By: Donald V. Watkins © Copyrighted and Published on December 28, 2019 Within weeks after President Donald J. Trump appointed Jeff Sessions as his United States Attorney General, Sessions deserted Trump by recusing himself from overseeing the Department of Justice's ongoing Russia probe. Sessions did not tell Trump about his plan to recuse himself from overseeing the investigation. As a result of Sessions' desertion, Trump was left to fight off Special Counsel Robert Mueller and his henchmen by himself. Mueller sent Trump through two years of pure, agonizing hell. He destroyed the lives of numerous Trump friends and associates. He targeted Trump's children for investigation and harassment. Mueller spared no expense to persecute the President. Trump survived Mueller's attempted coup d'etat through the sheer strength of his determination to defeat a "rogue" Department of Justice effort to overthrow his newly-installed administration. Trump used Twitter to defend himself and to launch an unprecedented media counter-offensive. In the end, Trump crushed the DOJ insurgents who led the unsuccessful effort to prosecute and imprison him. Trump labeled the FBI agents who persecuted him as "scum". He called the prosecutors who hounded him "corrupt." He also exposed the "rigged" federal criminal justice system for what it is -- a modern-day version of COINTELPRO operations that targets unpopular public figures for neutralization. Did Sessions Betray Trump and Give Perjured Testimony? Today there is a serious question as to whether Jeff Sessions (a) betrayed President Trump with his surprise recusal action and (b) committed perjury during Senate Hearings when he testified that he was not aware of any Trump campaign officials talking to and/or meeting with the Russians. Trump has already concluded that Sessions betrayed him. This is why Trump forced Sessions out as Attorney General after the 2018 elections. Now, observers in Washington believe Jeff Sessions should be investigated, charged, and prosecuted for perjury in connection with his Senate hearings testimony. Two campaign officials -- Carter Page and George Papadopoulos -- have contradicted Sessions's sworn testimony on the material issue of whether Sessions was aware of meetings and talks between Trump Campaign officials and the Russians. Page gave a statement to House investigators that he told Sessions about a trip Page was making to Russia during the 2016 Trump campaign. Papadopoulos said Sessions was present at a meeting in which Papadopoulos suggested he could arrange a meeting between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Papadopoulos was indicted and eventually pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about Russian tampering during the 2016 Presidential election. No criminal charges were brought against Carter Page. In fact, the Department of Justice's Inspector General released a recent report that concluded the Department committed 17 key errors and abused its authority in seeking a FISA surveillance warrant on Page. Page and Papadopoulos would be crucial witnesses in the Sessions perjury investigation, indictment, and prosecution. Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee have asked the FBI to investigate whether Sessions committed perjury during his testimony. Perjury is a crime punishable by up to five years in prison. It occurs when a person lies about a material fact under oath during a hearing or trial. If Jeff Sessions has committed perjury, will President Trump demand that current Attorney General William Barr indict and prosecute the former Attorney General who deserted his Commander-in-Chief while Trump was literally fighting for his life during the Mueller investigation? President Trump may well follow the example of Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who survived an attempted coup d’état several years ago. Erdogan rounded up all of the leaders of that coup, charged them with the appropriate crimes, prosecuted them to the fullest extent of the law, and imprisoned them. If Trump follows Erdogan's lead, Jeff Sessions' head will definitely be on the chopping block, along with the heads of Robert Mueller, former FBI director James Comey, and the FBI agents Trump has called "scum."

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on December 24, 2019 U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, who will preside over the impeachment trial of President Donald J. Trump, should set the evidentiary rules that determine what witnesses may be called by each side and what evidence is relevant to the charges and is admissible during the trial. These evidentiary rules should not be determined by political hacks. With a Congress and country divided along political party lines, the Republican Party's Senate leadership should allow Chief Justice Roberts to set the rules that will govern the trial. The nation does not need political hacks trying to rig the trial by suppressing evidence in order to reach a predetermined outcome. Public confidence in Congress and the President is already at an all-time low. The nation cannot afford to lose confidence in its highest judicial official by reducing his critical role in the trial to a ministerial one.

