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 Kids here in DC are literally being stabbed to death by random packs of Negroes for outdated jackets.[1] How you look at a bama could determine whether or not he tries to jump you.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?