Mr. Scorpio

Mr. Scorpio's Journal

April 28, 2018

They're looking for an apology...

‘Trump has never once discriminated’: Conservatives demand blacks and Muslims apologize to the president
Bob Brigham BOB BRIGHAM
27 APR 2018 AT 19:40 ET

"Apology?"

Minorities in America owe President Donald Trump an apology — and even thanks — according to a new column posted on Newsmax.

The apologies were demanded by former Trump campaign advisor Jeff Ballaborn, writing with Bruce Abramson for the website owned by Trump confidante Christopher Ruddy.

“The leadership of America’s Jewish community owes President Trump — and America’s Jews — an apology,” they wrote. “In a world of rationality and justice, American Jews would be grateful to President Trump.”

"Grateful?"

“Will these mainstream Jewish leaders ever apologize to, much less thank, President Trump?” they asked. “Don’t hold your breath.”

They used identical language to argue for the other groups that must apologize to the commander-n-chief.

“The leadership of America’s Black community owes President Trump and African Americans a similar apology,” they wrote. “In a world of rationality and justice, African Americans would be grateful.”

https://www.rawstory.com/2018/04/trump-never-discriminated-conservatives-demand-blacks-muslims-apologize-president/

"Fuck you, your apology and the horse you rode in on."

April 27, 2018

You know, I've been on DU for sixteen years...

Going on 69,000 posts on this site. And way back when I started, I used to write some pretty shady shit. Hell, a lot of us did. We definitely weren't saints back then. We were rude, profane, even sexually aggressive... ON THIS VERY SITE!

Some us offered some opinions that weren't popular back then on quite a number of sensitive subjects... And I can say that I even said shit back then that I wouldn't say today. Why? Because I changed my mind, I matured and I was convinced by some of you that I needed to change my mind.

But does that even matter? Well, you know what? Who gives a fuck?. Seriously.

So when I read about some shit that Joy Ann Reid may or may not have written so far back, in some obscure blog that none of us ever read ten fucking years ago, I have to say again, "Who gives a fuck?"

Why wasn't this shit outed five or six years ago? Or why wasn't it outed when she earned her place as one of the hosts on MSNBC? You wanna know why? Because nobody gave a fuck back then.

But people are giving a fuck now, people with definite agendas to take down one of the most effective progressive voices for the truth today. A voice of a black woman, who are ALWAYS the first to be attacked in this country, no matter what. As far as I'm concerned, none of these smears against her should be trusted. Simply because I ask that age old question, "What has she done for us lately?" And we all know the answer there.

Shit from ten years ago has little relevance to who she is today. The people who know her today, gay, straight or otherwise, know who she is today. And they all stand by her side in solidarity.

If anything, what's happening is pretty freaking obvious:

This is nothing more than payback for the backlash against real reprehensible fuck nuggets like Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham. And these same people know full well that if they throw one of ours to the wolves, we'll do the job of destroying them in a feeding frenzy. It's been done before and we're doing it right now. All that has to be done is to exploit our own abundant sense of righteous indignation.

Usually I try to stay away from the infighting and for the most part, and I have. But for me, attacking Joy Ann Reid is a bridge too far.

We're in a fight against some real devious bastards... So, frankly, this is the wrong time, once again, to shoot ourselves in our own feet. I'd rather have Joy Ann Reid on our side in this fight, because I know, as do most of you, that we really can't afford to push her under the bus over some irrelevant bullshit that had to dig up from ten fucking years ago. All done by people who don't have any of our interests at heart above their own.

And what has Glenn Greenwald or John Aravosis done for any of us lately?

Anybody?

April 26, 2018

#ImWithJoyReid

https://twitter.com/smartflexin/status/989192201602289667

JeremyConstantinople @smartflexin

This gay man knows a bigoted hitjob when he sees one #ImWithJoyReid

https://twitter.com/KermitandScooby/status/989016032965623808

Dawg @KermitandScooby

I’m a lesbian, and #ImWithJoyReid

https://twitter.com/justbarb77/status/989475909341237248

verystablegenius @justbarb77

I’m, like, the gayest person ever and I support you @JoyAnnReid. I don’t care what you did or didn’t say >10 years ago. I know what you say and do now & you have earned by respect and admiration. Cc: @MSNBC #ImWithJoyReid

https://twitter.com/markdutcher/status/989242127656734720

mark dutcher @markdutcher

this here is how i feel as a gay man. Joy @JoyAnnReid is an ally. #ImWithJoyReid

https://twitter.com/AmyDyess/status/989348463316951041

Amy Dyess @AmyDyess

@JoyAnnReid, this lesbian believes you. I know you’re an ally to the LGBT community because you speak out and fight for us. Hopefully @PFLAG will come to their senses. Know that a lot of gay folks are with you! #ImWithJoyReid

https://twitter.com/JCParodi_718/status/989192931302047746

John Parodi @JCParodi_718

as a Gay man, #ImWithJoyReid

https://twitter.com/AmyDyess/status/989348933141909510

Amy Dyess @AmyDyess

I hope someone is telling her we’re with her. She needs to know she has a lot of LGBT support. #ImWithJoyReid

https://twitter.com/ILissaJackson/status/989262387747442688

Ilissa Jackson @ILissaJackson

Please. @JoyAnnReid?
@PFLAG rescinding the award? That’s it? You guys are pathetic. She’s a patriot and a solid journalist. I pray @MSNBC stands with her 100%. #ImWithJoyReid #ImWithJoy

https://twitter.com/hashtag/ImWithJoyReid

April 26, 2018

Keith Boykin Tweets:

https://twitter.com/keithboykin/status/989252056606216194

I’m a black gay man, and I’ve known Joy Reid since my days at MSNBC. She interviewed me for her book years ago and spoke to my students in one of my Columbia classes a year or two ago. She has always treated me with dignity and respect, and I respect and appreciate her as well.

100 replies 1,119 retweets 5,030 likes

April 26, 2018

A long Twitter thread on the modern policing of black bodies in America...

How my boyfriend got pulled over by the police for giving a beggar at 7-11 change: A Thread.

Hermione Danger
?@kelseybew_

https://twitter.com/kelseybew_/status/989132611854524417

My hands are still shaking and im sorta chain smoking so there may be typos. Y’all gon deal with it.

https://twitter.com/kelseybew_/status/989132842654420992

So my boyfriend went to drop off his friend at the airport last night. He went to the Newport News one which is like 45 minutes from our place in Norfolk. He left like 10:30pm. He dropped him off, text me he was on his way home, and stopped at a 7-11 in VA Beach.

https://twitter.com/kelseybew_/status/989133493266501632

When he went back outside, apparently there was a man out there begging for change, which is typical 7-1- behavior. My boo gave him 50 cents before getting back in his car and getting on the interstate. Soon as he gets on he sees those blue lights behind him and pulls over.

https://twitter.com/kelseybew_/status/989133807239548928

Cop comes up to his car; boo had put his wallet on his dashboard and got out his license, but his phone was in his pocket. So the cop comes up to his window and says “I saw you at 7-11 give that man something. They’ve been complaining about that man saying he has drugs” blah blah

https://twitter.com/kelseybew_/status/989134463652257793

So the cop goes to run his license and comes back. He’s all “where’s your insurance information?”

...We literally JUST got new car insurance Friday. They haven’t even issued our cards yet. We don’t have a printer and he didn’t think to print them at work...

https://twitter.com/kelseybew_/status/989134937986162688

The only way to get him the insurance info would be to go on his phone. So he tells the cop this.

Then, the cop tells him his car smells like weed.

Y’all...there wasn’t a gawtdamn thing in that car.

Anyway.

https://twitter.com/kelseybew_/status/989135167976591363

So now the cop wants him to get out the car and put his hands on his head, which he does, with his back turned to the officer (per officer). So then the cop tells him to pull his phone out his pocket.