By: Donald V. Watkins © Copyrighted and Published on December 20, 2019 The impeachment of President Donald J. Trump, while warranted under the facts in his case, is a complete waste of time and taxpayer’s money. Make no mistake about it, Trump abused the powers of his office in his July phone call to the president of Ukraine and he obstructed Congress's inquiry into this matter. So that we are clear, America has officially entered the age of ruthless tribal politics where anything President Trump says or does is condoned and accepted by Republicans because he is the undisputed leader of the Republican Tribe. Furthermore, Trump proudly champions the primary core value of the Republican Tribe -- enrich and protect the super-rich. Whether Trump abused his power, or not, is of no consequence to his Republican political base of most white working-class voters. He has persuaded them that "trickle down" economics is actually working in their favor, even though the gap between the "1 percenters" and "99 percenters" is widening at an accelerated pace under his policies. Throughout our nation's history, the U.S. Constitution has never been subordinated to any political party leader. It has been now, and Trump's political supporters couldn't care less. No Republican in the House of Representatives voted to impeach Trump. No Republican in the Senate will vote to remove Trump from office. Tribal politics in the Age of Trump requires blind loyalty from the Republican Party faithful, regardless of the relevant facts or merits of the two impeachment charges. The international world has not seen this kind of blind loyalty to an authoritarian leader like Donald Trump since Adolf Hitler seized control of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. The Aryan nationalism espoused by Hitler sounds and feels a lot like Trump's "Make America Great Again" political theme and action plan. Hitler enjoyed the popular support of "good" Germans who focused on the improved German economy, Hitler's anti-immigration policies that targeted Jews and other “undesirables”, and the growing industrialization of Germany. These "good" Germans turned a blind eye to Hitler's atrocities. Trump enjoys the popular support of "good" Republicans who once championed sound fiscal policies, limited national government, ethical government, protecting the world from tyrants and dictators, military might, and family values. Now, they only champion Donald Trump, warts and all. Like Hitler's fanatics in Nazi Germany, Trump's supporters have shown they will tolerate his intolerable conduct when their authoritarian leader publicly demonizes and castigates entire segments of their national population and others (e.g., Jews, African-Americans, Muslims, gays, immigrants of color, "shithole" countries, etc.). The faces of the crowds at Trump rallies mirror the faces of the crowds at Hitler's rallies in Nazi Germany. Nobody in Nazi Germany reigned in Hitler's abuses of power. Nobody in the Republican Party is reigning in Trump's abuses of presidential power. Hitler and Trump reshaped their respective government cabinets and federal judiciaries in their ideological images. Hitler and Trump are known for their cold-blooded ruthlessness, which appeals to the worst instincts in their diehard political bases. Sadly, Trump has succeeded in redefining America in his own image -- self-centered, untrustworthy, unethical, immoral, hypocritical, untruthful, devoid of character, hostile towards people of color, intolerant of religious differences, tyrannical, and rudderless. He embarrasses friends and foes, alike. Yet, members of the Republican Tribe adore him. Donald Trump believes that America is ready for an Imperial President from the Republican Tribe who answers to nobody under our Constitutional system of checks and balances. All of the objective evidence suggests that Trump may be right. Like the Nazis who supported Hitler, Republicans in Congress and around the nation are marching "goose-step" in support of Trump and all of the evil he represents.

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on December 17, 2019 Did President Donald J. Trump call the FBI agents who launched the 2016 Russia Investigation "scum"? Yes, at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania last week. Is Trump head of the Executive Branch of government, which includes the Department of Justice and FBI? Yes. Three years into his Presidency, is Trump right to call FBI agents "scum"? Trump must be right in labeling these FBI agents as "scum" because no Republican Congress member or cabinet member has scolded Trump for denigrating them. According to Trump, "Look how they've hurt people. They've destroyed the lives of people that were great people, that are great people. Their lives have been destroyed by scum. Okay, by scum." Should President Trump insist that Attorney General William Barr indict and prosecute the FBI agents who violated 17 key protocols in securing the FISA warrant that launched the Russia investigation? Yes. If President Trump does not respect these FBI agents, why should ordinary Americans? We should never confer respect upon FBI agents, federal prosecutors, and judges who participate in modern-day COINTELPRO activities that target unpopular public figures for harassment and persecution.

