he’s a Republican, which, there’s no information [about that] at all. I’m just trying to dig deeper as to why he has an issue. Because we did find out with Tiger Woods, Tiger Woods was like I’ve got black skin but don’t call me black. So people got to wondering about Tiger Woods early on.”

Here's video of Parker's comment. The fact that this discussion even took place, and that Stephen A. Smith was the voice of reason, simply gives me more reasons to not tune into ESPN.



I'll admit something readily here: I've often wondered how Griffin's ultra-polished, do-no-evil, uber-disciplined military brat background plays in the Redskins locker room full of quasi-thugs like Santana Moss and Brandon Banks. That dynamic (middle classed black kid vs black kid from the hood') is one seldom explored in black culture. I'm not quite sure if that's what Parker meant by "cornball", but I suspect it is. Either way, whatever nuanced point he was attempting to get across got totally lost when he questioned whether Griffin was "down for the cause". That's some seriously stupid sh*t right there. "The Cause" is winning games. The team doesn't need RGIII to run a lunch counter sit-in or a bus boycott, they need him to run the football. He's pretty good at that (and throwing the football too). So Parker totally screwed the pooch from the jump.

Here's the real problem with what Rob Parker said: it's barbershop talk, not the kind of sh*t you say on national television when you essentially work for Disney. Do some (not all) black folks have a natural hesitance to trust brothas who only date white chicks? Sure, that happens. Do some black folks have a natural hesitance to trust brothas who speak "proper" English? Yep. Do some black folks have a natural hesitance to trust brothas who don't wear any facial hair? Indeed. But these are typically pointless conversations that take place "amongst family". I don't know Rob Parker, but it seems pretty clear that in his quest to "keep it trill", he sorta forgot where he was. There are some conversations (ie: darkskinned vs lightskinned) that you simply don't have "in front of company".

Of course, there's the issue of "blackness" and Parker's insinuation that Griffin doesn't "own" his (see: Woods, Eldrick) which is beyond silly. Griffin, in response to the original question, simply said he doesn't want to be defined only as "a black QB", which, given some of the historical stereotypes associated with black players at this position, makes plenty of sense. The fact that so many people are still comparing RGIII to a washed-up Mike Vick and the perpetually boneheaded Cam Newton is proof enough. Griffin's much more like Steve Young to my admittedly uneducated football eye. So I totally get his "I don't want to be defined only as a black QB" comment. As a person in corporate America who is irked at how often I'm mistaken for/compared to other black employees, I can relate. Wishing to be seen as "something more than just the black guy" is quite different from "not even wanting to be known as the black guy". Huge difference.

Parker, assuming he's "down for the cause", prolly shoulda understood this. Obviously, he either didn't, or pretended not to so he could say something sensational. Neither is excusable.

Good luck with that pink slip, Rob Parker. I hear the job market is hard out there for "real black" folks.

Question: What the heck was Rob Parker thinking? Are there some discussions that need to be kept "in the family" and not had "in front of company"? Do you have any idea what that last sentence meant?!?

[1] Those d*mn Wizards...

[2] Thanks to VLatte for the annual ticket hookup!

[3] Playing in a city where politics loom so large has also lead to an outbreak of stupid assed "RGIII as Obama" commentary. I also wish that sh*t would stop.

[4] Please note the term "winning". The Skins have had other black QB's in recent seasons. Rodney Peete. Tony Banks. Leon Murray. Jason Campbell. None of them bamas was any good, and black folks booed them just as badly as any other white QB.

Fox News Douchebag Contributor Fights Union Protestor. Loses. Badly.

I don't condone violence. I just don't. There are so many other more reasonable ways to resolve disputes that do not involve putting your hands on another human being.

All that said, I'm glad someone finally punched this asshole Fox News "contributor" in the grill. It has been long overdue.

Crowder, for those unaware, does provocative Breitbart-style "cyber journalism", with the goal of making progressives look silly. His entire goal is to agitate, then put stuff on YouTube. You might recall he's the creative genius behind that poorly conceived, definitely racist "Niggers/Knickers" joke at last year's CPAC.

So yeah, I'm just see this is payback for that ignorant sh*t.[1]



You can't make a mockery of the Governor taking food out of people's mouths, rub it in their noses, and not expect some sorta retribution. And given how heavily edited this tape is, I'm willing to bet Crowder provoked the guy who delivered that two piece. A prideful man woulda at least tried to punch back. But gotcha journalism and pride don't necessarily go hand in hand.

Props for talkin' sh*t like a tough guy after the fact and challenging him to an MMA fight (while putting an odd, probably illegal bounty on his head on national TV) while sitting there with your collar popped. Seems like punching back mighta been a little easier. But hey...

This guy's a real jerk-wad.

Question: Did Crowder deserve to get punched? Is this sorta "journalism" below the belt?

[1] My views on the whole anti-labor jack move going on in Michigan right now are pretty obvious. No need to go there.

Do Poor White People Exist?!?

A question I've pondered for years, even here on this blog, is why poor White Americans are for all purposes, completely invisible in the media, politics, and American culture as a whole. Think about it: given the sheer volumes of whites living below the poverty line, and collecting government assistance, why does the predominant face of American poverty still look like The Evans Family?!?

My theories are many, and too lengthy to flesh out here. But of course, poor whites do exist, and not just in "rural" America. Anyone who's gone to Fishtown in Philly will concur. Poor white people are everywhere. And yet, nowhere at the same time.

On the heels of an election in which American poverty as a whole was seldom even mentioned, let alone addressed, the Washington Post delved into the story of a teenager trying to overcome some steep odds to escape her post-industrial Rust Belt hometown. And as intriguing a read as it is, this Sunday A1 story is simply emblematic of the media's tendency to paint poverty stories with a bit more sympathetic brush when the subject is white.

I won't even try and recap Anne Hull's piece In Rust Belt, a teenager’s climb from poverty here. It's good writing, and even better story-telling. It deserves your decidated 20 minutes of reading time, simply because it's that compelling. If you enjoy "intellectual pRon", you'll get your kicks off this one. So go read that before you respond.

