Meme Dump

Just A Reminder

Here’s a little something to remember … as Kevin McCarthy appears set to retake the Speaker of the House position he Tweeted:

“In just 47 days, House Republicans will have the gavel, and we will be prepared to hold the Biden administration accountable from day one. Our investigations are just getting started.”

Anyone else notice he said nothing about the “border crisis” or the “inflation crisis” or the “fentanyl epidemic” or any of the other crises the GOP has been blathering about for months?

Anyone else notice that all McCarthy wants to do is punish the Democrats and if anyone still believes the GOP doesn’t put themselves over the country ask yourself what they are doing for you cuz, last time I checked, looking for Hunter Biden’s laptop isn’t gonna bring down the cost of milk.

Also as soon as they take control of the house next year, Republicans will kill a special committee focused on climate change, according to Louisiana Representative Garret Graves, the top GOP member of the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis:

“The climate crisis committee will not exist. I don’t think that’s really consistent with what we are going to be focused on.”

The Earth will freeze and burn and everyone will die, but the GOP wants that damned laptop!

And then add this to the mix … the GOP has blamed early voting, mail-in voting, women voting, young people voting, too many people voting for their lack of a Red Surge earlier this month. The GOP blames everyone but themselves for their own failures so, again, ask yourself why they want to limit how and when and where we vote if they aren’t trying to cheat.

Remember Florida’s Fascist Governor Ron DeSantis and his publicity stunt of flying migrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard because he is pandering for power?

Well, think on this … Florida taxpayers paid for those human trafficking charter flights to the tune of $1.5 million and yet the private jets chartered by the contractor, Florida-based Vertol Systems Company, cost roughly $153,000 for two charter plane trips from San Antonio to Martha’s Vineyard.

That leaves about $1.4 million in Florida taxpayer funds unaccounted for.

So let ask this question … what happened to the money? Did Ron DeSantis not think his own state, subsequently hit by Hurricane Ian which left the Gulf Coast devastated, could have used that money? Or is he just another poser running for President?

Virginia Governor, and Republican because, of course, Glenn Youngkin won his 2020 election by promising to ban anti-racist curriculum from schools. Recently his Secretary of Education, Aimee Rogstad Guidera, consulted conservative think tanks when rewriting the state’s history and social studies curriculum and suggested deleting references to Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth, one mention of President Barack Obama, and suggested referring to Indigenous people as “America’s first immigrants.”

Erasing history so white people might feel comfortable. Ain’t that America.

Tuesday Thought #2

Anthony Dickerson Has To Be On His Best Behavior Before Donating A Kidney To His Son

What is wrong with people? Why, when a simple decision, a right decision, is in front of them, do some people take a step back to think about it? The right thing is always right.

A.J.  is two; he was born without kidneys. But a surgery that could save his life is being held up because of red tape and bureaucracy.

See, there is a donor of kidney for A.J. and he’s a perfect match because he happens to be A.J.’s father, Anthony Dickerson. And Anthony, who had always wanted a son, was ready to donate a kidney to his son until he was arrested for violating his probation last month on an original charge of possession of a firearm.

And that’s when the hospital decided to take a step back and rethink Anthony Dickerson’s offer. Oh, originally, Emory Hospital was fine with the situation, even asking the Gwinnett County Jail if Dickerson could be escorted to Emory for blood work and a pre-operative” but then, Dickerson claims, the hospital’s attitude changed once he was released from custody.

Now, the Living Donor Transplant Team at Emory wants evidence Anthony Dickerson is in compliance from his parole officer for the next three months; they say if Anthony Dickerson exhibits “good behavior” for the next three months, will re-evaluate his offer to donate a kidney to his own son.

So, basically, the man who is a perfect match to donate a kidney to his son, a man who wants to donate, who is ready to donate, who is in perfect health to donate, is being denied that option because he violated his parole. And Emory Healthcare will not answer questions about the case because of patient confidentiality; they have even refused to answer a question about how someone being arrested impacts the possibility of donating a kidney.

Naturally, Anthony Dickerson hopes his arrest doesn’t hurt his son's chances at living a normal life:

"What do he got to do with the mistakes I made? Nothing."