By: Donald V. Watkins © Copyrighted and Published on December 15, 2019 The Catholic Bishop of Buffalo, New York stepped down two weeks ago following accusations that he covered up clergy sex abuse of children. All eight Catholic dioceses in New York are mired in more than 500 lawsuits related to the Church's sexual abuse of children. The flood of legal claims forced the Diocese of Rochester to file for bankruptcy in September. Additionally, the clergy sex abuse scandals have caused donations to the Church to plunge over the last five years. As a result, only 10% of the money donated to the Pope's Peter's Pence fund has been used for charitable purposes. Two-thirds of the Peter's Pence money has been used to cover the Church's budget deficit at the Holy See (i.e., the central administration of the Catholic Church and the papal diplomatic network around the world). It is painfully obvious that the Catholic Church has an engrained problem with the out-of-control sexual abuse of children by members of its clergy. What is more, the Church has gone out of its way to cover up this epidemic of sexual abuse for centuries. The sexual abuse of children has become a worldwide problem for the Catholic Church. Pope Francis is an affable leader of the Catholic Church, but he obviously lacks the backbone and will power necessary to tackle this systemic problem within the Church. The Pope appears to be content with immersing himself in the trappings of "Holiness" and Vatican power, as opposed to using the full power of the Church to end the horrific sexual abuse of children by priests and nuns. To me, a child molester is the lowest form of a human being. I don't care if the molester dons the disarming attire of a priest or nun. That so many priests and nuns use the power of the Catholic Church to lure young children as sexual abuse victims is tragic. The only thing that is worse than a child molester is a church organization that fails to aggressively root out child sexual abuse in its organization, from top to bottom. The Church's time-honored practice of silence, timidity, and complicity on this subject is sickening. The next time Pope Francis leads Catholics in a mass prayer, he needs to ask God to give him the courage to (a) hunt down child molesters in the Church and (b) protect children from sexual abusers within the ranks of its clergy. It is time for the Pope to "man-up" and purge the Church of child molesters within the clergy. No more excuses and procrastination. He must announce and enforce a "zero tolerance" policy on child sex abuse. Pope Francis must act now or resign so the Catholic Church can choose a Pope with the courage to protect young children from child molesters masquerading as priests and nuns.

By: Donald V. Watkins © Copyrighted and Published on December 12, 2019 Four months prior to the October 2018 Lion Air 737 MAX crash in Indonesia, Ed Pierson, a manager at the Boeing Company since 2015, wrote an email to Scott Campbell, the general manager of the 737 MAX program about out of control safety issues at Boeing's Renton, Washington plant (near Seattle) where the fatally flawed aircraft is manufactured. On June 9, 2018, Pierson, a former Navy squad commander, advised Campbell that,"... for the first time in my life, ...I'm hesitant about putting my family on a Boeing airplane." Pierson, who was a loyal and dedicated employee, recommended that Boeing shut down the production line for a limited period of time because Boeing had prioritized speed over safety in producing the 737 MAX airplanes. Pierson told Campbell, "... I've seen military operations shut down for a lot less safety concerns." Campbell replied, "Well, the military's not a profit-making enterprise." Pierson's advice went unheeded. He retired in August 2018. Four months later, in October 2018, a 737 MAX built at the Renton plant where Pierson was complaining about safety issues, plunged into the sea near Indonesia killing all 189 people aboard Lion Air Flight 610. After the crash, Pierson wrote emails to Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg and spoke with Boeing's general counsel about his safety concerns with the 737 MAX airplane production process and schedule. His emails about safety concerns were ignored. On February 19, 2019, Pierson wrote Boeing's board of directors about the same safety problems. He begged the board to take action before there was another crash. The board ignored his warnings. Nineteen days later, on March 10, 2019, another 737 MAX fell out of the sky. This time Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crashed shortly after takeoff killing all 157 people on board. Pierson's diligent efforts to warn Boeing's top management officials about his safety concerns at a "factory in chaos" became an exercise in futility. After months of inaction at Boeing, Pierson alerted the NTSB and FAA to thirteen other safety incidents involving 737 MAX airplanes. Three days after the Ethiopian Airlines crash, the FAA ordered a temporary grounding of all 737 MAX aircraft. Boeing is pressuring the FAA to lift the grounding order. The Power of Money Rather than correcting the basic design flaw in the 737 MAX airplanes, Boeing used the power of its money to buy its way out of this regulatory and legal jam. It established a "$100 million relief fund," of which $50 million is being distributed to the families of the crash victims. Last month, Boeing issued a full-page public apology to the families and friends of the crash victims in major news papers in the U.S. and pledged to strengthen Boeing's "culture of safety" that, in reality, ignored Ed Pierson's warnings about putting profits over safety in the 737 MAX program. Not one of the Boeing senior management executives or board members who were warned about the 737 MAX dangers by Ed Pierson has been indicted or prosecuted for criminally negligent homicide for the 346 deaths that occurred in the two crashes. There is not a federal prosecutor in Seattle, Washington or Chicago, Illinois (Boeing's headquarters) with the balls to indict and prosecute Dennis Muilenburg, the board members, and Scott Campbell for recklessly and knowingly compromising the flight safety of 737 MAX airplanes and placing profits over safety. There is not a federal prosecutor in Washington, D.C., who will indict and prosecute Muilenburg and the board members for using the power of Boeing's money to bribe FAA flight safety officials and prominent Democrats and Republicans in Washington who sought and accepted campaign contributions in exchange for outsourcing FAA flight safety protocols to Boeing. Boeing takes comfort in knowing that the company has "bought and paid" for immunity from prosecution under the Donald Trump administration's Justice Department. Instead, federal prosecutors have busied themselves going after actress Lori Loughlin and her husband, Mossimo Giannulli, for allegedly paying money to get their daughters in USC. Loughlin and Giannulli have not killed anybody, let alone 346 innocent people in a profits-over-safety scheme. In yet another gross dereliction of duty, in yesterday’s hearing of the House Transportation Committee, it was revealed that FAA officials had estimated the 737 MAX’s flawed MCAS system could cause at least 15 more fatal crashes over the next few decades. Instead of grounding the 737 MAX immediately after that analysis, the FAA allowed Boeing to continue to fly the aircraft while overhauling the MCAS system knowing the flawed system had already caused the fatal Indonesian crash. Five months later, the MCAS system caused another deadly crash. 157 families needlessly lost their loved one. Dennis Muilenburg remains the CEO of Boeing. The board of directors cannot fire him because they are just as guilty of criminally negligent homicide and bribery as he is.

