Real People
“I believe in the brotherhood of man, all men, but I don't believe in brotherhood with anybody who doesn't want brotherhood with me. I believe in treating people right, but I'm not going to waste my time trying to treat somebody right who doesn't know how to return the treatment.” You believe in treating everybody right whether they put a rope around your neck or whether they put you in the grave. Well, my belief isn't that strong. I believe in the brotherhood of man, but I think that anybody who wants to lynch a Negro is not qualified for that brotherhood and I don't put forth any effort to get them into that brotherhood. You want to save him and I don't.”
~Malcolm X, Speech to the Peace Corps, December 1964.
october 12, 2018
Is anyone tired of the media saying we need to get along, we need to reach across the aisle and
SamKnause - demo underground
8/30/18
we need to compromise ???
I am fucking sick of hearing it !!!
Did John Boehner reach across the aisle and compromise when Obama was president ??? Fuck no !!!
Did Mitch McConnell reach across the aisle when Obama was president ??? Fuck no !!!
Did the republicans reach across the aisle when Obama was the president ??? Fuck no !!!
Did the republicans compromise when Obama was president ??? Fuck no !!!
From day one it was the republicans plan to stop Obama from accomplishing anything and
making him a one term president.
It is apparent republicans think the definition of compromise means giving them everything they want,
and stopping the Democratic party from getting anything done that the MAJORITY of Americans want and need.
The republican party is now the party of Trump.
Do you reach across the aisle to insane people ???
Do you compromise with insane people ???
Do you enable corruption ???
Do you ignore the lies ???
As I type this I am listening to MSNBC and they are talking about compromise.
The Trump party has no intention of compromising or reaching across the aisle !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Why should the Democratic party be expected to do so ???
I am fucking sick of hearing it !!!
Did John Boehner reach across the aisle and compromise when Obama was president ??? Fuck no !!!
Did Mitch McConnell reach across the aisle when Obama was president ??? Fuck no !!!
Did the republicans reach across the aisle when Obama was the president ??? Fuck no !!!
Did the republicans compromise when Obama was president ??? Fuck no !!!
From day one it was the republicans plan to stop Obama from accomplishing anything and
making him a one term president.
It is apparent republicans think the definition of compromise means giving them everything they want,
and stopping the Democratic party from getting anything done that the MAJORITY of Americans want and need.
The republican party is now the party of Trump.
Do you reach across the aisle to insane people ???
Do you compromise with insane people ???
Do you enable corruption ???
Do you ignore the lies ???
As I type this I am listening to MSNBC and they are talking about compromise.
The Trump party has no intention of compromising or reaching across the aisle !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Why should the Democratic party be expected to do so ???
A people who elect corrupt politicians, imposters, thieves, and
traitors are not victims, ...accomplicies - "George Orwell"
TOWARD A POLITICS OF UNGOVERNABILITY: SHUTTING DOWN AMERICAN-STYLE AUTHORITARIANISM
BY HENRY GIROUX | APRIL 17, 2017
"The established political parties and politicians are nothing more than crude lobbyists and shock troops for the financial elite who believe everything is for sale. The boundaries of humanity are now inscribed and defined exclusively through the metrics of the twin logic of commercial transactions and the politics of disposability. The horrors unfolding under the Trump administration are not only abetted by white supremacists, religious evangelicals, but also by liberals who still believe that capitalism and democracy are synonymous, and who appear to delight and rush to support any military intervention or act of aggression the United States wages against a foreign power. Liberals are affronted over alleged charges of Russian spying but say nothing about their own country which does far more than spy on other countries it disagrees with, it overthrows them through either illegal means or military force."
something to think about!!!
more american students have been killed in school shootings in 2018 than the total number of american troops killed in war zones around the world!!!
---------
reflections on today's events
*american values: greed, corruption, and racism
*the TRAITOROUS gop is trying to place another unfit judge on the supreme court.
*how do white women rationalize voting for trump?
*trump administration steals children from refugee seekers, a policy designed and implemented by racists.
*trump's infrastructure plan is a roadmap to privatization of the commons while his budget plan is a roadmap to starvation of the people.
*why don't repubs emphasize collecting taxes instead of lowering taxes? perhaps if everyone paid what they should we could have a fairer system.
*trump's grandfather was an ignorant immigrant and he was admitted to america.
*Why does the demo. party not heavily recruit for black voters because it is run by fools who think republicans will vote for demos.
*if you are not embarrassed by america's history, then you are living a history based on lies.
*trump voters elected a liar and thief as president who is now under multiple investigations, it just shows that you cannot tell stupid people anything
*if you pay attention, you will realize that you don't have a government that gives a shit about working people.
*Ignorance, religion, and war are the greatest enemies of mankind.
*GOP plans to kill endangered species act, i guess they won't be happy until their are no animals/birds in the US.
*the great thing about having trump as president is that now there is no reason to watch main-stream-media for truth and "fair and balanced" journalism, you know that it is all bullshit.
*republicans pretend having taxpayers pay for stupid border wall is the same as Mexico paying for it. but what is sad, their dumbass supporters will believe it.
*everything you think is true about american institutions: media, banks, businesses, education, healthcare, etc. is a lie.
*the colonizers and their descendants claim to own this hemisphere like a burglar owns your tv set.
MAGA: a serial rapist on the Supreme Court
First Black TV Academy Chairman Exits His Role After Two Years
By Tia Berger - atlanta black star
October 12, 2018
LOS ANGELES, CA – SEPTEMBER 17: Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Television Academy Hayma Washington speaksa onstage during the 70th Emmy Awards at Microsoft Theater on September 17, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
The first Black chairman and CEO of the Television Academy has decided to leave his position.
Hayma Washington was elected as the first African American chairman to the post in November 2016, succeeding Bruce Rosenblum who held the role for five years. Since Washington’s election, he’s overseen two Emmy telecasts, a new code of conduct for members and the academy has secured an eight-year contract with the four major networks that broadcast the Emmy Awards in rotation.
However, Washington will not be seeking a second two-year term with the Academy and has chosen to focus on producing and advocating for diversity and inclusion.
“As I looked back at what we’ve accomplished, I couldn’t be prouder and it just felt for me as a professional and personally it was time to move on,” Washington told Variety. “I’m an independent producer and as you sit in that position, you really are limited in some of the things you can do with your agendas, and mine being exclusion and inclusion and diversity. I just felt that as an independent producer, if I could get back out into that arena, I could just be so much more effective in what was personally important to me.”
The chairman said once his term expires with the Academy, he plans to return back as a producer full time. “I have to be honest,” said Washington. “Whenever I considered what I was suited for, it always came to mind that I had to be mindful of my responsibility to the Academy as far as taking a job that would send me out of the country for long periods of time.”
The chairman’s decision follows shortly before the Academy’s upcoming elections of new officers and governors in Nov. He gave potential candidates a few words of advice and said it’s a “great opportunity to be of service” for those coming from “an honest place.”
Washington worked as an executive producer for “Amazing Racing” on CBS and has producing credits from the ESPYs and the MTV Video Music Awards. He told the news outlet, “I’m leaving the academy in good shape.”
Hayma Washington was elected as the first African American chairman to the post in November 2016, succeeding Bruce Rosenblum who held the role for five years. Since Washington’s election, he’s overseen two Emmy telecasts, a new code of conduct for members and the academy has secured an eight-year contract with the four major networks that broadcast the Emmy Awards in rotation.
However, Washington will not be seeking a second two-year term with the Academy and has chosen to focus on producing and advocating for diversity and inclusion.
“As I looked back at what we’ve accomplished, I couldn’t be prouder and it just felt for me as a professional and personally it was time to move on,” Washington told Variety. “I’m an independent producer and as you sit in that position, you really are limited in some of the things you can do with your agendas, and mine being exclusion and inclusion and diversity. I just felt that as an independent producer, if I could get back out into that arena, I could just be so much more effective in what was personally important to me.”
The chairman said once his term expires with the Academy, he plans to return back as a producer full time. “I have to be honest,” said Washington. “Whenever I considered what I was suited for, it always came to mind that I had to be mindful of my responsibility to the Academy as far as taking a job that would send me out of the country for long periods of time.”
The chairman’s decision follows shortly before the Academy’s upcoming elections of new officers and governors in Nov. He gave potential candidates a few words of advice and said it’s a “great opportunity to be of service” for those coming from “an honest place.”
Washington worked as an executive producer for “Amazing Racing” on CBS and has producing credits from the ESPYs and the MTV Video Music Awards. He told the news outlet, “I’m leaving the academy in good shape.”
I watched a rape. For five decades, I did nothing.
Many men have stories to tell and confessions to make. This is mine.
By Don Palmerine - washington post
Don Palmerine is a former reporter and columnist living in Pittsburgh.
October 5, 2018
I was both an observer and a participant in a teenage rape. I was 17, and it was 1969, about a year before I would be drafted into the Army.
I went to a small Catholic school in Pittsburgh called St. Justin, for the children of mostly blue-collar workers, and I had been invited to a party by a friend from another Catholic high school. Many football players from that school would be there. I wasn’t very popular with these boys at the time, so I went; I wanted to be friends with them. I knew a few of them and wanted to get to know the rest. These boys were from the suburbs, and their parents mostly had more money than mine.
I don’t remember the month it occurred or the exact town it was in, but I remember that the party was in an upper-class suburb south of Pittsburgh. I don’t remember how I got home. These details don’t matter to me. What I remember clearly was the rape. Recalling it, for me, is like remembering where I was when I found out that President John Kennedy had been assassinated. There is a before and an after.
At one point, a boy told several of us to go outside and look through a window into the basement because another boy, a football player, had taken a girl there. (There were far more boys than girls at this party.) When we peered through, we saw the girl passed out on a sofa, her feet facing us. As the boy approached her, he waved to us, smiling. He proceeded to remove her jeans and then her underwear. It was the first time I had seen a girl naked. He climbed on top of her and penetrated her. She immediately woke up and tried to fight him off. At this point, we all scattered in the yard. No one said anything. There was just nervous laughter.
