INTERVIEW: Is It Just Us

DeViney, J. (ModState): Hello, Mr. Alford, and I want to thank you again here at the outset for taking the time to talk with your friends here at ModState. The work you’ve done to date with Is It Just Us (and beyond) is as solid as it is diverse.

Alford, C. (Is It Just Us): Greetings [to] ModState. I thank you for your kind words. It is good to be appreciated; your words encourage me to do even more. I know our schedules didn’t quite mesh for some time, however as they say, better late than never. I am truly humbled to be asked to do an interview regarding Is It Just Us. I’d like to thank you again for inviting me and for the friendship you have shown me and the Is It Just Us platform.

ModState: Before we dive into anything else, I wanted to take a moment and ask you to talk about that “beyond” part of you and your work I referenced a moment ago. Care to share some about the immense amount of work you’ve logged in and around the web in recent years?

Is It Just Us: Well, I’m not too sure about the “and beyond” part of Is It Just Us. As you know, I’m a web developer and I built Is It Just Us as a way for me personally to get all of my news in one place. Kind of like the Drudge Report, except for Black people. I got tired of having to go to so many sites for information relevant to Black people. So, I decided to make a news aggregator that would funnel that various news stories relevant to Black people and put them on one website. I thought about [that], from a financial perspective, to keep people coming back to my site. However, I decided against that. As it is now, when a user clicks on a link they are taken directly to the original source of the link rather than staying on my website. I thought this was the best course of action to take. I know some people don’t like it when another website is taking traffic away from the original source. Also, I wasn’t in this to make money; I just wanted to make life easier for myself. A couple of my friends liked what I did so I got the idea of sharing it on Twitter. To date over 9,500 people have followed Is It Just Us through Twitter. Every article that is on the website gets tweeted on Twitter. I made sure to carry over the same philosophy from my website over to Twitter as well. Whenever someone clicks on a link on Twitter it goes to the original source rather than my website. In the future I want to concentrate on growing my Twitter following. By the way, I had a Facebook page at one point that was very successful. Evidently it was too successful. Facebook must have thought it was “2 Black and 2 Strong” and shut it down. Facebook said the content was too offensive to some. My response to that is, “Ha Ha” and “Sometimes the truth hurts.” [Smiles]

MS: Is It Just Us….how did that network come about? What were your main inspirations that you drew from pulling your thought process together and putting it up on the internet for enjoyment and education of all?

IIJU: Well, as I stated, I was looking for a way to bring all the news of interest to me in one location. I was browsing the internet, like I often do, and saw a great article explaining how to put together a news aggregator WordPress site. The article didn’t explain everything. However, it was enough to get going. I wish I could remember the name of the author of that article, because I would like to recognize her contribution to my site. I remember writing her on her blog and thanking her, however, I am unable to recall her name or the name of her blog at this time. One neat thing mentioned in the article (which I incorporated) is allowing visitors to leave their email address and receive a daily synopsis of about ten articles delivered right to your inbox. Once again, the links go directly to the original author and not back to my website. When I added a Twitter feed to Is It Just Us, that is when word of the website really took off. From Twitter I have many people, who are not followers of mine, retweet the articles to help spread the word. I know I must be getting the word out when I get attacked on certain articles by the ‘haters’. That tells me that the articles are getting to the people. And, of course, receiving contact from great people like ModState really lets me know that my work is being appreciated!

MS: Artists and writers, et al, the world over have quipped about “the post-industrial blues” and, of late, even more have begun to bat around phrases like “post-truth era”…does any of that ring true for you? In essence, what do you make of the era that both of our respective enterprises, Is It Just Us and ModState, find themselves in?

IIJU: I definitely do not consider myself a politically correct person. So, a lot of the “new” words being used today are not a part of my vocabulary. I actually had to look up those words just to be sure I understood them correctly. As far as the post-industrial blues is concerned; that is something to be blue or upset about. After World War II in America a man could get a job and provide for his family. Have a house and a car; the wife could stay home. No college degree required. If he didn’t like his job, he could go across the street and get another one. Even Black people, relatively speaking, had an easy time finding employment after World War II. A decision was made by the “elite” (people like the Rockefeller and Rothschild families) to de-industrialize America and send the manufacturing overseas (primarily to China). Real wealth in America has gone downhill ever since. This is not the only reason for the economic decline in America, but it is hard to be an economic superpower when you don’t make anything. A dollar in 1930 is worth over $14 dollars today. According to Shadow Government Statistics the “real” unemployment rate is around 23%. So, people have every right to be upset or have the post-industrial blues. Because our economic future has been robbed right from under us without most people even realizing that it happened. Things never just happen. It happens because a group of men made it happen!