By: Donald V. Watkins © Copyrighted and Published on December 8, 2019 Every Monday through Friday, news organizations and government officials announce how well Wall Street performed that day. Wall Street objectively measures the growth or decline in wealth for America's publicly owned companies and the institutional investors that control them. It is also a barometer of how the top one percent of American individuals and families are doing financially. In contrast, there is no report issued at the close of each business day that measures how well or bad things went financially for Main Street, or the 99 percenters. This assessment is left to political spin. Here's why Washington and Wall Street only give lip service to Main Street: Income inequality in America is the highest it has been since the Census Bureau began tracking it more than five decades ago. The rich are getting richer and the middle-class and working poor are getting poorer. The single biggest reason why the income equality gap between rich and poor Americans is widening is the fact that the federal minimum wage has stood at $7.25 for more than a decade. Rather than focusing Americans on the real cause of the growing income inequality and resulting wealth gap, Republican political leaders whip up their right-wing conservative base by telling mostly white voters that: (a) something has been taken from them that they are entitled to and deserve, (b) it was given to people who don't deserve it, like immigrants, gay people, blacks, and women, and (c) supporting President Donald Trump and Republican officeholders nationwide will lead to the life they deserve. This is the "Make America Great Again" theme. It is a recycled version of President Ronald Reagan's "Trickle-Down" economics of the 1980s which says the super-rich will take care of the middle-class, working poor, and hopelessly poor. In reality, the only thing that trickles down from super-rich Americans to middle-class and working poor Americans is the political equivalent to diarrhea, which smells and soils the ordinary Americans underneath them every time. Republican politicians have skillfully converted income inequality and the wealth gap into a feeling of emasculation among financially struggling white men and victimhood among white middle-class and working poor voters generally. This feeling motivates these targeted voters to back "silk stocking" Republican policies that primarily benefit the super-rich and economically privileged. These Republican voters believe that because they work hard, pay taxes, and strive to be good citizens, they should be able to support their families, send their children to college, and buy a home. In reality, the global economic factors that benefit the super-rich are robbing these voters of the tangible benefits that flowed to middle-class voters during the era of America's dominant industrial-driven economy. Globalization of commerce, rapidly changing technological developments, and liberal economic policies are powering the winds of economic change. Instead of addressing the minimum wage problem and the resulting wealth gap, President Trump and his mindless political minions in Washington and around the nation pander to racial hatred, xenophobia, sexism, and other forms of prejudice. They will never confront the one percenters and demand a better deal for the 99 percenters.

