Cynique

You 2 want to have it both ways by virtue of the fact that your patented criticism of Hillary, under closer scrutiny, is more like echo than fact, your citing of the same ol half-truths spread by her detractors over a 25 year period, your refusal to accept that hearings cleared her of recent charges, your blaming her for the sins of her husband, your holding her to a higher standard when it comes to financial shenanigans on a par with wheeling and dealing male politicians. There's never any consideration given to her credentials as compared to the resume of the lewd, egocentric, dishonest Trump, shortcomings that you gloss over while casting yourselves as objective analyzers of Trump's victory. And I, like many others, don't single out race as the one reason for Trump's victory. I'm just not letting the so-called forgotten white working class people including the evangelical zealots off the hook. There's an undeniable reason why these people would go against their own interests by voting for a lecherous billionaire darling of corporate America. Trump did, indeed, play into the bigotry that goes hand-in-hand with white skin entitlement. This is not to be dismissed as secondary because white skin is very relevant when it comes to global power and all of the high finance this involves. 'Just sayin'...

@MzuriNot necessary. I'm a survivor. Actually I don't give a damn what happens to this fucked-up country. How about you? Ready to run with the rest of the sheep following your Republican savior Donald Trump?

Well, in a matter of hours, Donald Trump will officially become the next president of the Divided States of America and the head of a Republican regime that is about to take control of the country. What does the future hold? For one thing, forget about traditions and civility and fairness. It's a new day and none of the old rules will apply because the boorish, narcissist commander-in-chief makes his own rules. Those in control will simply do as they please and will not be held accountable because there is no defense when lies replace truth, thereby creating a new reality. Meanwhile, vindictiveness will vindicate the resentment of the political correctness harbored by the overlooked Americans who felt insecure about the benefits of the white skin that now emboldens their bigotry. Diversity will be viewed as an inconvenience, and uniformity will reward the cookie-cutter herd as identity politics languish in defeat. Progressives will be left to regroup, faced with the monumental chore of defeating their opponents in a battle for the minds of the vast community of "have-nots". And their only weapons will be promises to accomplish the daunting task of providing jobs and health care. Promises that logistics will render empty. Obviously, the future will be different but will different mean better or worse? Will a situation come about wherein things will get better because they can't get any worse. Who knows? The only thing that is certain is uncertainty. .Based on cabinet picks, there is nothing to encourage optimism in regard to the new administration eliminating the black-on-black crime that is decimating the inner cities, or improving the education of black children, or providing jobs for the idle. Or will the plans to dismantle Planned Parenthood do anything to reduce the problems that stem from the proliferation of fatherless children. These issues would require the attention and resources that Conservatives are historically reluctant to provide. All black people can do is to make the best of a bad situation and seize any opportunity to emulate their adversaries by serving their own self-interest through deception and a disregard for ethics. This has now become the America way.

All things considered, by calling on imagination and speculation, a loose scenario could be concocted about why and how we are where we are. As the cradle of civilization, Africa is where the human species originated. The mutations of the first species were new breeds who struck out on their own, migrating into different terrains, learning to adapt and prevail. Caucasian and Asians who are the descendants of these mutations evolved into people who conquered and cultivated the unfamiliar and made it their land, then aggressively sought new lands to explore. Meanwhile, the original species remained rooted in its native environment and developed in accordance with what this called for. But when it came to preventing others from invading and looting their turf, they lacked what it took to protect and hold on to what was theirs. And, somehow, in the course of things, their black skin perhaps came to be associated with the ominous nature of darkness by those who recoiled from what was not bright like the sun or luminous like the moon. Likewise, those with dark skin rejected those with light skin who did not have the same physical traits as they. Over the course of time, this natural dislike of the unlike sowed the seeds of racial prejudice, and the rest is history. In modern times, black people as individuals can compete with the best of them, but as a race, something lacking in their DNA seems to stunt them, making them susceptible to exploitation and discrimination by outsiders. In the grand scheme of things, however, it is not a question of superiority or inferiority, but simply a matter of circumstances that caused the Negroid species to be different from the ones that sprung from it. Blacks brought to this country in chains and those descended from them are like strangers in a strange land. They are America's step children and have never been fully taken to the bosom of the white motherland. So they remain on the bottom of the heap because The System that oppresses their kind is not designed to accept them as equals.

