Yesterday was the first day Black History Month. These collection of news stories were bound to happen, but it is still amazing nonetheless. The first one is one you all know well. The backlash against the 1619 Project and so-called critical race theory has been ongoing. In the midst of all that chaos, numerous states have chosen to limit what teachers can teach their students during this month. For instance, we can talk about Jackie Robinson, but we can’t talk about why there was a color barrier in the first place. We can talk about Martin Luther King Jr, but we can’t delve too deeply.

The end result is that multiple generations of Americans believe MLK had a dream. They’ll quote the dream and even misquote it in order to pretend that he would support policies that further subjugate people. Meanwhile, we have students that think he freed the slaves, was the first black president, and a precious few seem to think he was related to Martin Luther.

It’s in this backdrop that the second news story makes even more sense. Former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores started a class action lawsuit against the NFL charging systemic racism and racist practices. While it certainly wasn’t the most shocking revelation, the fact that Bill Belichek accidentally texted him and congratulated him for getting the Giants job (thinking he was Brian Daboll) before he interviewed. His interview was simply to comply with the Rooney Rule that mandates at least two interviews with minority candidates.

A league that has a 70 percent African American player population has one black head coach for 32 teams. There are three minority coaches combined amongst those 32. That’s impossible to defend. I’m sure teams like the Giants, Dolphins, and Broncos (who were specifically named in the suit) can somehow defend their hires and their decisions. I’m sure most teams can. That’s the difference between systemic racism and overt racism.

Hardly anyone comes right out and says it anymore. We are all too smart and too sophisticated for that. However, when the vast majority of the owners are white then they will hire white executives most of the time. Those executives will hire people that they know and have worked with. They turn out to be white most of the time. Head coaches hire assistants they’ve worked with before and they turn out to be white most of the time. I think everyone knows the score.

Ultimately, we don’t grow if we don’t force ourselves to acknowledge some painful truths. We can argue about intention until we are blue in the face. We can assert that we don’t hate anyone because of their race, ethnicity, country of origin, or religion. We can argue vehemently that we aren’t racist and even believe it down to our core.

Many of us can do so with a straight face. Yet, it’s hard to look around and not see the results of a society that has been systematically unfair for decades. Now, many of us are barred from pointing that out. We don’t want kids to feel bad. There’s a fine line between assigning blame in the present day or simply being aware that a discrepancy exists. We didn’t cause the discrepancy, but if we don’t acknowledge it we can’t move on. Then, it will be our fault.

The bad news starts here.

 

 

And then it gets worse.

 

But there is good news: Ted Cruz can plan his trip to Cancun ahead of time and not get caught sneaking out of town.

 

 

So it’s probably all worth it.

 

At some point when we were children we were told that sticks and stones may break our bones, but words would never hurt us. It’s a nice sentiment for toddlers and young children, but anyone that has ever had an argument with a friend, loved one, or even a casual acquaintance knows this to be untrue.

We’ve seen any number of monikers for the ex-president as well. People have found all kinds of creative names and acronyms to avoid saying his name. They do this because he sucks all of the oxygen out of the room. He is just a gigantic lump of vanity or the human form of a black hole. Unfortunately, these are only words too.

At a recent event, he admitted out loud that Joe Biden won the election and he was trying to overturn the election. However, I’m sure he doesn’t see it that way. He will continue to assert that he won while uttering phrases like this that showed that he lost.

Words matter. How we address our friends, neighbors, family members, and those we work with matters. How we speak to people matters. This is why we pay so much attention to our politicians in the first place. We pay attention to not only what they say but how they say it. When those words and the deeds that follow match up then we know we are onto something. On a similar timeline, the ex-president promised to pardon insurrectionists should he be reelected in 2024. Such talk could be seen as idle chat, but it is important to look at his history of pardons while he was in the White House.

Certainly, it wasn’t everyone on the list. Yet, when you look at a alarmingly large number of folks pardoned or commuted you see a pattern. It is a pattern of someone that used the oval office as somewhat of a criminal enterprise. It could credibly be said that no one gets poorer going to Washington. Still, no one has profited from the presidency quite like the last occupant.

In the face of these words, the mantra from the right has been eerily consistent. He didn’t mean it like that. He was just joking. You libs are taking him way too literally. He’s not a politician, so he’s not an artful speaker. He just tells it like it is. Suddenly you look up and they’ve tied themselves in knots trying to explain off something that can’t be excused.

What the former guy knows is that nothing serious is ever going to happen to him. People will talk and there will be investigations and they will find more than enough evidence to charge him, but somehow that won’t happen. It won’t happen because he breaks the law in plain sight. He tells you he’s going to do it. He tells you he’s done it. Surely no criminal would do such a thing.