By: Donald V. Watkins © Copyrighted and Published on December 4, 2019 Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who announced his candidacy for President nearly two weeks ago, is right about one thing -- the current field of 2020 Democratic candidates for President does not have what it takes to defeat Donald J. Trump. This field includes frontrunners Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren, and Bernie Sanders. The Democratic candidates are nice and mannerable people, but they all lack the fighting skills necessary to defeat a New York City thug like Donald Trump. From what I have seen, the Democratic candidates would bring a political butter knife to a gun fight with Trump. Regardless of what you think about Trump, he is ruthless in the political arena. He terrorizes Republicans and Democrats alike. Trump does not mind cheating to win or bullying opponents, inside and outside of the Republican Party. Trump single-handedly de-balled Special Counsel Robert Mueller. He also publicly humiliated former Attorney General Jeff Sessions and made a complete fool out of him, even though Sessions was the first U.S. senator to openly support Trump. Additionally, Trump made a punk out of U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) by publicly insulting Cruz's wife and then making Cruz get on his knees and kiss Trump's ass afterwards. Trump has made fluffers out of judicial nominees, sitting federal judges, cabinet members, and National Republican Party leaders. All of them drop to their knees on his command. Trump has abandoned every loyal friend who has ever protected his personal and/or political interests. Just ask Michael Cohen, Paul Manafort, Roger Stone, Gen. Michael Flynn, to name a few. In Trump's mind, loyalty is a one-way street that benefits him only. Former Vice-President Joe Biden, who is the sentimental favorite among Democratic voters, did not defend his own son against Trump's malicious and false attacks that tied Hunter Biden to alleged corruption in the Ukraine. A man who will not fight for his family will not fight for others. Bloomberg may or may not be the right political antidote to Donald Trump. However, he is correct in his assessment that the current group of Democratic candidates cannot defeat Trump. To defeat a political thug, the Democratic Party needs a bigger thug. With Trump's election in 2016, America officially entered the era of "thuggery" politics. This is why Donald Trump does not care about: (a) lying to everybody with impunity, (b) promoting his self-interests above the national interests, (c) bullying weak and helpless politicians and civilians, (d) breaching well-established standards of ethical conduct, and (e) selling out America to foreign powers, including America's biggest enemy -- Russia. Trump has been a thug all of his life. His father was a racist thug. His paternal grandfather was an immigrant thug who was deported back to Germany in the early 1900s. Thuggery is all that Trump knows. Americans got what they voted for in 2016 -- a New York City thug with the title of President. The 2020 election will determine whether Trump's election was a one-time fluke or the beginning of America's era of tribal politics where each tribe selects its biggest thug.

By: Donald V. Watkins © Copyrighted and published on November 24, 2019 This month, I published a special series of articles that describes and explains the sad state of black America. I started with the "Changing Masculinity of Black Men," an article that described the mainstream media's glorification of effeminate black men. This sustained media campaign, which is graphically depicted in the November 2019 print edition of GQ Magazine, defines the new masculinity for black men. Today's black men are portrayed as effeminate acting and scared. When they do summon up the courage to fight, it is usually against each other or our women. I continued with "A Tale of Two Revolutions in the Atlantic world," in which I described the glorification of the American revolution. During the same period, the only successful slave-led revolution in the Atlantic World -- by indigenous Haitian people and slaves in the late 1700s and early 1800s -- was suppressed in literary history so it would not inspire a similar revolt by black slaves in America in the 1800s. Next, I discussed "Why America Can't Rid Itself of Its Racial Problem," which described how many of today's right-wing conservative judges in state and federal judicial systems have assumed the role of opposing the socio-economic progress for black Americans that was once played by the Ku Klux Klan. The hostility by the men and women in white robes has been replaced by a more subtle and fashionable form of racial hostility against African-Americans practiced by the men and women who wear black robes and act in an official capacity. Then, I published "Greenwood: The Black Wall Street," which described the most financially successful black community ever developed in America. Located in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Greenwood was black America's Wall Street before it was destroyed in May 1921 by an angry white mob of 1,500 people that killed an estimated 3,000 blacks and burned down the entire business and residential community over a two-day period. Nobody was prosecuted for these deaths and the destruction of commercial and residential properties in Greenwood. Insurance covered none of the loss as it was deemed a “race riot” and excluded under the insurance policies. I continued with "The Greatest Wealth Transfer Program in U.S. History for Whites," which described a 124-year-long land give away program for white settlers and European immigrants that began in 1862. This program resulted in the award of 270 million acres of free land by the U.S. government to nearly 3 million white recipients. The program formally ended in 1986. A similar but much smaller land giveaway program for freed black slaves was ordered by Union Army General William T. Sherman in 1865 in Special Field Order No. 15. This Order was rescinded in the Fall of 1865 by President Andrew Johnson after Abraham Lincoln died. As a result, the U.S. government never gave freed slaves the 400,000 acres of land they were promised. The psychological damage from hundreds of years of subjugation and violence inflicted upon these slaves -- both men and women -- has left most black Americans psychologically castrated and neutered to