The post-truth era is just more pronounced today than it has been in the past. In other words, the people doing the lying are more “bold with it” than they have been in the past. They have good reason to be so bold, because they have dumbed down the education and polluted the food and water; critical thinking is not found in as many people as it was in generations past. It is much easier to lie and get away with it today than it was in past generations. For example, people mistake editorials or opinions with facts. People are more caught up in emotions or how they feel; versus critical thinking and seeing if what was said was factual. Today we are living in a time where “Orwellian Doublespeak” is becoming more the norm rather than the exception. Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable. Donald Trump is right. There is a lot of ‘fake news’, however he is giving some himself as well as receiving it. You notice I didn’t even mention the internet. Generations that have grown up on the internet are very easily led in the wrong direction…by design! There’s a reason why the heads of Google, Apple, and Facebook don’t let their children use computers until they hit a certain age. If you give a computer to a child too soon, they won’t develop the ability to think for themselves.

Is It Just Us and ModState are living in the age of deception and lies. It is up to us to spread the truth and hope the people’s attention span is long enough to listen.

MS: As you know, ModState is quite possibly the only member site that’s a part of your collective (the “What Sites Are Included?” portion of Is It Just Us) that was founded by Caucasians/European Americans or, since we’re from the older portion of the Millennial generation, “white boys” (hah, sorry). With that, we’ve made it a pretty clear part of our mission to be a positive part of the conversation acknowledging the gaping disparities in law enforcement, crime and punishment and equal opportunity (or lack thereof, as it were) in our society. If you could deliver any message, any word, to other, up-and-coming white folks aspiring to make a difference in the media as well, what would you say to them to encourage them to head in the right direction and on how to do the right thing in pursuing the truth and being a part of the solutions (and not part of the problems) in creating a more just society?

IIJU: My message to any “white folks” who want to make a positive difference, whether that is in the media or some other avenue of life is simple: do what is right! There seems to be a push by the mainstream media to “shame” or “guilt” white people into doing the right thing. I don’t agree with that philosophy. The main problem Black people have is not one of the past; it is one of the present. This country has never been about equality. So, my message would be to do what is right and demonstrate equality. For example, to those in the media: are you reporting the story dealing with a Black man the same as you would if it was dealing with a White man? For example, if you are in finance: are you treating your Black clients (if you have any) the same as you do your White clients? It is simple and Biblical, actually. Treat others in your life as you want to be treated yourself. If you can do that; you are a benefit to society and part of the solution.

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) reacts to a broadly smiling Vice President Joe Biden during President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address at the Capitol Building in Washington, Jan. 28, 2014. (Doug Mills/The New York Times)

As far as pursuing the truth goes; that may prove more difficult for some. Critical thinking should be second nature to everybody. However, it is not. People that are emotional (or easily triggered) will find it much more difficult to think than others. Thinking critically is a skill. Like all skills it must be practiced and sharpened to be good at it. Unfortunately, this is not taught anymore (by school or parents) and very few people practice at it. Then, you factor in chemicals in the food and water along with trickery in the mainstream media. It is becoming harder and harder for people, especially younger people (who have been literally raised not to think), to think. If you don’t want to know the truth (and many people don’t) then you’re not going to pursue it. If you are one that is pursuing the truth; my message would be to think for yourself, do research for yourself, and question authority (people in the ’60s got that one right smile). [Smiles]

MS: On that note, is there a way that publications like ModState can do more in terms of actual editorial coverage and multimedia content (like our podcast, et cetera) to create awareness of the aforementioned civil rights crises in America?

