Displaying 541 To 570 Of 3,237 Comments Ferguson: Why Does a Mostly Black City Have Mostly White Government & Police? Jose Diaz Balart on MSNBC interviewing Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton. Her analysis: 1 Social media informs and organizes but it also provokes and fragments. Interesting. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On August 19, 2014 @ 7:37 am Anzia’s work re. practices in the scheduling and organizing of electionsis important. If this is your point then I agree with it. Off cycle scheduling is certainly a tool that is used by those in power to maintain their positions. How is it combated? Court challenges (when the courts are not predisposed to rule in favor of those who want the status quo) and electoral counter-organizing. It takes a lot of work to fight the system and to win. Given the 3 to 1 advantage in numbers it would seem that the base is there to turn thing around but there are other patterns that make this difficult to manage. These are explored here. http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/8/18/st-louis-segregation.html » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On August 19, 2014 @ 7:16 am I was there on Friday for the whole day. My short time there and my reading says that you are correct. The area is not organized. There are a number of pockets of organization but they do not work well with each other. The experience of the school board elections is very telling. What should have been three easy wins turned into a fight among conflicting groups in the black community which fractured their vote giving the white candidate the edge. Voter registration is actually pretty high as turnout in 2008 and 2012 for the national elections show but motivating folks for local elections is something else entirely. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On August 19, 2014 @ 7:04 am I’d be really interested in your source re. the police as “brown shirts.” I.E….The citizens of Ferguson refer to the police as “brown shirts”. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On August 19, 2014 @ 6:59 am Political power in St Louis County depends on organization but that depends on a number of factors to which you allude. It is hard to organize a community where malaise is deeply rooted.The behavior of the police, on the other hand, while reflecting who is seen as powerful also is the result of a national movement toward racial division, animosity and fault finding. Add in the shift to police as occupying forces militarized to meet that mission and it is a formula for disasters like this one. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On August 19, 2014 @ 6:55 am More than a nice try….the article you cite is one of those I read in preparation for my post….it supports my thesis. Let me quote from the article you cited (and also quoted extensively from)- emphasis added: “This problem of asymmetric representation can be fixed, but it will require mobilization around a specific reform agenda. As explored in an earlier post, this asymmetry in political power can be explained in part by low African American turnout associated with low-profile April elections in odd-numbered years.” “Recent research by political scientists has shown that small but well-organized interest groups, such as unionized teachers and municipal workers, benefit handsomely from low-turnout off-cycle elections. Historically, off-cycle elections have been a favored strategy of established ethnic groups in American cities who wished to keep immigrants and minorities out of power. In North St. Louis County, the most organized groups are white homeowners who have been in the same neighborhood since the 1970s, along with police officers and municipal employees who benefit from the status quo, and they have been able to dominate local elections.” “Let us not learn the wrong lessons from recent events in Missouri. By no means does Ferguson prove the defeatist claim that blacks and whites cannot live together in peace as the inner suburbs transform. Those of us who grew up in the integrated Ferguson-Florissant area in recent decades know otherwise. It is not a post-racial paradise, but it is a functioning multiracial community. What we are seeing in Ferguson is not merely the latest manifestation of the age-old problem of segregation and housing discrimination. Rather, it is evidence that the best hope for a solution – -the creation of integrated middle-class neighborhoods such as Ferguson — cannot work without political inclusion and accountability.” “Hopefully, the legacy of August 2014 will be the genesis of mobilization among a new crop of community leaders and candidates for local office in conjunction with a movement aimed at consolidating elections in order to make governments and police squads more reflective of the increasingly diverse suburban communities they serve.” MY POINT, THE ARTICLE’S POINT, AND YOUR POINT (VIA THE MATERIAL YOU PRESENTED FROM THE ARTICLE) is that political power depends on organization which results in viable candidacies, strong campaigns, registration and turnout. Your comment is one long quote from the article with the exception of the following sentence. “Although low voter turnout has been a problem for blacks in Ferguson and some other counties, this has been orchestrated.” That is not from the article you cite and quote. How is “orchestration” nefarious if it is the result of organizing energized by ethnic identification and common interests. The article you cite is a fitting companion piece to the narrative re. the school board in 2013. If your point is that the white minority out-organized the black majority, that is fair. If your point is that those in power, backed by white minorities, are likely to act in ways that favor their constituents and even make it easier to win, that is fair. Or are you suggesting that there has been voter disenfranchisement, gerrymandering and election fraud that are nefarious? It seems to me that you are in agreement with my position. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On August 19, 2014 @ 6:51 am Ad Lib…a tour de force…. I will comment later but for now, I want to post a thumbnail of this at Yabberz which is just a link. I would also like to post this at Daily Kos, which would require either you doing it from an account there or me doing it via cutting and pasting. This need to be where lots of folks can see it. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On August 13, 2014 @ 5:39 pm Why Preventing Genocide Isn’t the Same as Re-Invading Iraq Important consideration. But stories like this make me wonder where Turkey will end up considering…. http://www.dailysabah.com/politics/2014/08/11/turkey-doesnt-take-isis-threats-seriously-says-energy-minister » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On August 11, 2014 @ 9:52 pm Sounds like a plan… Seriously it does…. We do what we can do most effectively and keep our feet out of the way. A three way partition. Have you ever seen these maps. http://www.vox.com/a/maps-explain-the-middle-east Very useful. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On August 11, 2014 @ 9:31 pm One of the very best of many fine contributions AdLib! 10 out of 10 I have posted the link to it over at Yabberz. Your analogy- the cops and the house- is accessible and descriptive. With your indulgence I take it a step further. The house, in the second half of your example, is not just being invaded, it is being besieged by a maddened, raging gang. The Kurds are now at the center of this drama. This has been breaking in the last couple of hours. “The U.S. government has begun to funnel weapons directly to Kurdish forces fighting Islamist militants in northern Iraq, U.S. officials said Monday, deepening American involvement in a conflict that the Obama administration had long sought to avoid. The decision to arm the Kurds, via a covert channel established by the CIA, was made even as Pentagon officials acknowledged that recent U.S. airstrikes against the militants were having only a temporary deterrent effect and were unlikely to sap their will to fight.” » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On August 11, 2014 @ 7:39 pm GOP Millionaire Candidate Posed as Homeless & Unemployed in Fresno » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On August 10, 2014 @ 7:49 pm It is done. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On August 10, 2014 @ 7:40 pm Who is the audience? 1) The plutocratic set, of which he is one, grinned watching it over their second double martini. 2) The campaign staff that had something to work with (you know for fundraising from the chumps and for motivating other chumps to campaign for the guy who never planned to win…by the way how much has he given to his own campaign? I can’t find anything.) 3) It’s part of the GOP narrative for their own base reinforcing the principle messages that you have outline a number of times. 3) » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On August 10, 2014 @ 7:38 pm So, you vote for “self serving, cynical stunt”. Got it. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On August 10, 2014 @ 6:30 pm How dare you demand that his real world experience actually be real and be of this world! Good thinking all the way around. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On August 10, 2014 @ 6:28 pm Good summary. Brown and his allies in the state assembly are all about slow and steady winning the race….with careful tinkering as the hallmark of the effort. As you say, no miracle, but a careful reassembling of an economy which has a roller coaster history. I see Kashkaris as you do- a groaner who points to the dips and the holes but offers no course of action to cope with them except to allude to supply sidism. Put more money in the hands of the wealthy and they will multiply it and distribute it. Hmmmmm…where have we heard that before? » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On August 7, 2014 @ 9:14 pm I watched it one more time with your comments in mind. It’s like five day old fish left in the sun to fester….stinks to high heaven. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On August 7, 2014 @ 9:05 pm Calculating and manipulative are the words that come to mind. I have watched it half a dozen times and I keep thinking- I wonder who coached him to look so sympathetic and to feign empathy. Hardly a candid, man on the street when the videographers are in your face. I suspect you are correct about the voters – Brown is too sharp a contrast. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On August 7, 2014 @ 9:03 pm My thinking is that more than a few of his post-video donation were from those in the plutocracy happy to see one of their own using a liberal scenario in service to their cause. I am more than a little cynical about it start to finish. I wonder what consultants were brought in to hone a message which has a underlying message that the wealthy still do have the answers and know the way. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On August 7, 2014 @ 8:57 pm I agree. What do you think of Kashkaris charge that Brown has done little for the kind of folk he was attempting to imitate? » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On August 7, 2014 @ 3:31 pm May I copy your reply here and amend it to my original article over at Daily Kos? I got quite a few comments, many skeptical but NONE say it as well as you do here. Your analysis, although much better informed than mine, mirrors my own thinking. I find your insight that he is operating from an image, largely fantasized, of what it means to be unemployed and homeless. He really does not have a clue. Reading your comment it strike me that your first sentence sort of gives this guy the benefit of the doubt but by the end you have decided that his action are, in fact, contemptible. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On August 7, 2014 @ 3:28 pm Among the many problems with this “candid” experiment…. Pretty cynical effort from my POV. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On August 7, 2014 @ 3:22 pm GOP Rep. Fights Against “War on Whites” Just for the sake of context… Brook went on to say: “It doesn’t make any difference if you’re a white American, a black American, a Hispanic American, an Asian American or if you’re a woman or a man.. Every single demographic group is hurt by falling wages and lost jobs. So the Democrats, they have to demagogue on this and try and turn it into a racial issue, which is an emotional issue, rather than a thoughtful issue. If it becomes a thoughtful issue, then we win and we win big. And they lose and they lose big.”
» Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On August 5, 2014 @ 3:41 am Any price is worthy paying, as long as he is not the one paying. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On August 10, 2014 @ 7:28 pm That matches up with my obervation: I am fond of saying that everytime McCain is in a tight bind he goes back in time and he is in his jet bomber in the skies over Vietnam and he will be Damned if he will lose another plane, so he does whatever it takes to keep from crashing. That leads to a lot of behavior full of contradiction. His greatest wish was to follow in the family tradition and be an admiral. When it was made clear that this was out of reach, he turned to politics as a second best choice and he has never made it to the top rank there either. Angry and bitter…..that is how he comes across….and I think I know why. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On August 7, 2014 @ 9:25 pm Certainly deeply flawed and wounded. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On August 7, 2014 @ 9:24 pm McCain “lost” five planes: One crash was found to be be McCain’s fault, the other due to an engine failure of undetermined cause. A third was destroyed on the deck of the carrier USS Forrestal when a missile fired accidentally from another plane hit either the plane next to McCain’s or, less likely, his own aircraft, triggering a disastrous fire that killed 134 sailors and nearly killed McCain. A fourth plane was lost when he was shot down over North Vietnam on a bombing mission over Hanoi. A fifth alleged “crash” turns out to be a misinterpretation of a flight accident that did not result in the loss of the aircraft. McCain admitted to causing that incident through “daredevil clowning” but returned safely. None of these incidents prevented McCain from winning regular promotions and being assigned additional flight duty. The Navy praised his “aggressiveness and skillful airmanship” when awarding him the Navy Commendation Medal for an attack Oct. 18, 1967, on a shipyard in Haiphong, North Vietnam, prior to his capture. The Navy also commended his “superb airmanship” in awarding him the Distinguished Flying Cross for a bombing attack on a Hanoi power plant Oct. 26, 1967. His plane was hit by a surface-to-air missile on that mission, but he “continued his bomb delivery pass and released his bombs over the target” before being forced to eject, according to the official citation. The Navy has released and posted copies of McCain’s several medal citations and commendations. We have not seen any similar release of official reports of his accidents, or of his fitness reports as a young officer. The question is why? There have been assertions that the Navy was under pressure to award the medals because of his family connections and later because of his time as a POW. I don’t know. What I do know that these event haunted him from that time on. I am fond of saying that everytime McCain is in a tight bind he goes back in time and he is in his jet bomber in the skies over Vietnam and he will be Damned if he will lose another plane, so he does whatever it takes to keep from crashing. That leads to a lot of behavior full of contradiction. His greatest wish was to follow in the family tradition and be an admiral. When it was made clear that this was out of reach, he turned to politics as a second best choice and he has never made it to the top rank there either. Angry and bitter…..that is how he comes across….and I think I know why. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On August 7, 2014 @ 4:05 pm Boehner Has Clung Desperately to His Gavel: That’s All He’s Got to Show for His Efforts I left this comment for Nirek re the “lawsuit”….. “Yet, that stunt will likely allow him to avoid the impeachment debacle which is probably the greatest threat to his Speakership. He cannot pass legislation, he cannot work with the other branches, he govern but he can hold his office and when you make the claim that your job is to keep the “other side” from passing laws that are not good for the country, then you win.” I do not know if he is the one who worked this out, but I suspect not. The GOP brain trust is not in Congress….they are out of sight. I have come to the conclusion that all that has been going is wrapped around the shrinking GOP base as a result of demographic shift. I surmise that all that is being done, all of it, is to neutralize that shift. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On August 10, 2014 @ 7:19 pm Yet, that stunt will likely allow him to avoid the impeachment debacle which is probably the greatest threat to his Speakership. He cannot pass legislation, he cannot work with the other branches, he govern but he can hold his office and when you make the claim that your job is to keep the “other side” from passing laws that are not good for teh country, then you win. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On August 10, 2014 @ 7:03 pm He has had his on that gavel ever since he was a Gingrich protegee and he is not about to give it up except on his own terms. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On August 10, 2014 @ 6:55 pmComments Posted By MurphTheSurf3
2 The mix of peaceful protestors with provocateurs makes keeping order very difficult and it sullies the message of the
3 Too few elected leaders present on the ground on an ongoing basis.
4 There are several Fergusons: white and black lower middle class in the majority with blacks dominant, poor blacks and whites with blacks dominant.
5 Unemployed, under-educated angry young black men are easily pulled into acting provocatively by provocateurs- a number of them from outside the community
6 All of this inflamed by a militarized police dressed to kill as in a theater of war
7 A series of local, county and state goverment missteps, and outright mistakes in handling the Brown death and subsequent community anger.
8 Thankfully the federal government has been there almost from the first day with the FBI and DOJ involved and presidential statements which she called level-headed and balanced..
9 The nature of the death of Brown and the way his body was treated is the base upon which all of this is built.
10 Change must begin with the involvement in and commitment to the electoral process by the black community.
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