Of COURSE People of Color Don’t Trust Cops. They Have no Reason to Trust Cops.

And lots of reasons not to. It isn’t a recent phenomenon that started with white officers killing black men in Ferguson, Staten Island or Cleveland: it goes back to the days of slavery, when the authorities enforced the laws by catching escaped slaves and forcibly returing them to the slave owners. It continued through the post-Civil-War era as police were used to enforce Jim Crow laws that kept people of color (POC) in another set of “chains”.

And did the Civil Rights laws of the 60’s fix things? Oh, Hell no. The cops were used to “keep order” among the minority population and protect the white folks from said minorities. Once again, the cops were and are the visible face of oppression, and the means used to oppress the non-white people of America.

Asians are likewise POC, and they deal with a lot of crap from cops as well: immigration, profiling, harassment, civil rights violations, etc. You think anybody in their communities have forgotten the World War Two internment camps? Here’s a hint, boyo: they haven’t. And who put them into the camps? Armed people in uniforms put them in those camps. Cops (and soldiers, in that case).

How about Latinos? POC they are as well, and they have likewise dealt with a history of abuse and marginalization. And yes, once again the cops were the instrument of that extra-constitutional mistreatment.

It didn’t start with Michael Brown, or even John Brown. It won’t end with a single grand jury indictment, or even several indictments. As the Prexy has said, the system can’t function if POC don’t trust that justice will be delivered in an impartial manner.

Speaking as a (formerly long-haired) hippie freak, this writer doesn’t place blind trust in the cops or those for whom they work. Comes from having been harassed, profiled, roughed up, shaken down, and driven to city boundaries with guns enforcing the officers’ orders to “Git, and never come back” on more than one occasion. Being “othered” while looking at the wrong end of a gun makes an indelible impression on a person.

But you know what made the Cranky life a lot easier? Baldness. Cops can no longer discern my political views by a glance. Indeed, a somewhat portly middle-aged white man is rarely targeted by the cops. But…

Black people can’t wash off their pigment. Nor can other people of color. They can never, ever be free of the institutionalized violence and abuse that is routinely heaped upon minorities. Their skin color makes them a target. They know it. Cops know it.

When everybody knows the system is rigged, nobody can believe in the system. We are living in a crumbling edifice, built upon a history of xenophobia and racist hatred. Unless we all get together and build a foundation that truly aligns with the notion that we are created equal, the whole American experiment will fall apart, ending in blood and ashes.

Trust is needed. Right now POC don’t trust the system. And lots of white people are deciding we don’t trust it either. Police of America, it’s time to decide who you work for, and to earn back the trust we need you to deserve.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

They Cried “Wolf” About Benghazi and the IRS. So Why do you Believe Those F ***ers About the NSA?

Mr. Blunt and Cranky cannot believe how stupid and gullible his fellow Americans have gotten to be. Really, he should go into used car sales or something, because the lot of you have evidently lost your critical faculties of late. Let us review:

Act One: Benghazi. It was spun by the “news” media and certain politicos as a breathtaking scandal that could doom Obama’s chances of re-election, and lots of hysterical stories were written and accusations were leveled. As time passed, we learned that a lot of the initial stories were false, wrong, or at the very least inaccurate. In the end, it turned out that the cries of “Wolf” were hysterical, manipulative crap. The truth of the matter is, people had f***ed up, heads rolled and changes had to be made, but the Prexy had nothing to do with it. The media retracted very little of what they had said, and the politicos retracted nothing. So lots of stupid people STILL think there is a Benghazi scandal, even though the wolf-criers have been proven to be liars.

Act Two: the latest IRS dustup. It too was spun by the “news” media and certain politicos as a breathtaking scandal that could doom Obama’s chances of accomplishing anything in his second term, and lots of hysterical stories were written and accusations were leveled. As time passed, we learned that a lot of the initial stories were false, wrong, or at the very least inaccurate. In the end, it turned out that the cries of “Wolf” were hysterical, manipulative crap. The truth of the matter is, people had f***ed up, heads rolled and changes had to be made, but the Prexy had nothing to do with it. The media retracted very little of what they had said, and the politicos retracted nothing. So lots of stupid people STILL think there is an IRS scandal, even though the wolf-criers have been proven to be liars.

Act Three: The NSA Scandal. Just like before, it is being spun as the scandal of the century, hysterical bulls*** is plentiful,and people want to throw our President our of office. Never mind that the quote Journalism end quote is a load of sloppy garbage and just as in our two previous examples,falls apart like a cheap nose wipe in the rain when subjected to scrutiny.

