Wednesday, November 25, 2015

A Time for Giving Thanks (Redux)

It's time to Break It Down!

Originally posted on November 24, 2010, and prior to today, subsequently on November 27, 2013, and November 26, 2014 by alphaheel

I just can’t!  It’s only hump day, but there have been a number of weighty news items worthy of reporting already this week.

·      We’ve seen video of a #BlackLivesMatter (BLM) Movement protester being assaulted at a leading Presidential Candidate’s rally, merely for exercising his Constitutional 1st Amendment rights. *

·      The same leading Presidential Candidate, when discussing the matter Sunday morning on Fox News, said, “Maybe he should have bee roughed up because it was absolutely disgusting what he was doing.”  What he and two other protesters were doing was shouting, “Dump the Trump,” and “Black Lives Matter.”

·      A leading Presidential Candidate retweeted bogus crime statistics, inflating the roll of blacks in violent crime, suggesting African Americans are responsible for most white homicides; deflating the role of whites. *

·      A leading Presidential Candidate alleged to have seen (on TV) thousands of Muslims in New Jersey celebrating the 9/11 attacks; a claim numerous media outlets have denied.  What’s eye opening about this claim is, no media outlet has been able to produce footage of this alleged indiscretion…not even Fox News.  (That should tell you all you need to know about that matter.

·      Despite most news services dismissing the leading Presidential Candidate’s claim, and none supporting it, the candidate continues to insist he saw it, and in fact, has insisted he is owed an apology.

·      The head of this leading Candidate’s SuperPac told CNN Monday that the BLM movement “don’t really” have a right to protest at Donald Trump rallies for the same reason that “I wouldn’t go into a black church and start screaming “white lives matter.”  Say what?  The apparent logic: both telling and repulsive…that just as Donald Trump rallies are for white people and the #BlackLivesMatter movement isn’t welcome; black churches are for black people and those who would scream “White lives matter!” aren’t welcome. Oy vey!
 
·      Another leading Presidential Candidate said he saw the same footage, but subsequently said that what he saw occurred in Middle Eastern countries, not in the Garden State.

·      A Pennsylvania Police Chief was caught using the N-word. *

·      A District Attorney released a video of a black teen getting shot 16 times by a Chicago Police Officer. *

·      White Supremacists shot 5 BLM protesters in Minneapolis, after threatening, online, to do so days earlier. *

·      Thank you James E. Ford for allowing me to e-pick your brain; ’06!

The ten bulleted items above are not just low hanging fruit; they are all national issues. Of course, we are also knee deep in collaborating with the community of nations to thwart ISIS (ISIL/IS, whichever you prefer).  So yesterday’s news was dominated by reports that Turkey shot down a Russian fighter jet that entered its air space. 

The international plot thickens, as if it were not already sufficiently dicey. Since we are currently working with France, Turkey, Russia, et. al., to diffuse the ISIS problem, it’s fair to say we have 99 problems, and Turkey shooting down the Russian fighter “is” now one of them.

I could go on, but I won’t. Or, as I said in the opening sentence, “I just can’t!” Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day.

As in the past, since it is Thanksgiving Week, this post will deviate from the standard fare. I know that travel schedules (impeded by weather events this year), meal planning, family time, shopping, football, parades, and if there is any time remaining, relaxation, will dominate this week. However, it is Wednesday, so there shall be a blog! It is definitely brief.

Those among us who have perfected humility, and ascended to a genuine Nirvana state, have no doubt, also elevated giving thanks to an art form. The rest of us must fully invest our appreciation in the notion, “That’s why we have Thanksgiving!

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day, which kicks off what we commonly refer to as the Holiday Season. Almost instinctively, Thanksgiving and Christmas come to mind. Yet, there is so more than that to the Season.

Over the next 54 days, many of us will enjoy succulent feasting at Thanksgiving, exchange gifts and contribute to the needy during Hanukkah. We will buy, give, exchange, and/or receive gifts at Christmas, eat, drink, and celebrate the 7 Principles of Kwanzaa, and party and toast the dawn of 2011 (2014/2015/2016), on New Year’s Day. We will honor the life and works of The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., on MLK Day. In addition, even in these tough (though improving) economic times, this weekend, millions of Americans will pay (literally) homage to our most celebrated of shoppers’ holiday weekends, Black FridaySmall Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday, by rising early, and proceeding to scour the aisles for those perfect gifts…and if not perfect, at least cheap, relatively speaking.  In 2015, there are even some precociously enterprising businesses that will start the shopping clock Thursday. Sigh!

In past years, I have recounted my reasons for being thankful. This year I find that I have more reasons than ever to sit contemplatively in humble repose, and affirm boldly, that I know, without caveat, not only the goodness, no the greatness of God, but also of his inestimable and inexhaustible beneficence. I thank Him for deliverance, and for imbuing me with the sense and sensibility to discern the distinction between kairos and chronos, Greek concepts for God’s time, and man’s time, respectively.