Those props aside, I can't help but note some serious gaps in the story here. New Castle, PA is a town that got some very serious issues with drug use and manufacturing, so the omission of this huge problem is glaring, and seems somewhat intentional. Likewise, a city of this size, with this level of poverty is also bound to have some deep-engrained crime issues, but with the exception of one anecdote that involves the story's subject, this problem is also overlooked. Then, there's the child's mother, who is given the sympathetic human treatment despite clearly being a huge reason why this kid's facing such serious odds to "making it".

I can't help but wonder why such factors barely showed up in this story, which seemed to focus more on one (admittedly spunky and driven) kid, against the backdrop of a city whose economy has crumbled now that the factories which once employed many of its residents are gone. There seems to be some easy-to-file excuse for everyone's despair. Everyone's a victim, their downfall tied to something tangible and readily identifiable, yet beyond their personal control.

I can't help but wonder why publications like The Post seldom paint such a sympathetic portrayal of improverished blacks. Maybe you know.

In any event, just read the story. If you can turn your brain off and simply enjoy the good writing, you might just learn something.

Question: What did you think of the story? Was there some evident bias at play here, or is this simply a fair portrayal of the downfall of a once-proud city?!?

AB.com Random Notes

It's obviously been a little quiet around these parts this week. Yours truly has been flat on his back/curled in a fetal position with strep throat the past few days. So yeah, there's your excuse. It'll prolly be a minute before I'm back to 100%, but here's today's rundown.

The Fiscal Cliff Cometh [WashPost] - I think it's a sad commentary on the state of American Politricks when one party gets its clock cleaned in the election, yet still learns narry a lesson. In fact, although the public clearly showed it was in favor of taxing the rich a bit more, the GOP is doubling down on obstructionism and holding the debt ceiling negotiations, unemployment benefits, and the payroll tax cut hostage. And since this is, in some odd way, a hostage negotiation, what does that make the President?!? Danny Roman?!? The Negro-tiator? Or merely the same guy who's gotten his arse handed to him in every prior negotiation for the past 4 years? Time will tell. Sadly, so will the market, which is in a state of flux as this BS gets "resolved".

Jay-Z "Rides The Subway". Chats It Up With Elderly Woman. [WashPost] - It's official. The JiggaMan's metamorphosis from dope boy/hustler to middle aged Jewish investment banker is now complete. Oy! Read the comments that follow this piece, BTW. Intriguing.

Life After The Loss For Mitt Romney [WashPost] - Interesting piece on what Romney's doing with all his newfound freetime. Hint: It involves a perpetually crying Ann, Boston Market, and horses.

Bob Costas vs Bill O'Reilly vs Guns [Mediaite] - So much for that long-overdue national conversation on domestic violence. Thank you, Bob Costas.

Leave A Comment On Yelp! Get Sued For $750k [WashPost] - An intriguing local story about the limits of free speech online.

Question: What's on your mind today?

Football Over Everything. Even Orphans.

Editor's Note: Yeah, this is about 24 hours late. I wrote it yesterday. It's scattered. It's now somewhat outdated. And I didn't hit Publish. Oh well. It happens.

I think it's a sad commentary that the NFL is actually having the Kansas City Chiefs play a game today, barely 24 hours after a player killed himself in the very parking lot fans are tailgating in right now.



Where's the common decency? This man killed his child's mother. Does he deserve a moment of silence? No. He is a coward. So is the NFL for putting profit ahead of common sense.

Isn't the fact that this guy shot his child's mother NINE TIMES in front in HIS OWN MOTHER a wee bit distressing? Shouldn't respect for the orphaned child trump the desire of this guy's teammates selfishly playing a pointless game for a team headed nowhere?

If someone walked into my office tomorrow and offed himself, I honestly hope my employer would give us Tuesday off.

It's pretty obvious Javon Belcher had some serious psychological issues. Did nobody in this organization notice this? They obviously don't care after the fact, but I find it hard to believe someone didn't realize this dude was unhinged. I guess they just wanted him to tackle people. Screw the collateral damage.

For a league that pretends to care about women (that breast cancer awareness month stuff is just a sham to sell pink merchandise) the NFL is sending a clear message about domestic violence today. That message is, we don't care if you hit women, as long as you can hit a quarterback.

I think the fact that the man killed himself on the stadium grounds is just icing on the cake. Postpone the damn game!!! Play later in the week. Forfeit. Don't play at all. Business as usual 24 hours later is just tacky and insensitive to the families involved. Eff the teammates. They will not be raising an orphan.

But it doesn't matter cause they're gonna play anyway. There should be a moment of silence. Not for the cowardly player, but for the woman he killed and the child he was orphaned.

Money Football over everything. Even orphans.

Question: Should the Chiefs have played that game yesterday? Is this story more about gun control, football related brain injuries, domestic violence, or the almighty dollar?

The Jordan Russell Davis Story (aka: George Zimmerman Reloaded)

Forgive the potentially tacky post title. I wanted to draw eyes and attention here. Sometimes you gotta use catchwords to do that.

As a man raising two black boys (and a lovely girl, but that's sorta another story), I can't help but worry about the world I send them into every day. My sons are still very young (6 and 4) but even now, I find myself concerned about what will happen when they become teens and regularly venture outside the house without our supervision.

You raise your kids to be smart, respectful, and aware of their surroundings. As a black parent, you arguably have an even more complex job, as you have to teach them that how you behave in certain situations and environments can be a matter of life and death. Kids here in DC are literally being stabbed to death by random packs of Negroes for outdated jackets.[1] How you look at a bama could determine whether or not he tries to jump you. And of course, you have to choose your friends wisely. Show me your friends, I'll show you your future, and all that jazz.

Sadly, sometimes, just being a respectful kid can still end in tragedy. A slowly developing story out of (where else?) the state of Florida has eerie echoes of familiarity.

A Florida gun collector has pleaded not guilty to a murder charge alleging that he opened fire on a car full of unarmed teenagers, killing one, in an altercation that police say stemmed from loud music.

Michael David Dunn, 45, acted "as any responsible firearms owner would have," his lawyer said of the Friday evening incident at a gas station outside a convenience store in Jacksonville, Fla.