I think we are witnessing the advent of a new age in this country. Just like there were the Dark Ages and the Age of Enlightenment, the Industrial Revolution and the Renaissance, the human condition is not a constant and it transforms itself from time to time. This transformation has nothing to do with whether such change is good or bad, it's is just a matter of things not being the way they were before. As a result of this presidential election, America is on the brink of a new era and the old rules don't apply. Reality is being redefined and words are becoming tools to use for deception, enabling the powers-that-be-to say what isn't so and get away with it. It's hard to mount a defense against this form of mind control that is as toxic as the addiction to smart phones and social media. The masses are turning into automatons controlled by greedy power hungry leaders who are aided and abetted by the computerization that has replaced human initiative while fueling a desire for the consumption of the superficial. If responsible elements of the populace don't step up and organize a counter-movement, this country is destined to become the oligarchy we've been warned about and America as we know it will no longer exist. Democracy will have failed because it did not come natural to the citizens of the nation that tried to adopt it. Meanwhile, Capitalism will soar to new heights

A minority ineffective in its fight against racism.

Offering simple solutions to complicated problems is just a form of marching in place, because such solutions aren't going anywhere. In the aftermath of the November election, Americans are going crazy. Some are increasingly suffering from delusions created by the fake news of pathological liars. Many are in the throes of depression brought on by the prospect of an egomaniacal president. Rampant conspiracy theories are fueling the paranoia of others. Everyone seems united in different states of insanity. And worst of all, the inmates are poised to start running the asylum. Freud help us!

LOL Ad hominem means essentially to attack the messenger instead of the message. Trump has no discernible, consistent message, and the gist of both my physical description of him and my assessment of his staff were fairly accurate, in "my-fight-fire-with-fire" response to Mzuri.

@Mzuri Well, well, well. Where ya been, girlfriend? Obviously spending a lot time reading the fake news, which has made a living off of skewering Hillary with out-right lies and half truths. She was never charged with any of the things she was accused off in regard to Benghazi and the E-mails servers because the hearings that were held, absolved her of these partisan accusations. Admittedly she was no saint but your ad hominen attack is a bit over the top and I'm disappointed that you would use a different standard to judge a woman candidate for president who did, indeed, advocate a progressive liberal agenda that represented the Democratic Party, than the standard that you would apply to all of the corrupt, lying, womanizing, wishy-washy, male scoundrels who seek office. And I really can't believe that an intelligent woman like you would superficially characterize Hillary as looking like Howdy Doody, considering how ridiculous the bloated, mop head, orange-skinned clown she was running against looks, the egocentric loose cannon lecher and dishonest swindler who has surrounded himself with white nationalists, religious zealots, incompetent campaign contributors and suck-up former rivals, the petulant Russian lover who you'd rather take a chance on. C'mon. Admit it. Your hate of Hillary is irrational as is your embrace of a Twitter-happy case of arrested development who is at the helm of a country that will be delivered into the hands of rich, self-serving, white males by a bunch of deplorable xenophobic, misogynistic, homophobic racists who voted against their own self interest because Trump made it acceptable for them to be bigots, and conned into thinking he will make this jive-assed country "great" again. Puleeze.

As I have previously mentioned, I attended the U. of IL. with Frances Cress Welsing's sister, Lorne, and met Frances once when she came down to this campus for a homecoming weekend. As I recall she was, at that time, a rather shy person who smiled a lot, somewhat overshadowed by her older sister. Well, obviously time brings change. Anyway, I have to admit that I just now watched this video by Welsing, having not done so before because I just kept putting it off, suspecting that I wouldn't hear anything new. And I didn't. What struck me about Welsing's lecture was that, to me, she was preaching to the choir. I think a suspicion of white folks is in the DNA of slave descendants, and they've always understood that the white race feels threatened by the dark ones, which is why it is so determined to maintain control because it doesn't want people of color to obliterate and devalue whiteness or, back in the day, to stage a slave revolt or later on to integrate with them. In other words, what she is pontificating about is not a great revelation! (Not to mention that everybody knows that the human species originated in Africa!) The late Frances Cress Welsing was a couple of years younger than me, and i wonder how long it took her reach these obvious conclusions.Of course maybe younger people need to be educated to the situation just in case they've been lucky enough or in denial enough to have not noticed or experienced racial prejudice at the hands of the dominate white society. In the present, how black people cope with racism takes many forms but presenting a united front against their oppressors never gets very far because it was also in the DNA of slaves with guile to devise ways to "trick da massa", an endeavor that in its modern reincarnation consists of slave descendants circumventing racism by acting in their own personal interests and figuring out individual ways to infiltrate The System. I also happen to think that in the distant future, white skin will eventually disappear and numerous subtle shades of non-whiteness will come about. This will be when class alone determines who will rule and oppress, and the multi-hued upper class will be who does so. Hummm. Sounds like a plot for a sci-fi movie. Just some thoughts, however, of an old black woman disillusioned by a resurgence of white nationalism.

