You Have to Give It to President Obama...He's Consistent

If I had to use just one word to describe President Obama, it would be consistent. You have to hand it to President Obama, he has consistently enjoyed incredible support from black voters without promising anything. To look at it on the bright side, he also hasn't broken any promises to this constituency.  As I detailed in an earlier post, practically every other voting bloc has been brought to the table and have been able to make significant gains for their particular agenda, the exception being black voters.  

US Government Insiders Agree...Americans Are Stupid

I don't know exactly what it is about Iran, but it's pretty clear to me that President Obama has a soft spot for this country.

Rewind: Early on, the Obama Administration promised to further cripple Iran with continued economic sanctions if they continued their quest for nuclear arms. Some crippling, instead of a kick in the shin, Obama quickly lifted the sanctions on Iran as required by the terms of his super-wacky nuclear deal with Iran.  As far as deals go, this one will definitely go down in history as one of the worst ever for the US.  Not only were the sanctions lifted, but Obama quickly released $150 billion dollars that was being held by the US for previous bad behavior by Iran. But what was most alarming was the revelation that the agreement was not legally binding because Iran didn't sign it, they refused to.  And when you read the details it becomes even more bizarre considering that the agreement essentially allows Iran to monitor itself and requires outside inspectors to notify them days before they come to inspect. Here's what I wrote about the deal when it was first "negotiated".

Nearly a year after the nuclear deal, Ben Rhodes, Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications for President Obama and an Advisor on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action with Iran admitted that the administration misled the American public about the deal (well, well,

"Blacks Lost Economic Ground Under Obama"...So What!

Tavis Smiley has done it again.  He has caused a controversy for stating that under President Obama, blacks have lost economic ground in every indicator.  He actually predicted this would happen a couple of years ago when he said, "The data is going to indicate sadly that when the Obama administration is over, black people will have lost ground in every single leading economic indicator category."  And just as it was back in October of 2013 when he made the prediction, so it is today...people really don't like what he said (well, some people, that is).

When It Comes to Refugees, Obama's Values Are Quite Fluid

I'm going to start by saying if you can not tolerate facts, and facts that show that President Obama has shifting values when it comes to refugees from the Middle East, then you should stop reading this post now. I also want to warn you that there are some very graphic images contained in this post.

In recent days, following the bloody terrorist attacks in Paris, President Obama has been driving home the point that when it comes to admitting Syrian refugees into the United States, our values must remain in tack.  In other words, we should welcome them in, without all of the silly hand wringing about safety or unreasonable demands for assurances that the vetting process will be impenetrable.  Speaking at the G20 economic summit in Antalya, Turkey last week, the president said, "Slamming the door in their faces would be a betrayal of our values."

Is Obama Willfully Ignoring the Obvious About Mass Shootings?

By law, a person suffering from a severe mental illness (I'm talking about an adult) and demonstrating extremely bizarre behavior cannot be forcibly hospitalized or institutionalized unless he or she has become a threat to themselves or to others.  Hospitalization can be ordered by a court, but only if the person breaks the law.  By law,  a severely mentally ill person can't be forced to take their medication, even if the medication helps stabilize them.  By law, they don't have to go to therapy.  By law, even when hospitalized, they have a right to sign themselves out after three to five day days.  By law, a severely mentally ill person can choose to not receive psychiatriac or

psychological treatment.  In short, the law gives persons with severe mental illness the right to make decisions that can have tremendous consequences, even tragic ones.  And believe it or not, I understand why.  It wasn't very long ago when the mentally ill had no rights when it came to their medical care, and consequently, many suffered horrible conditions and treatment in institutions.

If You See Something and Say Something, You're a Racist

When 14-year-old Texas teen Ahmed Mohamed took his hastily assembled homemade clock to school to surprise his engineering teacher, the surprise was on him. When Mohamed presented the clock to his teacher, he nervously complimented Mohamed on his work, but he also gave him a warning, "I would advise you not to show any other teachers."  I suspect he told him that because he knew two things for sure; the Irving Independent School District has repeatedly asked both staff and students to "immediately report if they observe any suspicious items or if they observe any suspicious behavior."  He also knew that a case containing a circuit board with numerous wires and a power supply connected to a digital display looked more like a bomb than a clock.

This Is How We Do It

Finally got the last show up on Youtube.  It took a while, but the good news is that I now know how to upload really large files in a fairly short time.  You won't believe how long the other ones took to load...let's just say I could drive over a hundred miles and it would still be loading when I got back...but no more!

On the latest show (dated 8/10/15), Chris and I knock it out the ball park.  It's a hot show--maybe too hot...nah, it's just real  But here's what we talk about:

Presidential politics - why the front runners are leading and why the others won't catch up

The deadliest place for blacks

Jonathan Pollard's Release: See, Obama Really Is Israel's Friend

As we've seen, there has been lots of contention between President Obama and Israel's Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, mostly over the issue of the Iranian nuclear deal. It if weren't for the fact that the nuke deal is so serious, and has the potential for such far-reaching implications, it would actually be quite entertaining watching these two.

President Obama's deal with Iran is the best we could do, because any deal is better than no deal at all--at least according to President Obama.  But Netanyahu maintains that no deal is better than any deal, especially this one, which Congress has a little over a month to vote on.  Since the signing of the premliminary agreement, we've learned several things about the deal, and none of them are very good.  Clearly, all of this wrangling over nukes and Iran has intensified the friction between Obama and Netanyahu.  It's also clear that President Obama is feeling...well, maybe a little guilty about this deal. It's only a hunch I have, but why else would President Obama release Jonathan Pollard (he's scheduled for parole in November), a man who is alternately called the biggest spy in U.S. history or the worst traitor in modern history?  Either way, his dasterdly deeds were of historical proportion.

Pollard, if you'll recall, is the former anaylst in the U.S. Navy's Anti-Terroist Alert Center, who was

In Kenya, Gay Rights Lectures Cost $1 Billion Dollars

I began writing this post last Friday, on the first day of President Obama's trip to Kenya. I thought it was nice to see him return to the homeland of his father.  Of course there was also presidential work to be done, as this trip was both personal and business.  No doubt, Kenyans would be thrilled to see President Obama--and they were. With so much going on in Kenya, such as widespread terror attacks, including the those specifically against Christians, along with the quest to build a stronger economy, improve infrastructure, healthcare, roles for women in society and education, I was very interested to see what the president would say to the people of Kenya, the land of his father.

The media focused primarily on the fact the President Obama was going to his father's homeland, and the fact that he is the first sitting American president to visit Kenya, but there was so much more.  For instance, he met with a group of entrepreneurs from around the world to discuss Power Africa, his 2013 electricity initiative, he laid a wreath at the memorial to the victims of the 1998 bombing of the US Embassy and attended a State dinner. But what I found quite interesting was the joint press conference held with Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, and the single issue, among an array of issues that could have been discussed, that President Obama chose to address.

"The fight against terrorism in Kenya should not be used to justify a crackdown on dissent," began the President.  He then said, "No nation should discriminate against gays and lesbians." He compared

Too Bad President Obama Didn't Talk With Uncle Oscar

A guy, we'll call Uncle Oscar, promised his troubled nephew--the one that's been a problem child from day one--that if he toed the line, he'd buy him a new car.  This nephew of his has always been a "problem child." As a young kid, he would bully the other kindergartners out of their candy; in the fourth grade, he stole his teacher's purse; at age 14 he robbed an elderly man, and last year, he broke into three homes in the neighborhood. But despite his awful behavior, he's been lucky. He keeps getting slapped on the wrist for his behavior--he's never even been to a youth detention center. Uncle Oscar, like everyone else in the family felt that it was just a matter of time before this kid's actions would either land him in prison, cause serious harm to someone, or worse.

So, Uncle Oscar, believing that he had a way to change the boy, offered his nephew an incentive that most everyone thought was not only unbelievably generous, but unwise.  Uncle Oscar told his nephew "If you'll behave yourself, I'll give you the keys to a new car".  A few weeks passed and Uncle Oscar learned that his nephew hadn't been behaving.  He joined a gang, hadn't been to school

Baltimore, Pt 2 (The Part Nobody Wants to Talk About)

Like a lot of people, I watched the coverage of the riots in Baltimore (thankfully things have calmed down some).  The coverage was practically wall-to-wall, with an assortment of experts opining on the police, civil rights, spinal cord injuries, the poor, prosecutorial overreach, jobs, the lack of jobs, racism and American imperialism for starters.  I'm pretty sure the producers of these shows are quite busy trying to come up with new angles for this story and tracking down people to provide their expertise--which is more opinion than anything else. That's the nature of the 24-hour news business. It's how they attract and keep viewers, after all, who wants to miss the "latest development" or "breaking news"?

Despite all the coverage, I've only seen a handful of people that actually add anything new to the story. For the most part, the coverage has been a regurgitation of frenzied rioters, protesters (who are alternately angry or jubilant) carrying various signs emblazoned with messages such as "black lives matter," "stop killing black people," and  "Justice for Freddie Gray."  Rounding things out are the

Dining South...Meeting West

Recently, I was out for a birthday celebration with my closest girlfriends; Eibur, Lisa, Wendy and Kim.  It's a tradition that we have--but have not fastidiously kept (we're working on that). We celebrate by going out to dinner.  We pick a good restaurant, and eat, drink, laugh and talk the night away.  It's really a special thing that we have because we've been friends for a long time.

Actually, we were celebrating two birthdays, and because of my schedule, the group split, with three going to a place on the Gold Coast first.  We later decided to meet at The Promontory in Hyde Park.  I like The Promontory. The environment is hip and the decor, sleek and stylishly. The menu is a step beyond the ordinary, and includes a variety of offerings made with hearth roasted game.

While Wendy and I waited for the others to arrive, I was looking around the room and noticed Dr. Cornell West sitting with a small group.   For the few who may be unfamiliar with Dr. West, he is a