this day. The horrors of slavery have been written about in numerous historical publications. Kenneth Stampp in The Peculiar Institution cites five steps masters often used to achieve an “ideal slave”: establish and maintain strict discipline, train slaves “to understand that bondage was their natural state”, “awe” them, showing them their master’s “power” and coaxing them into revering him, persuade slaves to take interest in the master’s business and exploit the helplessness of the slaves to instill in them complete dependence on master. The following methods of maintaining discipline were widely accepted and used: a slave was forbidden to leave the estate without permission, they were unable to leave the cabin after “horn blow”, rarely-given passes were required if a slave left the estate, free blacks and whites could not work with or marry slaves and slaves were forbidden to have whiskey, to fight or to swear. Frederick Douglass in My Bondage and My Freedom wrote about how slaves were “trained from the cradle up, to think and feel that their masters are superior, and invested with a sort of sacredness”. He references how isolation was used as a key tactic in assuring submission and that disobedient slaves would be sold off. Punishment was regularly inflicted on the slaves. Solitary confinement was regularly used, as well as shackles and chains. It frequently reached the level of violence. This type of punishment was usually whipping but also included burning, branding, removal of toenails, being attacked by masters’ dogs and salting of wounds caused by whipping. Slave women were often raped by the master and/or overseer. Collectively, the articles listed above describe the historical events that have led to the systemic emasculation of today's African-Americans, as a people. The Signs of Irrelevancy and Cultural Disintegration For the first time in our 400-year history in America, African-Americans have been totally and completely decimated as a force for positive change in America. What is worse, African-Americans have fallen into a permanent state of irrelevance when it comes to national political policy, economic empowerment, international affairs, and global commerce. Too many blacks do not value a quality education. Public school systems in many of our urban areas are failing our students. We are creating a permanent underclass of young people who are incapable of competing for jobs and contracts. We have an entire population of 34 million African-Americans striving to become one of the 3,000 professional athletes, reality TV stars, rappers, and singing and dancing entertainers in America. This narrow focus on "successful" career choices flows from the glorification of blacks as modern-day minstrels and court-jesters who have celebrity status but no real power. We would rather have a photo with a sitting U.S. President at a White House event or party than the lucrative non-bid government contracts that are routinely handed out to civilian and defense contractors. We do not manufacture or produce any volume of products that is statistically significant in the gross domestic product (GDP) calculation -- the total production and consumption of goods and services in the country. In contrast, we are one of the largest consumer spending groups in America. Because the dollar turns over only one time in the black community -- as opposed to 19 times in the former Greenwood -- we essentially enrich white vendors, merchants, banks, insurance agencies, media companies, and professional services providers on a loyal and consistent basis. The overwhelming majority of the recipients of African-American spending dollars never reinvest in the black community. We increasingly elevate form over substance. We tend to value clothing, red-bottom shoes, and fancy cars over real estate holdings and business ownership. This is called "flash wealth" and it has little to no economic value on financial statements. Unlike every immigrant group in America, we hate networking with each other. Our validation as a person too often comes when someone white pats us on the head and tells us how "different" we are from other African-Americans. This pat on the head sends too many of us into an exhilarating psychological state of being. For the most part, the politicians we elect do not represent our political interests. They are political "watchdogs," but they rarely bark to protect our interests. They have no meaningful political agenda to uplift the black community. Likewise, they have no concrete plan of action for making our public schools and universities competitive forces in an ever-changing world. The battle zone of civil rights activities has been reduced to an endless stream of "feel good" commemorative celebrations that require no confrontation or courage. Our churches have morphed into personality-based ministries that glorify preachers rather than God. These churches tend to suck money from black communities without any commitment to rebuild them. Our universities are living off of fading memories of the past rather than the glowing promise of the future. The traditional "guilt money" from liberal white donors is drying up. Our institutions of higher education are closing their doors in record numbers. The number of committed black leaders with promise and courage like newly installed Montgomery, Alabama Mayor Steven Reed and longtime Equal Justice Initiative CEO Bryan Stevenson has dwindled down to near-extinction levels. Uncle Tomism is on the rise and is expected to climb dramatically throughout the 21st century. As a people, we now seek "mascot" status rather than real manhood and womanhood. The latter causes us to be aware of our rights and responsibilities to the larger community. Alone and Unprotected in America For the first time ever in our history as African-Americans, we are alone, unprotected, and under an unrelenting ideological attack that is led by the very institutions of government that used to protect us from the worst instincts in white men and women. What is worse, these ideological attacks are aided and abetted by new-wave "Negroes" who relish the Uncle Tom role portrayed by actor Samuel Jackson in the movie "Django." As a people, we are lost in the "Promised Land." We have come to accept a permanent state of second-class citizenship without a fight. We have surrendered to the forces that have always opposed our growth. This is the sad state of black America.