This above paragraph was so on the mark and so full of insight that it bears repeating. It describes most of the people I interact with on social media to a "T" and since the shoe also fits me, I am wearing it. I confess to putting my best foot forward on FaceBook, posting happy pictures and basking in the "likes" my little-mini-editorials and witty snippets receive, as I dutifully "like" what my relatives and friends say, even if I don't agree with or couldn't care less about what they have posted - and this includes my granddaughter who spams her wall with daily pictures of her baby, and my oldest son whose favorite subject is himself, and the Jesus freaks relentlessly soliciting prayers and ":amens"! Enough, already! I have also subjected my FaceBook friends to "Throwback Thursday" pictures of me during the hey day of my youth, and I duly alert them to the news that I will be venturing out into the night to view any extraordinary celestial phenomena appearing the sky. Yawn. My true self emerges, however, when I take on my troll persona and argue with and insult and deflate strangers obnoxiously comfortable and confident in their skewed views. (People like the infamous "sarah" who polluted this forum with her goal to make us over in her image.) Then, there are the new friends and old acquaintances with whom I have bonded, and am on the same page with, or who are intellectually stimulating even I don't agree with them. They make it all worthwhile. And what is the "take-away" from this self-absorbed rambling? FaceBook, is, indeed, the demograph for my brand, which is "Confetti". I flutter all over the place.

A letter from a retired police detective recently appeared on the editorial page of the Chicago Sun-Times. He wrote that he spoke from experience when saying that nothing will change usless black people stop obsessing about highly-publicized "isolated" incidents involving poorly-trained cops and realize, instead, that their real nemesis is more likely to be someone they know; someone who lives down the street from them, someone who they went to school with, someone who infringed on their territory or messed with their girlfriend or did something that disrespected them or even someone who is related to them. This detective contended that the epidemic of black-on-black-crime is occurring because settling personal differences with a gun is now a way of life in the black community, and this includes encounters with police where many of those with warrants arm themselves in order to resist arrest in case of being stopped. The letter didn't indicate what race the detective was and, of course, it could be said that he is minimizing the danger of "driving while black". But everything else he said is something to think about. Guns are the main problem. They do kill people, because in the inner cities they are in the hands of people who place no value on human life. And there seems to be no effective way to reverse this tragic situation.

Well, there have been an outpouring of op-ed pieces about how this election split families, broke up marriages, ended friendships, and also about how Hillary's loss cast a pall of depression over her supporters. My Facebook friends chimed in on the articles, saying they, too, had fallen out with white friends. The black girl who wrote about breaking up with her white boyfriend, posted a picture of him and her together. After all, there is, an element among benign white racists who boast that "some of their best friends are black", and they act accordingly until the chips are down. But, who knows? I, myself, had caught up with an old white high school acquaintance on FaceBook a while back, and although we didn't unfriend each other, we did clash over our views on Trump and have had very little to say to each other since. I, however, knew all along that she was a closet racist and a conservative Republican and her "friendship" wasn't really important to me. In my eagerness to label other people I have to confess that I, myself, can probably be labeled a bigot of sorts. I know I am expending energy on hate, but I really am filled with intense dislike for everything right-wing conservatives represent. And feeling this way, I find myself ignoring or muting any news reports regarding Trump and his entourage because I am sick of hearing or seeing or reading about them. Maybe if I ignore them, they'll go away. Not.