Eventually, we all went back into the house. I don’t remember anyone drinking, other than the girls. I did not drink anything. We must have gone into a bedroom, because the next thing I recall is standing with about 10 other boys around a bed on which a different girl had passed out. Everyone was touching her through her clothing. I placed my hand on her leg and quickly removed it.
One boy kept turning the lights on and off. When they came on, everyone removed their hands from the girl’s body. In the dark, everyone put their hands back on her. Everyone would laugh. It was some kind of game, and we all seemed to understand the rules. This happened four times, and then we all left the room. I’m glad it didn’t go further.
I recall the jocks ignoring me for most of the party, and eventually, I went home. I never saw those boys again, and the friend who’d invited me has since died. I hadn’t known either of the girls, and I never saw them again, either. A few months ago, I attempted to find the boy who had committed the rape, searching for old yearbooks and documents at the public library. But I wasn’t successful.
I knew then, and I really know now, that I had committed a crime. I have felt guilty about it my whole life. I get angry when I think about my teenage self and those boys I wanted to impress. In recent days, listening to the testimony of Christine Blasey Ford brought back these memories. I feel a lot of compassion for her. What she says she went through was so similar, and I know she’s telling the truth.
There were years when I didn’t think about that night. Serving in the Army made me forget about it, as did my college life and career. I was too busy to dwell on a teenage rape I witnessed.
But the guilt always remained, and the memory was still there. Even though I worked as a newspaper reporter and wrote a column for 12 years, I never wanted to write about the incident. Guilt had turned to shame. I began to dwell on it again only when all those women came forward about Bill Cosby, whom I had admired as a comedian. That’s why I told my wife and three boys around the dinner table one night that I had once witnessed a rape. We talked about it and concluded that it could still happen today. We discussed the Steubenville, Ohio, football players who abused a 16-year-old girl.
I wonder what happened to all the other boys who saw what I saw through the basement window. Do they think about it? Do they remember like I do? This could have been a normal weekend for them.
I wonder about the girls, how they survived that night. In 1969, there was nobody to turn to. They certainly wouldn’t have gone to the police — at the time, a subtle notion persisted that an assault was always the girl’s fault, that she shouldn’t have gotten herself into that position in the first place. They wouldn’t have told their parents, who would probably have scolded them. They are about my age now, 67, and I wonder if they had families. If they remember this night. If they told their daughters.
I wanted to tell this story because I believe it’s time for men to tell the truth about the ways they’ve abused women and what our role has been in creating a culture that tolerates this. We all have seen things; we’ve all heard other men talk. I remember sitting in a bar with some acquaintances about 30 years ago when one of the men, a local magistrate in a poor area of West Virginia, bragged about a system he had when pretty girls were charged with a DUI. He said that sometimes he would take them back to his office and offer them a deal. He would drop the DUI charges if they gave him oral sex. I squirmed in my seat. Was he just talking, locker-room style? Did it really happen? It didn’t even occur to me to report him to anyone.
My boys are 19, 17 and 11 years old. What I teach them about the treatment of girls is simple: respect, respect, respect. If they witness something like I did, go to the authorities. This is no time to worry about being a snitch. My two older boys are more aware about consent issues than I was at their ages. I reminded them that I was the same age when I witnessed the rape; my very first vision of sexual contact was a rape. My sons agree I was a foolish, immature teenager. They know I would never do anything like that again. They see how I treat their mother, which might be the best lesson I can give them.
Still, I wish I could apologize to the two girls at that party. I shouldn’t have watched. I should have helped. I hope they read this and take some small comfort from it.
I wanted to be one of the boys, those nice kids from a good Catholic school. And I let that overtake my conscience. What I got instead was five decades of guilt.
HOW MANY WERE GIRLS WERE RAPED BY THOSE ANIMALS BECAUSE YOU WERE A COWARD AND DID NOT REPORT THE CRIME?
I went to a small Catholic school in Pittsburgh called St. Justin, for the children of mostly blue-collar workers, and I had been invited to a party by a friend from another Catholic high school. Many football players from that school would be there. I wasn’t very popular with these boys at the time, so I went; I wanted to be friends with them. I knew a few of them and wanted to get to know the rest. These boys were from the suburbs, and their parents mostly had more money than mine.
I don’t remember the month it occurred or the exact town it was in, but I remember that the party was in an upper-class suburb south of Pittsburgh. I don’t remember how I got home. These details don’t matter to me. What I remember clearly was the rape. Recalling it, for me, is like remembering where I was when I found out that President John Kennedy had been assassinated. There is a before and an after.
At one point, a boy told several of us to go outside and look through a window into the basement because another boy, a football player, had taken a girl there. (There were far more boys than girls at this party.) When we peered through, we saw the girl passed out on a sofa, her feet facing us. As the boy approached her, he waved to us, smiling. He proceeded to remove her jeans and then her underwear. It was the first time I had seen a girl naked. He climbed on top of her and penetrated her. She immediately woke up and tried to fight him off. At this point, we all scattered in the yard. No one said anything. There was just nervous laughter.
Eventually, we all went back into the house. I don’t remember anyone drinking, other than the girls. I did not drink anything. We must have gone into a bedroom, because the next thing I recall is standing with about 10 other boys around a bed on which a different girl had passed out. Everyone was touching her through her clothing. I placed my hand on her leg and quickly removed it.
One boy kept turning the lights on and off. When they came on, everyone removed their hands from the girl’s body. In the dark, everyone put their hands back on her. Everyone would laugh. It was some kind of game, and we all seemed to understand the rules. This happened four times, and then we all left the room. I’m glad it didn’t go further.
I recall the jocks ignoring me for most of the party, and eventually, I went home. I never saw those boys again, and the friend who’d invited me has since died. I hadn’t known either of the girls, and I never saw them again, either. A few months ago, I attempted to find the boy who had committed the rape, searching for old yearbooks and documents at the public library. But I wasn’t successful.
I knew then, and I really know now, that I had committed a crime. I have felt guilty about it my whole life. I get angry when I think about my teenage self and those boys I wanted to impress. In recent days, listening to the testimony of Christine Blasey Ford brought back these memories. I feel a lot of compassion for her. What she says she went through was so similar, and I know she’s telling the truth.
There were years when I didn’t think about that night. Serving in the Army made me forget about it, as did my college life and career. I was too busy to dwell on a teenage rape I witnessed.
But the guilt always remained, and the memory was still there. Even though I worked as a newspaper reporter and wrote a column for 12 years, I never wanted to write about the incident. Guilt had turned to shame. I began to dwell on it again only when all those women came forward about Bill Cosby, whom I had admired as a comedian. That’s why I told my wife and three boys around the dinner table one night that I had once witnessed a rape. We talked about it and concluded that it could still happen today. We discussed the Steubenville, Ohio, football players who abused a 16-year-old girl.
I wonder what happened to all the other boys who saw what I saw through the basement window. Do they think about it? Do they remember like I do? This could have been a normal weekend for them.
I wonder about the girls, how they survived that night. In 1969, there was nobody to turn to. They certainly wouldn’t have gone to the police — at the time, a subtle notion persisted that an assault was always the girl’s fault, that she shouldn’t have gotten herself into that position in the first place. They wouldn’t have told their parents, who would probably have scolded them. They are about my age now, 67, and I wonder if they had families. If they remember this night. If they told their daughters.
I wanted to tell this story because I believe it’s time for men to tell the truth about the ways they’ve abused women and what our role has been in creating a culture that tolerates this. We all have seen things; we’ve all heard other men talk. I remember sitting in a bar with some acquaintances about 30 years ago when one of the men, a local magistrate in a poor area of West Virginia, bragged about a system he had when pretty girls were charged with a DUI. He said that sometimes he would take them back to his office and offer them a deal. He would drop the DUI charges if they gave him oral sex. I squirmed in my seat. Was he just talking, locker-room style? Did it really happen? It didn’t even occur to me to report him to anyone.
My boys are 19, 17 and 11 years old. What I teach them about the treatment of girls is simple: respect, respect, respect. If they witness something like I did, go to the authorities. This is no time to worry about being a snitch. My two older boys are more aware about consent issues than I was at their ages. I reminded them that I was the same age when I witnessed the rape; my very first vision of sexual contact was a rape. My sons agree I was a foolish, immature teenager. They know I would never do anything like that again. They see how I treat their mother, which might be the best lesson I can give them.
Still, I wish I could apologize to the two girls at that party. I shouldn’t have watched. I should have helped. I hope they read this and take some small comfort from it.
I wanted to be one of the boys, those nice kids from a good Catholic school. And I let that overtake my conscience. What I got instead was five decades of guilt.
HOW MANY WERE GIRLS WERE RAPED BY THOSE ANIMALS BECAUSE YOU WERE A COWARD AND DID NOT REPORT THE CRIME?
Denzel Washington Looks Back Fondly on Some Crucial Advice
By Associated Press - atlanta black star
October 4, 2018
FILE – In this Sept. 26, 2018 file photo, Malachi Haynes, left, and actor Denzel Washington pose for a photograph following an interview with Fox News Anchor Chris Wallace at the National Press Club in Washington.(AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)
NEW YORK (AP) — Denzel Washington joined the Boys & Girls Club of America when he was 5. He’s never really left.
The 63-year old Oscar-winning actor says the lessons he learned from the youth organization became the foundation of his success. One valuable lesson came after a track and field event where Washington found he wasn’t as fast as one other child.
“I was real nervous about that, and I was thrown off by it,” Washington recalled. A counselor noticed that something was wrong and came over. “I remember him telling me that, ‘You know, yes, that other kid is fast, but he doesn’t know how to run. He doesn’t know how to run the turns or pass the baton.’ And he said: ‘You’re natural ability will only take you so far.'”