IIJU: I’m not sure ModState can do much more; you guys are everywhere. You’re on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and you have the podcast. You might be stretching yourselves too thin. [Smiles] In my limited experience it’s not how many channels you’re on, but how much traffic you get per channel. So, I would just concentrate on growing the traffic with the many channels that your already have. The more traffic equals more awareness. You’ll have to talk to an expert on traffic generation though, because unfortunately that’s not me. [Smiles]

MS: Who are your heroes, or idols, or people in general that you look up to in business, for inspiration in carrying out your goals and fulfilling your dreams in enterprise and beyond?

IIJU: I haven’t really looked up to anyone with regards to business. Maybe I should have then maybe I would be more successful in life. [Smiles] Maybe it is the ‘Aquarius lone wolf’ in me that makes me forge my own path and not try to emulate others. I’ve always been more impressed by the hot dog vendor versus the man who makes high six figures a year working for corporate America. I respect the man who is able to pave his own way in life. Especially when it comes to money. Money is freedom and I respect a man that can create his own freedom. I especially respect someone that can start from nothing and make something of themselves. This may sound silly but making something from nothing is very Godly to me. There is nothing wrong with being born with a silver spoon in your mouth. However, making a way out of no way is very impressive to me.

Being Black in America is hard. Being a self-made Black millionaire is extremely hard. I don’t count Blacks that sell their souls to the devil to get rich. This basically excludes Blacks in Hollywood. Black athletes don’t count because at the end of the day, they are still employees. So, I have respect for self-made Black millionaires like Madam C.J. Walker, Annie Malone (who gave C.J. Walker her start), William Liedesdorff, Mary Ellen Pleasant (who funded John Brown), Robert Reed Church, and Reginald Lewis.

A man whom I learned about late in life was Arthur G. Gaston. He started by selling lunches to his co-workers at work. He started a burial insurance company, a construction firm, a funeral home, a bank, and a school. This was done at a time when Blacks couldn’t just go to a bank and ask for a loan to start a business. Back then you just had to literally start the business! It is men and women like A.G. Gaston that really impress me with their ability to create something from nothing.

MS: Who, historically, business aside, have you looked to and look to now as true role models of what it means to be a fair and just citizen in an unfair and unjust world?

IIJU: Historically, business aside, I can think of three people off the top of my head who I think have personified what it means to be a fair and just citizen in an unfair world.

Fidel Castro stands out to me for a couple of reasons. First is that he went against the grain and helped people he wasn’t supposed to help. Fidel was born to an elite, privileged family. He was a part of the ruling class. The system at that time in Cuba was designed to keep families like his in power at the expense of everybody else (especially Black people). Fidel even gave up an opportunity to play major league baseball (if the stories are true). I have to respect any member of the ruling class who chooses to go against a system that is set up for their benefit because they know it is wrong; even though they personally benefit from it. As for my people, Black people, Fidel ended segregation in Cuba when he came to power. When he visited the UN in the 1960’s he didn’t stay at the fancy White hotels but at a Black hotel in Harlem. Fidel was friends to leaders of the Black Power movement like Malcolm X and the Black Liberation Army. In the 1980’s Fidel sent over 25,000 troops to Angola to fight against the apartheid government of South Africa. Another reason I honor Fidel Castro is because the United States government tried to kill him over 600 times and failed! He survived 11 U.S. presidents. How one man on a tiny island was able to survive against the mighty and corrupt United States government is a miracle to me; but he did it!

John Brown is another hero of mine. For similar reasons as to why I like Fidel Castro. It is easy to do nothing in the face of injustice. It may be risky to speak out against injustice. However, it takes a real man or woman to stand up to injustice and fight back against it. John Brown put his life and the life of his family on the line in an attempt to end slavery in America. He won a few battles but ultimately lost the war. Even though John Brown and his sons gave their lives to help end slavery, their courage, sacrifice, and legacy lives on.

Julian Assange is another person I look up to for the simple fact that what he did was right; regardless of what the ruling class said he should do. JFK said by their very nature secrets are abhorrent in a free and open society. All Julian Assange did was reveal the truth to the American public and to the citizens of the world at large. As a result, for his bravery, he may end up spending the rest of life in prison.

It is interesting that a president, a preacher, and a computer programmer all have one thing in common: They were or are enemies of the United States of America. These are my heroes.

MS: And, you know I had to touch on this at least once, if you could have any message guaranteed to be received by our current President, what would it be? What would Donald Trump read or hear from you if you had one opportunity to get something across?