Eons ago, when I was a college student, I pledged a fraternity. It is the Oldest, Boldest, and Coldest, but I digress. The point of this reference is that during the erstwhile pledge process, as prospective initiates, we were required to learn a series of poems. There were many, each selected to convey a specific life lesson. Many of them have stayed with me, but none more than Invictus, written by English poet, William Ernest Henley (1849-1903). The Latin translation for Invictus is Undefeated. You may recall it, but just in case, see it below:

Invictus (Latin for Undefeated) By William Ernest Henley:

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

So, as you go about your way tomorrow, and all the tomorrows that follow, recognize that Thanksgiving, at its core, is not simply a day on the calendar. It is a spirit that dwells within us, an impulse that prompts us to thank God (for our being undefeated), and for the graciousness to share His blessings with our fellow men and women. Indeed, everyday is “A Time forGiving Thanks Redux!”

I’m done; holla back!

Read my blog anytime by clicking the link: http://thesphinxofcharlotte.com/. Find a new post each Wednesday.

To subscribe, click on Follow in the bottom right hand corner of my Home Page at http://thesphinxofcharlotte.com; enter your e-mail address in the designated space, and click on “Sign me up.”  Subsequent editions of “Break It Down” will be mailed to your in-box.

Consult the links below for more detailed information on a variety of aspects relating to this post:












http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/24/us/minneapolis-jamar-clark-police-shooting/index.html

Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Rise of the Phoenix: Romney 2016?

It's time to Break It Down!

 We are closing in on the holidays and the change of seasons, both on the calendar and politically.  In just over a week many of us will observe Thanksgiving, then, in December, there is Hanukkah, followed by those of us who live in the Northern Hemisphere transitioning into winter, quickly followed by Christmas, or the “Happy Holiday Season,” if you roll like that.  In January, we will commemorate the King Holiday, and then comes February, politics move front and center and it’s on!  The month alone will include The Iowa Caucuses, the New Hampshire Primary, Nevada Democratic and Republican Caucuses (on different dates), and the South Carolina Primary.

In the early (pre-voting) stages of the 2016 Presidential Campaign, the Democratic and Republican Parties have moved on noticeably different trajectories.  The Democrats started with five principal candidates:

·      Hillary Clinton
·      Bernie Sanders
·      Martin O’Malley
·      Lincoln Chaffee (Withdrawn)
·      Jim Webb (Withdrawn)

After the first Democratic Debate, two candidates, Chaffee and Webb withdrew.  Neither registered a significant percentage in the polls, nor crafted a message that resonated with Democratic voters.  Arguably, they did themselves, their would-be campaign financiers, and the electorate a favor, albeit a tad late.  One might surmise, keen observers are wondering how long will it take Mr. O’Malley to get this message.

Over on the GOP side of the ledger, a fundamentally unexpected, but explainable phenomenon is unfolding.  First the race started with a large number of candidates who at least considered themselves serious threats to claim the Party’s Nomination.  And then there were seventeen:   

·      Donald Trump
·      Jeb Bush
·      Scott Walker (Withdrawn)
·      Ben Carson
·      Mike Huckabee
·      Ted Cruz
·      Marco Rubio
·      Rand Paul
·      Chris Christie
·      John Kasich
·      Rick Perry (Withdrawn)
·      Rick Santorum
·      Bobby Jindal (Withdrawn)
·      Carly Fiorina
·      Lindsey Graham
·      George Pataki
·      Jim Gilmore

At first blush, a quick glance at the list of GOP contenders reveals a wealth of experience in politics.  It includes Governors, former Governors, Senators, former Senators, and conspicuously, three individuals who have never been elected to any office.

Initially, handicappers applied conventional wisdom to this race, and predicted Dr. Carson, Mrs. Fiorina, and Mr. Trump (that’s just Alpha Order; nothing sinister) would soon lose their sizzle and appeal to voters and quickly wind down their campaigns, bowing out gracefully.  Well, may not Mr. Trump.

That was initially.  A funny thing happened to the race as polling ensued.  First, Mr. Trump, yes, the Donald, he of Reality TV, and Casino fame, rocketed to the top of the charts.  After the first Debate, Mrs. Fiorina quickly moved up to the upper tier of GOP Candidates.  Then, in what now seems an inexorable evolutionary turn, Dr. Carson gradually made his way to the front of the class…I mean, the top of the polls.  Just like that, the three political neophytes found themselves running at or near the head of the pack.

After recalibrating the bases for the projections (which tends to be necessary when you are wrong at every turn), the prognosticators, political writers, talking heads, and handicappers re-spun their collective narrative.  Alas, this was the election cycle when Republicans opted to turn the process on its ear because they were disillusioned with politics as usual, and as result, fed up with the usual politicians.  But, we were assured, this was just a passing fancy, and effectively the political silly season, as Jeb Bush called the situation.  It would soon pass, he predicted, confidently.

That could still happen; but it might not.  We are now less than a year from Election Day 2016, and roughly six weeks away from the Iowa Caucuses on February 1st.  Already, a fair amount of heretofore conventional wisdom is being cast in the never gonna happen category.  That is to say, Jeb Bush who just a few months ago was thought to be nearly a lock for “Nominee-in-waiting,” is now view as the guy who displaced “W” as the least capable, and most unready for Prime Time Bush.  Who saw that coming?