That advice paid off when learning his craft as an actor. He started performing as a junior in college and had instant success. But he remembered that his natural ability would only take him so far. “So I decided to continue my studies and go on to work on my master’s, and that was directly related to an experience I had as a child in the Boys & Girls Club,” Washington said.
Washington was in the nation’s capital for the annual Boys & Girls Club National Youth of the Year award ceremony. This year’s Southwest Youth of the Year recipient was Malachi Haynes, who accepted the honor before an audience that included members of Congress and Boys & Girls Clubs of America supporters, including Washington, who is the national spokesman. Haynes, seated next to Washington, called it surreal. “Probably 30 emotions all at once,” he said of the honor.
When Washington was young, he spent so much time at the Boys & Girls Club of Mount Vernon, New York, that “literally, they had to send me home.” He remembers at one club talent show he played a member of the Beatles.
“I think I was John, if not Paul. I think I was John. I definitely wasn’t Ringo. Not that I’m knocking Ringo, but I was I wasn’t playing the drums, I was playing guitar,” he said.
While his children were not as active with the Boys and Girls Club of America, Washington applied the lessons he learned to their upbringing.
“The things I learned in the club I applied to them. All my children played sports like I did in the club, and that was my way because that’s what I learned. I was like, ‘OK, I’ll get them involved in sports’ and my oldest boy made it all the way to the NFL.” (Washington’s son, John, played for the St. Louis Rams and recently starred in “Blackkklansman.”)
The organization began in 1860, offering a positive alternative to children than roaming the street. The clubs try to foster character development, citizenship and living a healthy lifestyle. Washington also recalls another element.
“Tough, tough love and keeping them busy. We didn’t realize it but we were going from one thing to another. And they kept you engaged, involved and busy. But you just thought you were just having fun.”
The 63-year old Oscar-winning actor says the lessons he learned from the youth organization became the foundation of his success. One valuable lesson came after a track and field event where Washington found he wasn’t as fast as one other child.
“I was real nervous about that, and I was thrown off by it,” Washington recalled. A counselor noticed that something was wrong and came over. “I remember him telling me that, ‘You know, yes, that other kid is fast, but he doesn’t know how to run. He doesn’t know how to run the turns or pass the baton.’ And he said: ‘You’re natural ability will only take you so far.'”
That advice paid off when learning his craft as an actor. He started performing as a junior in college and had instant success. But he remembered that his natural ability would only take him so far. “So I decided to continue my studies and go on to work on my master’s, and that was directly related to an experience I had as a child in the Boys & Girls Club,” Washington said.
Washington was in the nation’s capital for the annual Boys & Girls Club National Youth of the Year award ceremony. This year’s Southwest Youth of the Year recipient was Malachi Haynes, who accepted the honor before an audience that included members of Congress and Boys & Girls Clubs of America supporters, including Washington, who is the national spokesman. Haynes, seated next to Washington, called it surreal. “Probably 30 emotions all at once,” he said of the honor.
When Washington was young, he spent so much time at the Boys & Girls Club of Mount Vernon, New York, that “literally, they had to send me home.” He remembers at one club talent show he played a member of the Beatles.
“I think I was John, if not Paul. I think I was John. I definitely wasn’t Ringo. Not that I’m knocking Ringo, but I was I wasn’t playing the drums, I was playing guitar,” he said.
While his children were not as active with the Boys and Girls Club of America, Washington applied the lessons he learned to their upbringing.
“The things I learned in the club I applied to them. All my children played sports like I did in the club, and that was my way because that’s what I learned. I was like, ‘OK, I’ll get them involved in sports’ and my oldest boy made it all the way to the NFL.” (Washington’s son, John, played for the St. Louis Rams and recently starred in “Blackkklansman.”)
The organization began in 1860, offering a positive alternative to children than roaming the street. The clubs try to foster character development, citizenship and living a healthy lifestyle. Washington also recalls another element.
“Tough, tough love and keeping them busy. We didn’t realize it but we were going from one thing to another. And they kept you engaged, involved and busy. But you just thought you were just having fun.”
A Nobel Prize-winning physicist sold his medal for $765,000 to pay medical bills
Only in America.
By Sarah Kliffsarah@vox.com
Oct 4, 2018, 11:50am EDT
Leon Lederman won a Nobel Prize in 1988 for his pioneering physics research.
But in 2015, the physicist, who passed away Wednesday, sold his Nobel Prize medal for $765,000 to pay his mounting medical bills. The University of Chicago professor began to suffer from memory loss in 2011, and died in an Idaho nursing home.
In a lot of ways (and as others have observed) Lederman’s story represents the best and worst of America. Lederman was born in the 1920s to a father who worked in a laundry facility. He went on to discover the Higgs boson subatomic particle, the so-called “God particle” that you can read more about here.
But even an accomplished physicist and university professor isn’t immune from America’s sky-high health care prices. The United States routinely has health care prices well-above the rest of the world. A day in an American hospital, for examples, costs an average of $5,220 here — compared to $765 in Australia or $424 in Spain.
The cost of receiving care in a nursing home can also present a significant burden. A private room in a nursing facility costs, on average, $7,698 per month. And Medicare, which covers the vast majority of Americans over 65, generally does not cover long-term nursing care.
Many Americans do end up getting Medicaid to cover nursing home bills — but that often requires selling off significant assets and dwindling down savings in order to fall below the public program’s income requirements.
But in 2015, the physicist, who passed away Wednesday, sold his Nobel Prize medal for $765,000 to pay his mounting medical bills. The University of Chicago professor began to suffer from memory loss in 2011, and died in an Idaho nursing home.
In a lot of ways (and as others have observed) Lederman’s story represents the best and worst of America. Lederman was born in the 1920s to a father who worked in a laundry facility. He went on to discover the Higgs boson subatomic particle, the so-called “God particle” that you can read more about here.
But even an accomplished physicist and university professor isn’t immune from America’s sky-high health care prices. The United States routinely has health care prices well-above the rest of the world. A day in an American hospital, for examples, costs an average of $5,220 here — compared to $765 in Australia or $424 in Spain.
The cost of receiving care in a nursing home can also present a significant burden. A private room in a nursing facility costs, on average, $7,698 per month. And Medicare, which covers the vast majority of Americans over 65, generally does not cover long-term nursing care.
Many Americans do end up getting Medicaid to cover nursing home bills — but that often requires selling off significant assets and dwindling down savings in order to fall below the public program’s income requirements.
First She Unseated a Judge Over a Sexual Assault Case. Now She’s Coming for Politicians.
“They should not be in public office, and we are going to take them out.”
MADISON PAULY - mother jones
OCTOBER 1, 2018 6:00 AM
Michele Landis DauberJeff Chiu/AP
Just imagine: A veteran judge is swept off the bench because of his role in a sexual assault controversy and a Stanford professor who would not stay quiet. After Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination hearings, that might seem like a fantasy. But back in June, Michele Dauber made it happen in California. Two years after Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Aaron Persky sentenced former Stanford student Brock Turner to six months in jail for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman, Dauber’s campaign to recall the judge won over voters—by a staggering 23-point margin.
Now, the Stanford law professor who orchestrated her state’s first successful judicial recall campaign in 86 years is back, launching a super-PAC she hopes will hold lawmakers across the country accountable for their records on sexual violence. “Our perspective on the recall was that we were putting rape culture on the ballot,” Dauber says. “But all across America, rape culture is already on the ballot. We don’t even have to put it there—because there are many, many elected officials and candidates who have very discrediting records on this issue.”
The Enough is Enough Voter Project will target candidates who have been credibly accused of sexual assault, harassment, or domestic violence, as well as those who have made sexist statements or voted against bills supported by survivors. When the group launched last Monday, just six weeks from the midterm elections, Dauber had a goal of raising $250,000 to inform voters about the records of the five Republican men her group is opposing.
That includes current Minnesota Rep. Jason Lewis, who is running in a tight race against challenger Angie Craig, a Democrat endorsed by EMILY’s List. Earlier this summer, CNN exposed misogynistic comments Lewis made on a radio show in 2012, when he complained at length that he could no longer call women “sluts” and argued that “young single women” who vote based on insurance coverage for birth control pills were “without a brain” and no longer human beings. (He’s also made racist and homophobic statements.)
Dauber’s group is not just focusing on competitive races. “We need to see these individuals exit the political arena at an early stage,” she says. “Think of the amount of damage they could do as they go onto their careers.” Enough is Enough has also honed in on Steve Von Loor, a candidate for a House seat in solidly blue Durham County, North Carolina, who was accused of domestic violence by his ex-wife in 2010. (Von Loor denies the allegations.)
The group has also identified a few state legislators to go after: David Byrd of Tennessee, who is accused of sexually assaulting three teenagers he coached on a high school basketball team; Matt Rinaldi of Tennessee, who voted against a bipartisan bill to extend the statute of limitations for rape victims; and Devon Mathis of California, who was reprimanded for sexual “locker room talk” by the state Legislature and sued by multiple staffers alleging sexual misconduct or retaliation. (Both Mathis and Byrd have denied the claims against them.)
In interviews with the New York Times, multiple candidates on Enough is Enough’s list argued the new super-PAC is a Democratic operation ignoring misconduct by liberal lawmakers. But Dauber says she’s also game to take on Democrats in the 2020 primaries.
Dauber says the greatest lesson from the recall campaign against Persky was the way the issue of sexual violence energizes young female voters. “They will vote in large numbers,” she says. “They will volunteer, they will work harder than they’ve ever worked on anything before.”
Dauber has already proven herself a formidable fundraiser. With her new super-PAC, she’s working with much of the same team that worked on the recall election, including Emiliana Guereca of Women’s March Los Angeles. The group also has the backing of the Feminist Majority, a prominent women’s advocacy group.
Dauber says she hopes her new group will become “a presence” in American politics. “These guys are wrong,” she says. “They should not be in public office, and we are going to take them out.”