Dunn and his girlfriend were in Jacksonville for his son's wedding when they pulled up in their car next to the teens. Police allege that while the girlfriend was in the store, Dunn told Jordan Russell Davis, 17, and his three friends to turn down their music.

"It was loud," Jacksonville homicide Lt. Rob Schoonover said of the teens' music. "They admitted that. That's not a reason for someone to open fire."

After an exchange of words, Dunn began shooting with a handgun, Schoonover said.

Davis was in the back seat and was struck twice, reported The Orlando Sentinel.

Dunn and his girlfriend drove off and spent the night at their hotel, according to Schoonover, but witnesses took down his license plate number. Police arrested him Saturday morning at his home in Satellite Beach, Fla., on one charge of murder and three charges of attempted murder.

"His side of the story is he felt threatened and that is the reason he took action," Schoonover said.

On Monday, Dunn — a gun collector who shot at local gun ranges, according to authorities — pleaded not guilty in Brevard County court, with his attorney describing his actions as self-defense.

Damn. I've heard of Driving While Black. But now you gotta teach your kids about Driving While Listening To Chief Keef too? Argghhh. All these rules!

I love how this guy can just empty and entire clip into a car, then casually drive back home and watch The Voice, as if nothing even happened. Sadly, Mr. Davis didn't have such a luxury. You know, being dead and all.

I hate making light of such stories, but sometimes you gotta laugh to stop from crying.

I pray for justice for Davis' family. I hope you do too.

Question: Is this case eerily similiar to the Stand Your Ground aspect of the Trayvon Martin tragedy? Does Dunn's "defense" make any sense at all?

[1] Or did Helly Hansen come back in style? I'll admit, I'm clueless about this stuff.

What Would You Do?!? - The Scariest Elevator Prank Ever.

I watch a lot of horror movies. I mean, lots of em'. I'm also somewhat afraid of total and complete darkness.[1] Yeah, I already know. That doesn't make much sense.

It also makes little sense to strand people in an elevator, kill the lights, then record their reactions when a scary child appears out of nowhere, The Ring style. In fact, you might argue that it's downright cruel.



No lie, this was a pretty awesome prank. The folks who pulled this off better be lucky none of the victims had a weak ticker, or they might be in some serious legal trouble. As-is, this is pretty chilling, even with the laugh track.

What would I have done? First time, I prolly woulda jumped a bit, and definitely uttered some expletives. Second go round, I'm grabbing that little girl and punching until she stops moving. I seen too many B-grade scary movies to do anything less.

Question: What would you do? Would you scream like a lil' French schoolgirl, or would you take matters into your own hands.

[1] Except when I'm trying to sleep. I need complete darkness and silence then. Annoys my wife to no end.

Dallas Cop In Trouble For Rapping. Rapping Horribly.

Damnit, internet, I hate you.[1]



Here's Lucille Baller's website. Try not to laugh. Or cry.

Jesus, be a pink slip.

Question: Is this woman entitled to make her own cRap music off the clock, or does freedom of speech have its limits (of taste)?!?

[1] Shout out to Lamar Tyler for sending this along.

Fear Of A Black Woman.

True Confession: I hate playing the race card. Hate it. Not because I don't think racism exists (duh!), but because the moment you attempt to discuss matters of race, lines of communication typically dissolve. And as I've said before, in post-racial Amurrica, nobody is actually racist anymore, so ultimately such a discussion becomes an exercise in futility. You know, sorta like a Washington Wizards game. Unless, of course, you're the opposition. Cause beating the Wizards is not really all that hard.

But I digress.

I can't help but watch the way the first Obama term has played out, and not see some strains of clear racism in the way the administration is critiqued. Obama himself merely made a lame (but "stupidly" worded) point about police brutality a month into his term and has been labeled as a race baiter ever since. The Black Panthers have about as much relevance to Black America as a One Direction CD, but they're somehow responsible for the wholesale theft of two elections. And there's poor Eric Holder, the one black guy who's been picked on more than Obama himself Chris Brown Yung Berg Michael Vick.

But somehow, this pales in comparison to how the opposition has tarred and feathered women of color the past 4 years. Who can forget all the rabble rousing about Michelle-O's alleged (but oddly never disclosed) "Whitey Tape", her trip to Spain, and her silly assertion that kids should actually exercise every now and then? "Wise Latina" Sonya Sotomayor was given the fullblown, culturally ignorant I Love Lucy treatment[1] during her SCOTUS nomination. Surgeon General Regina Benjamin's nomination was temporarily held up because the GOP thought she was too fat (well, that wasn't the only reason, but it was up there).

And then there's the latest victim, Susan Rice.

With Republican Sens. John McCain and Lindsey Graham renewing their criticism of U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice after she visited Capitol Hill to answer lawmakers' questions about the Benghazi attack, any glimmers of hope that Rice's probable nomination as secretary of state wouldn't spur a political battle have once again dimmed.

Regardless of the specific criticisms that McCain and Graham have leveled against the administration's Benghazi response, Rice has been their main target: In numerous media appearances, the two senators have called Rice everything from "incompetent" to "not very bright" to "deeply troubling." Even White House press secretary Jay Carney couldn't resist pointing out their "obsession" at Tuesday's press briefing.

I'll be honest here: I don't really care too much about what happened in Bengazi. Sorry, I just don't. Yes, I mourn the loss of lives at the hands of what appears to have been a premeditated terrorist attack. That sorta goes without saying. But in the grand scheme of things, this really isn't a huge deal. Embassy attacks happen all the time. No, literally, all the time. So what makes this one so special, and so damning to the previously well-regarded Rice's shot at Secretary of State?



Sorry, I'd love to call this something other than racism/sexism, but I simply can't. McCain and Graham seem to have some strange obsession/hard on with ruining Rice's promotion that have little to do with her sterling qualifications. While I don't think Rice was being 100% transpararent when she (mistakenly IMHO) made the rounds on those Sunday talk shows, I understand why she wouldn't be. It's called National Security for a reason. We don't need to know everything. We never have, we never will. And we certainly don't need to be broadcasting our playbook to the very people who harmed us. Rice's somewhat coy initial response was understandable. The GOP's dogmatic, months long crusade to uncover a conspiracy just isn't.

