Countdown In Ferguson

I have a Frat Brother, Larry Lewis, who lives in the St. Louis area....He has been galvanized by the shootings of Mike Brown in Ferguson and another youth in St. Louis...He has been on the picket lines in Ferguson everyday since the event occurred this summer....And keeping me and all of his Facebook friends aware of what is really going on via Facebook and Twitter....The miracle of today's social media...It really can unite..and be used as an organizing tool...

Before I go on,let me say that Brother Lewis is also the brother of actress Jennifer Lewis...who plays everybody's mother in every contemporary black film of the past 25 years...

He wants everybody to know that even though until this week the national media had kind of forgotten about Ferguson,Missouri and the shooting of Mike Brown, the unarmed 18 year old African-American youth shot by White officer, Darren Wilson...The Black community there has not...They have been filling the streets up with protests everyday and every night since it happened...

Which is why what I'm about to report next is happening...

Troops from the Missouri National Guard prepared to deploy on Tuesday around Ferguson on Tuesday as the city awaits a grand jury's decision on whether to indict a white police officer who shot and killed an unarmed black teenager in August.

Governor Jay Nixon has declared a state of emergency in Missouri but said troops would play a backup role to police in response to any protests that develop after the decision.
People around St. Louis are braced for a possible new wave of protests similar to those that followed the Aug. 9 fatal shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown, particularly if Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson is not charged.

My money is on him not being charged....

Officials have said the grand jury's decision is likely to come this month.
Nixon on Tuesday was due to swear in the members of a new "Ferguson Commission," a group charged with reviewing the social and economic conditions that contributed to the unrest that followed Brown's death and coming up with suggestions for how to improve them.

More than one out of five residents of Ferguson, a predominantly black city of about 21,000 people, live below the poverty level, a rate that is above the state average, according to U.S. Census data.
Governor Nixon declined to say how many National Guard troops would be assigned to the St. Louis area or where they would be stationed.

As I've said..Peaceful demonstrations were held around St. Louis on Sunday and Monday and some local leaders expressed frustration over Nixon's state of emergency declaration.
"The National Guard is called in when policing has failed. Military presence in my city will mark a historic failure on the part of (government)," Antonio French, a St. Louis alderman, said on Twitter. "This is not a war. There is no military solution."

Police in Ferguson were criticized for taking a military posture in response to the August demonstrations, regularly deploying officers in riot gear and using tear gas and rubber bullets against crowds that torched two businesses in the St. Louis suburb and at times threw rocks and gasoline bombs at police.
Police in St. Louis County have since gone through conflict de-escalation training and activist leaders have also been training potential protesters in nonviolent techniques in recent days. County police will take the lead in handling any protests or civic disorder, supplanting the Ferguson Police Department, Nixon said.

St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay said his city's police force would respond to demonstrations in their normal uniforms unless conditions became violent and that National Guard troops would not play a primary role in responding.

Some area schools have told parents they will dismiss students early when the decision comes and many businesses near the stretch of downtown that saw the worst rioting after Brown's killing have boarded up their windows as a protective move.

There are conflicting accounts of what happened, with some witnesses saying Brown had his hands up in surrender when he was shot and others describing a scuffle between Brown and Wilson.

There is much fear and apprehension  in this area right now....If the game wasn't already rigged why would it be...

Stay Tuned.

Wisdom From Bill

Reality Check

Heartbreaker

Can My Philadelphia 76ers catch a break?   They were so close to winning their first game tonight or last night as I write this...They were up three, with a few seconds to go and lost by a buzzer beater.....

I mean that's better than the 50 point loss to Detroit the other night...but come on now...We are 0-9 ,I believe...Worst in the NBA....

It's going to be a longgggggggggggggg  Basketball season.

Weekend Humor

Have a groovy weekend everybody!

The Cosby Conundrum

If you're from Philadelphia as I am...Then you naturally know Philly's favorite son...Not Rocky Balboa...But Bill Cosby...

I've actually never met the man in person...But I feel as though I know him...He has loomed large over me and every Black Philadelphian of a certain age for as long as I can remember..