By: Donald V. Watkins © Copyrighted and Published on November 27, 2019 Let's make one thing clear: The United States has meddled with and interfered in the internal political affairs of sovereign nations around the globe for over one hundred years. We have done it in Cuba, Panama, Venezuela, the Philippines, Vietnam, Korea, Libya, Iraq, Iran, Haiti, many African nations, and various other countries throughout the Middle East and South America. We have handpicked and propped up dictators and despots around the world. All of whom have been ruthless, brutal, and corrupt. We have also toppled world leaders of Third World countries. Throughout it all, there was one thing Democratic and Republican Presidents made clear to every world leader: " Do not fuck with the American political system. It is sacred." Nobody dared to cross that bright line until President Donald J. Trump became President. Trump is Russian President Vladimir Putin's "Manchurian Candidate." Trump owes his successful campaign to Russian interference with the 2016 Presidential election, as independently confirmed by sixteen U.S. intelligence agencies. With Trump's election, Putin was able to capture America without firing a shot. As a pathological liar who is only loyal to himself, Trump wasted no time in erasing the line that bans foreign interference with U.S. elections. In Trump's mind, his self-interest is greater than America's national interest in protecting the integrity of U.S. elections. Last week, Gordon Sondland, Trump's ambassador to the European Union, confirmed that the President used U.S. military aid in a "quid pro quo" demand to Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky in an effort to pressure Zelensky to announce an investigation of Democratic Presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son, Hunter. Fortunately, Zelensky's situational ethics were higher than Trump's and he never honored Trump's request. Everybody in Trump's inner circle was in the loop on this "quid pro quo" demand, including Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. None of them tried to stop it. As expected, rabid Trump supporters see nothing wrong with trading the integrity of the U.S. Presidential elections to a foreign power for Trump's personal political gain. Alabama Senator Richard Shelby, a Trump support and Washington "Swamp Creature" who has survived every effort to "drain the swamp," defended Trump's "quid pro quo" demand to Zelensky. Shelby is the U.S. senator who led the successful effort to deregulate the Federal Aviation Administration's flight certification standards for new aircraft. Now, aircraft manufacturers certify their own planes as safe to fly. As a result, 346 Boeing 737 MAX airplane passengers and crew members died in two recent plane crashes where Shelby's compromised version of flight safety ruled the day. For Sen. Shelby, whose campaign mantra is, "Too much money ain’t never enough", democracy has always been "For Sale." Under Trump, Shelby is now free to publicly showcase his ethical lapses regarding fair elections without fear of political or law enforcement repercussions. Thanks to President Trump, America has finally emerged as a nation that is willing to compromise its national interests as long as it personally benefits Donald J. Trump, in his individual capacity. For the first time ever, the biggest "bullshit artist" of all time has led America in joining Third World countries in what can only be described as Trump-style democracy -- the elevation of self-interest above national interest. Welcome to Trump's America, as produced by Vladimir Putin.

By: Donald V. Watkins ©Copyrighted and Published on November 18, 2019 After its negligent design and criminally negligent conduct killed 346 passengers and crew members aboard Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Air Flight 302, and after Boeing got caught withholding crucial test pilot text messages from investigators about how dangerous the company's new 737 MAX jetliners are, the giant aircraft manufacturer has finally issued a public apology crafted by a slick public relations firm. The apology professed the company's sorrow to the families and friends of the crash victims. I saw the full-page apology in the Thursday, November 14, 2019 edition of USA Today. Boeing made sure the flying public knew that the company has established a "$100 million relief fund", of which $50 million is being distributed to the families of the victims of the two crashes. Because the victims are mostly people of color from Indonesia and Ethiopia, the amount of compensation averages a mere $145,000 per victim. The ad also pledges to strengthen Boeing's culture of safety so that the 737 MAX can safely return to service. The airplane has been grounded worldwide since March. Absent from the ad was any commitment by Boeing to correct the basic design flaw that caused the crashes. Boeing only pledged to make some software updates and provide additional pilot training on how to fly the inherently defective 737 MAX airplane. No one at Boeing has been prosecuted for killing the 346 passengers and crew members aboard Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Air Flight 302. No one at Boeing has been fired for gross negligence that resulted in 346 unnecessary deaths. No changes have been made at the Federal Aviation Administration to take back the control over flight safety testing that had been outsourced to Boeing. Sadly, the same federal prosecutors who pound their chests when indicting Hollywood celebrity parents who paid money to get their children admitted to prestigious universities are the very same federal prosecutors who are too afraid of Boeing and its corporate power to indict and prosecute them for criminally negligent homicide and bribery of FAA officials and prominent Democratic and Republican members of Congress. They would rather get on their knees and kiss Boeing's ass than indict the company and its senior management employees for killing 346 people. Why? Because some of these Department of Justice officials want jobs at Boeing when they leave government service. Boeing's legislative affairs team has already committed funding for next year's race for key Democratic and Republican members of Congress who sit on oversight committees that are investigating the FAA flight safety certification protocols for the 737 MAX in 2015-16. The one area where bi-partisanship flourishes in Washington is in the zone of self-political interest and personal greed. At the end of the day, a political whore is always "for sale." In the words of Washington's most notorious "Swamp Creature", Alabama Senator Richard Shelby, " Too much money ain't never enough." Likewise, Boeing knows that it is cheaper to pay death claims than it is to fix the design flaws in the 737 MAX airplane. Every passenger who flies on a 737 Max when they return to service will be playing Russian Roulette with his/her life. More passengers will die in this airplane because too many government "watchdogs" have been bought off, compromised, and silenced.

