Day: April 12, 2021

Closing Thought–12Apr21

We are living in the age of TMI…..like these days we have minute by minute updates on Covid and a trial and now the death of a prince……we do NOT need this much information.

As the world says good-bye to Prince Phillip…..I have read many thoughts on his life……I am sure that he lived a good life considering he was part of the pampered royals.

I am sorry that he has passed on….but I still do not see why this is a major news story here in the US. Yes he was a force on the world stage only because he was married to the queen.

Even in the UK and the coverage of his death has gotten a bunch of complaints…..

The UK’s national broadcaster switched instantly into mourning mode when Prince Philip’s death was announced Friday. The BBC canceled its regular programming and aired special coverage hosted by black-clad news anchors throughout the day. Popular prime-time shows such as the cooking contest MasterChef were supplanted. Some Britons saw the BBC’s actions as a fitting mark of respect. For others, it was a bit much. The broadcaster received so many complaints alleging its reporting was excessive that it set up a special website page for viewers to register objections if they felt there was “too much TV coverage of the death of HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.” The AP reports it didn’t disclose how many people had complained by Saturday.

The publicly funded BBC often finds itself under fire from all sides for its treatment of major national events. When the Queen Mother Elizabeth died in 2002, the broadcaster received criticism because the announcer who delivered the news did not wear a black tie. Britain’s other TV stations also gave extensive coverage to Philip’s death, but the BBC is under unique pressure because it is taxpayer-funded. Scrutiny and questions about its role have grown in recent years as commercial rivals and streaming services give audiences more choice. BBC Director-General Tim Davie has acknowledged the organization must evolve with changing times, but says it remains essential to British society. “We have a different purpose” than broadcasters such as Netflix, Davie told UK lawmakers last month. “I’m not running a business for profit. I’m running … an organization for purpose.”

I am sorry that the queen has lost her mate of 73 years…..but here in the US it should not be the major suction on the news cycle….it will be endless.

I apologize if this offends but our country is going to Hell and yet we are ‘treated’ to hour after hour of the mundane .

Turn The Page!

“lego ergo scribo”

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Jim Crow 2.0?

These days a common theme in most political talks shows is the use of the term “Jim Crow”.

Personally I do not like the term “Jim Crow 2.0” for I do not think that it tells the whole story.

Too many have NO idea what is meant about Jim Crow laws….call it what it is…..

Many of our states are in the process of suppressing voters rights…..and the debate centers around an old law from days past…..the Jim Crow laws….

But what the Hell are these laws?

About time for some clarity.

“Jim Crow” has long been a derogatory slang term for a black man, making it a fitting name for the laws that were in force in the South and some border states from 1877 through the mid-1960s. These laws were in place to maintain racial segregation after the Civil War ended. Initially, Jim Crow laws required the separation of white people and people of color on all forms of public transportation and in schools. Eventually, the segregation expanded to include interaction and commingling in schools, cemeteries, parks, theaters, and restaurants. Often, anyone who was suspected of having a black ancestor, even just one in the very distant past, was considered to be a person of color and therefore subject to the Jim Crow laws. The overarching purpose of Jim Crow laws was to prevent contact between black people and white people as equals, establishing white people as above black people.

Jim Crow laws began in 1877 when the Supreme Court ruled that states couldn’t prohibit segregation on common modes of transportation such as trains, streetcars, and riverboats. Later, in 1883, the Supreme Court overturned specific parts of the Civil Rights Act of 1875, confirming the “separate but equal” concept. During the ensuing years, states passed laws instituting requirements for separate and equal accommodations for blacks on public modes of transportation. Black people also had separate schools, hospitals, churches, cemeteries, restrooms, and prisons, and these facilities were usually inferior to facilities for white people, although the laws called for the separate facilities to be of equal quality. Jim Crow laws also influenced social interactions between blacks and whites. Failure to enforce these laws resulted in fines or imprisonment.

To learn more on this attempt to suppress……https://www.history.com/topics/early-20th-century-us/jim-crow-laws

Now that you have a working knowledge of the historic context we can move on….