Seriously, what are they implying here that Rice is covering up that's so damning? That Obama callously disregarded calls for help? That Obama (and Rice) ordered the attack themselves? That the New Black Panther Party is responsible, but Eric Holder is covering it up for them, just cause they black? Seriously, where's the smoking gun here?

It's clear to me that there was indeed a premeditated attack on an embassy that was ill prepared to handle such an incident, leading to the death of 4 Americans. It's also clear that given the short advance notice, getting additional help would have been impossible. That's it, and that's all. I'm not saying this couldn't have been avoided. Just that it clearly wasn't. And that's not Rice's fault, unless she's got some amazing Iron Man suit that allows her to fly from Chevy Chase to Syria in 30 minutes. I doubt she has such a suit. Or maybe she does, and that's the coverup.

Ahhhh.

Or maybe this is just what it looks like: The GOP using a woman of color as foil (yet again!) to "play to their base". Just ask Lani Guinier, or Jocelyn Elders, or Maxine Waters, or Barbara Lee aor Cynthia McKinney how that feels.

Good luck, Susan Rice. You'll need it. Apparently being qualified isn't enough anymore.

Question: Is the GOP's oppostion to Susan Rice's handling of the Benghazi attack legit and genuine, or are they once again "playing to their base"?!?

[1] Seriously. What. The. F*ck?!?

Trinidad James: cRap Music Or Performance Art?!?

I listen to a lot of bad rap music. I mean, a LOT. I didn't make the tag cRap Music here for no reason. I made it cause, hell, I inbibe a lot of this stuff. The reasons are many, but to keep it short, awful rap music:

1) Is essential motivational music when you're working out/running.

2) Is essential background noise when you write code for a living.

2) Is essential scapegoat material for pointless dissertations about the state black America.

So yeah, sh*tty music also has its purpose. Everyone who listened to hair metal bands in the 80's can surely relate. But even sh*tty music should have standards. At what point is sh*tty music "art", and at what point is sh*tty music "performance art".

The latest cRapper to blow up from Atlanta (Or Clayton County? Or Decatur. Or somewhere in the state of Georgia, does it really matter?) Trinidad James, is a case study in this strange phenomenon. Because for the life of me, I still can't figure out if this guy's a joke, or if the joke's on us.



Man, where do I begin with all the random f*ckery in this video?!?

Kids swangin' fake chains around their necks.

Red pants. Leopard print shirt. House shoes. Headband. #swagg

Why does this bama have moobs?

What's with that panda hat? I think my son has that one.

What's with the newborn puppy?

Why is that bama ice grillin' while being pushed in a shopping cart?

How much of that gold is actually gold, as opposed to spray painted mall jewelry?

Is this what happened to Jerome from Martin?!?

Sorry, I'm still not 100% certain this isn't a joke. I was waiting for the "New episodes of Key & Peele on Comedy Central!" tagline at the end, but it never showed up. So maybe this is real.

Either way, it's on my iPod.

Don't beleeee me just watch.

Question: Is this Negro for real, or is this some joke I'm just not privvy to since I don't live in the traaap?!? Admit it, this song is sorta catchy tho, #amirite?

AB.com Random Notes

Hope everyone had a good holiday break. Run it down...

GOP Leaders No Longer Acting Like Total Assholes - I'm not saying the election was a come to Jesus moment for Conservatives. Maybe they're just reading the tea leaves and realize that pure numbers indidate they can't just be jerks forever. This weekend, more and more GOP leaders are backing off the Grover Norquist Tax Pledge, and others are slowly backing off their plan to obstruct the nomination of Susan Rice to Secretary of State. Progress, I suppose.

RGIII Mania!!! - Admit it, you love this guy. It's practically impossible not to. Last Thursday's epic drubbing of the Cowboys in Dallas have NFL experts pushing Griffin for MVP. I find that patently absurd given the team's 5-6 record, but hey, I've been wrong before. If nothing else, Griffin's arrival softens the blow of having an NBA worst 0-11 Wizards team to root for. So there's that. There's also this cool new online poker site.

Chris Brown In Woman Trouble (Again!) - I gotta admit, I don't like this guy for what he did (as well as his sh*tty music), but come the f*ck on. Let the man live. He did his time. The girl's back with him. Move on, folks.

Man Killed In Black Friday Police Melee - Seriously, folks. It's a damn ruse. They underprice a few already cheap items to lure you in, knowing you'll buy regularly priced (or marked up) stuff once you're in there.

Question: What's on your mind today?

AB.com Open Mic.

I'm busy, so go on without me. Drop links, write your own posts. You know the drill by now.

Question: What's on your mind today?

America Dodged A Bullet Named Mitt Romney.

Real talk, I felt more relief than elation when President Obama won last week. Sure, the historical significance was there, but more than anything else, the feeling that the crazies hadn't won (this time) was a sigh-worthy.

As the post-mortem unfolds (as you can tell, I'm rather obsessed with this), it's becoming clearer and clearer that not only did Amurrica choose the absolutely right guy, we avoided the absolutely wrong guy as well.

Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney is telling top donors that President Obama won re-election because of the "gifts" he had already provided to blacks, Hispanics and young voters and because of the president's effort to paint Romney as anti-immigrant.

"The president's campaign, if you will, focused on giving targeted groups a big gift," Romney said in a call to donors Wednesday. "He made a big effort on small things."

Among the "gifts" Romney cited were free health care "in perpetuity," which he said was highly motivational to black and Hispanic voters as well as for voters making $25,000 to $35,000 a year.

Romney also said the administration's promise to offer what he called "amnesty" to the children of illegal immigrants — what he termed "the so-called DREAM Act kids" — helped send Hispanics to the polls for Obama.

Young voters, Romney said, were motivated by the administration's plan for partial forgiveness of college loan interest and being able to remain on their parents' health insurance plans. Young women had an additional incentive to vote for Obama because of free contraception coverage under the president's health care plan, he said.