On Thursday Nights in the 80's from 8:00-8:30 , my entire family was in front of a television set watching the Cosby show...For years he has been an icon and a hero to all Philadelphians...

Unfortunately...Heroes ,real life human beings either die young or they live long enough to be found out to be, well, human and with flaws like everybody else...

Until a few weeks ago when an obscure comedian, Hanibal Buress made an unflattering joke about Bill Cosby being an alleged rapist...I knew nothing about eight women in the 80's who accused him of drugging them and taking advantage of them sexually........

I know now....Or do I?

These charges were never brought to trial...Bill Cosby was never charged with anything and to my knowledge ,they all were settled out of court...Which means somebody took some money...

Now they're back....Because of one relatively unknown comedian's joke which went viral!

This is America...We love to build our heroes up ,just so we can tear them down.....

Yesterday was the ultimate in embarassment for the 77 year old comedian..


A new promotional feature on Bill Cosby's official website has backfired. Instead, Internet users are posting stills that highlight the legendary comic's troubled past.

"Go ahead. Meme me!" Cosby instructed his Twitter followers on Monday afternoon, directing people to a gallery of photos from his famed sitcom and encouraging them to add witty captions.

And meme they did, but not the kind Cosby would want. The hashtag "#cosbymeme" saw instant uploads alluding to allegations that Cosby drugged and raped a woman at his Pennsylvania mansion in 2004.

The case was settled out of court in 2006 but that didn't stop it from taking over Twitter and Facebook on Monday, with plenty of deadpan humor to spare. All thanks to Cosby's own photo tool.

My daughter says this is why Old people should stay off of Social Media...

Cosby's representative didn't immediately return TheWrap's request for comment. And the meme feature is still active on his site.


Instead of Internet users using the meme generator link provided by the the 77-year-old actor to create wholesome jokes, Cosby was put on blast over sexual assault accusations against him that date back to the 1970s.

"Look at this wacky shirt I'm wearing, also I am a serial rapist," one read.


"My two favorite things: Jello pudding and rape," said the text splashed across another photo of "The Cosby Show" actor.

In 2004, reports surfaced that 13 women had claimed to have been sexually abused by the TV personality.

Comedian Hannibal Buress recently called out Cosby in a stand-up routine at a Philadelphia club in October.


“Thirteen?" Buress said

"It's even worse because Bill Cosby has the fuckin' smuggest old black man public persona that I hate. He gets on TV and says, Pull your pants up black people, I was on TV in the '80s! I can talk down to you because I had a successful sitcom!' Yeah, but you rape women, Bill Cosby, so turn the crazy down a couple notches."

Tell me the truth..Had anyone ever heard of Hanibal Buress before his now infamous stand up routine??

You have heard of him now...

All I'm going to say is I hope he has more material and this isn't all he's ever going to be known for...Bringing down a beloved icon.

Thank A Veteren Today

Thank a vet today....If you don't know one...Thank Me...I'm a Vet (22 years, U.S. Air Force)

What Is Wrong With This Photo?

This is filed in the ,"I can't make this up" file...This is no hoax...This actually happened in Fort Lauderdale,Florida last week...Some good Samaritans were actually arrested for feeding the homeless in the street...

This in a town where wealthy and semi-wealthy college students come every spring for spring break and get into all kinds of drunken debauchery...without mind you getting arrested!

I've never actually put a public official on blast before...but I have to make a precedent in this case-

There is something very wrong. Something very wrong with this scenario. Give the Fort Lauderdale Mayor a phone call or an email to let him know what you think about criminalizing kindness: 954-828-5003 or via e-mail at jack.seiler@fortlauderdale.gov.  Tell him or whoever will listen that this is just plain wrong!

Keith's Music Spotlight

I am advising everybody to either download or if you're old school like me...To buy Mary J. Blige's new CD
"The London Sessions"  on CD...I spotlighted Her and Sam Smith's delicious duet ''Stay with me " earlier..
Today I'm spotlighting her new cut-''Whole Damn Year"

Weekend Humor

A little boy was waiting for his mother to come out of the grocery store.