A.J. suffered a stroke two months ago, and now needs constant care and doctor's visits, but now he's being told to wait even though the perfect match has been found. The family now says their only option now is to get on the kidney transplant wait list, and that can take months, or even years.

Emory Hospital is risking the life of a child because, basically, they want to play the moral card: daddy committed a crime so he cannot donate a kidney? A child is suffering because they are asking for evidence of “good behavior”? What kind of fuckery is that? And, while I hate bringing race into it, I wonder, if A.J. was a little white boy in need of a kidney and his father, a perfect match, was a white man who violated his parole, would the story be the same?

I wonder ... and while Emory Hospital wants to wait and see, random strangers are reaching out to the family, calling the local news, contacting the hospital, to see if they’re a match for A.J. ...

This may sound crazy but if I could get in touch with this family, and if I were a match for this boy would it be possible to donate my kidney to him? As a gift so to speak? I would want nothing in return ...  I am a perfectly healthy 25-year-old female and it seems so silly and awful that this child could die because of the situation. I have a 3-year-old daughter and I can't imagine if it were my baby. I know I might not be a match but IF I were, I would want to do this...

I’m only 18 but after reading the toddlers story I feel like no child should have to suffer from mistakes one of their parents have made. I would love to help and see if I’m a match.

I would like to know how I can help the child by donating one of my kidneys.We recently came across your news article about 2-year-old, A.J., being denied a kidney transplant his father, Mr. Anthony Dickerson, is willing to donate to him and thought we may be of assistance to A.J. and his family. We have fought the good fight of justice for over 20 years and offer help and support to those who may not get heard otherwise. We are about community, what's right, and above all, justice for our clients. Our motto is "Not I But We!"

I am a 19-year-old college student in Missouri. I read your story on Carmella Burgess and her 2-year-old son and it weighed on my heart. I would like to get in contact with her to see if she would allow me to get tested to see if I am a match for a kidney transplant for her little boy.

I saw the report on the 2-year-old. We would be delighted to consider doing their surgery at the Texas Medical Center.

I live in Dayton, Ohio. I will be willing to donate a kidney to the 2-year-old boy if I am a match. I do not do any drugs, smoke any tobacco products, nor am I a felon/have a criminal record. The father and myself may be around the same age. If you and the family are willing or want to try to get the process going, you are more than welcome to contact me.”

Strangers are offering kidneys because a hospital wants Anthony Dickerson minds his manners for three months before they will allow him to donate a kidney to his son.

And who knows what might happen to A.J. during those ninety days ...

11 Alive

Another Police Shooting Of A Person Of Color ... In Sixty Seconds

The Daily Kos has a theory that it takes about 60 seconds for police officers to assess a situation before fatally shooting people of color.

Philando Castile was shot 64 seconds after being stopped by Jeronimo Yanez. That was a little long ... children get shot faster.

Seven-year-old Aiyana Stanley-Jones was shot 9 seconds after police surrounded the house she was in as they attempted to serve an arrest warrant. 

Twelve-year-old Tamir Rice was shot 2 seconds after officers approached him in the park where he was playing with a pellet gun by himself.

So, maybe for kids the Sixty Second Rule doesn’t apply, but for grown people of color ... ?

Last week in Oklahoma City police shot Madgiel Sanchez less than a minute after coming upon him; and Sanchez was deaf.

Sanchez was shot outside his home after police showed up to investigate a hit-and-run. The first officer on the scene pulled out his Taser and ordered Sanchez, who was on his front porch, to drop the two-foot-long pipe he was holding.

His commands didn’t seem to register with Sanchez, who walked off the porch toward the officer, waving the pipe in his right hand, as Sanchez’ daughter yelled:

“Don’t kill him, he’s deaf. Don’t do it!”

Six other neighbors joined in, shouting at the officer, but within sixty seconds another officer arrived and pulled out his handgun; the first officer fired his Taser and the second fired his handgun.

Okay, so was Sanchez coming at the officers and they felt threatened? Well, everyone, including the officers, used the word “amble” to describe his movements—meaning Sanchez was walking at a slow pace; he was not charging at them. And people were shouting that Sanchez was deaf, but the officers tasered him and shot him dead nonetheless.