The white people voting for Obama were Liberals who epitomize the benign brand of racism, the kind who consider themselves color-blind which, in itself, is a form a racism, the implication being that they don't see black people as black, - as if to do so is to degrade them. Several of my black FaceBook friends tell how the white friends who they once consider unprejudiced, showed their true colors when it came to supporting Trump. Once instance on FB was posted by a black girl telling how she and her white boyfriend broke up after he started explaining why he supported Trump. The same thing occurred decades ago when the reactions to the verdict in The OJ Simpson trial was split right down the middle, divided by race, and the most liberal of whites were right there among the rest of their race, indignant over this black man not being found guilty of killing a young, blue-eyed, blond white woman.. As for being stupid, the bulk of white people voting for the "Republican" Trump, as astute observers have noted, were stupidly voting against their own interests under the guise of making America great again, and restoring the freedom to indulge their bigotry. Blacks who went for Trump were sell-outs voting in their own self interest, hoping for personal gain by doing so, or those who were bamboozled into thinking Trump would solve black problems, or were simply people who chose to cut off their noses to spite their faces since Bernie didn't get the nomination.. Of course there are always truth tellers who transcend race such as white news commentator, Bill Moyers, who wrote a very insightful piece, echoing what Toni Morrison said about Donald Trump's success being the result of white people fearing that their white skin was losing its value, and in danger of being obscured by people of color, and who wanted to regain and fortify their white supremacy status, putting the power back in the hands of white rich men where they think it belonged. Actually, xenophobia and racial bias are natural to people with a tribal mentality so what I opine is not necessary an indictment of those who are loyal to their own kind. It's the way of the world. It's just that poor ol black folks have never secured the opportunity to gain the upper hand that would enable them to rule over and oppress white people.

@Troy I was talking about Trump's white voters being racists. Black people can be stupid but they can't really be racist because they are not a member of a race that has the power to effectively enforce their racism.

Somebody once said that he who acts as his own lawyer, has a fool for a client..

IMO, racists come in varieties; 2 of which are malignant ones and benign ones. I can't think of any reason why a person who voted for Trump wouldn't fall into one of these categories because anybody who wasn't a racist could've always voted for the Green or Libertarian candidate if they couldn't stomach Hillery. Those citing their worries over the economy as the reason for supporting Trump, voted for him because they chose to ignore Hillary's well-thought out plan to improve the economy over Trump's empty promises. What with Trump symbolizing a resentment toward Blacks, Mexicans, Muslims, Gays, Gun control and Planned Parenthood, then anyone who decided to overlook all of this and cast their ballot for Trump and all of his baggage may not be a blatant racist but is most likely a closet one. Yes, there are racists among Democrats but they are of the paternalistic third variety and their biggest sin is that they are do-gooders who think they know what's best when it comes to interacting with minority groups. They are also found among those who advise that now that Trump has won, he should be given a chance to prove himself. Easy for them to say. They are white people and don't have a lot to worry about a presidency that has the restoration of white supremacy as its implied goal.

Men do shame women for sleeping around. They certainly don't approve of this behavior enough to want to marry a promiscuous woman, because the male ego can't deal with the idea of wedding a women who a lot of other men have had, not to mention the fear of being unable to measure up to some of her other partners. (Just like men are intimidated by vibrators, fearing that they spoil women and raise they're expectations when it comes to being satisfied) I don't judge women who have multiple sex partners as long as they're discreet. More power to them if they can pull it off. LOL

Does anybody drink water from the tap nowadays? Black people's answer to poisoned water is to drink bottled water and soft drink beverages, both of which are relatively inexpensive. Just like smoking being hazardous to your health and cigarettes being exorbitantly priced are dealt with by black dudes buying "loosies", something which tends to cut back on their smoking, thereby decreasing the health risks by default. Down trodden people are tired of hoping things will get better especially if, after demonstrating for change, nothing happens. Many just give up and and redirect their focus on ways to make their existences a little more tolerable. That's the way I feel about the election outcome. The Republicans will soon be in complete control, so screw it. I'll just occupy myself with doing the things I enjoy while tuning out the clamor of change and the din of dissent, a luxury I can afford at my age. I'm pretty much done with a country where the majority vote-getter is the loser, and the winner is a "pussy grabber" surrounded by the assholes he's appointing to his cabinet and staff. Who needs this? I don't.

Once again the double standard comes into play. Men find it perfectly all right to be polygamous, attributing it to their potent sexuality and their lusty appetite for variety. But all of this braggadocio withers at the thought of a polygamous woman enjoying the skills and charms of multiple partners. Such women are labeled loose or nymphs or tramps. The idea that a woman would be interested in someone in addition to him as a sex partner apparently deflates the male ego. Instead men want chaste, monogamous, partners who don't stray from the fold. They want faithful wives with eyes only for them while, as husbands, they are not above having affairs. tsk-tsk. .