As he waited, he was approached by a man who asked, "Son, can you tell me where the post office is?" 

 The little boy replied, "Sure, just go straight down the street a couple of blocks and turn to your right."

The man thanked the boy kindly and said, "I'm the new pastor in town, and I'd like for you to come to church on Sunday. I'll show you how to get to Heaven."

The little boy replied with a chuckle, "Awww, come on man, you don't even know the way to the post office!"

Everybody have a groovy weekend.

No Winners

What Is It About Mid Term Elections

 What is it about mid-term elections that makes people not vote?  Or rather not enough people voting?  Everybody I know at least said that they voted...Not sure if they did or not...But it obviously wasn't enough...

The Republicans who have an abysmal record miraculously managed to pull a snow job on the American People again...and convince enough people to vote for them...

Just what do the American people think they are going to get?

Republicans took the Senate majority in a commanding sweep on Tuesday, winning nearly every contested race across the country, gaining governor's mansions and adding to their majority in the House of Representatives. For weeks, pundits had debated the semantics of what would constitute a "wave" election, but when it came, it was unmistakable.

Republicans unseated Democratic incumbents in Senate races in Arkansas, North Carolina, and Colorado, and were leading in Alaska early Wednesday. They easily held onto GOP-controlled seats in Georgia, Kansas, and Kentucky. In New Hampshire, Democrat Jeanne Shaheen barely held on against Republican Scott Brown. In one of the night's biggest surprises, Virginia Senator Mark Warner, who was thought to be safe, was up only half a point over his Republican challenger early Wednesday. The Louisiana election, in which Democrat Mary Landrieu finished slightly ahead of her Republican challenger, Bill Cassidy, was set to go to a December runoff, which Cassidy is favored to win.

Why did this happen?

It happened because we  are like sheep...We live by the soundbite...We don't read, we don't investigate..We just believe what we hear on the internet,in the media... at the barber shop in the bedroom...
President Obama 's administration has given Health Care to millions who didn't have it before...It's working..So now the Republicans have stopped calling it Obamacare and call it The Affordable care act and are trying to act like it was because of them....

Gas is down to close to three dollars a gallon...Unemployment has dropped to 2007 levels...The Economy is actually improving and yet...President Obama's popularity is at an all time low...If you believe the pundits and the pollsters.....Remember the question I asked yesterday...Did they poll you?? Did they question you or anybody you know?? But you saw on the Television news that his popularity has dropped and that a Republican tidal wave was coming so you decided...Well, they look like they got this on lock,so I aint gonna vote...You decided that before you went to the ballot box...and they KNEW all they had to do was tell you they were going to win and you and most people were going to act accordingly...

I don't know what else I can say....I don't know if anything I write here even makes a difference...At this point...I'm just venting....I'm just writing now the same things I wrote in 2008,In 2009 and in 2010...Same thing happened..Writing this blog is a waste of time..Few people see it...and if they do...It hasn't changed a thing...

There was however one bright spot last night...In my home state of Pennsylvania...
Pennsylvania's abysmally unpopular Republican governor, Tom Corbett, was defeated by Tom Wolfe...

Republicans took over governor's mansions in Arkansas, Illinois, Maryland, and Massachusetts, and were leading in Connecticut, and Colorado. Controversial Republican incumbents Scott Walker (Wisconsin), Rick Snyder (Michigan), Sam Brownback (Kansas), Paul LePage (Maine), Nathan Deal (Georgia), and Rick Scott (Florida), all of whom had appeared vulnerable in pre-election polls, all appeared to hold on to win reelection.

Ebullient Republicans, many of whom had run relentlessly one-note campaigns focused on the so called  unpopular president, touted the results as a rejection of President Obama and Democratic policies. "This race wasn't about me or my opponent," Mitch McConnell, the Kentucky senator who easily won reelection and stands to become the new majority leader, told a ballroom full of supporters here. "It was about a government people no longer trust."  I have never trusted him...

Laugh now...but I do know one thing...People with too much power can never control themselves...But how much do we have to suffer before they tear their own asses as My grandmother used to say!