Now, the Stanford law professor who orchestrated her state’s first successful judicial recall campaign in 86 years is back, launching a super-PAC she hopes will hold lawmakers across the country accountable for their records on sexual violence. “Our perspective on the recall was that we were putting rape culture on the ballot,” Dauber says. “But all across America, rape culture is already on the ballot. We don’t even have to put it there—because there are many, many elected officials and candidates who have very discrediting records on this issue.”
The Enough is Enough Voter Project will target candidates who have been credibly accused of sexual assault, harassment, or domestic violence, as well as those who have made sexist statements or voted against bills supported by survivors. When the group launched last Monday, just six weeks from the midterm elections, Dauber had a goal of raising $250,000 to inform voters about the records of the five Republican men her group is opposing.
That includes current Minnesota Rep. Jason Lewis, who is running in a tight race against challenger Angie Craig, a Democrat endorsed by EMILY’s List. Earlier this summer, CNN exposed misogynistic comments Lewis made on a radio show in 2012, when he complained at length that he could no longer call women “sluts” and argued that “young single women” who vote based on insurance coverage for birth control pills were “without a brain” and no longer human beings. (He’s also made racist and homophobic statements.)
Dauber’s group is not just focusing on competitive races. “We need to see these individuals exit the political arena at an early stage,” she says. “Think of the amount of damage they could do as they go onto their careers.” Enough is Enough has also honed in on Steve Von Loor, a candidate for a House seat in solidly blue Durham County, North Carolina, who was accused of domestic violence by his ex-wife in 2010. (Von Loor denies the allegations.)
The group has also identified a few state legislators to go after: David Byrd of Tennessee, who is accused of sexually assaulting three teenagers he coached on a high school basketball team; Matt Rinaldi of Tennessee, who voted against a bipartisan bill to extend the statute of limitations for rape victims; and Devon Mathis of California, who was reprimanded for sexual “locker room talk” by the state Legislature and sued by multiple staffers alleging sexual misconduct or retaliation. (Both Mathis and Byrd have denied the claims against them.)
In interviews with the New York Times, multiple candidates on Enough is Enough’s list argued the new super-PAC is a Democratic operation ignoring misconduct by liberal lawmakers. But Dauber says she’s also game to take on Democrats in the 2020 primaries.
Dauber says the greatest lesson from the recall campaign against Persky was the way the issue of sexual violence energizes young female voters. “They will vote in large numbers,” she says. “They will volunteer, they will work harder than they’ve ever worked on anything before.”
Dauber has already proven herself a formidable fundraiser. With her new super-PAC, she’s working with much of the same team that worked on the recall election, including Emiliana Guereca of Women’s March Los Angeles. The group also has the backing of the Feminist Majority, a prominent women’s advocacy group.
Dauber says she hopes her new group will become “a presence” in American politics. “These guys are wrong,” she says. “They should not be in public office, and we are going to take them out.”
'WESTWORLD' STAR JEFFREY WRIGHT: ‘PEOPLE ARE IGNORANT AS Fuck ABOUT WHAT IT MEANS TO BE AN ACTOR’
BY MARIA VULTAGGIO - newsweek
ON 9/27/18 AT 8:52 AM
In today’s current political atmosphere celebrities are regularly speaking out about the White House, especially when it comes to President Donald Trump. Westworld star Jeffrey Wright is just one of the many who tweets about the Trump Administration, but he’s always been interested in politics. He has strong opinions about the worlds of acting and government colliding.
“People are ignorant as fuck about what it means to be an actor, for the most part. I’m not talking about a celebrity. For me, an actor is a person who makes characters like a cobbler makes shoes. All these other trappings and all this other bullshit that people are fascinated by, I could give a fuck about,” he told Newsweek Wednesday while promoting his Netflix movie Hold the Dark with Alexander Skarsgård and Riley Keough. “All the trappings of fame, I never thought about that.”
Just as he didn’t enter Hollywood for the fame, he didn’t care about the payout either. “When I started off as an actor, the last thing I wanted to do in the world was make money,” Wright, 52, said. “I was under the impression, when I started off as an actor, that the more money I made the more it would diminish from my creativity and my capacity to be an artist.”
One of his first major roles as an actor was in 2003's Angels in America. “There has been no more overtly political piece of dramatic writing in the last 25 years,” he said. “So, that’s just what I’m drawn to, opportunities where I can marry my creative interests with my political interests.” Wright won the Golden Globe in 2004 for his role in the play.
Of course, Wright added, his priorities and views on money changed once he became a father. He later went on to star in blockbusters like The Hunger Games, Broadwalk Empire and Westworld.
Part of the reason he is passionate about politics is because of his upbringing. Wright was born in Washington, D.C., during the civil rights movement in 1965. Everywhere he went there was politics, whether it was at home with his mother, around the block with his godmother or on the school bus where he would pass the Washington monument every morning.
“Some of my earliest heroes were congressmen like Shirley Chisholm and Barbara Jordan,” he said. “[They] were as badass to me as Larry Brown and Sonny Jurgensen, who were my favorite players in the NFL.” Chisholm was the first black woman elected to the United States Congress and Jordan was the first black woman elected to the Texas Senate and the first Southern black woman elected to the United States House of Representatives.
“It’s just in my DNA,” he said. “I was a political science major in college because that’s where my head was.”
Assumptions based on lack of information, Wright said, have led to today’s current political atmosphere. “What’s really kind of perverse lately is that we’ve been unleashed to draw assumptions about one another based on our fantasy about the worst of the other, which is exactly what racists do,” he said. “Something that they’re unfamiliar with, they impose their fear upon them. All of the horrors of that other emerge out of that fear.”
“It’s a weird fucking time and I can’t wait for this season to die and the next season to be born,” he said. “There’s no obligation for actors to speak out but, for me, it’s what I’ve always done and it’s what I will continue to do.”
“People are ignorant as fuck about what it means to be an actor, for the most part. I’m not talking about a celebrity. For me, an actor is a person who makes characters like a cobbler makes shoes. All these other trappings and all this other bullshit that people are fascinated by, I could give a fuck about,” he told Newsweek Wednesday while promoting his Netflix movie Hold the Dark with Alexander Skarsgård and Riley Keough. “All the trappings of fame, I never thought about that.”
Just as he didn’t enter Hollywood for the fame, he didn’t care about the payout either. “When I started off as an actor, the last thing I wanted to do in the world was make money,” Wright, 52, said. “I was under the impression, when I started off as an actor, that the more money I made the more it would diminish from my creativity and my capacity to be an artist.”
One of his first major roles as an actor was in 2003's Angels in America. “There has been no more overtly political piece of dramatic writing in the last 25 years,” he said. “So, that’s just what I’m drawn to, opportunities where I can marry my creative interests with my political interests.” Wright won the Golden Globe in 2004 for his role in the play.
Of course, Wright added, his priorities and views on money changed once he became a father. He later went on to star in blockbusters like The Hunger Games, Broadwalk Empire and Westworld.
Part of the reason he is passionate about politics is because of his upbringing. Wright was born in Washington, D.C., during the civil rights movement in 1965. Everywhere he went there was politics, whether it was at home with his mother, around the block with his godmother or on the school bus where he would pass the Washington monument every morning.
“Some of my earliest heroes were congressmen like Shirley Chisholm and Barbara Jordan,” he said. “[They] were as badass to me as Larry Brown and Sonny Jurgensen, who were my favorite players in the NFL.” Chisholm was the first black woman elected to the United States Congress and Jordan was the first black woman elected to the Texas Senate and the first Southern black woman elected to the United States House of Representatives.
“It’s just in my DNA,” he said. “I was a political science major in college because that’s where my head was.”
Assumptions based on lack of information, Wright said, have led to today’s current political atmosphere. “What’s really kind of perverse lately is that we’ve been unleashed to draw assumptions about one another based on our fantasy about the worst of the other, which is exactly what racists do,” he said. “Something that they’re unfamiliar with, they impose their fear upon them. All of the horrors of that other emerge out of that fear.”
“It’s a weird fucking time and I can’t wait for this season to die and the next season to be born,” he said. “There’s no obligation for actors to speak out but, for me, it’s what I’ve always done and it’s what I will continue to do.”
Black Billionaire Robert F. Smith Becomes $3B Richer After Selling Cloud-Service Company to Adobe
By Tanasia Kenney - atlanta black star
September 26, 2018
Black billionaire and engineer Robert F. Smith just earned himself a hefty chunk of change after selling a cloud-service company he purchased in 2016 to Adobe for a whopping $4.7 billion.
According to Forbes, Smith’s company, private equity firm Vista Equity, bought the cloud-sharing service Marketo for $1.8 billion in May of 2016 and grew its market revenue well over $100 million in just three years. The magazine estimates Vista will earn $3 billion in profits in next two years from the Marketo sale, making it the “biggest realized profit from a single company in the private equity firm’s 18-year history.”
Adobe, a leading provider of graphics and video editing software, will incorporate Marketo into its Adobe Experience Cloud platform, enabling the company to “offer an unrivaled set of solutions for delivering transformative customer experiences across industries and companies of all sizes, according to a news release.
“Adobe and Marketo both share an unwavering belief in the power of content and data to drive business results,” Marketo CEO Steve Lucas, said in a statement. “Marketo delivers the leading B2B marketing engagement platform for the modern marketer, and there’s no better home for Marketo to continue to rapidly innovate than Adobe.”
Vista’s acquisition of Marketo was just one of many big deals made by Smith, the firm’s founder and CEO. Black Enterprise reports that Smith, a former investment banker for Goldman Sachs, bought Cvent Inc., a leading cloud-based enterprise event management firm, for $1.65 in November 2016. The year before, Vista announced plans to buy software provider Solera Holdings as part of a $6.5 billion deal.
All of Smith’s acquisitions have helped his company grow immensely. Not to mention, the mass wealth he’s pocketed by purchasing several companies in the technology field.