IIJU: The one message that I would like to be received by the current President is do NOT start World War III. When Donald Trump was running for POTUS he campaigned on sending overseas troops back home to America. He said America shouldn’t be the world’s policeman and he also said that it was an unnecessary expense that was killing America’s deficit. Less than 6 months into office he launched missiles into a sovereign country, Syria, China’s ally; while hosting China’s president for dinner. Donald Trump has been the aggressor towards Russia, China, North Korea, Syria, Iran, Venezuela, and Turkey. The list of countries is probably much longer, but those are the countries that I know of. Donald Trump constantly finds himself fighting with members in his cabinet that want war seemingly more than the President does. This has led to the high turnover in his administration.

Something to look forward to after WW3: Dystopia! YAY!
[Free Image Courtesy of MediaVillage.com]

Whether the President really wants war, or he truly is fighting those in his administration, my message to Donald Trump is clear: He and he alone is responsible! If he needs to fire everyone in his inner circle, then do that. If Donald Trump is the ringleader behind all of this, I would say stop! World War III is not in anyone’s best interest. World War III would be like one giant genocide party. Be like Nancy Reagan and “Just say ‘No!’”

DeViney, J. (ModState):With that, Sir, I really and truly appreciate your time and, as always, your continued friendship both as a man and as an ally in [the] media. I feel truly blessed personally and on behalf of ModState to be in one another’s respective corners. Thank you, again, and please do have a blessed day!

Alford, C. (Is It Just Us): Thank you for having me. I would like to thank ModState for being an ally in [the] media. I would like to commend your organization on doing your part in getting the truth out to the masses and trying to make the world a better place for all of us. Keep up the good work and may 2019 be your most prosperous year yet. Until the next time. May God continue to bless you and yours. Peace.

Staff

Gonzo State: [Untitled]

“Bentley! Bentley. I suggest…I suggest that you do something different with your life right now.” This instruction was delivered by my boss (at the time) to his unruly Huskie, but it might as well have been given to my entire generation.

As always, the day had given way to night and my mind had wrestled with itself long enough. I needed sanctuary, strong drink and a blank expression with which to watch the news on screens behind the heads of the locals. With the mind of a fried pie I careened my car down a thoroughfare of an unincorporated town in West Virginia, roughly sixty miles from Washington D.C.

“Babylon,” I came to call D.C. as a Sailor stationed in Bethesda, which was appropriate enough that no one cares to question the nickname. It was by a sense of awe, despair, disgust and reverence that I came by it the hard way some years ago.

The Christmas lights around Arlington had shone brightly on my most sentimental evening, awash with history and the sort of romance that saw my Army counterpart’s cheek against mine, her words in my ear accompanied by my kiss on her neck.

Then, the other shoe dropped and zang! I’m departing the parking garage of Target near P.F. Chang’s, a sudden desperate attempt to keep a fellow servicemember alive and out of trouble, and barely having arrived in Rockville, Maryland, found myself in the company of a remarkable amount of police officers. While all was eventually sorted out (one way or another), I did discover that being handcuffed, face down on the pavement amidst a soft rain gave me an amazing opportunity to learn and reevaluate the nonsense I’d allowed a foothold in my life. “Teachable moments,” I’ve come to call such events with a wince oft confused for a smile, and rightfully so.

Let no good deed go unpunished.

“It was all downhill from there,” I uttered to my glass and coaster on the bar, awaiting another potent haul of ethanol. “Or is it, ‘down on the bed’ from there? Not nearly as catchy.” The general uproar that passed for ambience as karaoke loomed large made my private social commentaries a non-factor.

“Hell,” I continued, mulling over the equal parts glory and horror of yesteryear, “if I was a woman they’d’ve labeled me a slut.” This was most certainly true, as I had responded to the eventual collapse of the genuine, heartmelting romance that blossomed in Arlington by carousing. I went on to live up to the archetype of heathen in the Navy, only I hadn’t needed a new port. D.C. had an endless supply of trysts for me to temporarily bind the wound of heartbreak with. I had largely imploded things with she myself, but damn the torpedoes and full speed ahead, aye?

“Aye, got it!” I said, louder than intended as my libation arrived. Few noticed, none cared. But I digress.

