Casual Observation

10 Comments

1. 

   DerFarm on March 18, 2016 at 4:41 pm

   ummmmm….Boo?  You’re channeling your inner mino.  In 1957 and 1965, Black people in the South were dependant (in a significant sense) upon the good will and active reponses of non-Southern Whites to insure the their participation in the political life of the communities surrounding their enclaves.  The Bean Sidhe scream for that societal aberration was June, 1964 and was raised by Malcolm X:  “… by any means necessary …”

   Things have changed.  Maybe not enough, not without mis-steps, 2 steps forward and 1 in reverse but its better now than it was.  We aren’t so much backsliding as lancing the boils and turning over the rocks to expose the slime in our midst.

   50 years ago, racial gerrymandering was unheard of because it was not necessary.  50 years ago same-sex marriage was not only unheard of, it was inconceivable and anti-miscegenation was the law of the land in all of the Old South.  The NAACP, NOI, BTA movements were hamstrung by lack of communications between communities and conclaves.

   But 50 years have passed.  Gerrymandering exists, but the means to defeat the cheating also exists.  Inter-racial and intra-sexual marriage exists.  And will not be revoked, the ravings of evil bigots notwithstanding. Black Lives Matter exists and is making a powerful statement around the nation and the world.

   We are entering a period of youth activism that will be unprecedented in its scope.  In the ’60s we had to scream and rave to be heard.  We had to revolt to be seen.  We had to die to be taken seriously.  These kids today are going to ignore the old bastards in their way.  Sooner or later they will take up the reins and run over the roadblocks.

   Boo!  Its 1966 all over again, but this time Bernie’s Kids are not going to faced with Thurmond, Bilbo, an entrenched Klan, and a south that will be solid for 50 years.  

   Oh yeah, the times are still changing.

2. 

   BooMan on March 18, 2016 at 4:47 pm

   Classic.

   • 

     mino on March 18, 2016 at 5:32 pm

     Had not seen that before.

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     Shaun Appleby on March 18, 2016 at 6:34 pm

     I wonder if the ‘Kennedy set’ casually referenced is not Edward Kennedy’s (as the transcribers suggest) but a pro-Kennedy faction within the intelligence community which was still bitter over the assassinations of the Kennedy brothers.

     Why the hell was the Associate Director, the second-ranking FBI officer, leaking material on the Nixon presidency in the first place? He wanted a different job? Sounds more like some in the intelligence community were worried about Nixon; Hoover dead, no-one to stand in Nixon’s way.

     The intelligence narrative for the period from the 1963 Kennedy assassination to Watergate roughly a decade later, with Nosenko in it’s midst, sometimes resembles a historic struggle of which we see only occasional outlines.

3. 

   Shaun Appleby on March 18, 2016 at 7:03 pm

   So this is the happening over at Breitbart:

   Several conservative talking heads and Beltway consultant types have been very angry about the rise of businessman Trump, who is pushing for American sovereignty, a reversal of neoconservative foreign policy, and competitive bidding for pharmaceuticals even though the drug companies that fund the Republican Party would take a financial hit.

   So far, anti-Trump think pieces referencing William F. Buckley have been ineffective. Memes comparing Trump to Hitler haven’t worked. So these Republicans are getting more Nixon-y. They’re coming out with an Enemies List.

   Patrick Howley – Blacklisted: Drudge, Coulter, Hannity, Carson, Breitbart, O’Reilly, Christie Make GOP Smart Set’s List of `Ideological Hustlers’ Breitbart 18 Mar 16

   Ideological hustlers? Conservative movement professionals? Ha. Have at it, gents, I can practically hear the tumbrels rolling. Is the Quicken Loan Arena an open-carry venue? Still long metal detectors.

   • 

     mino on March 18, 2016 at 7:15 pm

     LOL

4. 

   BooMan on March 18, 2016 at 7:50 pm

   Chilling.

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     TarheelDem on March 18, 2016 at 9:24 pm

     How disasters lay the groundwork for genocides.

     Wonder if any Air Force veterans who were flying those “milk runs” appreciate the contempt and cluelessness that was in the White House?

     But…the one thing Kissinger said that was true was the Air Force they had not being designed for the war they were fighting.  But back to cluelessness with their nostalgia for the World War II Air Force.

     Interesting stuff you’re putting up.

5. 

   TarheelDem on March 18, 2016 at 9:29 pm

   It seems to be a blood oath for some Southern politicians that extends from 1865.  The hell with the Constitution, they say; we will maintain white power by any means necessary.  But in our Christian compassion, we will not assert the maximum oppression over the Negroes.

   And it is rooted in the increasingly absurd assumption that white civilization is advanced.  Yes, “white civilization”.  It is a shock to see that once-common frame in its full glory in this opinion.

   Any idea of the author and the source?

6. 

   centerfielddj on March 19, 2016 at 11:40 pm

   The Cambridge debate is just as remarkable to view as it is to read about:

   The second link BooMan provides here gives an accurate telling of this remarkable event.