Smith ranks No. 226 on Forbes’ 400 richest list, boasting a net worth of $3.3 billion while his firm ranks No. 1 on the 2018 Black Enterprise “BE 100s” list of private, Black-owned equity firms.
According to Forbes, Smith’s company, private equity firm Vista Equity, bought the cloud-sharing service Marketo for $1.8 billion in May of 2016 and grew its market revenue well over $100 million in just three years. The magazine estimates Vista will earn $3 billion in profits in next two years from the Marketo sale, making it the “biggest realized profit from a single company in the private equity firm’s 18-year history.”
Adobe, a leading provider of graphics and video editing software, will incorporate Marketo into its Adobe Experience Cloud platform, enabling the company to “offer an unrivaled set of solutions for delivering transformative customer experiences across industries and companies of all sizes, according to a news release.
“Adobe and Marketo both share an unwavering belief in the power of content and data to drive business results,” Marketo CEO Steve Lucas, said in a statement. “Marketo delivers the leading B2B marketing engagement platform for the modern marketer, and there’s no better home for Marketo to continue to rapidly innovate than Adobe.”
Vista’s acquisition of Marketo was just one of many big deals made by Smith, the firm’s founder and CEO. Black Enterprise reports that Smith, a former investment banker for Goldman Sachs, bought Cvent Inc., a leading cloud-based enterprise event management firm, for $1.65 in November 2016. The year before, Vista announced plans to buy software provider Solera Holdings as part of a $6.5 billion deal.
All of Smith’s acquisitions have helped his company grow immensely. Not to mention, the mass wealth he’s pocketed by purchasing several companies in the technology field.
Smith ranks No. 226 on Forbes’ 400 richest list, boasting a net worth of $3.3 billion while his firm ranks No. 1 on the 2018 Black Enterprise “BE 100s” list of private, Black-owned equity firms.
Naomi Osaka's $8.5m Adidas deal shows being a female athlete can pay
Brands are beginning to come round to the idea that female sports can pull in huge audiences and plenty of potential customers
Anya Alvarez - the guardian
sat 22 Sep 2018 05.00 EDT
Naomi Osaka signs autographs for fans after her victory over Dominika Cibulkova at the Pan Pacific Open. Photograph: Koji Watanabe/Getty Images
When Forbes released their list of the 100 highest-paid athletes, it came as a shock to many that not a single woman made the lineup. Not even Serena Williams, who is in the headlines even when she’s not playing.
Many of the male athletes on the list did not top the list because of how much they earn on the field or court: their riches stem from how much they make in endorsements. If you follow women’s sports closely, it’s been clear for a long time that female athletes’ endorsements are nowhere near those of their male counterparts. Huge contracts with the likes of Nike or Adidas don’t tend to happen, apart from rare exceptions such as Michelle Wie and Maria Sharapova.
Corporations, like the media, can set the tone for which athletes get exposure. So if companies don’t give female athletes lucrative endorsements, put them in commercials, or use them for print ads, the male stars will continue to gobble up revenue – even if the women have had more success. If you want an example of this, compare the earnings of the world champion US women’s soccer team to their male counterparts.
So a few days ago when I scrolled through my Twitter feed to see Naomi Osaka’s name trending after she signed an $8.5m annual deal with Adidas, I was elated. In addition, the new US Open champion also signed a three-year deal with Japanese carmaker Nissan.
Before we address Osaka’s gender, it should be noted that Adidas and Nissan both have an eye on the Japanese market, after the 20-year-old became the first Japanese player to win a grand slam singles title (and it should also be noted that endorsements for the country’s top male player, Kei Nishikori, dwarf those of Osaka).
But by making a long-term investment in Osaka, Adidas started a conversation about the value of female athletes, and the monetary return companies can get from their investment in women in sports.
After all, it makes economic sense. Currently, two out of five girls in the United States under the age of 18 participate in youth sports, an industry worth almost $15bn. Then there’s the fact that 59% of working women are sports fans.
Undervaluing the influence of female athletes is short-sighted. Stars such as Williams, Sharapova and Alex Morgan have Twitter and Instagram followings in the millions. When they post, people pay attention. And female athletes can help open markets around the world, India’s grand slam doubles champion Sania Mirza has millions of followers on social media.
The old lie that female athletes don’t pull in TV audiences is looking increasingly defunct too. During this year’s Winter Olympics, Team USA’s gold medal victory over Canada drew 3.7 million viewers, making it the most watched late-night show in NBCSN history. This was in spite of the game airing at midnight. And of course there’s the US Women’s soccer team, who garnered 22.86 million viewers in the US for the 2015 World Cup final against Japan. That was in comparison to baseball’s World Series from the year before, which attracted 23.5 million for Game 7. It was also the largest TV audience for any soccer match – men’s or women’s – in US history.
Which brings us back to Osaka. Her US Open victory against Williams drew 50% more viewers than the men’s final. Yes, it is fair to say that Williams drew a large portion of that audience because fans wanted to watch her claim a grand slam title less than a year after having her daughter, Alexis. But whatever the reason, it showed once again that female athletes can be a bigger draw than men.
More than ever, it’s clear brands can no longer ignore the power of female athletes – it’s something that benefits everyone.
Many of the male athletes on the list did not top the list because of how much they earn on the field or court: their riches stem from how much they make in endorsements. If you follow women’s sports closely, it’s been clear for a long time that female athletes’ endorsements are nowhere near those of their male counterparts. Huge contracts with the likes of Nike or Adidas don’t tend to happen, apart from rare exceptions such as Michelle Wie and Maria Sharapova.
Corporations, like the media, can set the tone for which athletes get exposure. So if companies don’t give female athletes lucrative endorsements, put them in commercials, or use them for print ads, the male stars will continue to gobble up revenue – even if the women have had more success. If you want an example of this, compare the earnings of the world champion US women’s soccer team to their male counterparts.
So a few days ago when I scrolled through my Twitter feed to see Naomi Osaka’s name trending after she signed an $8.5m annual deal with Adidas, I was elated. In addition, the new US Open champion also signed a three-year deal with Japanese carmaker Nissan.
Before we address Osaka’s gender, it should be noted that Adidas and Nissan both have an eye on the Japanese market, after the 20-year-old became the first Japanese player to win a grand slam singles title (and it should also be noted that endorsements for the country’s top male player, Kei Nishikori, dwarf those of Osaka).
But by making a long-term investment in Osaka, Adidas started a conversation about the value of female athletes, and the monetary return companies can get from their investment in women in sports.
After all, it makes economic sense. Currently, two out of five girls in the United States under the age of 18 participate in youth sports, an industry worth almost $15bn. Then there’s the fact that 59% of working women are sports fans.
Undervaluing the influence of female athletes is short-sighted. Stars such as Williams, Sharapova and Alex Morgan have Twitter and Instagram followings in the millions. When they post, people pay attention. And female athletes can help open markets around the world, India’s grand slam doubles champion Sania Mirza has millions of followers on social media.
The old lie that female athletes don’t pull in TV audiences is looking increasingly defunct too. During this year’s Winter Olympics, Team USA’s gold medal victory over Canada drew 3.7 million viewers, making it the most watched late-night show in NBCSN history. This was in spite of the game airing at midnight. And of course there’s the US Women’s soccer team, who garnered 22.86 million viewers in the US for the 2015 World Cup final against Japan. That was in comparison to baseball’s World Series from the year before, which attracted 23.5 million for Game 7. It was also the largest TV audience for any soccer match – men’s or women’s – in US history.
Which brings us back to Osaka. Her US Open victory against Williams drew 50% more viewers than the men’s final. Yes, it is fair to say that Williams drew a large portion of that audience because fans wanted to watch her claim a grand slam title less than a year after having her daughter, Alexis. But whatever the reason, it showed once again that female athletes can be a bigger draw than men.
More than ever, it’s clear brands can no longer ignore the power of female athletes – it’s something that benefits everyone.
U.S. space center heads into new frontier with female boss
Alex Stuckey philly tribune
Sep 18, 2018
HOUSTON — Young Vanessa Wyche sat hunched over a piece of paper, drawing the childish outline of a U.S. president in crayon for a class assignment.
The Houston Chronicle reports when it came time to shade in the two-dimensional man's face, Wyche instinctively reached for the brown crayon. It was her skin tone, after all: why couldn't it be a president's?
But her second-grade teacher was furious. It was the early 1970s and South Carolina schools had just been desegregated. A black man could not be president, her teacher said.
This exchange was the first time Wyche — now 54 and second in command at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston — can remember being openly belittled for her race by an authority figure. But it's also the first time she can remember her parents, both educators, standing up for her in the face of oppression.
"I'm certain my father went to the school administration and said 'Absolutely not, this is her art,' " Wyche told the Houston Chronicle in a recent interview. "I remember them standing up for me and maybe that reinforced that I don't have to be afraid because someone will always have my back."
Wyche has carried that confidence and fearlessness throughout her life, trailblazing a path for minorities and women to follow. She was one of just two minority women in her graduating classes at Clemson University for both her bachelor's degree in materials engineering and a master's in bioengineering. When she arrived at NASA in 1989, she was the first woman hired full time in the space life sciences division.
And now, Wyche is the first African-American to ever hold the deputy director position at Johnson. Officially, her role is to help center Director Mark Geyer run one of NASA's largest facilities, home of the nation's astronaut corps that had a budget of $4.5 billion in fiscal year 2017 and employs about 10,000 civil service and contractor employees.
But unofficially, she plans to use her position to mentor as many minorities and women as possible — to show them it's possible to rise the top, as she has.
"If I'm here and successful and do my job well, then others will be able to follow," she said. "It breaks barriers down for people who are saying 'I'm not sure if they can do it or not.' "
No pressure, right?
Not for Wyche.
"I can only do the best that I can," she said.
Growing up, Wyche didn't have any exposure to space exploration.
There was no NASA center in her home state of South Carolina, she said, and though astronaut Ronnie McNair's hometown of Lake City was just 35 miles away, she didn't know about him until after he died in the 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger accident.