By: Donald V. Watkins © Copyrighted and Published on November 17, 2019 Much of what we know about colonialism and slavery in America was written by white postcolonial writers who were free to reimagine the subversiveness, resistance, and intelligence of the captive peoples than to confront the slave trade, colonial histories, legal codes, and political treatises that represent the same people in quite different terms. Our country, as we know it today, was founded by white European explorers and settlers who landed in the new Atlantic world and made their way from Jamestown, Virginia across the land we call America. This land was already occupied by Native-Americans who were described in the July 4, 1776 Declaration of Independence as "merciless Indian Savages." Millions of these "Savages" were slaughtered by the Europeans settlers in a coast-to-coast ethnic cleansing campaign that lasted hundreds of years from when the first settlers colonized Jamestown. The colonists welcomed, maintained, protected, and grew an African slave trade, particularly in the South. Slaves of African descent were viewed as "human" property. In the Declaration of Independence, one of the indictments against King George of England was this quote: "On November 7, 1775, Virginia's royal governor proclaimed freedom for all black slaves who would join British forces." The signatory parties to the Declaration of Independence, some of whom were slave owners, believed that British military plans included using freed slaves and Indians to fight colonists, and explicitly said so in the Declaration. Since 1776, "merciless Indian Savages" and freed "black slaves" have been designated as "enemies of state." This formal declaration appears in the Declaration of Independence itself. This tragic state of being lasted 94 years for black slaves and much longer for "Indian Savages." It was backed by the force of law in 1857 when the U.S. Supreme Court, on a 7-2 vote, declared in the Dred Scott case that no black person in America -- free or slave -- had legal rights that white men were bound to respect. While the 13th Amendment (ratified in 1865), 14th Amendment (ratified in 1868), and 15th Amendment (ratified in 1870) to the U.S. constitution banned slavery, provided for equal protection under the laws, and guaranteed blacks the right to vote, these federal laws would not be enforced for another hundred years. In 1964, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act; in 1965, it passed the Voting Rights Act; and in 1968, Congress passed the Fair Housing Act. These laws were intended to provide equal rights for black Americans in public accommodations, voter participation and legislative representation, and equal access to housing. The 1860s and 1960s-era civil rights laws were generally enforced by federal courts for about 30 years. However, this enforcement activity came to an eventual halt after Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush, and Donald Trump packed the federal judiciary with hardcore Republican conservative judges who hold hostile views toward civil and individual rights. Now, the judicial enforcement of civil and individual rights guaranteed under the Constitution and Acts of Congress are virtually non-existent. "Indian Savages" were left to languish for nearly two hundred years in the aftermath of unenforced treaties the U.S. Government made with various Native-American Tribes. Only casino gaming in recent decades on federally recognized Indian reservations saved Native-Americans from extreme poverty and irrelevancy. Over the last four decades, Republican-appointed federal judges, who enjoy a lifetime appointment, have engaged in an unrelenting and sustained campaign to undermine, neutralize or otherwise extinguish the fundamental rights American citizens are guaranteed under the 1791 Bill of Rights (a/k/a the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution), the 1860s-era Civil Rights Amendments to the Constitution, the 1960s-era civil rights laws, and the Indian treaties. For the most part, these judges have used every procedural devise and legal trick imaginable to reverse the protections afforded to African, Native-Americans, and other Americans of color. This practice is called "judicial activism," and it is not authorized in American law. It occurs only when the judicial branch of government usurps the traditional lawmaking function of the duly-elected legislative branch of government. When it comes to matters of race, hardcore Republican-appointed federal judges have traded places with the white colonists of 1776 who viewed freed "black slaves" and "Indian Savages" as a threat to their white supremacy paradigm. This is the real reason why America cannot rid itself of its racism problem. At the end of the day, the men and women in black robes on the federal bench have become far more dangerous to African and Native-Americans than the men and women who parade in the streets in white robes.