People who can't admit wrong, under any circumstances whatsoever, have no place in public office. None. Romney, in the remarks that we're privvy to, never seems to acknowledge that he ran a really lackluster campaign, that his running mate was not ready for primetime, that his "Us vs Them" fiscal policy didn't appeal to voters, nor that his constantly changing stances on issues gave voters the illusion that he had no principles. Nope, it's all the voters' fault for not understanding him well enough, and for being bribed with goodies that the 53% have to pay for.

This tone deaf, clueless understanding of how the world outside his bubble works was clear to 51% of Americans. I'm still failing to understand what the 49% who voted for Romney saw in him. There can't possibly be that many Americans making over $1M a year.

BTW, it's not like Romney wasn't promising goodies of his own. Tax cuts for the wealthy. Eliminating the estate tax. Eliminating capital gains tax.

Of course, goodies are only goodies when broke n*ggas, hispanics, college students, and single women get them. Rich dudes, not so much.

Get lost, Mittens. Go visit your money in Switzerland. Us broke n*ggas gotta deal with broke n*gga sh*t.

It's a 47% thang. You wouldn't understand.

Question: Does this latest Romney snafu surprise you, or is the man merely confirming what we already knew about him all along?

Paul Ryan Thinks "Urban" Voters Won The Election For Obama.

Wow, I'm bloggin' like a muv this week. This must be some new record for new posts. I'm sure some of ya'll are wondering why I haven't chimed in on the whole General Petraeus Harem[1] story yet. The answer's simple: what more can I say? The man creeped. The man got busted. It's a story so old, it's only in the bible, ohh, about 2,342 times. So moving right along, nothing to see there.

Besides, reading the election post mortem is a lot more interesting that hearing about how two grownups exchanged salicious emails by using the same account and writing each other messages saved as drafts. That's pretty clever, hell, it's actually a terrorist tactic. Nice to see those two putting all that counterintelligence expertise to proper use.

Anyways, I wanna talk about the GOP today. Not because I care about the lessons they've learned from last week's ass-kicking, but because I love picking on people while they're down. I'm just evil like that.

Poor Paul P90X Ryan finds his career momentarily derailed. He failed spectacularly on the national stage, and despite his rep as the "ideas" guy of the GOP, it's clear he didn't really have any. Never mind that, there's gotta be some perfectly reasonable answer for why his ticket lost.

Cue the ole' "Blame The Negroes" theme music...

As Representative Paul D. Ryan casts about to find an explanation for the defeat of the Republican presidential ticket, on which he was Mitt Romney’s running mate, he is looking to the nation’s big cities for answers.

“The surprise was some of the turnout, some of the turnout especially in urban areas, which gave President Obama the big margin to win this race,” Mr. Ryan said in an interview with WISC-TV back home in Wisconsin on Monday before returning Tuesday to Capitol Hill for the start of the lame-duck session.

Mr. Ryan, now a potential 2016 presidential candidate, has repeated the sentiment in subsequent interviews. And he is not the only conservative who has embraced the notion that a surge of voters in urban America gave Mr. Obama the prize, as many Republicans try to come to grips with how an election they believed was theirs for the taking instead got away.

Mr. Ryan’s concerns follow on the heels of other Republicans who argue that the party’s lack of appeal to minority voters — many of whom live in the nation’s largest urban centers — has made it more difficult to win the presidency.

There is some anecdotal evidence to back up the analysis that Mr. Obama was helped by his appeal in the nation’s population centers. In Philadelphia and Ohio, for example, local news reports have documented dozens of city precincts where Mr. Romney and Mr. Ryan failed to get a single vote. And in Ohio, turnout among blacks, many of whom live in urban areas, increased significantly over 2008.

In the nation’s largest cities, exit poll data show that the president won overwhelmingly, earning almost 7 out of every 10 votes. In some states, like Pennsylvania, Mr. Obama did even better in the big cities, winning 85 percent of the vote. Mr. Romney won the nation’s suburbs by a narrow margin.

Sorry, Mr. P90X can try and spin this any way he likes, but his sentiment here is no different than Bill Clinton's post-South Carolina Obama diss in 08'. He's basically saying they lost because (the nerve of them!) all those inner city blacks showed up and voted, despite all our efforts to prevent them from doing so. He clearly doesn't mean "Latinos" here, he means "Negroes". Make no mistake.

And here's why Ryan, and his party, will learn absolutely zilch from last week's election and are doomed to lose again in 2016. Because they simply chalk Obama's win up to "blacks voting for blacks", and miss some finer points of the election returns. You know, like this...

But pointing to urban voters for the Republican failure to win last week does not take into account that the Republican ticket also lost big in some rural, mostly white states, like Iowa and New Hampshire.

And this...

“In our state, urban voters had two good reasons to come out,” said Senator Bob Casey, Democrat of Pennsylvania. “One was to support the president, and the other was the state had tried to implement voter ID laws. But assigning one factor to the case of an electoral defeat is usually pretty dangerous.”

And of course... most emphatically, this...

Ryan lost his hometown of Janesville twice: by 10 points for Congress and by 25 points for vice president. And the GOP ticket lost the battleground state of Wisconsin by 7 points in a race Republicans thought would be far closer. In Ryan's southern Wisconsin district, the Romney-Ryan ticket ran about 3 points behind Ryan the congressional candidate.

So, you lost your own hometown, which isn't exactly "urban", but blame black folks for running up the score in Obama's favor.

Yeah, makes sense to me too, Paul.

Question: Have we (finally!) seen the last of Paul Ryan?

[1] Well, say this for the man... he did have relatively good taste. If you're gonna ruin your marriage, do it big!

Who? Me, Racist?!?

As I've said a million and one times, racism is officially dead.

Not because it's actually dead, but because when nobody thinks they're racist, nor will admit it, and because they have friends of "all nationalities", there's really no point in labeling anyone racist anymore.

Seriously, why waste the breath/keystrokes/beatdown?!?



Of course, Denise Helms has black friends. She can't be racist. No way. The "black friends" won't vouch for her un-racistness on camera, but never mind that. She's so not racist.

She's also now unemployed. So there's that.