Every single horror of the corruption of public life crept its way into Walter Reed the two years I’d been there as the primary Army and Navy hospitals merged there in Maryland. It was a handful of miles from the epicenter of our Federal Republic, our Representative Democracy. Whatever label you prefer, the genuine, tender romance and the unnecessary legal crucible were equal parts of the same story.

So it was yesterday and is today and will be tomorrow. Wars and rumors of wars will abound along with the usual ugliness, while the bountiful opportunities, resplendence, and monuments sacred to America and Her Republic will ring hollow for any looking for that chapter. However, for those with a soul not set for self-destruct, there was the beauty and elegance and love that I discovered in Babylon. For my part, I vacillated between the cauldron of brutality and the essence of hallowed humanity.

Lucifer and a third of his fellow angels rebelled (at least in part) over the perception that God valued something fashioned from dirt over them; we hamstrung ourselves with our humanity during that time (2011-2013) in Bethesda, both our frailties and our strengths.

Did we make the case against humanity with our failures? I’m not so sure. The defeatism and Apocalypticism of the admittedly conflicted era that was the “new” Walter Reed circa 2011-2013 stands apart from now in several ways. Without the deflating drudgery of rattling them all off, at the very least one could look their friends and enemies in the eye. Betrayal and intrigue might be lurking around the next corner (per the modus operandi of Babylon and the government circuit as a whole) but those seeming eons ago politics was still the art of compromise. Then-POTUS Obama (D-IL) and then-House Speaker Boehner (R-OH) can hardly be soberly accused of engaging in the politics of blood sport we’ve now.

Now? Depending on their background, looking one’s enemies and/or friends in the eye might get you flagged on any number of social media platforms and could very well get you labeled with some sort of “-ism”, as one type of “-ist” or another. A whole decade ago Section 230 was applied within the spirit of its creation, lending the happenings online a sort of Wild West vibe when juxtaposed to the great cosmic gag-reel taking place now.

“What is Section 230?” one might ask. This, too, is a well-placed and unscripted question, but it makes little difference when Louis Farrakhan can spit his vile verbal excrement at hapless passerby on social media, but not Donald Trump. No, indeed. Hardly an avid defender of the former POTUS, I nonetheless present our Federal support and protections for our Silicon Valley overlords as Exhibit A for the how/why (either/and/or) the Federal Communications Commission has adequate pretext to cry foul. This is tantamount to “collateral censorship”, or censorship by proxy. That’s the biggest item George Orwell didn’t foresee in my favorite novel, “1984”: private enterprise conducting the censorship, and not the state itself.

Since I’ve likely lost anyone who hates The Donald for my defending his First Amendment rights, I might as well toss a grenade in this burgeoning dumpster fire. Wouldn’t Joe Manchin lead off that way?

“The wind only blows sometimes.” “He’s exactly right!”

While hardly the binary option both the Communists of the Far Left and the Fascists of the Far Right want all the Sheeple to give an “Amen!” and believe, the conflict between being a John Locke liberal in favor of largely laissez-faire capitalism (not the crony kind) with a strong, (but) limited Federal government and in wanting a respectable return on our investment in Section 230 protections granted Silicon Valley (and company), it is amusing on a perverse level.

“Afterall,” I told myself, “everyone hates a centrist, so you might as well enjoy it, Jack. The good news is, only White elitists are storming off after closing your column a few paragraphs back. They can kick rocks. There’s surely a Mother Jones article or athletic mutant defecating on the very flag that enables their miserable existence out there, somewhere, that they can flee to. Still miserable, but they showed me! No First Amendment for the people who make us think and shit.”

It was only at the end of this paragraph that I realized I wasn’t just thinking this as I tapped it into a note on my phone for later insertion into this very diatribe. I was muttering much of it out loud.

“Ignore the madness of a world that has made this swashbuckler appear normal. Ignore the celebutante-rejects aghast at those not absorbed in Chinese spyware ‘social’ apps available on any mainstream App Store.”

And why not? Afterall, the Communists now want the populace to swallow the latest swill their Thought Police have puked out, and nod slowly, basking in the wisdom of the notion that Black children being taught mathematics is racist. Conversely, the Fascists want the citizenry at-large to embrace their latest, unintelligible Reductio Ad Absurdum that beating cops to a pulp while shouting racist terms at the non-White officers is okay as long as they’re patriots. Thin Blue Line and all. “Thin Blue Line”, you ingrates? Put the straw down.