Following the election of Barack Obama, the party immediately passed hundreds of new voter restrictions that were facially neutral but carefully aimed at disenfranchising Black voters. As a federal judge ruled in 2016, voter restrictions like those in North Carolina “target African-Americans with almost surgical precision.” Now in the wake of the 2020 election, that targeting has resumed with renewed vigor.

And the in 2020 that other guy that was running for re-election to the presidency lost….and the rush was on to make sure that the tidal wave of voters could not impact the control of state legislative and governing would remain in the hands of the old white guy network….thus new laws to suppress black/brown voters…..plus the tool of gerrymandering will also be used to decide where voters will live (voter districts).

Call it what you like…..if it reads like Jim Crow……acts like Jim Crow….then the good chance it is Jim Crow 2.0.

More on voter suppression…..https://lobotero.com/2021/03/30/voter-rights-and-suppression/

Be Smart!

Learn Stuff!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Which Are You?

First I would like to thank the few readers that also follow GSFP…..your participation is much appreciated.

I re-blog this pot for those that have not yet found my opinion blog……chuq

Gulf South Free Press

We have another Constitutional crisis…..233 year in the making.

These days there is lots of debate on the Constitution…..and in the beginning there were two sides…the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists…….

But what does that mean?

Federalism was born in 1787, when Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison wrote 85 essays collectively known as the Federalist papers. These eloquent political documents encouraged Americans to adopt the newly-written Constitution and its stronger central government.

Largely influenced by the ideas of Alexander Hamilton, the Federalists succeeded in convincing the Washington administration to assume national and state debts, pass tax laws, and create a central bank. These moves undoubtedly saved the fledgling democracy from poverty and even destruction. In foreign policy, Federalists generally favored England over France.

And their opponents in the Constitution fight…..the Anti-Federalists……but who were these men?

Not all Americans liked the new U.S. Constitution offered to them in 1787. Some…

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An Invocation To War?

Events seem to be spiraling in Ukraine in the mash-up with Russia…..something I tried to bring to the readers of IST and try to make people understand that this situation could get serious very quickly…..https://lobotero.com/2021/04/05/ukraine-vs-russia/

After I attempted to raise the alarm to conflict in the wings…..Ukraine has invoked the agreement with NATO……

Colonel-General Ruslan Khomchak, the commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s armed forces, is quoted today as boasting that his nation’s military is capable of responding to what he deemed the “aggravation of the situation” in the Donbass, in his words the temporarily occupied territory of Donetsk and Lugansk, and “along the entire Ukrainian-Russian border.”

The above regions are only two of five Ukrainian (or former Ukrainian) oblasts bordering Russia. The total land border between Ukraine and Russia as Ukraine computes it is some 1,225 miles; Russia’s border with Donetsk and Lugansk is 255 miles.

The Ukrainian military chief has extended the line of conflict by almost five times. In language evocative of the worst days of the Cold War, Khomchak also intoned: “Ukraine is supported by the entire civilized world. We are not alone in the face of the enemy.”

As a concrete example of what he was alluding to, and in arguably the most inflammatory language used to date in regard to the conflict in the Donbass, the country’s top military commander mentioned NATO’s collective military defense clause:

“We have intensified the military dialogue with NATO at the strategic level and deepened cooperation in the Black Sea region. The Armed Forces of Ukraine are taking part in collective training events for troops [forces], including in NATO exercises on the subject of Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty.”

At the same time Interfax-Ukraine reported that an American delegation led by the U.S. defense attaché to Ukraine, Colonel Brittany Stewart, paid a working visit to the Joint Forces Operation headquarters. From 2014-2018 known as the Anti-Terrorist Operation, Joint Forces Operation is the name for Ukraine’s war in the Donbass.

The American delegation met with troops assigned to “the contact line with the enemy, talked with Ukrainian defenders and once again made sure [were apprised?] of the presence of Russian mercenaries in Donbas.” It also visited a memorial to Ukrainian soldiers killed in the seven-year war in the Donbass.

Colonel Stewart said at a briefing, “The U.S. government is deeply concerned over the situation that is developing near the borders of Ukraine and in every possible way supports the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.”

The U.S. and NATO in every possible way support Kiev’s war near the Russian border.

(antiwar.com)

Once again the drums of war are beating and the clock is ticking…..time to let real diplomacy take the lead….not the ‘gunboat diplomacy’ of our past.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”