Obama threat gets Turlock woman fired, reported to Secret Service [ModestoBee]

New Left Media Covers A Romney Event In Ohio.

Sure, this is a few weeks late, but it's still good stuff. And yes, I'm still somewhat confused about why these New Left Media guys don't have a real media job by now. Chase Whiteside's ability to put his interview subjects at ease, then get them to talk unfiltered without really imposing his viewpoint (except when it's necessary, and hardly in an insulting manner when he does) is downright masterful.



Sure, there's some level of manipulation going on here, as the interviewer clearly chooses to air people who look clueless rather than informed. To Whiteside's credit, he does provide outtake footage, so there's that.

This video does give you a level of insight that you simply can't get anywhere else, certainly not via the mainstream media. So props to Chase Whiteside.

Double props to Whiteside, who is in fact gay, for not smacking some of these fools. Now that's what I call constraint.

How It Feels To Lose, GOP-Style : Take Two.

While my emotions election night were more of relief than excitement, reality is, every coin has two sides. Take a look at this site players rewards card here, and you'll totally get what I'm saying. There are winners in every election, and there are losers.

These are their stories.

She arrived early to take apart the campaign office piece by piece, just as she felt so many other things about her life were being dismantled. Beth Cox wore a Mitt Romney T-shirt, a cross around her neck and fresh eyeliner, even though she had been crying on and off and knew her makeup was likely to run. A day after the election, she tuned the radio to Glenn Beck and began pulling posters and American flags off the wall.

Her calendar read “Victory Day!!” and she had planned to celebrate in the office by hosting a dance party and selling Romney souvenirs. But instead she was packing those souvenirs into boxes, which would be donated to a charity that sent clothes to South America. Instead a moving company was en route to close down the office in the next 48 hours, and her friends were calling every few minutes to see how she was doing.

Here in the heart of Red America, Cox and many others spent last week grieving not only for themselves and their candidate but also for a country they now believe has gone wildly off track. The days after Barack Obama’s reelection gave birth to a saying in Central Tennessee: Once was a slip, but twice is a sign.

But now Cox was wondering: Was it?

She had devoted her life to causes she believed were at the heart of her faith and at the core of her Republican Party. She counseled young married families at church, spoke about right to life in area schools and became a stay-at-home mom with two daughters.

Now, in a single election night, parts of her country had legalized marijuana, approved gay marriage and resoundingly reelected a president who she worried would “accelerate our decline.”

“What country would want more years of this?” asked the newly elected alderman.

Cox shrugged back at them. “I don’t know anymore,” she said. “What the heck happened to the country? Who are we becoming?”

Everything in her version of America had confirmed her predictions: the confident anchors on Fox News; the Republican pollsters so sure of their data; the two-hour line outside her voting precinct, where Romney supporters hugged and honked for her handmade signs during a celebration that lasted until the results started coming in after sundown. Romney’s thorough defeat had come more as a shock than as a disappointment, and now Cox stared at the actual results on her computer and tried to imagine what the majority of her country believed.

“Virginia went blue? Really?” she said. “Southern-values Virginia?”

“And Colorado? Who the heck is living in Colorado? Do they want drugs, dependency, indulgence? Don’t they remember what this country is about?”

It was a country that she had thought she knew. As a kid, she had seen it from the back of a station wagon, traveling to 40 states in a blur of peanut butter crackers and Holiday Inns with a mother who taught U.S. history.

I'm sure lots of Conservatives won't bother reading this fairly riveting story, and that's really a shame. It's a well written and symapthetic piece about a Romney supporter who'd (perhaps naively) anticipated a win on election night, only to see the man she'd devoted months supporting get ethered.

In a classic example of "burying the lede", however, the Post story sorta glosses over an aspect of last week's election I'd love to see explored more: how Conservative media completely missed the boat by claiming the polls were rigged and that Romney's shot at winning was much better than it actually was. As much as Conservative media loves complaining about mainstream media bias (ad nauseum might I add), they did a grave disservice to their viewers/listeners/readers in the runup to the election. Seriously.

Focusing so pointlessly on a story like the Benghazi raid, making Solyndra a scandal of epic proportions, and completely ignoring Romney's gaffe's (ie: 47%) Conservative media generally painted a rosier picture of Romney's chances than people like Mrs. Cox really deserved. Maybe it was denial, maybe it was homerism, maybe it was simple entertainment disguised as news, but what it wasn't was good journalism. Complain all you want about outlets like The Post and CNN, but they at least painted a more complete picture of the race as a whole, rather than focusing on relatively minor issues (ie: Obama's "revenge" comment) and total non-issues (Trump's Obama challenge, Derek Bell, "The Obama Lost Tapes").

Call me silly, but if I'm about to get my ass kicked, I'd prolly rather know in advance than gettin' stole by some fool out of left field.

We sorta feel you pain, Mrs. Cox. Sorta.

Now, that “What the heck happened to the country? Who are we becoming?” comment on the other hand...

Question: Did the Conservative media do their readers/listeners/viewers a disservice?!?

How It Feels To Lose, GOP-Style.

I enjoy reading about politricks. It's almost like some strange form of Intellectual pRon™ for me. And one thing I've really enjoyed reading this past week is election post-mortems from the GOP braintrust.

After getting your clock cleaned epically for the 2nd time in 2 elections, you'd think these guys would be seriously re-examining their overall tone and policies, and trying to figure out how to retool reserve their fortunes in rapidly changing America. But nah, not the GOP. Instead of doing some serious soul searching, they're poking in all the wrong directions looking for blame. If I were to explore my Super Bowl gambling options, I'd wager that these folks emerge from their ongoing "exit polls and focus groups" none the wiser.

Nobody's broken down the party's complete and utter lack of post-drubbing self-awareness better than the Washington Post's Dana Milbank.

And now begins the quadrennial exercise of coming to terms with the loss of a presidency.

Denial. “I think this is premature,” Karl Rove protested on Fox News election night, after the cable network, along with other news outlets, correctly projected that President Obama had won Ohio — and therefore the presidency. “We’ve got to be careful about calling things.”