In his neighborhood, Sanchez was known for walking the streets and was always carrying that pipe to shoo away stray dogs. Neighbors say he even used the pipe “to communicate,” moving it around to try to convey what he meant. They say he was doing that with the officers before he was killed.

Now, some might say this isn’t about race, it’s about a man wielding a pipe, even though he was deaf, and even though was ambling off his porch, and even though one officer tasered him while the other shot him dead.

People will say that police have a difficult job and must assess a situation within seconds but ...

“Black men are 2.8 times as likely to be killed than white people during encounters with police. Hispanic men are 1.7 times more likely to be killed. Black women and girls make up 33% of fatal police shootings of women despite only being 13% of the female population.”

Doesn’t sound right, does it? And if it doesn’t, isn’t it about time to do something about policing?

And wouldn't it be nice if we could get it done in less time than it takes to shoot a person of color in America.

Daily Kos

Mississippi RV Park Owner Evicts Interracial Couple

With Mississippi poised to become one of the most anti-LGBT, hate-filled states in the Union, this story really comes as no surprise … I guess.

More than fifty years after the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 barred discrimination on the basis of race, Erica Flores Dunahoo, who is Hispanic and Native American and whose husband, Stanley Hoskins, a National Guardsman, is African-American, are being evicted from an RV park for being an interracial couple. And Gen Baker, the park owner, admits it was the color of their skin that forced him to ask them to leave because, as he said, “the neighbors were giving me such a problem.”

Earlier this year, Erica Dunahoo and Stanley Hoskins, along with their two children, were looking to rent an RV space when she contacted Gene Baker; Erica met with Baker and gave him a $275 check for the first month’s rent. She even recalled how nice he was, and that he’d invited her to attend services at his church; he even gave her a hug. But the next day Baker called her on the phone and said:

“Hey, you didn’t tell me you was married to no black man.”

Erica didn’t think it was a problem.

“Me and my husband, not ever in 10 years have we experienced any problem. Nobody’s given us dirty looks. This is our first time.”

But for Gene Baker it was a problem, and probably not the first time he’s had that “trouble”:

“Oh, it’s a big problem with the members of my church, my community and my mother-in-law. They don’t allow that black and white shacking.”

Erica Dunahoo told Baker that she and Hoskins weren’t “shacking” — as if that was any of his business anyway — and that the two were married. He told her it was the same thing and then added:

“You don’t talk like you wouldn’t be with no black man. If you would had come across like you were with a black man, we wouldn’t have this problem right now.”

She told him that he husband served in the military for thirteen years and he was now a sergeant in the National Guard—working to protect the freedoms of people like Gene Baker, I might add.

Erica and her husband, Stanley, then met with Gene Baker, hoping he’d change his mind, but he refused. He returned the $275 they had paid, and they moved to another, non-racist RV park where they are paying more money than they would have at Baker’s.

But Erica Dunahoo and Stanley Hoskins are not letting this go; she reported the matter to the NAACP because she believes Baker should not be allowed to turn away interracial couples:

“I just want it to be where everybody is treating everybody equally."

When Gene Baker was asked about this story and renting to interracial couples, he said he still wouldn’t do it, and that he was closing down his RV park.

Close it down, asshat, you’re still a racist and a bigot, and I’m imagining God won’t be so happy to see you in church next Sunday.

But, then again, this is Mississippi and they seem to love the idea that unless you’re white, and straight, you don’t matter, so ….

Clarion Ledger

Still Think Racism Is Over in America? Think Again

The story of that cop tossing the girl to the floor in a South Carolina classroom is still a big talking point down here. And the other day, while discussing the story, and then sidetracking into a story about race and racism, a co-worker said to me, “I’m not racist. I don’t even see color.”

I told her she was a fool, and I’ll tell you why …

Of course you see color, everyone does. If you see a Black man on the street you can see right away he’s Black, but, and it’s a big but, it’s what you do after you see the color that defines you. Do you just keep moving along, thinking nothing of it, or do you react by, say, clutching your purse tighter, checking to make sure you have your wallet, crossing the street, or looking around for help?

