CONFUSED ABOUT KERRY’S EGYPT VISIT?

Let’s quickly replay what happened in Egypt during the past four years and four months, leading up to US Secretary of State John Kerry’s recent talk with Egypt’s President, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. The US supported a brutal Egyptian strongman in the form Hosni Mubarak for decades… …then turned around and requested that Mubarak step […]

STAND DOWN, RANGEL. FOR HARLEM’S SAKE.

Through my lens, these are the Democratic Congressional options for Harlem and Bronx primary voters: a long time situational sellout whose margin of public acceptance has dropped to such precarious lows where he now resorts to fake telephone conversation comedy sketches during debates; a New York State legislator who has never been tested on the […]

WANT HELP WITH ISIS, IRAQ? IT WILL COST YOU.

Partially driven by my desire to protect the innocent, I’ll describe Iraqi Prime Minister Noriel al-Maliki’s current existential problem with ISIS by telling a semi-fictional story. I knew this Guy who opened a restaurant with the help of some People from Brooklyn. A disagreement resulted in the Guy asking the People from Brooklyn to leave the […]

DON’T SLEEP ON THIS CHINA-RUSSIA GAS DEAL

Don’t let the mainstream media downplay the 30-year, USD 400 billion natural gas deal signed this week between Russia’s Gazprom and China’s CNPC. This is a big, friggin’ deal, and we may be witnessing the start of a long-term inflexion of how the game of international politics will be played and won. Or […]

SMALL BUSINESS DEATH MEANS DEATH OF MIDDLE CLASS

Many of you are STILL in denial and think America’s struggle is based on Blue vs Red, but the latest Brookings Institution report about the decades-long destruction of business creation and survival should make you see a bigger picture. And be very pissed. Look at this chart featured in the Brookings report, Declining Business Dynamism […]

CINCO DE MAYO IS ‘BLACK PEOPLE HUG YOUR MEXICAN BROTHERS AND SISTERS DAY’

(Laughing) I’m not exactly sure how Cinco de Mayo meant that Americans are supposed to get smashed drunk on May 5 – although I’m sure the Yankee axiom of “Human beings exist so that we can sell them something” had a hand here – but you should at least know that Americans of African […]

POST-STERLING AMERICA, OR LONG LIVE CHICKEN WING POWER

While you celebrate another victory in the name of post-racial America after the NBA’s lifetime banishment of racist Los Angeles Clippers owner, Donald Sterling, I want to remind you of a 38-year old racial incident that follows a familiar pattern. The late Earl Butz, US Secretary of Agriculture during the Nixon and […]

THE COTTON CLUB SYNDROME – DONALD STERLING AND THE LEAGUE OF OWNERS

Donald Sterling’s latest ventures in race and sociology make me not only think the guy would feel right at home in 1930’s America, but I also think he wants to capture some of that ol’ Sambo magic and recreate his own private Cotton Club in 2014. You think I’m being extreme, huh? Like the famous […]

SIGHT + SOUND: WABERI JORDAN – PUT IT RIGHT THERE

We all have passion, and a few of you have more than one. It’s okay to admit it. This convo is between you, me and the viewing screen. While some passions are repressed by the cruel hand of others or through our own restrictive choices, some of you do not need to be convinced […]

“ONLY DOLLARS GOT THE WEIGHT”

My thoughts about American democracy and Freedom of Speech’s current state after the Supreme Court recently obliterated long-standing campaign donation limits can be summarized with one sentence. The more money you have, the more freedom you get. Look at WaPo‘s article about the McCutcheon case if you want a longer explanation… song currently stuck […]