"I didn't know working at NASA was an option," she said.
So after graduating from Clemson, Wyche moved to Washington, D.C., to work for the Food and Drug Administration. She only ended up in Houston because her husband, George, is a Texas native and wanted to move back home.
Initially, she wasn't sure how her professional background would translate to Houston. But it turns out, her biomedical background made her a perfect fit for the life sciences side of the Houston center. And in 1989, she joined the space life sciences division developing biomedical hardware to fly on the space shuttle — the first woman to ever be hired full time in that division and one of the few female engineers across the entire center.
She was just 25 years old.
"OK, no pressure, no pressure," she said with a laugh.
It all worked out, though. Throughout her 29-year tenure at the center, she has served as acting director of Human Exploration Development Support and assistant center director. She most recently was director of the center's Exploration Integration and Science Directorate, where she provided "guidance and direction" to allow for human and robotic exploration of deep space.
"Vanessa has a deep background at JSC with significant program experience in almost all of the human spaceflight programs that have been hosted here," Geyer said last month after he chose Wyche as his deputy. "She is respected at NASA, has built agency-wide relationships throughout her nearly three-decade career and will serve JSC well as we continue to lead human space exploration in Houston."
She also helped manage the space shuttle program, which was shuttered in 2011. Since then, the United States has been forced to rely on Russia to transport its astronauts to and from the International Space Station.
It's one of the reasons she's so excited about her new position — she can use it to help the commercial crew program succeed.
"I grew up in the shuttle program," she said. "I'm super excited about flying astronauts from Florida again."
Boeing and SpaceX were awarded NASA contracts totaling $6.8 billion in 2014 to build their own crew spacecrafts and conduct missions to the space station. Both initially were expected to launch crewed test flights this year, but the schedules of both companies have slipped to 2019.
When the companies do fly, however, it will be the first time astronauts will launch to space from U.S. soil since Space Shuttle Atlantis in 2011.
NASA has come a long way since the 1980s, Wyche said, when female and minority engineers were few and far between.
But there is still work to be done to encourage young people to pursue these areas as careers, she said.
"My entire life my parents always instilled in all of us that we should give back to the community," she said of herself and her four siblings. "My way of being able to hopefully make a difference is to see it as a problem that needs to be addressed at the education level."
So Wyche stays involved, traveling to local elementary schools with groups of NASA engineers to show the kids that working at the space agency is a career path they can follow.
The students "get to see that people who look like them work at NASA and they know they can do it as well," she said.
She also works with the young employees at Johnson, as well as the African-American employee resource group. And she visits colleges, including her alma mater Clemson, to encourage minority students to finish their degrees.
Lee Gill, chief diversity officer at Clemson, said Wyche's successful careers shows students that they, too, can be successful in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) fields.
"The message I want our students to take away is what she said- do not let your environment dictate who you are," he said in a Clemson news release. "If you want to be an engineer, if you want to be a scientist, if you want to be an astronaut — wherever you come from — you can be that."
And that's exactly what Wyche aims to do.
"If in any way I can help a little girl or boy decide that they want to be an engineer or an astronaut," she said, "I feel grateful to be able to do that, to let anyone know they can be a part of this." - AP
The Houston Chronicle reports when it came time to shade in the two-dimensional man's face, Wyche instinctively reached for the brown crayon. It was her skin tone, after all: why couldn't it be a president's?
But her second-grade teacher was furious. It was the early 1970s and South Carolina schools had just been desegregated. A black man could not be president, her teacher said.
This exchange was the first time Wyche — now 54 and second in command at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston — can remember being openly belittled for her race by an authority figure. But it's also the first time she can remember her parents, both educators, standing up for her in the face of oppression.
"I'm certain my father went to the school administration and said 'Absolutely not, this is her art,' " Wyche told the Houston Chronicle in a recent interview. "I remember them standing up for me and maybe that reinforced that I don't have to be afraid because someone will always have my back."
Wyche has carried that confidence and fearlessness throughout her life, trailblazing a path for minorities and women to follow. She was one of just two minority women in her graduating classes at Clemson University for both her bachelor's degree in materials engineering and a master's in bioengineering. When she arrived at NASA in 1989, she was the first woman hired full time in the space life sciences division.
And now, Wyche is the first African-American to ever hold the deputy director position at Johnson. Officially, her role is to help center Director Mark Geyer run one of NASA's largest facilities, home of the nation's astronaut corps that had a budget of $4.5 billion in fiscal year 2017 and employs about 10,000 civil service and contractor employees.
But unofficially, she plans to use her position to mentor as many minorities and women as possible — to show them it's possible to rise the top, as she has.
"If I'm here and successful and do my job well, then others will be able to follow," she said. "It breaks barriers down for people who are saying 'I'm not sure if they can do it or not.' "
No pressure, right?
Not for Wyche.
"I can only do the best that I can," she said.
Growing up, Wyche didn't have any exposure to space exploration.
There was no NASA center in her home state of South Carolina, she said, and though astronaut Ronnie McNair's hometown of Lake City was just 35 miles away, she didn't know about him until after he died in the 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger accident.
"I didn't know working at NASA was an option," she said.
So after graduating from Clemson, Wyche moved to Washington, D.C., to work for the Food and Drug Administration. She only ended up in Houston because her husband, George, is a Texas native and wanted to move back home.
Initially, she wasn't sure how her professional background would translate to Houston. But it turns out, her biomedical background made her a perfect fit for the life sciences side of the Houston center. And in 1989, she joined the space life sciences division developing biomedical hardware to fly on the space shuttle — the first woman to ever be hired full time in that division and one of the few female engineers across the entire center.
She was just 25 years old.
"OK, no pressure, no pressure," she said with a laugh.
It all worked out, though. Throughout her 29-year tenure at the center, she has served as acting director of Human Exploration Development Support and assistant center director. She most recently was director of the center's Exploration Integration and Science Directorate, where she provided "guidance and direction" to allow for human and robotic exploration of deep space.
"Vanessa has a deep background at JSC with significant program experience in almost all of the human spaceflight programs that have been hosted here," Geyer said last month after he chose Wyche as his deputy. "She is respected at NASA, has built agency-wide relationships throughout her nearly three-decade career and will serve JSC well as we continue to lead human space exploration in Houston."
She also helped manage the space shuttle program, which was shuttered in 2011. Since then, the United States has been forced to rely on Russia to transport its astronauts to and from the International Space Station.
It's one of the reasons she's so excited about her new position — she can use it to help the commercial crew program succeed.
"I grew up in the shuttle program," she said. "I'm super excited about flying astronauts from Florida again."
Boeing and SpaceX were awarded NASA contracts totaling $6.8 billion in 2014 to build their own crew spacecrafts and conduct missions to the space station. Both initially were expected to launch crewed test flights this year, but the schedules of both companies have slipped to 2019.
When the companies do fly, however, it will be the first time astronauts will launch to space from U.S. soil since Space Shuttle Atlantis in 2011.
NASA has come a long way since the 1980s, Wyche said, when female and minority engineers were few and far between.
But there is still work to be done to encourage young people to pursue these areas as careers, she said.
"My entire life my parents always instilled in all of us that we should give back to the community," she said of herself and her four siblings. "My way of being able to hopefully make a difference is to see it as a problem that needs to be addressed at the education level."
So Wyche stays involved, traveling to local elementary schools with groups of NASA engineers to show the kids that working at the space agency is a career path they can follow.
The students "get to see that people who look like them work at NASA and they know they can do it as well," she said.
She also works with the young employees at Johnson, as well as the African-American employee resource group. And she visits colleges, including her alma mater Clemson, to encourage minority students to finish their degrees.
Lee Gill, chief diversity officer at Clemson, said Wyche's successful careers shows students that they, too, can be successful in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) fields.
"The message I want our students to take away is what she said- do not let your environment dictate who you are," he said in a Clemson news release. "If you want to be an engineer, if you want to be a scientist, if you want to be an astronaut — wherever you come from — you can be that."
And that's exactly what Wyche aims to do.
"If in any way I can help a little girl or boy decide that they want to be an engineer or an astronaut," she said, "I feel grateful to be able to do that, to let anyone know they can be a part of this." - AP
Serena tops Forbes list of highest paid female athletes
Reuters Staff
8/22/18
(Reuters) - Serena Williams was the highest paid female athlete for a third consecutive year in 2018, according to an annual list published by Forbes on Tuesday that was dominated by tennis players.
Williams, who returned to competition in March after giving birth last September, earned $62,000 in winnings over the past year but received $18.1 million from an endorsement portfolio unmatched among women in sports, Forbes said.
Williams, who will try to equal Margaret Court’s record of 24 grand slam titles when she competes at the Aug. 27-Sept. 9 U.S. Open in New York, earned twice as much off the court as any other female athlete, according to Forbes.
Dane Caroline Wozniacki, who captured her maiden grand slam title at this year’s Australian Open, was second on the list with combined earnings of ($13 million) while reigning U.S. Open champion Sloane Stephens ($11.2 million) was third.
Spaniard Garbine Muguruza ($11 million) and Russian Maria Sharapova ($10.5 million) rounded out the top five.
Indian badminton player P.V. Sindhu ($8.5 million) and retired race car driver Danica Patrick ($7.5 million) were the only non-tennis players to crack the top 10, filling up the seventh and ninth spots, respectively.
In June, Forbes issued a ranking of the world’s 100 highest-paid athletes and it did not feature a woman.
Serena Williams, who was the only woman on the list the previous year, dropped out of the chart while taking time off to have a baby.
Williams, who returned to competition in March after giving birth last September, earned $62,000 in winnings over the past year but received $18.1 million from an endorsement portfolio unmatched among women in sports, Forbes said.
Williams, who will try to equal Margaret Court’s record of 24 grand slam titles when she competes at the Aug. 27-Sept. 9 U.S. Open in New York, earned twice as much off the court as any other female athlete, according to Forbes.