And what are Americans doing? Do they say “Gee whiz, they cried “Wolf” before, maybe we better wait and see what the facts are”? Oh, don’t be silly. No, just like puppets on strings they are jumping up and down, getting outraged, freaking out, and acting as if this scandal du jour is somehow different than all the other times the boys in the media and Congress have cried “Wolf” in the past. Wake the f***ing f*** up, peeps: just like before, we’ll find out that people f***ed up, and heads will roll and changes will be made. But none of this means that Obama is some sort of evil Lupine creature. No matter how many times the wolf criers may call him one.

So, why for the love of GOD, do so many of you keep believing those little f***ers when they cry wolf? Really, people, you should have learned by now to wait for proof before believing the lying wolf criers.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

How “Republicans” Kill Government Agencies and Profit Thereby

Mr. Blunt and Cranky has a daughter who is very much into horses, and has been since her days in 4-H. He therefore knows about the “impost”. This is extra weight placed on a horse to slow it down during a race. It is supposed to make a race more fair, but is sometimes used to rig a race by making sure a certain horse loses: this makes lots of shady money for certain shady individuals.

We see the same thing in other areas, of course: one example is the United States Postal Service (USPS), a government agency that is mandated by the Constitution. The “impost” placed on this “horse” by Congressional “Republicans” is a requirement to pre-fund worker pensions 75 years into the future: that includes people who haven’t even been born yet. Needless to say, none of their competitors (like FedEx and UPS) have to do anything remotely like this.

Why would Congress do something to weaken an agency that is required by the Constitution? One word: Money. You see, the private companies bribe our “representatives”, and in return they use their power to illegally support those companies that bribe them by wiping out the Postal Service.

The ultimate goal is to “privatize” postal services. That would make the bribing bastards even more money, which means even bigger bribes for the corrupt swine who suck off the trough of dollars provided to them. Of course, if you’re not one of the lucky congresscritters who have access to those millions of dollars in baksheesh, it’s a pretty raw deal.

While our millionaire “representatives” loll about their sties, we the people would be faced with a several thousand percent increase in the cost of shipping everything from birthday cards to packages. imagine sending Christmas cards when instead of paying, say, fifty cents, you’d pay $10.00 or more for each piece of mail.

That is, you’d pay it if you could even get it in the mail. You see, another “impost” placed upon the USPS is the requirement to service anyone and everyone in the United States, no matter where you live and work. Private companies have no such requirement. In fact (and here’s another “impost”), the USPS is required by Congress to deliver items for their competitors.

Get the picture? Our “representatives” are so busy providing services to the industries that bribe them that they have no problem violating the Constitution by killing off the Post Office. Our loss, and Congress’s gain.

If that doesn’t get you angry, then you probably need an impost placed on your back. Then you might understand what it’s like to be illegally and permanently relegated to the back of the pack.

Mr. B & C

You Can’t Be Partly Pregnant

Mr. Blunt and Cranky was reminded of this old saying while listening to the latest Postal Service brouhaha. For those who have not heard the noise, here is a brief recap: the Posties are broke; indeed, they are as broke as the Ten Commandments. And every time they try something to fix their problem, all Hell breaks loose.

This is because the agency is required to be “partly pregnant”: a constitutionally-mandated government agency that is simultaneously expected to run itself like a private business. That is confusing enough as it is, but wait- there’s more.

The USPS is required by law to serve everyone, anywhere in the U.S., no matter how remote, at the same price, quality and speed. Oh, and Congress can veto many actions of the USPS, and add additional mandates as it sees fit, whenever Congress takes a fancy to.

The USPS tried to cut costs by closing and consolidating under-used post offices. They got smacked down. They tried other ways to save money, and got spanked again. Notice that private concerns like FedEx did similar things to become leaner and meaner, and no one turned a hair.

So we have a government agency, regulated to a ludicrous degree, that is expected to somehow compete with lightly-regulated private-sector businesses like FedEx and UPS. That’s like expecting a duck-billed platypus to outrun a thoroughbred at Churchill Downs.

You can’t be partly pregnant. You can’t be partly private or partly public either. Demanding that the Postal Service be held to two incompatible standards is like baking a Limburger-sour-cream-chocolate-and-onion birthday cake with ketchup icing: you can make it, but no one will be happy with the results.

Mr. B & C