"I am hiding in the office. I don't want them to see me out there."

That's what a store employee at Schwanke-Kasten Jeweler told a 911 dispatcher last week because she saw four Black men outside the store. She hid, and called for help because Black men — one of whom was Milwaukee Bucks forward John Henson — were outside the store.

And it wasn’t a onetime thing either; there are police recordings that began several days earlier when John Henson called the store to ask what time they closed. And a clerk, realizing that it was a “Black” voice on the end of the line, instantly called 911:

Store Employee: We just had a couple suspicious phone calls lately at this store, and we were just wondering if for the next hour, one of the Whitefish Bay cops could park in front of the store until we close.

911 Operator: What were the phone calls about?

Store Employee: They were just asking about what time they're going to close. They just didn't sound like they were legitimate customers.

And when John Henson and his friends came by the store later that day, they found that it was already closed for the day. A police officer, stationed nearby, watched as Henson and his friends walked up to the store, and he ran the license number off their car; you know, Black.

And then a few days later, when John Henson went back to the jewelry store:

Store Employee [to 911]: The officer told us if they came back, we're supposed to call again. They're at our front door now and we're not letting them in. I am hiding in the office. I don't want them to see me out there. We're pretending like we're closed. They're looking in the window. They're just kind of pacing back and forth. I don't feel comfortable letting them in. I just really don't at all.

America, in 2015, where four Black men at a jewelry store are a problem; where for Black men, looking in the windows of a store that should be opened, but is suddenly closed, are a threat.

So, when people say they don’t see color, they do; everyone does. But it’s what you do when you see the color that truly defines you.

Mother Jones

The Funny Papers

John Cole, Randy Bish, Clay Bennett, Darrin Bell, Mike Lucovich, Adan Zyglis, Bill Day

This Man Wants To Be President: Bush Campaign Caught In A Black Lives Matter Lie

The Black Lives Matter movement has been disrupting several political candidates at speaking events of late, so one candidate, Jeb Bush, decided to get out in front of the issue and have a ‘face to face’ meeting with the group.

Trouble is, as with much of what Jeb Bush says, that was a lie.

Oh, he did have a meeting, but there was not a single Black lives Matter activist in attendance. Instead, Jeb met with a local elected official, a GOP lobbyist and a staffer from an anti-poverty organization.

Three people; and not one a Black Lives Matter activist. One was a member of the Las Vegas Urban League, and one was North Las Vegas Mayor Pro Tem Pamela Goynes-Brown, and Sean Fellows, a registered lobbyist for a communications firm was the third.

Jeb Bush said he was meeting with Black Lives Matter.

But that was a lie. And that’s how Jeb Bush rolls.

Daily Kos

Let's Talk About Race, Baby... Again

I find it odd, and sad, and sick and twisted, that when people hear that there are more black men in prisons than white men they say it’s because black men commit most of the crimes. I mean, that is patently false, and yet people seem to believe it.

But do people believe it that when a black man is arrested on a drug charge, even a minor drug charge, most of the time they get jail, and yet when a white man is arrested on a similar charge they often get a trip to rehab.

Is that fair? Is it racist? Well, then what about this …

Back on March 23rd, the Iowa Gazette ran two separate crime stories. One story was about three white University of Iowa wrestling team members who’d been charged with burglary, and the other story, on the same day, remember, and was about four black men who were suspects in a different burglary.

Same crimes; different races. And when Lee Hermiston, the reporter who covered both stories, and the newspaper, told the tale, they posted pictures of the accused in the paper with one notable difference: the three white men were named alongside their yearbook photos, while the four black men were named alongside the mugshots taken at the time of their arrest.

White men get pretty pictures in suits and ties, while black men get mugshots.

And so, when the time comes for a trial, don’t you think it already looks like at least four of those seven men are guilty, while the other three look like it was just some colossal mistake, or college prank? This idea that the paper used two different types of photographs to portray seven different men all charged with the exact same time perpetuates the idea that black men are thieves and white men are good old college boys.

And in the stories on the alleged thieves, the white men are called wrestlers while the black men are referred to as burglars. You think that gives anyone a leg up when, or if, the cases go to trial?