Dane Caroline Wozniacki, who captured her maiden grand slam title at this year’s Australian Open, was second on the list with combined earnings of ($13 million) while reigning U.S. Open champion Sloane Stephens ($11.2 million) was third.
Spaniard Garbine Muguruza ($11 million) and Russian Maria Sharapova ($10.5 million) rounded out the top five.
Indian badminton player P.V. Sindhu ($8.5 million) and retired race car driver Danica Patrick ($7.5 million) were the only non-tennis players to crack the top 10, filling up the seventh and ninth spots, respectively.
In June, Forbes issued a ranking of the world’s 100 highest-paid athletes and it did not feature a woman.
Serena Williams, who was the only woman on the list the previous year, dropped out of the chart while taking time off to have a baby.
ACROSS AMERICA: Three African-Americans Claim Rare Engineering Accomplishment
Stacy M. Brown - philly tribune
8/21/18
The National Academy of Engineering has 83 new members this year, including a rare three African-Americans who are scheduled to be inducted in a ceremony in Washington, D.C. on September 30.
Lynden A. Archer, a James Friend Family Distinguished Professor of Engineering in the Smith School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York; Gary S. May, chancellor of the University of California, Davis; and Gabriel C. Ejebe, the senior project manager for energy trading and markets for Open Access Technology International in Minneapolis; are the three African-American fellows.
“I think African-American participation in engineering is crucial,” said Archer, who joined the faculty at Cornell in 2000.
Archer has earned recognition by the academy for “advances in nanoparticle-polymer hybrid materials and in electrochemical energy storage technologies.”
A graduate of the University of Southern California where he majored in chemical engineering, Archer holds a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from Stanford University.
“We basically live in an era where engineering and science are essentially at the forefront of both human advancement and creating wealth,” Archer said.
“It’s crucial to encourage minority and African-American youngsters to train their creativity in this field … it prepares you for so many things,” he said.
Election to the National Academy of Engineering counts among the highest professional distinctions accorded to an engineer.
Academy membership reportedly honors those who have made outstanding contributions to “engineering research, practice, or education, including, where appropriate, significant contributions to the engineering literature” and to “the pioneering of new and developing fields of technology, making major advancements in traditional fields of engineering, or developing/ implementing innovative approaches to engineering education.”
The academy does not disclose the racial makeup of its membership, but past Journal of Blacks in Higher Education (JBHE) research has shown that Blacks make up about one percent of the members.
According to an analysis of the new membership list by JBHE, it appears that there are three Black engineers among the 83 new members. Two of the three – Archer and May – have current academic affiliations.
The new members bring the total number of U.S. members to 2,293, according to JBHE.
“I am honored to be included in the National Academy of Engineering Class of 2018,” said May, the seventh chancellor of UC Davis and one-time dean of the College of Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta.
“It is gratifying to be recognized for my research in semiconductor manufacturing and for creating programs to encourage underrepresented groups to pursue STEM careers,” said May, a graduate of the Georgia Institute of Technology who earned selection to the academy for his contributions to semiconductor manufacturing research and for innovations in educational programs for underrepresented groups in engineering.
A St. Louis, Missouri, native, May holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in electrical engineering and computer science from the University of California, Berkeley.
Despite his success, he said there’s still a glaring need for more individuals of color in engineering.
“We need more diversity in engineering so that we solve problems that take into account all experiences and perspectives. I encourage young people who are interested in engineering to seek mentors who can help them get on a path that works for them,” May said.
“My early experience with the National Society of Black Engineers was invaluable, and I’m still involved with them. All of us can and should play a role in inspiring people of all ages to find ways to follow their dreams,” he said.
The third African American in this year’s cohort of new members is Gabriel C. Ejebe, the senior project manager for energy trading and markets for Open Access Technology International in Minneapolis.
Ejebe could not immediately be reached for comment.
Lynden A. Archer, a James Friend Family Distinguished Professor of Engineering in the Smith School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York; Gary S. May, chancellor of the University of California, Davis; and Gabriel C. Ejebe, the senior project manager for energy trading and markets for Open Access Technology International in Minneapolis; are the three African-American fellows.
“I think African-American participation in engineering is crucial,” said Archer, who joined the faculty at Cornell in 2000.
Archer has earned recognition by the academy for “advances in nanoparticle-polymer hybrid materials and in electrochemical energy storage technologies.”
A graduate of the University of Southern California where he majored in chemical engineering, Archer holds a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from Stanford University.
“We basically live in an era where engineering and science are essentially at the forefront of both human advancement and creating wealth,” Archer said.
“It’s crucial to encourage minority and African-American youngsters to train their creativity in this field … it prepares you for so many things,” he said.
Election to the National Academy of Engineering counts among the highest professional distinctions accorded to an engineer.
Academy membership reportedly honors those who have made outstanding contributions to “engineering research, practice, or education, including, where appropriate, significant contributions to the engineering literature” and to “the pioneering of new and developing fields of technology, making major advancements in traditional fields of engineering, or developing/ implementing innovative approaches to engineering education.”
The academy does not disclose the racial makeup of its membership, but past Journal of Blacks in Higher Education (JBHE) research has shown that Blacks make up about one percent of the members.
According to an analysis of the new membership list by JBHE, it appears that there are three Black engineers among the 83 new members. Two of the three – Archer and May – have current academic affiliations.
The new members bring the total number of U.S. members to 2,293, according to JBHE.
“I am honored to be included in the National Academy of Engineering Class of 2018,” said May, the seventh chancellor of UC Davis and one-time dean of the College of Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta.
“It is gratifying to be recognized for my research in semiconductor manufacturing and for creating programs to encourage underrepresented groups to pursue STEM careers,” said May, a graduate of the Georgia Institute of Technology who earned selection to the academy for his contributions to semiconductor manufacturing research and for innovations in educational programs for underrepresented groups in engineering.
A St. Louis, Missouri, native, May holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in electrical engineering and computer science from the University of California, Berkeley.
Despite his success, he said there’s still a glaring need for more individuals of color in engineering.
“We need more diversity in engineering so that we solve problems that take into account all experiences and perspectives. I encourage young people who are interested in engineering to seek mentors who can help them get on a path that works for them,” May said.
“My early experience with the National Society of Black Engineers was invaluable, and I’m still involved with them. All of us can and should play a role in inspiring people of all ages to find ways to follow their dreams,” he said.
The third African American in this year’s cohort of new members is Gabriel C. Ejebe, the senior project manager for energy trading and markets for Open Access Technology International in Minneapolis.
Ejebe could not immediately be reached for comment.
Reasons why I will NEVER, EVER forgive Trump voters
Coventina
From Demo. Underground: All these things were done BEFORE the election, so don't try to tell me that Trump voters didn't know EXACTLY what they were voting for:
Calling Mexicans rapists
Shaming women for having menstrual cycles
Saying John McCain is not a hero for surviving torture
Signing up a white nationalist as a delegate
Saying he is against the First Amendment
Refusing to condemn the KKK
Mocking a disabled reporter
Praising Saddam Hussein
Praising Vladimir Putin
Re-tweeting white nationalists
Tweeting that most murders of white people are done by African Americans
Mocking women's personal appearance
Sexualizing his daughter
Lying about American Muslims celebrating on 9/11
"Two Corinthians"
Talking about his penis during a national debate
Saying a judge was partial due to his ethnic heritage
Supporting the Obama "birther" lies
Threatening to end the free press
Defrauding students of "Trump University"
Not releasing his taxes
Saying pumping breast milk is "disgusting"
Asking Russia to hack the United States
Of course there is so much more, but this hits the high (low) lights for me.
Calling Mexicans rapists
Shaming women for having menstrual cycles
Saying John McCain is not a hero for surviving torture
Signing up a white nationalist as a delegate
Saying he is against the First Amendment
Refusing to condemn the KKK
Mocking a disabled reporter
Praising Saddam Hussein
Praising Vladimir Putin
Re-tweeting white nationalists
Tweeting that most murders of white people are done by African Americans
Mocking women's personal appearance
Sexualizing his daughter
Lying about American Muslims celebrating on 9/11
"Two Corinthians"
Talking about his penis during a national debate
Saying a judge was partial due to his ethnic heritage
Supporting the Obama "birther" lies
Threatening to end the free press
Defrauding students of "Trump University"
Not releasing his taxes
Saying pumping breast milk is "disgusting"
Asking Russia to hack the United States
Of course there is so much more, but this hits the high (low) lights for me.
When idiots say "both parties are the same"
SHRED
From Demo Underground: Here's a partial list.
Things that Democrats would not be doing:
Escalating towards nuclear war with NK.
Pulling out of Paris Climate Agreement.
Reducing National Monuments.
Defunding renewable energy.
Defunding CHIP.
Not helping Puerto Rico sufficiently.
Threatening and deporting DACA.
Building a wall on the southern border.
Attacking our allies and praising Russia.
Trying to revive the war on cannabis.
Backing expansion of private prisons.
Sabotaging the ACA.
Pushing an obscene tax bill which trigger cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.
Preparing to decimate the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau.
A State Department in shambles.
Privatization schemes against public education.
Expanding the private prison system.
Attacking the BLM movement.
Praising White Supremacists.
Renewing attacks on our LGBT brothers and sisters.
Destroying Net Neutrality.
To name a few for those idiots who think "both parties are the same".
I've shutdown fools online with this list.
Things that Democrats would not be doing:
Escalating towards nuclear war with NK.
Pulling out of Paris Climate Agreement.
Reducing National Monuments.
Defunding renewable energy.
Defunding CHIP.
Not helping Puerto Rico sufficiently.
Threatening and deporting DACA.
Building a wall on the southern border.
Attacking our allies and praising Russia.
Trying to revive the war on cannabis.
Backing expansion of private prisons.
Sabotaging the ACA.
Pushing an obscene tax bill which trigger cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.