“Dear God Almighty,” I mumbled into my Long Island Iced Tea, nearly gone due to the urgent need to anesthetize myself. No reply, and not because He wants us to forget He exists, but because it’s the pizza we ordered, and it has arrived with all the trappings. Whose fault is that?

The lunacy in the former example is in those on the Far Left who by proxy think the Black intellect is so dormant, psyche so timid, that there need be no Black doctors, economists, engineers, et cetera, in the future. Mathematics is a rather integral part of the process of those career paths. Who’s holding who back with racist ideology again, exactly?

The madness in the latter example is at least as vivid and particularly poignant from people on the Far Right who think cops can do no wrong. You say The Filth went too far in Example X? “I say they didn’t go too far enough!” some neo-Successionist will bleat with the fervor of a patriot, by God. Just a patriot to another country, and not this one. But why quibble about it? Sure, seems reasonable enough to pass muster on “Squidbillies.”

Imitation being the highest form of flattery, the method to the unorthodoxy of this publication has never been less necessary. Both extremes in the sadly binary world of Castro and Mussolini neophytes demand the long-term vision, the sort of engaging in politics (again, “The Art of Compromise”) as a year-round endeavor that there is no app or “hack” for. The marathon, not the sprint, is what is at hand. I’d rather flatter the Edward Brooke III, the Alexander Hamilton, the Barbra Streisand, the Hunter S. Thompson and even the Master Shake with imitation than embrace the intellectual suicide of either Irredeemable America or Exceptional American Unilateralism.

Whichever clown car takes the stage from either extremist wing of discourse, they both will assure us that we’d feel so much better if only we’d embrace their brand of groupthink. Tsk, tsk, I know, but such is the rot of the putrescence we’ve inexplicably opted to wallow in.

What both teams of malcontents mean is we’ll feel much better carrying all of our favorite shows with us on all of our devices as they continue embezzling and funneling money to the duopoly in Babylon. The royalty on Capitol Hill will then reward our wholehearted faith with continued malignant governance and further insolvency on every level (social, fiscal, geopolitical, et al).

“Who knows?” I mumbled with a shrug. “With any luck, the dead will walk again and we’ll have an existential reason to disallow the Neanderthals in Congress from fucking the same coconut over and over while saying they’re carrying out the people’s business. All, naturally, with a straight face. And pursed lips. Can’t forget the ‘duck face.’ Gotta meet my fellow Millennials halfway.”

“You say something, Hun?”

The bartender had taken notice of my glass being devoid of strong drink, and grew concerned. Animals entering sexual congress with fruit, however, passed muster.

‘Of course it did,’ I thought, but could only reply with a low rasp as I exited my barstool.

“Yes, Ma’am. Check please.”

And on the 8th day, God made bears. Lots and lots of bears.

Does this era need introduction? Or, rather, may a suitable introduction be written? I report, you deride.

1: In any rational era, the sudden appearance of lurid photographs of well-known public figures tends to happen without the consent of those captured in the images. Jennifer Lawrence, Kate Upton, Anthony Weiner, et al. Notable exceptions to this are of the celebutante variety who sport last names such as Hilton and Kardashian, but then, their deliberate release of self-incriminating material isn’t indicative of a rational era.

That there’s a Stairway to Heaven but a Highway to Hell is indicative of expected traffic volume.

The great Jerry Falwell, Jr., well his undeniable greatness as an Evangelical Christian minister and university president is so ineffable, so vast, that he was no longer able to be confined by any notion of modern decency. If that’s still a thing, that is. Either way, the photograph posted containing the erstwhile head of Liberty University (and descendent of the late and decent Jerry Falwell) is disturbing on several counts. Let’s take a look:

Now, I’m not sure if it’s the ghastly attempt at humor (yeah, “black water”, haw haw haw!), the self-caricature of the gut and the unzipped pants combined with the awful rug on his counterpart (who is not his wife, for those keeping score at home), the fact that students of said Evangelical university get expelled for drinking and/or extra-marital sexual encounters, or that this wasn’t a leak at all that makes this such a disgrace. He could’ve just said it was a faux Black Dog in his glass and been done with it.