Still think there isn’t a race problem in this country?

via Addicting Info

Let's Talk About Race, Baby

I find it ironic that people say the racism is over in this country because we have a Black president. I mean, take a look at how he’s treated by the far right, the racist jokes, the racist comments, and then take a look at how he’s treated by the GOP. It ain’t over, y’all, not by a long stretch, and it won’t be over if we don’t talk about it, and talk it down when we see it.

Of course, I don’t mean the way Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz wanted to talk about it. I like the idea of a conversation about race, but I don’t like the idea of my barista starting it just because he wrote #RaceTogether on my latte cup. And I guess Schultz didn’t like it either, or else his business suffered when the program went into effect, because Starbucks has stopped the practice scarcely more than a week into it.

Okay … so if we aren’t talking race while sipping a mocha frappuccino, when can we talk about it; and should we?

I say yes, and I’ll give you just one example why:

One day a co-worker was complaining about a guy who was working in her yard. Oh, he wasn’t doing anything bad, but she felt she needed to be home while he was there in case he decided to break into her house and steal something … because he’s Mexican, you know, and that’s what they do.

I said to her, “You know, Carlos is Mexican, right?”

And she literally smiled at me and said, “I know, but he’s one of the good ones.”

Yeah, we need to talk about race; and not just the anti-immigrant racism, which tends to be aimed at the more brown-skinned immigrants because they don’t look like ‘us,’ but also the blatant racism against anyone of color.

We have college students singing about “hanging n*****s from trees” while on a bus ride, and just a few weeks later Otis James Byrd, a black man, was found hanging in a tree in Mississippi.

The two aren’t related, I don’t think, but how can we say we have no race problem in this country when fraternities sing about it and black men are being lynched in Mississippi.

To be fair, no one knows if Byrd killed himself or was murdered, but his body was found strung up by a bedsheet just a few hundred yards from a house where he once lived.

And what about all these shootings of black men, young black men and children? If these shootings were reversed — black officers shooting unarmed white men — you can bet there would be outrage across the country, but when it happens to a black man, the outrage arises mostly from the black community.

Where’s the white outrage, or just plain outrage, at young men being shot dead, or choked to death, in the streets or in a park or at a Wal-Mart?

I know it’s a tough conversation to have because people have to choose their words carefully, lest they appear to be racist, but why not allow folks to stumble over their words during this talk? And then, why not educate the people about their racism? Why not call it out when you see it and hear it? Why not take a stand against people who want to hold anyone down, push them back, because of their skin color?

It’s like with that co-worker of mine. Carlos is ‘one of the good ones.’ 

I said to her, “If a Mexican man breaks into your house and steals from you, it isn’t because he’s Mexican, it’s because he’s a thief.”

You aren’t a criminal because of your skin color; you aren’t less than because of where you come from; you don’t deserve to be shot down in the street because you look menacing.

That’s the conversation we need to have, and one way to start it is to eliminate certain words from the conversation. And they are words we all use from time to time and yet, when you listen to the way they are said, you’ll see what I mean:

They and Them.

I think I told this story here once, about a client who was talking about Obama; this man is a Republican and a racist, though he’s not one because he’s the other, he just happens to be both.  But, when Obama was running for president in 2008, this man, while doing business with us, actually said to me, “I hope he doesn’t get elected,. Because all of them people will be dancing in the streets.”

I replied, “Cool, I love to dance. I guess I'm one of 'them' people!”

He muttered something about 'them' people being a different color.

I said, "Oh, I got that, but what I'm saying is that the people doing the dancing in the streets aren't just black, and they aren't just 'them' people; they're people ... like me."

Different, yes, because we're all different from one another in so many ways, but we're all people, human beings, just the same, and we should all be treated the same.

We don't need Starbucks to start the conversation, we just need to speak up when we hear racism, see racism. Start talking then.

The best way to have a conversation about race is when you hear someone say something racist. Take that second to educate them; take a minute to explain that the color of your skin, or your accent, doesn't make you any 'less' than anyone else; they just make you different.

And, seriously, different is good.

The Funny Papers