politics

In a recent interview with SiriusXM's Joe Madison, Congresswoman Maxine Waters hits some current issues on the head. She talks KKK, Donald Trump, calling Civil Rights organizations out for lack of support for impeachment, and the violence going on in Virginia. In Maxine Waters fashion, she doesn't hold back and tells it exactly how it is. In the full interview, that can be listened to here, she addresses her issues with what's going on right now as well as her hopes for the future. When Congresswoman Waters  was asked about Donald Trump's comments on Charlottesville:"I still think that Donald Trump is a deplorable human being that does not deserve to be the President of the United States of America. And, even though he finally, after 3 days, made comments where he was able to say the words white supremacist, KKK, alt-right, etc., he only did this because both sides of the aisle, Republicans and Democrats, have raised the question about why he hasn’t done it.  Some have condemned him because he hasn’t done it.  And, his advisors have told him that this is serious…he better do it…this might be a tipping point. And so, like I said earlier today, it was not in his heart, he didn’t really mean it.  They wrote the words, he had to say it.  And I think no more of him now than I thought of him after I witnessed him in the Election in the way he conducted himself.”On what members of the Congressional Black Caucus and members of the other side of the aisle can do:“I think that’s pretty well known now…I don’t feel that the Intelligence Committee of the House really could get anywhere because it’s headed by Nunez who ran up to the White House trying to protect the president when the president lied on Obama and said Obama had wiretapped him.  So we know he is not the leader that’s really concerned about getting at collusion, or conflict of interest, or interference with justice.  And so, the Senate I had great hopes for but, they move very slowly.  I put my hopes in Mueller now. I think that he is serious…he’s staffed up with a lot of good experts.  He’s already caused the FBI to raid the home of Manafort…and I think he’s going to into the West Wing and he’s going to do the kind of raid and everything that he needs to do to get the information to connect the dots.  And so, we support that. We support that very much.We have a responsibility to communicate with our constituents and help them to understand, as much as we can, what is going on.  But I would employ everybody…join me…Call for his impeachment, put the pressure on, question the members of the Republican party about their patriotism and whether or not they’re going to stand with this man, with his lies, with distorted information, who before our own eyes interfered in the White House when he literally gave the Russians classified information.  When will they stand up?  I think everybody should be doing what I’m doing and continue to call for impeachment.”On Stephen Bannon:“You cannot believe that this President is sincere.  He’s got the white supremacist in the west wing.  They work with him and for him.  How can you take him seriously when it takes him 3 days  to comment on the vile, outrage of the right wing, the alt-right causing all of that calamity and putting people at risk and really being responsible for the death of the young lady who got run over by the car because they organized all of this, they started all of this? How can you take him seriously when all of this stuff is going on? On when President Trump’s administration might dissolve:“I would say it could happen as early as the end of this year, I really do.  We’ve got to have all the civil rights organizations, all of the non-profits, everybody weighing in and calling for his impeachment.  You’ve got to have people prepare to continue to rally, to continue to convene.  We don’t have enough people weighing in on impeachment…What you have to say is this, just as they were not willing to stand with him as he made his statement about what took place in Virginia and they called him out because they didn’t want that on their heads, they knew that something was wrong with the way the President dealt with that and you saw them start to come forward. This is what it takes. It takes them understanding that they will be politically endangered if they don’t move at certain times when he reveals himself for what he is and his lack of morals, and what he stands for and so, the more he does it, the more we weigh in, the more the opportunities are there for impeachment.  But, if we just sit around and wait until one person is calling for impeachment, a few people are calling for impeachment, that doesn’t put pressure on them.  We’ve to get city councils coming up with resolutions, we’ve got to get cities coming up with resolutions.  We have not had a resolution from a civil rights organization.  On denouncing the KKK:             “We don’t have the majority vote and perhaps we can bring over some Republicans.  You saw three of them who came on over on the Senate side when they tried to pass the skinny repeal of Obamacare and sometimes we can get them to come on.  I think that we can keep weakening him as we have just done because of his lack of rising to the occasion to speak up against the white supremacists and what happened in Virginia.  I think the more those kinds of things happen, the more we weigh in, the more we have the possibility of getting Republicans to join in on something like that. …This means that everybody has got to be committed to the proposition that we have to get rid of him as president, that he doesn’t deserve it and we have to get these resolutions going from all of our non-profits, and all of our civil rights organizations, our churches.  Where is the Baptist Ministers Conference, where is the CME, the AME? When are we going to hear from everybody?Congresswoman Water's comments are a call to action. In order to see change, everyone has to do their part. Do you think that Trump could actually be impeached? What do you hope to see black leaders doing more of? Let us know in the comments...