The man (so-called) “leaked” it via his own social media aperture, and then delivered a truly abysmal mockery of an apology on-air, and I quote: “I’ve promised my kids I’m going to try to be…I’m gonna try to be a good boy from here on out.” Rock and Roll, Jerry!

Oh and Mrs. Falwell, when your marriage does end, remember: you [expletive deleted] your rebound, and that’s it. You don’t permanently abscond from reality and keep [expletive deleted] them long-term and/or marry them. Especially, I might add, if you plucked them from the extras of “The Walking Dead.”

Silly me. But seriously, though: booze and Evangelicals and social media shouldn’t mix.

2: At times, the headlines write themselves. In their own attempt to swing loose with reality, as it were, Iran has a fabricated aircraft carrier resembling one of those wielded by the United States Navy. “Why”, you ask? An entirely unscripted and well-placed question. For their own propaganda purposes that is, until the entire experiment blew up in their faces. Living out their own version of “delirium tremens”, Iran was so successful in this charade that their accidental destruction of a prop US Navy aircraft carrier poses a threat to a major thoroughfare in the oil trade. Posing an existential threat to traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, and things apparently unbeknownst to Iran such as tides can shift the wreckage, endangering oil tankers.

Give the Ayatollah our best. Speaking of “the best”, if you’re going to challenge the world’s preeminent naval power, you’d better come correct. The Battle of Evermore this is not.

3: Biden must face Trump in debate(s). Yes, it’s answering a “double dog dare” from the POTUS and no, you don’t want to give in to the whims of a bully. But if you don’t follow through then it looks like you’re hiding in a basement and afraid to face Donald J. Trump on the stage. What’s the worst that could happen? They then “triple dog dare” one another to a lindy hop dance-off to the “Misty Mountain Hop” or hand out four sticks (one to both members of each ticket) to swing with? Why would you be afraid of that if you’re in the Biden camp unless, per the Trump camp’s assertions, the former Vice President will be unable to remember whether he’s going to California, or another, “y’know, the thing” that the Founding Fathers said? The great equalizer is the human ego. They’ll debate.

This is an event waiting to go wrong. Don’t hang out with bears. [image credit to Daily Caller & Barstool Sports]

4: Meanwhile, the National Park Service has posted a warning urging American adventurers not to confront bears but, if they do, to not take advantage of their slower companions. And no, this is not made up. Nor is the response of a pack of humans, recently, to a bear arriving in their midst. They didn’t flee or otherwise attempt to discourage the bear; instead they took pictures of their merry band whilst feeding the bear. Good call, ‘Murica.

5: Bill Barr’s appearance was a disgrace for everyone except the Attorney General. For committee chairman Nadler, to open the hearing with that statement was an outrage; and Jordan, thanks for the monologue on things that happened before Barr was back on the job and for God’s sake put your damn coat on!

6: Stat of the Week: the POTUS’ campaign is knocking on 1 million doors a week; the former VPOTUS’ camp is knocking on 0. As in ZERO. Z-E-R-O. This sort of nonsense only seems like nonsenseuntil the time when the levee breaks. Underestimate the mad media genius of The Donald at your peril.

Y’know what? Let’s just cancel everything. If everything’s priority one, then nothing is priority one.

7 June 2020

Black Lives Matter: Let’s cut through the fat together, shall we? Yes or yes? Good. With that, we have a problem in America. Several, actually. We live in a police state, for one thing, and for another, paramount now, is said police state taking a particular interest in African Americans.

Let’s also consider the unbelievable, highly-classified powers of FISA courts to spy unopposed on our own people without their knowledge indefinitely, the ability of the Federal government to suspend the Constitutional rights of American citizens suspected of terrorism via the Patriot Act and the inexplicable repeal of the Smith-Mundt Act (which forbade the Federal Government from using propaganda on American soil). Are you drinking what I’m pouring?

With no malice in my heart toward the many fine police officers across the land (a few I’ve known personally), I say again: we live in a police state.

Over the past decade alone, we have seen increasing examples of the use of excessive force on a disproportionate number of black Americans. Data clearly shows that Whites compose 76.5% of America’s citizenry while Blacks make up 13.4% of it, the former were shot to death by police 370 times versus 235 for the latter.