So, while there is still time for the erstwhile GOP Cognoscenti to act out its cream imitation, and rise to the top, a number of operatives in GOP inner circles are getting a little nervous.  They are, apparently, concerned that a guy who gets his military intel from “the TV shows, a guy who asserts that the pyramids were grain silos built by Joseph, and a woman whom one of those guys claims drove her company into a disastrous tailspin, from which it still has not recovered, are all at, or lurking near the top of GOP polls.

So, to counter this, we are hearing some in the GOP brain trust have embrace a brilliant idea; Let’s go get Mitt.  You remember Mitt, right?  Just in case you don’t here’s a quick primer to prick your memory.       

During the dog days of the GOP 2012 Presidential Campaign, when Willard Mitt Romney was in the thick of it, he said some interesting things.  Among them:

1.    On Fox News, the reason he did not talk about the troops - “You don’t go through a laundry list; you talk about the things you think are important.”
2.    On NASCAR - mocking a group of fans wearing plastic ponchos - “I like those fancy raincoats you bought. Really sprung for the big bucks.” Also, trying to everyman it, Romney said, “I have some great friends who are NASCAR team owners.”
3.    The infamous 47% comments – “There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you name it. My job is not to worry about those people. I’ll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives.'’
4.    On his disdain for social programs; not concerned about the very poor - “I’m not concerned about the very poor. We have a safety net there.”
5.    He earned a round of pants on fire fact checks for falsely accusing Obama of apologizing for America, after being caught on tape promising his wealthy donors that if there were an “opportunity” like a hostage situation he would “take advantage of it”. - Romney wrote in an email within hours of the attacks but embargoed until midnight so as to avoid looking like he was taking advantage of a tragedy, “The Obama administration’s first response was not to condemn attacks on our diplomatic missions, but to sympathize with those who waged the attacks.” Later he went on about Obama’s imaginary apology tour, forgetting that it was he who had been forced to apologize in Britain over the summer.
6.    His Olympics gaffe, in which he suggested Britain was not prepared for the games - “You know, it’s hard to know just how well it were turn out- will turn out. There are a few things that were disconcerting, the stories about the- private security firm not having enough people- the sup- supposed strike of the immigration and customs officials, that obviously is not something which is encouraging. Because in the games, there- there are three parts that makes games successful.”
7.    His rationalization for why his sons were not fighting for the country - “One of the ways my sons are showing support for our nation is helping me get elected.”
8.    Syria is Iran’s route to the sea - Romney said (again), “Syria is Iran’s . . . route to the sea.”
9.    Describing the withdrawal of the troops from Iraq - “It is my view that the withdrawal of all of our troops from Iraq by the end of this year is an enormous mistake, and failing by the Obama administration. The precipitous withdrawal is unfortunate – it’s more than unfortunate, I think it’s tragic.”
10. The memorable binders full of women - “I went to a number of women’s groups and said, “Can you help us find folks,” and they brought us whole binders full of women.”

The Mitt 2012 era was so bad; the Republican National Committee (RNC) convened and drafted a plan to make sure they Party never-ever found itself in such a woeful position again.  The head of the RNC put it this way:

I don't think you can draw any quick conclusions other than the fact that we lost and we know that.  But in order to get back in the game, you've got to look at and do a full autopsy of what happened."

Mr. Priebus noted that the Party would dive deep into analysis of the election, and devise a four-year game plan intended to ensure that they avoid the mistakes of 2012.  At that time many Republicans called for a “bigger tent” Party, one that will be more representative of our changing demographics.  I suppose they deduced that among the reasons President Obama secured victory included winning among these groups:

     Women55%
     Black – 93%
     Hispanic – 67%
     Asian73%
     Jewish69%
     Other57%
     Age 18-29 – 60%
     Age 30-44 – 52%
     Unmarried67%
     Self-Identified Gay – 76%
     Income Under $30,000 – 63%
     Income $30,000$49,000 – 57%

Given the numbers above, The Trump/Carson position on building a wall, and Mrs. Fiorina’s attacks on Planned Parenthood do not appear to bode particularly well for shoring up key areas in which the Party’s Flagship Team missed the boat in 2012.  However, the GOP obviously devoted a significant amount of mental capital to contemplating the return on investment (or lack thereof) in the politics of hate, derision, and various and sundry slurs.  Now all they need to do is get their full complement of players on board.  Who knows; perhaps this time around, Mr. Romney is that guy.

I doubt it!

The new and improved GOP, coming your way…"Rise of the Phoenix: Romney 2016?"  I’m done; holla back!

Read my blog anytime by clicking the link: http://thesphinxofcharlotte.blogspot.com. Find a new post each Wednesday.

To subscribe, click on Follow in the bottom right hand corner of my Home Page at http://thesphinxofcharlotte.com; enter your e-mail address in the designated space, and click on “Sign me up.” Subsequent editions of “Break It Down” will be mailed to your in-box.

Consult the links below for more detailed information on a variety of aspects relating to this post: