So I saw Star Wars: The Force Awakens last night. In IMAX 3D. A very fun movie, even if you are not a fan of the series. BUT here’s the thing: Of COURSE it is a good movie; 90% of it is the same ingredients as the original, right down to the bar/cantata scene with strange music and weird aliens. A … Read More
Does Being White Make You A Racist?
Professor George Yancy of Emory University thinks so. Here’s his New York Times Editorial, an open letter to White America. I print it in full below the fold. But here is my response: Dear Mr. Yancy: You speak undeniable truths about the world we live in, and about how white people like me benefit (almost instinctively) from white privilege. That’s true. But … Read More
Police-Related Racial Homicide in Winston-Salem?
On December 9th, Winston-Salem resident Travis Page died after being handcuffed by four Winston-Salem police officers. After being handcuffed. It’s a story all too familiar — a young black man dies — not in a shootout with police — but while under police custody. It is irrelevant what Travis Page did or was accused of doing. Unless he was attacking police … Read More
The Trump Backlash Continues
A $6 billion golf community under construction in Dubai is removing his name from the project. Trump was tossed from a respected business network in Scotland, where the billionaire says he invested more than $300 million in golf courses and other developments. And Lifestyle, a retailer that does business in an enormous marketplace spanning the Middle East, India and Africa, … Read More
Trump May Have Hit The Ceiling
Donald Trump has defied political pundits for months now. When he first attacked John McCain, the thought was that it would kill him in the polls, but then he went up. And that’s been the story for over four months now. He keeps on appealing to the worst-of-the-worst conservative base and his numbers go up. But many are now saying … Read More
35 Years Ago Today: Lennon Killed
An important voice was silenced. I wrote about this 10 years ago: I was not then, and am not now, a huge John Lennon fan. But that was one of those few watershed moments in life where you have to sit back and wonder — aloud — “why”? All he did was talk and sing about peace and love. Of … Read More
Women In Combat
100% equality: In a historic transformation of the American military, Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter said on Thursday that the Pentagon will open all combat jobs to women. “There will be no exceptions,” Mr. Carter said at a news conference. The groundbreaking decision overturns a 1994 Pentagon rule that restricts women from artillery, armor, infantry and other such combat roles, … Read More
Thoughts and Prayers
There seems to be a backlash to this almost reflexive (and increasingly meaningless) response to mass shootings, best exemplified by the cover of today’s New York Daily News: There has also been a backlash to the backlash. Christians got offended at what is being called “thoughts and prayers shaming”. The Weekly Standard offered a headline that blared,“Liberal Outrage Over Prayers … Read More
60 Years Ago Today
A black lady sat on a bus. No, not Claudette Colvin. The one who came nine months later, on December 1, 1955. Yeah, Rosa Parks. The lighter-skinned one. That whole thing was planned, you know. Rosa Parks (who died in 1995) wasn’t a nobody; she was an activist. She knew the bus driver too. Knew him to be a real jerk. … Read More
Planned Parenthood Shooting Is Domestic Terrorism
I’ve been vacationing and the holidays and yada yada, so there’s been light blogging lately. The big news that I missed was a terrorist attack here on the United States, although whether to call it a “terrorist attack” seems to be arguable. I’m talking of course about the shooter at Planned Parenthood. On Saturday, November 27, a shooting and five-hour … Read More
Trump: Annoy Your Local Police With Your Paranoia
Well, what he said was this today (emphases are mine): We can’t let it happen anymore. We have to be strong, we have to smart. We have to be fair, we have to be fair to all side. And it’s tough. You know, if you’re Muslim — and there are so many, they’re so great, they’re such good people — … Read More
The Murder Of Laquan McDonald
It was murder. Plain and simple. But let’s start with the account from the police union, as described to the Chicago Tribune in October 2014: “He’s got a 100-yard stare. He’s staring blankly,” [Fraternal Order of Police spokesman Pat] Camden said of the teen. “[He] walked up to a car and stabbed the tire of the car and kept walking.” Officers remained … Read More
Warren Beatty Is So Vain (Among Others)
Well, mystery partially solved: Carly Simon released the hit song “You’re So Vain” about a self-absorbed lover in November of 1972, leaving fans to wonder for more than four decades who it could be about. Now the mystery is somewhat solved. Simon, 70, told People magazine that at least part of the song refers to actor Warren Beatty. “I have confirmed … Read More
Anti-Refugee Fearmongering Continues
What Obama Says: What I say: [fb_embed_post href=”https://www.facebook.com/ken.ashford/posts/10153779656910820?comment_id=10153779735840820¬if_t=feed_comment/” width=”550″/] Turning our backs on desperate Muslim refugees plays right into ISIS’s hands. After all, they recruit from a disenfranchised and angry population. What better to create a disenfranchised and angry population?