I tend to think that whether you have a Liberal or a Conservative mind-set exerts as much influence as race when it comes to an abuse of power. White Liberals, for all of their patronizing, paternalistic shortcomings, still have good intentions and are about helping the underdogs that include minorities and gays and immigrants, not to mention the poverty-stricken.Their black counterparts are equally compassionate toward their fellow blacks. On the other hand, white Conservatives smugly believe they can attribute any success they have to pulling themselves up by their bootstraps and so do Black Conservatives and they fault other blacks who haven't been lucky enough to make this work for them. Moreover, they have no problem sucking up to white Conservatives, hoping to pick up pointers on how to be treacherous. Of course these are generalizations. I think it was black sociologist Frances Cress Welsing who theorized something to the effect that white people have never recovered from being ostracized and driven out of The Tribe by blacks because their white skin was considered an aberration. Resentment over this possibly became rooted in the DNA of whites, subsequently making them driven to dominate and exploit dark-skinned people to cruelly avenge this slight millions of years ago. Bottom line is that when push comes to shove, everybody covets power but some are more inclined to use it for good than others.

@Pioneer1 LOL is right. When I said I was "done" with this country, I meant I had lost what little faith I had left in it. I don't plan to pull up stakes and leave. The only place I'm retreating to is the environment of my woman cave where I will go into semi-hibernation like I usually do this time of year. America is on track to regress to its past and I think all of those who wanted this should be careful what they wish for because they are about to get it at the hands of Alpha white males who will do what they do when in charge. This country deserves what it gets because over 40 percent of its citizens didn't even bother to vote while millions who did cast their ballot had it nullified by the electoral college. But the pendulum swings back and forth and things go in cycles. Maybe the progressive community will get a second chance and not blow it. As for Hillary Clinton, It just wasn't meant to be. Or, as Del might, observe; it was not in the stars. And it was her own race who failed her. Poetic justice? Maybe.

The Republicans are really getting their revenge. All the candidates up for cabinet positions are people who, like Trump, have been objects of contemptuous ridicule and include such jerks as Sarah Palin, Ben Carson, Newt Gingrich, and Chris Christy, 4 of the many Republicans I can't stand. Meanwhile, all the black Christians on FaceBook are telling shell-shocked Hillary supporters, not to despair because "God has a plan and he is in charge." All I can wonder is if this is the same God who allowed black folks to be enslaved for centuries, while the plantation owners justified this inhumane situation by referring to bible verses. I'm pretty much done with this country. I 'm not saying that my Liberal philosophy is better than the Conservative one that is about to pervade the nation. What I am saying, is that I don't want to be in an environment where this is the case because it goes against every fiber of my being. C'est la Vie.

I say Hillary would be better for Blacks and Progressives because she is a Democrat who would've nominated candidates for Supreme Court vacancies that would've given Liberals a majority. Now, all of the rulings favoring women, gays, blacks, health care and gun control, voting rights, etc., are in danger of being reversed by a conservative dominated court that will undo all these advancements, sending America back to the oppressive times when it was supposedly "great". Donald Trump doesn't know whether he's coming or going and I don't think he's a genuine conservative. It's the people who will surround him that are the true threat. Vice president Pence, if he wields any power, is an Evangelical who will have no qualms about trying to turn this country into a theocracy. Oh me.

@Pioneer1Well, just what was it that Hillary was saying in all of her speeches and appearances during the final weeks of her campaign that was apathetic toward black folks? Have you checked out the platform she ran on? If raising the minimum wage and advocating early learning programs for children and affordable health care wouldn't help black folks, I don't know what would. If promising to repeal harsh laws for minor offenses and presenting her plan to create jobs by repairing America's deteriorating infra structure, wouldn't help blacks I don't know what would. If her call for an end to racism and xenophobia didn't include black folks, I don't know what would. She did, after all, incorporate a lot of Bernie's progressive agenda into her platform and she was very visible at black venues. And just because the black turn out wasn't quite as high as it was for Obama doesn't mean that millions didn't come out in droves to vote for her. @CDBurns I agree that Hillary was so eager to prove that she was as tough as a man that she came across as heartless. But she was damned if she appeared soft and damned if she didn't. BTW, the white pants suits she frequently wore were a tribute to The Sufragettes who always wore that color when marching to win the vote. IMO, the reason she lost was because she was so busy trying to appease minorities, that those red neck and rural yahoos got insulted, along with the cop-loving middle class bigots who felt slighted and, of course, the tight-assed Bernie supporters and clueless Millennials who wasted their votes on the Green and Libertarian candidates also helped to do her in. Finally, a lot of men didn't vote for her simply because she was a woman. Hillary Clinton lost because she had too many hurdles to clear, some of which were put in her path by her husband's philandering and by people who wanted to spite President Obama and blemish his legacy. She fought the good fight but her gut instincts failed her, and she relied too much on the polls. Still, why put all the blame on her? She did win the popular vote. And had she won she would've still been better for blacks, than Trump.