For those who want to bring out FBI data displaying prevalence of crime amongst inner city black neighborhoods, recall the negligible difference in drug use between whites and blacks and the parity in gun culture between the two.

America glorifies violence, and that crosses ethnic lines. Don’t believe me? Look at what I call “Dollar Voting”, in essence, what we value and spend our money on. What does our art and culture reflect? If we’re being real, it ain’t peace. Does hip hop culture lend itself to violence? Listen to the top ten hits of the genre and get back to me; but before you get back to me, let me know what Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Jerry Reed and “The Dukes of Hazzard” were all about while you’re at it.

As for the movement itself, “Black Lives Matter” is driving home a simple point: yes, every house in the neighborhood matters but only one of them is on fire.

We hardly need a hashtag for Blue (Police) Lives Matter; they roam about largely unopposed, vested with a badge and lethal weaponry, and we provide a safety net (union, pension, et cetera) and, in general, blanket support to include the high probability that bad actors aren’t held accountable in court.

All Lives Matter? Do they? Maybe I’d be more decisive in answering these questions if every new episode of “Death By Cop” didn’t always star a black man.

– Jack DeViney

*************

New Orleans Police Department preps for ongoing confrontation and protest throughout downtown.

All Lives Matter(?): Two things can be true at once. In fact, very few things in our world are mutually exclusive of themselves. One can, for example, be in favor of the events in the George Floyd case never happening again and find the phrase “Black Lives Matters” offensive. They are not mutually exclusive. Both can be true. This depends on your definitions of words. Words matter. Words have meaning. Facts matter. Facts have meaning.

If by any definition, one is not a racist, but they will not stand shoulder to shoulder with Black Lives Matter signs, or they won’t kneel down in front of a mob of protestors, they become….what? Insensitive? Divisive?

To be true to this point, I believe “All Lives Matter” or “Blue Lives Matter” are equally asinine. We don’t protest on things we agree upon. We don’t stand outside and shout “the sky is blue”!

Are things worse now than the mid-1960’s? Or do we see public discord in 3D now? We report, you deride.

The assertion that a black man can not step from his home without fear of imminent death from a racist ‘Mericuh is as equally preposterous as the media’s “1619” narrative that America is as systemically racist as at any time in our history. Really? Where’s the poll of young, black men asking them if they’d rather live in 1865, 1965 or 2020? I must’ve missed that astute revelation.

Instead of regurgitated statistics that the left/media refuse to acknowledge anyway, how about we come at this from a novel approach. [So] what is your suggestion? I mean, with all of the statistics stating the exact opposite of your point, what are we doing wrong? Are our hiring standards too low? Is training being swept aside to fast-track officers onto beats? Do we provide immunity to officers that is unnecessary and counter-productive? Let’s get to the “nut cutting” as they say.

If we want to turn this into another narrative where the right just refuses to admit there is a substantial issue and is instead hiding behind years of conservative practices…show me! Where are the statistics that support any of this nonsense? That show America is systemically racist and prejudiced against black Americans? Where are the politicians that you are particularly citing as responsible for these aggressions? Or is it just “orange man bad”, with his “basket of deplorables”?

Once again, the left/media have overplayed their hands. We were told millions of Americans would die if we didn’t shut the world down indefinitely. Now if you have a small business and want to re-open smartly so that you don’t lose everything, you’re killing grandma! We were told that if we would just allow LGBT marriages, all examples of bigotry would be history. Now if you’re a Millennial male that won’t go out with a trans-woman (a man by all scientific facts and definitions), you’re a homophobe! And now, if you won’t march to the beat of this drum, well, you’re just a racist. Or worse, an “Uncle Tom.”

It’s tiring. It’s divisive. It’s unnecessary. This issue is one we must agree on, or we don’t have a country. You cannot have law and order if one group is being systematically hunted down and killed by those sworn to protect us.

Facts matter. Statistics matter. Two things can be true at once.

– Michael R. DeViney, Jr.

INTERVIEW: Is It Just Us

Staff

Gonzo State: [Untitled]

Six Degrees of Knowin’ Nothin’: [Untitled]

Contrast: Black Lives Matter v. All Lives Matter (et al)