Takiyah Thompson, a 22-year-old college student, was arrested Tuesday after confessing to taking part in the toppling of a Confederate monument outside the Durham County courthouse Monday evening. The video circulated identifying Thompson as the activist who climbed a ladder to the top of the statue to tie a rope around its neck before the crowd tore it down.                                                                                                 Photo: Breitbart.comDurham, North Carolina is a part of our country still riddled with a troubled and difficult history of racial unrest—it was the catalyst for battles over segregation, the grounds for the formation of the Ku Klux Klan and that statute was one of many constant reminders of the evils of racism that haunts that state. But also, was symbolic of how these evils can be buried under a sense of American exceptionalism and patriotism that act as a stronghold for whiteness in America. As the statute hit the ground, its bronze crumbling into pieces upon impact, the crowd cheering, I can only imagine the euphoria in that moment. Like many in North Carolina and around the country, I witnessed the vile and devastating ways, racism rears its ugly head in 2017 during the white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. A rally incited by the removal of a Confederate statue of Robert E. Lee from a downtown park.Images hit airwaves and on social media of mobs of white men wielding tiki-torches and marching through the University of Virginia screaming “White Lives Matter”—all culminating into a major rally that brought out alt-right, white supremacist groups there to reclaim their whiteness, their power in this country. My blood boiled watching these events unfold, to see white supremacists carrying poles wrapped with the Confederate flag and men in bulletproof vests, strapped with sniper rifles walking through the streets with ease and some even shaking the hands of white officers as they walked by.   I found myself in a daze of rage, unable to clearly articulate how the events of Charlottesville and the effigies of white nationalism that remain a fixture to many states have shaken me to my core. As the President of the United States took his sweet, leisurely time to call out white nationalists and hate groups as racists and evil and then in typical fashion of white privilege, when confronted with race, then blamed both sides for violence—I was reminded of how not even the leader of this country defends my humanity. But when I saw my beautiful black sister Takiyah Thompson climbing that ladder, throwing a rope around that Confederate statute and watching as a crowd toppled it the ground, I felt an ease in my heart. An ease that comes when realizing that a swift change is approaching. It was the same gut feeling as I watched just two years ago, a young black woman doing something very similar and yet nearly unthinkable. When Brittany “Bree” Newsome approached the South Carolina statehouse and scaled a 30-foot flagpole and took down the Confederate flag—she inspired change in the face of tragedy. Newsome pushed then-South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley to sign a bill removing the flag from the Statehouse grounds permanently and this year, New Orleans has removed several Confederate monuments from across the city. James Baldwin said in his timeless and searing work 'The Fire Next Time'—a work that spurred the Civil Rights Movement, “—at the center of this dreadful storm, this vast confusion, stand the black people of this nation, who must now share the fate of a nation that has never accepted them, to which they were brought in chains. Well, if this is so, one has no choice but to do all in one’s power to change that fate, and no matter what risk—eviction, imprisonment, torture or death—one must be careful not to take refuge in any delusion—and the value placed on the color of the skin is always and everywhere and forever a delusion.” I am a believer in the interesting parallels of this world—that whatever goes up must come down. I am also a very strong believer that history has shown change is, in fact, inevitable but is only when we take matters into our own hands and we forcibly push the tides of change do we yield results. In an interview with the New York Post, Takiyah Thompson stated “People can be mobilized and people are angry. And when enough people are angry, we don’t have to look to politicians to sit around in air conditions and do nothing when we can do things ourselves.” Those exact words could not resonate more than in this very moment. For here we are at the center of a moral arc that bends towards justice, and everything is in our hands. I salute Takiyah Thompson for her fearlessness, for being an agent of change, for pushing others to not falter in our duty to right the wrongs of this country. For we are a powerful people when we are aware of how whiteness is, in fact, an invention and these statues are merely objects created to uphold and justify whiteness—but like all things can be easily brought down. ...