He also is banking on an over 200 year tradition in this country. Underlings and henchmen go to jail. The principals never do. We don’t throw our political opponents in jail. The whole country would descend into chaos if we did. Chaos is just another word after all. Still, it is a pretty good descriptor of what is going on right now.

This whole Joe Rogan situation has just blown up. If we have an inkling that we’ve seen this before it’s because we probably have. At least we have seen the Neil Young portion of the proceedings before. Young has made a habit of combatting on free speech issues. Who knows? Maybe he has learned something in the intervening decades.

We should start with the deja vu all over again portion of this story. This is not censorship. Nobody has drafted any law keeping Rogan from doing what he is doing. Nobody is throwing Joe Rogan in jail for what he has been saying. Spotify is a private company that has the ability to make its own decisions regarding content. What we are seeing is that artists also have the right to choose where their art is showcased.

I think I had one Neil Young CD from back in the day. I have no idea where it is. I don’t own anything Joni Mitchell has produced. I’m not even sure if either of them have produced anything this century. I did go to a Crosby, Stills, and Nash concert once, but Young wasn’t there. That’s about as close as I have gotten to these particular artists.

However, if you take a step back, this whole story becomes fascinating. One facet is the Joe Rogan facet of the discussion. Still, that’s only the beginning. Spotify themselves are just another platform for music and podcasts, but they have taken a serious hit. Meanwhile, a boycott that started with two artists that haven’t done anything relevant in at least 30 years suddenly has grown beyond that.

The final leg in these protests has been the consumer reaction. Businesses like Spotify sign guys like Rogan because it helps expand their brand. Rogan has millions of listeners and if Spotify can be the one place you can hear it then you have to subscribe to Spotify. It makes perfect sense.

As a consumer of music and occasional consumer of podcasts I get it. There are literally hundreds of musicians and podcasts on Spotify that I would never listen to. Rogan’s is one of them. It’s not a hardcore protests on my part. He just isn’t my cup of tea. I don’t begrudge him his spot any more than I would begrudge any gangster rapper that I would never listen to. They are there for people that enjoy their work.

The question for us and for people like Rogan is what responsibility they have. Rogan is first and foremost an entertainer. He was on New Radio back in the day. He hosted Fear Factor. He was a co-host on the Man Show. It’s difficult to look at that resume and somehow come away thinking he is meant to be taken seriously. I’m sure he would tell you the same thing.

Yet, he has his staunch defenders. I made this same point on Twitter last night and was lambasted by some guy that asserted that Rogan had on medical experts that know more than Dr. Fauci. Sure. Keep in mind that I said nothing negative about Rogan. All I said was that he probably wasn’t meant to be taken completely seriously.

The question was never whether Rogan had the right to say what he does, those artists have the right to pull their catalog, or consumers having the right to quit Spotify. The question was never whether Spotify had the right to pay Rogan or not pay Rogan. The question is how we manage to put things in proper context. Rogan is an entertainer. Entertainers can inform, but that is not their primary function. Somewhere along the way we collectively got lazy. When did we start relying on entertainers to be our primary outlet for information?

This weekend I was reminded of Liz Cheney’s words at the beginning of the January 6th committee investigation that they had a responsibility “…to make sure that Donald Trump is not our nominee, and that he’s never anywhere close to the reins of power ever again.”  TFG was in the Houston area on Saturday grifting money from stupid and corrupt fans, playing his Top 40 hits of lies and hate.  This time, though, he added a new promise to the menu – to pardon the insurrectionists who’ve been charged, convicted, and jailed for attempting to overthrow the US government.  That’s right, folks, even after reversing himself on vaccines, which pissed off the base, he terrified everyone else with his promise to pardon the criminals who did his bidding on January 6th.  On top of that chilling declaration, he called for his supporters to demonstrate in New York and Georgia should prosecutors bring charges against him and his family.

TFG’s profound corruption is back on public display where he demonstrated that nothing at all has changed; he puts his own welfare and wallet in front of all other priorities, including the public welfare.  He doesn’t care if you live or die, as long as the lights are always focused on him and his followers do his bidding without question.

The stakes have never been so high as they are right now.

Susan Collins can just kiss my big blue butt.

Here she is in all her glory —

 

 

If you felt the last appointments were “too rushed,” why the fool tarnation didn’t you say anything, woman?

A lifetime appointment? Somebody just now told you that it’s a lifetime appointment? Did you not know that before today?

Susan Collins was the deciding vote for Brett Kavanaugh. They did not even complete a full investigation  of him, including how he suddenly came into a whole bunch of money.