False Choices...

It's official. Fox News & MSNBC are two sides of the same coin. Both networks traffic in political mendacity and offer little in intelligent discussion. Every editorial angle is labeled with the false choice of the tired "liberal versus conservative" paradigm. Fox News thrives and secures it's resources by feeding on the vapid minds of racists. Yes I said it. Racists. Their demographically shrinking audience, for the most part, gets titillated by any racially motivated vitriol belched out by T-Rump.

Why? Because MSNBC amplifies Fox News and all the other conservative entities that kneel to the alter of ALEC and the NRA. If you watch MSNBC for more than eight minutes you will see one of their commentators, and it doesn't matter which one, "react" to something that was said on Fox News...or at a T-Rump rally...or at CPAC, and on and on...

MSNBC thrives on giving voice to the witless. Some of the goofy shit being said by conservatives is chilling, not amusing. I don't think the smiling condescension, that exudes from many of the MSNBC hosts, is helping to find solutions to this nation's problems. 

MSNBC needs a makeover. Reactionary media is dependent on the status quo. Conflict is good for corporate coffers. When elections are "perceived" to be close the purchase of campaign ads increases. So it's financially expedient to rely on polls that project tight races even when the polls are suspect. When the election ends, the drumbeat for the next election begins!

I admit, I watch MSNBC but I'd like to see less emphasis on conflict and more focus on new ideas, fresh perspectives, and real problem solvers. I don't care about political leanings...I care about the future of this nation!

Wakanda was Real!!

Black Panther continues to break box office records and inspire legions of people around the world. The movie successfully blended comic book action with a political/social awareness that very few movies have been able to achieve. However, the concept of Wakanda, a secret advanced city within the continent of Africa, should not be dismissed as a made up fantasy that can only be found in a work of fiction. Truth be told...Wakanda was real and it's real name is Timbuktu! It is historically tragic that Timbuktu has been relegated to the construct that it was a backward, non-influential, outpost where one is "banished" to. Generations of colonial scholars have been successful in perpetrating a massive disinformation campaign to minimize it's real place in the development of human civilization. Racism was, and is, their motive because any acknowledgement that Timbuktu's cultural, academic, and scientific influence on Western civilization undercuts the dangerous and venal philosophy that continues to state that  historical African societies had no influence on modern civilization. Nothing could be further from the truth! The evidence of Timbuktu's rightful place in history can be found very easily. The Lost Libraries of Timbuktu is an excellent documentary on Youtube that tries to correct the mis-education about this important city. The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu by Joshua Hammer is a great companion piece because it details the harrowing attempt to save precious manuscripts and texts that predate ALL Western scholarly texts. I encourage you to get "woke" about the real significance of Timbuktu. Once you understand this you will see that Wakanda was a very real place!

Now What?

The criminal ineptness of our current president is not surprising. He suffers from a lack of intellectual curiosity, believes in an evil racial world view, and has surrounded himself with incompetent elitist buffoons. Our beloved country is shedding a political snakeskin of plutocracy, malfeasance, and greed that is resetting the internecine alignments of allies and foes alike. He is so bad that even republicans are holding their nose when they sit next to him because he stinks of stoopidness (sic) and most likely too much Old Spice. The Citizens United Case, decided by the Supreme Court in 2010, declared that restricting the use of campaign finance funds was a violation of free speech, or something like that. This began the long painful road that T-RUMP (tee-rump) traveled towards his dangerous destination of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Dark money from secret sources (Russia, Saudi Arabia, The NRA, etc) flowed by the millions into the campaign coffers of the soulless GOP. To be fair I am sure that the other side had it's hand out too. Secret campaign donations, craven rightist media whores, and a truth bending political strategy led to Sarah Palin, the Tea Party (remember them), and ultimately T-Rump. Oh I forgot, the putrid political cocktail was not complete until a jigger of racism was added. Now what? How will this end? I would like to see the Special Counsel create a prime time reality show for the next several months and go "behind the scenes" as he pursues the final results for Manafort and the rest of the corrupt group. We would see scenes of Mueller working intensely with his staff juxtaposed with softer scenes of Mueller visiting black barber shops getting advice on next moves from a few brothas. I would LOVE to see that! The most relevant stories of the past few weeks have been about the possible/probable financial connections between the NRA, Russia, and the GOP. One could surmise that the GOP's silence and interference in the many Russia investigations is related to that. This might be the investigatory caulk that seals in the details of this sordid point in our history. Keep your eye on this aspect and wait for the ultimate reveal by Summer. For now we will have to put up with T-Rump's shenanigans and brace ourselves for the long term impact of his flailing presidency. He is beyond grace and will deserve any criminal fall out from his dumb ass acts.