The president of the United States is the leader of the country. When something bad happens, the nation’s citizens turn to the White House, looking for guidance and for comfort.The nation reflexively turned to Trump this weekend, after a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, North Carolina turned violent, leaving 19 wounded and one person dead.The president criticized the day’s violence, and said it came “from many sides.”This didn’t sit well with many Americans who had spent the day watching images of people being beaten, of a car being driven into peaceful protesters.These citizens wanted to hear from an indignant president, full of wrath and hurt over an American citizen being killed by a white nationalist. They wanted their leader to denounce in no uncertain terms that white supremacy was evil.The president’s words may have done little to comfort those who believe in equality, but they did nothing but bolster those who do not.The Daily Stormer, a white supremacist site wiped from the internet due to hosting troubles, wrote that the president’s words ought to embolden white nationalists. “He didn’t attack us … there was virtually no counter-signaling of us at all,” CNN reports.Finally, this week, under pressure from citizens and politicians of both parties, the president read a prepared statement, “Racism is evil. And those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs, including the KKK, Neo-Nazis, white supremacists and other hate groups are repugnant to everything we hold dear as Americans. Those who spread violence in the name of bigotry strike at the very core of America.”Now at home in New York City, Trump decided he needed to clarify his condemnation of hate, ABC News reports.“What I’m saying is this: you had a group on one side and you had a group on the other, and they came at each other with clubs, and it was vicious, and it was horrible, and it was a horrible thing to watch, but there is another side, there was a group on this side, you can call them the left, you just called them the left, that came violently attacking the other group. You can say what you want, but that’s the way it is.”To make it even clearer that he stood behind his earlier “many sides” comment, the president told the gathered press, “I think there’s blame on both sides. And I have no doubt about it, and you don’t have any doubt about it either.”He went on to say that any confusion about the facts of Charlottesville was the press’ fault, blaming journalists for not reporting “it accurately.”The president also questioned whether the alt-right really exists, “When you say alt-right, you define it. Go ahead. Define it for me.”He then coined a new term, the “alt-left.”He referred to the alt-left as “very violent,” and said “nobody wants to say that, but I’ll say it right now.”He asked, “What about the alt-left that came charging at, as you say, the alt-right? Do they have any semblance of guilt? What about the fact that they came charging with clubs in their hands swinging clubs?” As for the people on the other side, the white nationalist side? The president said they are misunderstood and have been misrepresented. “You had many people in that group other than Neo-Nazis and white nationalists, okay? And the press has treated them absolutely unfairly.”This led to an outcry by the press present.The president, however, talked over their protests, “In the other group also, you had some fine people. But you also had troublemakers, and you see them come with the black outfits and with the helmets and with the baseball bats — you had a lot of bad people in the other group.”Reporters also asked the president about Confederate monuments being taken down.“You’re changing history. You’re changing culture,” the president said, also adding that he thinks this is mostly a local issue.He then asked, as many on the alt-right have, where CSA monument removal stops. “George Washington as a slave owner. Was George Washington a slave owner? So will George Washington now lose his status? Are we going to take down statues to George Washington? How about Thomas Jefferson? What do you think of Thomas Jefferson? You like him. Good. Are we going to take down his statue? He was a major slave owner."Finally, the president made some time for self-congratulation and self-promotion.“I own a house in Charlottesville. Does anyone know I own a house in Charlottesville?” the president asked, according to CNN.“I know a lot about Charlottesville. Charlottesville is a great place that’s been very badly hurt over the last couple of days. I own actually one of the largest wineries in the United States, and it’s in...

This week, President Trump released an ad that labeled the press his enemy.He also told CNN he wasn't taking any more questions from the network because, "I like real news, not fake news. You're fake news."CNN's @Acosta to Trump: Can we ask you more questions? Trump: "I like real news, not fake news. You're fake news." https://t.co/m4KiTC6lrK— CNN (@CNN) August 14, 2017Tuesday morning, the president's assault on the press continued. He used one of his favorite weapons: the tweet.The president retweeted a meme that features a man with the CNN logo over his head being run over by a train with Trump's name plastered on the side.Nothing can stop the #TrumpTrain‼️ pic.twitter.com/PprEMbiZQa— SL (@SLandinSoCal) August 15, 2017 Thirty minutes later, President Trump deleted the retweet, but of course, screenshots, like diamonds, are forever.The tweet comes after three days after a Charlottesville rally, during which alt-right supporters, neo-Nazis, Confederate sympathizers, Ku Klux Klan members and other groups stormed the city with tiki-torches and racist chants turned violent.That rally culminated in a terrorist attack, during with lone wolf James Alex Fields, Jr. ran over those who had come out to protest the rally with a car. His attack led to protester Heather Heyer's death.With this event on the minds of a nation, many were not in the mood for a presidential tweet condoning running someone over, be the violence cartoon or otherwise.Twitter was quick to let its disgust be known.Before 7am, Trump had already re-tweeted an image of a journalist being killed by a train and someone calling Trump a fascist. What's next?— Brian Klaas (@brianklaas) August 15, 20172Words Can Stop The Trump Train “THE TRUTH” pic.twitter.com/YyRkQseH64— Cher (@cher) August 15, 2017It gets worse. @thinkprogress notes "Train" image Trump RT'd comes from antisemite, Pizzagate-pushing, Birther https://t.co/8vKokwa9Hk pic.twitter.com/GmoJQzZCJF— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) August 15, 2017This is not about politics. This is about basic human decency, which we all know the President lacks. https://t.co/Yn145RKIBr— Jennifer Mendelsohn (@CleverTitleTK) August 15, 2017Every Member of Congress must condemn POTUS for posting pic of a vehicle striking a reporter after terrorists used a vehicle to kill a woman pic.twitter.com/ryI1xMc4Nt— Walter Shaub (@waltshaub) August 15, 2017The president has yet to...