The weather. “Hurricane Sandy saved Barack Obama’s presidency,” Haley Barbour, the Mississippi governor and former Republican Party chairman, informed NBC’s Matt Lauer.

The governor of New Jersey. “A lot of people feel like Christie hurt, that we definitely lost four or five points between the storm and Chris Christie giving Obama a chance to be bigger than life,” one of Romney’s biggest fundraisers told The Post’s Philip Rucker.

Senate candidates in Missouri and Indiana. “Todd Akin, Richard Mourdock and Chris Christie undermined the Republican message,” a Romney adviser told National Review.

The Republican Party’s moderation. “We need a third party to save this country,” Herman Cain said in a radio appearance.

Failing to talk about foreign policy and Obamacare. “Those are major issues and Romney rarely mentioned them in the final days,” a Romney adviser said to National Review.

Failing to talk about abortion. “Mitt Romney … never highlighted this vulnerability,” complained Marjorie Dannenfelser of the anti-abortion Susan B. Anthony List.

Milbank's excellent piece goes through the littany of excuses, none of which seem to mention the party's continual insults, slights, marginalization, and alienation of blacks, hispanics, women, and young voters.

You can't insult people to the core, then magically expect them to vote for you.

That dog don't hunt.

Question: Will the GOP figure this out, or are they on the fast track to becoming a regional minority party at best?

College Basketball Is (Finally!) Back!!!

For obvious reasons for someone with even a casual understanding of my sporting fandom and NBA team of choice, I'm very happy to see that the NCAA basketball season is finally back in full swing. Seriously, it's been tough watching my Wizards stumble out the gate with 5 straight losses to begin the season. When your NBA team sucks, the entire NBA sucks. I couldn't care less about the Hollywood coaching drama unfolding in LA, the Knicks' sudden resurgence, or Miami's rocky start. Don't care at all. And till my team wins a game I won't.

Thank you Basketball Jesus for the NCAA!

It's a little early for 2013 March Madness betting, but based on early games, I'm gonna put my money on Indiana winning it all for the first time since... Keith Smart?!? Has it really been that long? Wow. Either way, with Cody Zeller looking like the best white college big man since Christian Laettner and a solid surrounding cast, anything can happen.

Anything but a Wizards' win.

Question: What's up with the Lakers blowing that Phil Jackson hiring? Watched any college ball yet? Whose great idea was it to play games on aircraft carriers at night?

Our Votes Will Not Be Stolen. No Matter How Hard You Try.

One subtext of Tuesday's stunning election results is just how little return GOP statewide officials who tried to suppress the black vote got on their investment. For months, we'd read (most read, cable news didn't really touch this in any substantive manner) about GOP-led state legislatures that had enacted arcane "voter ID" laws to supposedly crack down on "voter fraud". You know, doubling down on that whole silly ACORN thing that allegedly delivered Obama the election in 2008, ignoring the thousands of black people lined up outside polling precincts as if waiting to enter a free Frankie Beverly & Maze concert. Sports betting sites for USA players could have told you that these were actual real life voters, not "fraud".

In state after state, legislators put in place myriad laws requiring a driver's license or some other arbitrary ID simply to vote, all in the name of fixing a "problem" that only resulted in a miniscule number of bad votes in the first place. It was the epitome of baby/bathwaterism, and I for one will admit that I ignorantly misunderstood the scope of this nonsense repeatedly on this very blog. I'm sorry for that. Genuinely.

In any event, it's now quite clear that despite a litany of efforts to prevent early voting, absentee ballots, and these voter ID laws that actions which were clearly in place to suppress the black vote backfired. And backfired epically.

For many African Americans, this election was not just about holding on to history, but also confronting what they perceived as a shadowy campaign to suppress the black vote.

Black voters responded with a historic turnout here in Ohio and strong showings across a range of battleground states, according to exit poll results. Buoyed by a sophisticated ground operation by the Obama campaign, African Americans helped provide the edge in Virginia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and perhaps Florida, which remained too close to call Wednesday. Their support narrowed President Obama's losing margin in North Carolina.

African American voters described broad support for Obama, despite some disappointments, and a deep feeling of empathy for the political attacks he endured while attempting to revive a disastrous economy. Expectations for his second term are sky-high, many said.

Analysts, voters and politicians said that a series of episodes here in Ohio — where exit polls showed black voters accounting for 15 percent of Tuesday's electorate, up from 11 percent in 2008 — were seen by African Americans as efforts to keep them from voting, stirring a profound backlash on Election Day.

When the Obama campaign successfully sued to open polls on the final weekend of the early-voting period, black voters thronged many polling stations.

The story was similar, if less dramatic, across much of the nation as black voters maintained or heightened their enthusiasm levels from 2008, when Obama was elected the nation's first black president. Their staunch support helped protect his vote totals as white support shifted to Romney; 95 percent of the Republican's voters in Ohio were white, exit poll results show.

The effort to enact a voter ID law in North Carolina — which passed the General Assembly but was vetoed by Gov. Beverly Perdue, a Democrat — was arguably the biggest factor in getting black people to the polls, said William Barber, president of the North Carolina NAACP.

Here's why the GOP's outward introspection about needing to pander to Hispanics in order to win future elections comes across as so hollow. These very suppression efforts, clearly aimed at stopping the black vote, also effected Hispanics. More than simply changing tone, the party needs to also change it's policies. When you feel your best way to regain power is to literally stand in the way of the Democratic process, you've got some deeply embedded issues that simply tossing out a Macro Rubio or a Mia Love won't fix.

Simply put: you don't win people's votes by attempting to prevent them from voting in the first place.

So yeah GOP, your whole "regaining the minority vote" talk... good luck with that.

Question: Will the GOP need to better explain and atone for this blatant attempt to suppress the black vote if they hope to "expand the tent"?

Obama Wins. And So Does Amurricah.

So yeah, Obama won again. Unlike 4 years ago, which felt historical, this simply felt like vindication. Not revenge. Just vindication.

I think the American People proved for once and for all that you can't insult large swaths of the populace and expect them to vote for you.

I think the American People proved for once and for all that you can't say you're for something to gain your party's nomination, then "Etch A Sketch" your way to new positions in the general primary.