Preparing to decimate the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau.
A State Department in shambles.
Privatization schemes against public education.
Expanding the private prison system.
Attacking the BLM movement.
Praising White Supremacists.
Renewing attacks on our LGBT brothers and sisters.
Destroying Net Neutrality.
To name a few for those idiots who think "both parties are the same".
I've shutdown fools online with this list.
You what pisses me off beyond belief?
PCIntern - demo underground
8/29/18
No you don't: that's why I'm going to tell you...
When reporters on TeeVee start with the rational explanations of Trump and his cabal of insane, low IQ crooks who work for him (this week at least) as though these criminals are making decisions based upon some tenets of reality and with concepts of the ramifications and downstream effects of their policies or politics.
I have seen pets make more reasoned decisions than this crowd does and the reporters are not allowing for the idiocy, the mental illness, the criminality, the willful hatred. They pretend like it is the cabinet of a Lyndon Johnson or Richard Nixon but "just a little askew".
No. This is like rounding up the most ignorant, meanest, and violent people you have met in a lifetime, putting them in a boardroom, and having them decide the fate of the Earth. It is insanity beyond insanity. It reminds me of when the media used to report the goings on in Iraq which would be prefaced by the statement, "Today, Saddam Hussein said..." as though it was a legitimate statement. These are individuals who have never told the truth in their lives, to anyone including themselves.
...and talking to these people is like explaining alternate side of the street parking regulations to a cockroach.
When reporters on TeeVee start with the rational explanations of Trump and his cabal of insane, low IQ crooks who work for him (this week at least) as though these criminals are making decisions based upon some tenets of reality and with concepts of the ramifications and downstream effects of their policies or politics.
I have seen pets make more reasoned decisions than this crowd does and the reporters are not allowing for the idiocy, the mental illness, the criminality, the willful hatred. They pretend like it is the cabinet of a Lyndon Johnson or Richard Nixon but "just a little askew".
No. This is like rounding up the most ignorant, meanest, and violent people you have met in a lifetime, putting them in a boardroom, and having them decide the fate of the Earth. It is insanity beyond insanity. It reminds me of when the media used to report the goings on in Iraq which would be prefaced by the statement, "Today, Saddam Hussein said..." as though it was a legitimate statement. These are individuals who have never told the truth in their lives, to anyone including themselves.
...and talking to these people is like explaining alternate side of the street parking regulations to a cockroach.
Pastor Explains: When White Folks Say Obama Was an “Embarrassment”, Here is Your Response
By
cpowell
From Bluedot Daily: One of the common responses to criticism of Donald Trump by his mostly white voters is something along the lines “we were embarrassed by Obama for 8 years.” One pastor is calling out that nonsense.
Progressive pastor John Pavlovitz, a favorite of ours here, has penned an open letter to those white Trump voters, informing them that no, in fact, they weren’t embarrassed by the former President.
Were you embarrassed by his lone and enduring twenty-five year marriage to a strong woman he’s never ceased to publicly praise, respect, or cherish?
Were you embarrassed by the way he lovingly and sweetly parented and protected his daughters?
I remember the day after the Election, a friend of mine who happens to be white, remarked on social media that he “finally wasn’t embarrassed of America and our President.”
I sprained my eyes rolling them and they have never fully recovered.
Since then I’ve heard this sentiment echoed by more white folks than I can count, especially in recent months; supposed relief at once again having a leader who instills pride.
Since I don’t have the time to ask each of the individually, I’ll ask here:
So, you were embarrassed for the past 8 years, huh?
Really?
What exactly were you embarrassed by?
Were you embarrassed by his lone and enduring twenty-five year marriage to a strong woman he’s never ceased to publicly praise, respect, or cherish?
Were you embarrassed by the way he lovingly and sweetly parented and protected his daughters?
Were you embarrassed by his Columbia University degree in Political Science or his graduating magna cum laude from Harvard Law School?
Maybe you were embarrassed by his white American and Black Kenyan parents, or the diversity he was raised in as normal?
Were you embarrassed by his eloquence, his quick wit, his easy humor, his seeming comfort meeting with both world leaders and street cleaners; by his bright smile or his sense of empathy or his steadiness—perhaps by his lack of personal scandals or verbal gaffes or impulsive tirades?
No. Of course you weren’t.
Honestly, I don’t believe you were ever embarrassed. That word implies an association that brings ridicule, one that makes you ashamed by association, and if that’s something you claim to have experienced over the past eight years by having Barack Obama representing you in the world—I’m going to suggest you rethink your word choice.
You weren’t “embarrassed” by Barack Obama.
You were threatened by him.
You were offended by him.
You were challenged by him.
You were enraged by him.
But I don’t believe it had anything to do with his resume or his experience or his character or his conduct in office—because you seem fully proud right now to be associated with a three-time married, serial adulterer and confessed predator; a man whose election and business dealings and relationships are riddled with controversy and malfeasance. You’re perfectly fine being represented by a bullying, obnoxious, genitalia-grabbing, Tweet-ranting, Prime Minister-shoving charlatan who’s managed to offended all our allies in a few short months. And you’re okay with him putting on religious faith like a rented, dusty, ill-fitting tuxedo and immediately tossing it in the garbage when he’s finished with it.
None of that you’re embarrassed of? I wonder how that works.
Actually, I’m afraid I have an idea. I hope I’m wrong.
Listen, you’re perfectly within your rights to have disagreed with Barack Obama’s policies or to have taken issue with his tactics. No one’s claiming he was a flawless politician or a perfect human being. But somehow I don’t think that’s what we’re talking about here. I think the thing President Obama did that really upset you, white friend—was having a complexion that was far darker than you were ever comfortable with. I think the President we have now feels much better.
Because objectively speaking, if what’s happening in our country right now doesn’t cause you great shame and doesn’t induce the continual meeting of your palm to your face—I don’t believe embarrassment is ever something you struggle with.
No, if you claimed to be “embarrassed” by Barack Obama but you’re not embarrassed by Donald Trump—I’m going to strongly suggest it was largely a pigmentation issue.
And as an American and a Christian committed to diversity and equality and to the liberty at the heart of this nation--that, embarrasses me.
Well said, Pastor. Well said indeed.
Progressive pastor John Pavlovitz, a favorite of ours here, has penned an open letter to those white Trump voters, informing them that no, in fact, they weren’t embarrassed by the former President.
Were you embarrassed by his lone and enduring twenty-five year marriage to a strong woman he’s never ceased to publicly praise, respect, or cherish?
Were you embarrassed by the way he lovingly and sweetly parented and protected his daughters?
I remember the day after the Election, a friend of mine who happens to be white, remarked on social media that he “finally wasn’t embarrassed of America and our President.”
I sprained my eyes rolling them and they have never fully recovered.
Since then I’ve heard this sentiment echoed by more white folks than I can count, especially in recent months; supposed relief at once again having a leader who instills pride.
Since I don’t have the time to ask each of the individually, I’ll ask here:
So, you were embarrassed for the past 8 years, huh?
Really?
What exactly were you embarrassed by?
Were you embarrassed by his lone and enduring twenty-five year marriage to a strong woman he’s never ceased to publicly praise, respect, or cherish?
Were you embarrassed by the way he lovingly and sweetly parented and protected his daughters?
Were you embarrassed by his Columbia University degree in Political Science or his graduating magna cum laude from Harvard Law School?
Maybe you were embarrassed by his white American and Black Kenyan parents, or the diversity he was raised in as normal?
Were you embarrassed by his eloquence, his quick wit, his easy humor, his seeming comfort meeting with both world leaders and street cleaners; by his bright smile or his sense of empathy or his steadiness—perhaps by his lack of personal scandals or verbal gaffes or impulsive tirades?
No. Of course you weren’t.
Honestly, I don’t believe you were ever embarrassed. That word implies an association that brings ridicule, one that makes you ashamed by association, and if that’s something you claim to have experienced over the past eight years by having Barack Obama representing you in the world—I’m going to suggest you rethink your word choice.
You weren’t “embarrassed” by Barack Obama.
You were threatened by him.
You were offended by him.
You were challenged by him.
You were enraged by him.
But I don’t believe it had anything to do with his resume or his experience or his character or his conduct in office—because you seem fully proud right now to be associated with a three-time married, serial adulterer and confessed predator; a man whose election and business dealings and relationships are riddled with controversy and malfeasance. You’re perfectly fine being represented by a bullying, obnoxious, genitalia-grabbing, Tweet-ranting, Prime Minister-shoving charlatan who’s managed to offended all our allies in a few short months. And you’re okay with him putting on religious faith like a rented, dusty, ill-fitting tuxedo and immediately tossing it in the garbage when he’s finished with it.
None of that you’re embarrassed of? I wonder how that works.
Actually, I’m afraid I have an idea. I hope I’m wrong.
Listen, you’re perfectly within your rights to have disagreed with Barack Obama’s policies or to have taken issue with his tactics. No one’s claiming he was a flawless politician or a perfect human being. But somehow I don’t think that’s what we’re talking about here. I think the thing President Obama did that really upset you, white friend—was having a complexion that was far darker than you were ever comfortable with. I think the President we have now feels much better.
Because objectively speaking, if what’s happening in our country right now doesn’t cause you great shame and doesn’t induce the continual meeting of your palm to your face—I don’t believe embarrassment is ever something you struggle with.
No, if you claimed to be “embarrassed” by Barack Obama but you’re not embarrassed by Donald Trump—I’m going to strongly suggest it was largely a pigmentation issue.
And as an American and a Christian committed to diversity and equality and to the liberty at the heart of this nation--that, embarrasses me.
Well said, Pastor. Well said indeed.
real people funnies & comments
“Ayn Rand's 'philosophy' is nearly perfect in its immorality, which makes the size of her audience all the more ominous and symptomatic as we enter a curious new phase in our society.... To justify and extol human greed and egotism is to my mind not only immoral, but evil.” - Gore Vidal