There has been a lot of controversy around the remnants of the CSA lately. Mississippi has seen a renewed struggle about its flag, which includes the flag of the Confederacy.And across the nation, debate over whether or not Confederate monuments should be allowed to stand has intensified. On the heels of the Charlottesville tragedy, protesters in Durham, North Carolina even took matters into their own hands, pulling down a statute of a Confederate soldier that had stood for years in front of the city's main court.Every movement has its critics; there are of course many who would like to see Confederate monuments stay as they are.A new group in Dallas, Texas hopes to make sure their city's CSA statues don't go anywhere, CBS DFW 11 reports.And this group doesn't much look like Unite the Right attendees.No, this group is mostly black.One of its leaders, a black former member of Dalls' city council, Sandra Crenshaw explained why she wants the monuments to remain. “Some people think that by taking a statue down, that’s going to erase racism. Misguided.”Crenshaw and her pro-monument group are opposed by current members of Dallas' city council. Councilman Philip Kingston, who is white, is leading a campaign to remove all of the city's CSA monuments. Kingston said that the monuments need to come down not in effort to smooth over racism, but in order to show that Dallas is a place that believes in the equality of all. “What we don’t do is leave up a monument that celebrates the very idea that some of us are not equal to the others," he said. “These monuments distort history, they don’t teach history."Crenshaw doesn't believe that the statues send a message of inequality, given that those they celebrate have long been in the ground. "I’m not intimidated by Robert E. Lee’s statue. I’m not intimidated by it. It doesn’t scare me. We don’t want America to think that all African Americans are supportive of this.”Crenshaw sees the monuments as being similar to Dallas' Freedman's Cemetery, a burial ground for Dallas' early free black population, and believes that removing CSA statues would hurt the community as badly as removing the cemetery would.“I’m very, very saddened by those people, particularly the African Americans, who are leading this agenda,” Crenshaw said.Dallas' mayor, Mike Rawlings, told the press that he will offer his thoughts on the monuments this...

It seems like yesterday that a CEO of a huge corporation left the Trump administration — oh wait, it WAS!We reported that Merck CEO Kenneth Frazier resigned from his advisory role, and now it looks like two other CEOs are joining him.According to the Associated Press, Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank and Intel CEO Brian Krzanich have also bid farewell to the White House’s American Manufacturing Council.Frazier’s resignation resulted in a Twitter outburst by the president, but this new wave of exits wasn't met with the same rancor.For every CEO that drops out of the Manufacturing Council, I have many to take their place. Grandstanders should not have gone on. JOBS!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 15, 2017Perhaps the president's tired out.While the president didn't have a lot to say on the matter, the rest of Twitter did, with the hashtag #quitthecouncil trending.Disagreement is not grandstanding. These CEOs are loyal to Country, loyal to Ideals--not to racist authoritarians. #quitthecouncil— Bill Shapiro (@Bill_Shapiro) August 15, 2017Trump says that everyone on his manufacturing council is replaceable. If they have any self respect left they'd #QuitTheCouncil now. #Resist https://t.co/UAHmTwlVUD— Scott Dworkin (@funder) August 15, 2017Thank you Mr. Plank for parting ways w/the worst President in our history. Hope others follow suit. #QuitTheCouncil #HeatherHeyer https://t.co/isZOr0c1Ar— Anne Stephen❤️🇺🇸☮ (@anne_stephen5) August 15, 2017Many also called for the remaining CEOs to turn in their resignations to the president.RETWEET to urge the REMAINING CEOs of @realdonaldtrump manufacturing council to #quitthecouncil Business leaders, listen to public setiment pic.twitter.com/ZbFQQUPi4S— Red T Raccoon (@RedTRaccoon) August 15, 2017CEOs: #QuitTheCouncil and I guarantee you see an uptick in sales. Make it a financial decision if making it a political one feels icky.— Alexander Hamilton (@lexhamilton76) August 15, 2017.