I think the American People proved for once and for all that just because you win your party's nomination by default doesn't make you a good candidate.

I think the American People proved for once and for all that you'll entitled to your own opinion, but not your own facts.

I think the American People proved for once and for all that mediocre, uninspiring candidates simply can't win when facing a candidat who's the polar opposite.

So yeah, vindication.

On a few separate, but mostly equal, notes:

Allen West, take your 1987 high top fade and get packin'. It's been surreal.

Michelle Bachmann, Jesus spared your Congressional seat. Maybe you should start listening to him now.

Mia Love, a black female Mormon from Utah for Congress? Uh, yeah, okay.

Sarah Palin, Donald Trump, Karl Rove and every other "pundit" who's made a great living off trashing Obama, please have four seats.

You can now legally get lifted in 2 states, and same sex married in 3. #progress

Black folks showed up to the polls in record numbers, again. I'm sure the media will gloss over this factoid, but please don't. When it matters, we show up and show out. Beleedat!

Paul Ryan couldn't even deliver his home state. Combine that with him being completely and utterly exposed as shallow on policy issues, and I think this star has burned out.

Todd Akin, Richard Mourdock, and every other rape isn't that bad cro-magnon, I'm so happy you lost. My daughter's uterus thanks you for your losing efforts and general loserdom.

Hispanics voted for Obama at a 71% clip. So yeah, that whole self-deportation, Marco Rubio's awesome, show us your papers sh*t didn't endear them to the GOP after all. Shocker.

Obama won the female vote by almost 15%. Guess they value their uteruses after all.

The GOP won North Carolina again. Booooo!

Anyone who thinks the GOP controlled Congress is now, magically gonna work with the POTUS is clueless. Completely clueless.

BTW, that prior point included the POTUS, who is still on some kumbaya, bipartisan sh*t.

Stacey Dash, I hope that 6 weeks of media attention was worth it. Black folks is prolly done with you for now.

GOP pundits are already mapping out strategies for 2014 and 2016. They ain't workin' with Obama. The sooner he figures this out, the better.

Get ready for 4 more years of gridlock, middling jobs numbers, fear mongering, sneak dissin', and general frustration. So yeah, basically, just like 2009-2012, with grayer hair.

Question: What are your post-election takeaways? Did the outcome surprise you at all?

* Is that #2Termz pic my screensaver today? Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

Election Day Random Items.

Well, well, well. In just a day or so, we'll finally (hopefully) know who'll be running this country for the next 4 years. After a campaign that's essentially lasted the past 4 years, Mitt Romney hopes to unseat the imcumbent, President Barack Obama.

I'm not really in the prediction business, but I think you guys know who I roll with. I see this election being close, regardless of who wins. Unlike in 2008, I won't be doing the live blog thing this year. Sorry. If you have some strange need to know what I'm thinking as this all unfurls, just follow me on Twitter. For real, you should prolly just do that anyway.

Believe it or not, as soon as I hit the "Publish" button on this post, I'm going to avoid any news, TV, radio, or watercooler discussion of the election until the results start rolling in. Seriously, none of these "pundits" has a clue what'll happen. The "polls" are all over the place. What really matters is doing your part and voting, assuming you haven't already. Leave the polls to the pundits. And exotic dancers.

Anyways, before I sign off, a handful of interesting stories from around the political landscape...

Obama ending the campaign season in Iowa. Odd decision there, sentimental reasons aside.

Plenty of early voting shenanigans in So. Florida.

Joe Biden thinks GOP will magically work with Obama if he wins re-election. What's this guy been smokin'?

Paul Ryan thinks Obama is a threat to "Judeo Christian values". Why not just go ahead and call him a n*gger?

Black preachers vs Obama. Again. Yeah, this is still happening. It even happened at my church yesterday. Something tells me that Romney's gonna get a larger than expected share of the black vote, win or lose. Black pastors using the gay marriage issue to influence votes will be the likely culprit. Again.

Obama interrupted by Cincy heckler. Jerk.

GOP Civil War Looming. I have no idea what that means.

Thanks to Cam Newton and his ugly sweaters (and the Reskins secondary!) Obama is guaranteed a loss.

Question: Did you vote yet? Who'll win tomorrow's elections?

Election Day Open Thread...

You wanna talk about it. Here's your placeholder. Talk.

Question: Who's gonna win the election?!?

It's Officially "Blame Everything On Obama" Season.

After Sandy prevented me from exercising my Constitutional right (among other things) I finally voted this morning. If you haven't done so already, I'd encourage you to take advantage of your state's early voting period. Spare yourself the heartache and long lines Tuesday.

With that out of the way, I can officially say we've not only reached Silly Season, we're now officially entering the "Blame Barack For Every Day Trivial Thing" segment of the election. Witness this tomfoolery, which (surprise!) just to happens to be a fullblown official #TeamRomney ad, rife with inaccuracies, distortions, and plain ole' bullsh*t.



As our resident Conservative business owner (you know who he is!) will tell you, you're not guaranteed a successful business just because. Without knowing anything about Bill's BBQ other than this ad, I can point out a few obvious problems.

1) Outdated and oversized location.

2) Right next door to a Taco Bell. Bamas love Taco Bell.

3) How long does the drive-thru take? See point 2.

4) The place in dingy and poorly lit. You're already losing patrons there.

5) 800 items on the menu. Simplify.

Beyond these obvious issues, it's hard to understand why this woman has the nerve to blame Obama for her lack of business savvy. Maybe she's simply not as good a business person as her family members who once ran the joint. When the economy went down (under Bush!) did she adjust her prices/inventory/menu accordingly?

None of this is the President's fault. Blame him for the economy not recovering sooner, sure. But don't blame him for your multiple health code violations. Don't blame him for your inability to keep up with the ever-expanding BBQ joint competition in Richmond. And don't blame him when you financially supported John McCain in 08'. All of these things are true.

One thing also true, but missing from this ad: personal responsibility.

Get some.

Question: Is this ad just another example of the typical sleaze #TeamRomney is throwing out here at the 11th hour, or does this poor unemployed woman have a point?