@JeffImmelt & @generalelectric You can't claim not to tolerate racism and yet tolerate it when it suits your needs. #quitthecouncil— Bill Shapiro (@Bill_Shapiro) August 15, 2017Mark Fields, get @Ford tough and #quitthecouncil. Show #DonaldTrump you won't be complicit when it comes to #racism and #hate— Brian Johnson (@TheStarsFan) August 15, 2017Hey, @whirlpoolusa ... it's time to stand up for what is right. People will remember those who took a stand! #quitthecouncil— HotAndBothered (@StandUpBecause) August 15, 2017What did the two most recent CEOs to leave have to say about their departure?Plank stated that his company “engages in innovation and sports, not politics” and while he didn’t explicitly mention Charlottesville, he assured all that Under Armour is dedicated to promoting “unity, diversity and inclusion.”  I love our country & company. I am stepping down from the council to focus on inspiring & uniting through power of sport. - CEO Kevin Plank pic.twitter.com/8YvndJMjj1— Under Armour (@UnderArmour) August 15, 2017Krzanich was a bit more explicit in his statement, urging leaders to chastise “white supremacists and their ilk," and noting his disappointment in politicians who “seem more concerned with attacking anyone who disagrees with them” than with calling for tolerance.There should be no hesitation in condemning hate speech or white supremacy by name. #Intel asks all our countries leadership to do the same— Brian Krzanich (@bkrunner) August 14, 2017I stand with others for equality and improving US competitiveness. Both requireimproving in todays environment. https://t.co/RcjpGaFXBQ— Brian Krzanich (@bkrunner) August 15, 2017Brookings Institution senior fellow William Galston told the AP that he expects we'll see more of Trump's rambunctious side in the wake of these departures. "We've learned that as president, Mr. Trump is behaving exactly as he did as a candidate," Galston said. "He knows only one mode: When attacked, hit back...

The campaign for the 2020 election started awhile ago.The president has had a few rallies, and now has a brand new commercial that targets his enemies and celebrates his triumphs entitled, "Let President Trump Do His Job."Who are these enemies?Kim maybe, or perhaps ISIS?Nope.Turns out it's Democrats, "career politicians" and the media.The ad specifically calls out several journalists and anchors. Sadly, no one from Blavity was included.Maybe next time.According to the USA Today, the man running Trump's re-election campaign, Michael Glasner, said, "This new campaign ad speaks directly to the American people and sets the record straight, reminding them that President Donald Trump will not stop fighting for them and will not allow anyone to stand in his way to deliver success for them."Who does the ad single out?Politicians it puts in its crosshairs include: Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Representative Queen Maxine (D-CA) and Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA).And what about journalists? Pretty much all of CNN and MSNBC's most famous talent got a nod. Don Lemon, Anderson Cooper, Rachel Maddow, Joe Scarborough and recent NABJ honoree April Ryan were all targets of scorn.April Ryan, the White House correspondent for American Urban Radio Networks, took to Twitter to speak out on the matter.Sad day I am singled out as an enemy of the White House as this racial hate is going on just for asking real questions and speaking truth. https://t.co/lFem4bzDKQ— AprilDRyan (@AprilDRyan) August 13, 2017Ryan, a veteran journalist who just recently joined CNN a political analyst, has made national headlines for standing her ground during White House press conferences. So it was only befitting that she clapped back at the ad for singling her and the others out during when more pressing issues are at hand in the U.S. Ryan had plenty of support on Twitter, including from her fellow journalists. Trump campaign ad incl. images of African-Americans as "enemies." Journalist @AprilDRyan is included. STOP. @whca https://t.co/RFWNKxt33z— Alexis Simendinger (@ASimendinger) August 13, 2017April Ryan is ground zero for this nonsense and every journalist who cares about their ability to do their work should get behind her. https://t.co/NmTNV2C1IB— Shani O. Hilton (@shani_o) August 13, 2017I am really concerned for April Ryan's safety.— 🔮 (@amakainc) August 13, 2017Watch the Trump re-election campaign ad that everyone is buzzing about...