He tells him to do this while pointing his gun at his back.

https://twitter.com/kelseybew_/status/989135416384278528

So by now my man is FREAKING OUT. He is SHOOK. He says “Officer I don’t feel comfortable reaching in my pocket with you pointing your gun at me. My phone is black. You can get my *wallet* out my pocket”

*he was so scared he accidentally said wallet instead of phone.*

https://twitter.com/kelseybew_/status/989135912230678528

So Officer Spaz A Lot starts screaming at him because of his tongue twist. He’s all “You said phone now you’re saying wallet WHICH ONE IS IT?!” like he didn’t see that bot’s whole wallet on his dashboard when he went to get his license in the first place.

https://twitter.com/kelseybew_/status/989136251847659520

So my baby starts crying, y’all. A 31 year old man straight BAWLING cause he’s terrified that if he reaches for his pocket he’s going to get shot. And the cop keeps yelling at him to just do it, never lowering his damn gun.

https://twitter.com/kelseybew_/status/989136594937483264

He’s yelling “What are you crying for ARE YOU GUILTY OF SOMETHING?”

And it probably would’ve been a long cycle of more yelling and more crying if two more cop cars and the sheriff’s car didn’t pull up behind them.

https://twitter.com/kelseybew_/status/989136856553021440

So three other cops come up, and the sheriff. There’s a woman cop with her male partner, a third cop who cam in his own squad car, and the sheriff, who is the only person at this scene with any sense of duty for his job.

https://twitter.com/kelseybew_/status/989137098383867910

One of the male cops asks what’s going on and boo boo tells them the cop wants him to get his phone out his pocket but he doesn’t want to reach himself and, you know, get shot. So a cop takes his phone out his pocket for him and hands it to the original douche-cop.

https://twitter.com/kelseybew_/status/989137522650505217

When the cop who got the phone hands it off, original cop has the nerve to say “I wasn’t pointing my gun at him, I had my taser out.”

Boyfriend:

https://twitter.com/kelseybew_/status/989137888880287744

He says to them “Officers it was a gun. I know what an issued taser looks like because it looks like *insert description here* right?” When the sheriff confirmed he was right he went “Yeah, that officer had his gun on me.”

Officer: “I’m not going to argue with him about it”

https://twitter.com/kelseybew_/status/989138485654249472

So at this point, I’ve been blowing up his phone, because I told y’all he left the house at 10:30pm for a 40 minute drive and it’s now 2am

https://twitter.com/kelseybew_/status/989138828106567681

The whole time he’d been begging the officer to just let him call me and tell me where he was and what was going on. He even asked if they could call me if he unlocked his phone. Finally after everyone ignored him, the sheriff let him use his phone to text me.

https://twitter.com/kelseybew_/status/989139254377934848

I fucked up tho because I kept calling him so when he went to text me I called, he went “wait, she’s calling me-“ and the original officer YANKED his phone and threw it on the dashboard of his squad car.

https://twitter.com/kelseybew_/status/989139471315689472

So the four officers go to the original officer’s car and have a ki ki while waiting on a damn K-9 unit to come search my boyfriend’s drug less car. They also breathalyzed him, because giving homeless men change obviously means you’re drunk.

https://twitter.com/kelseybew_/status/989139764547915776

The cops leave him sitting on the side of the road, cuffed. Only the sheriff would sit with him.

And honestly im over cops as a whole at this point but this sheriff was so kind to him while everyone else treated him like a criminal. He sat right beside him and just talked.

https://twitter.com/kelseybew_/status/989140093884616705

“I can understand why you’re so afraid. You’re a young black man, and I’m sure you aren’t a bad kid, you’re a good guy.”

Yeah dude...TELL THAT TO YOUR FUCKING FRIENDS.

https://twitter.com/kelseybew_/status/989140352979427329

So finally the K-9 unit gets there. They start going through his car. HURLING shit out the car, throwing things everywhere, big ass Fido is taking up that lil ass Chevy Cruze tryna come up with some “treats”.

https://twitter.com/kelseybew_/status/989140751123730432

Nothing. They ain’t find a damn thing. They all sat there for over an hour waiting on Cujo Adjacent to get there and bust a black man’s business wide open.

They thought.

https://twitter.com/kelseybew_/status/989141244579340288

So finally, after they’ve torn his car to shreds and lost a good third of his possessions (they literally threw his whole cooler from his trunk somewhere and he couldn’t even fucking find it) they uncuff him, give him his license, blah blah. No apologies. No “damn dawg my b”.

https://twitter.com/kelseybew_/status/989141719693365251

Just left the man with a dirty car and sore wrists. They’d only even loosened his cuffs a bit after the sheriff got there.

The sheriff tho, for his credit, gave my man his info. Told him that they were in HIS jurisdiction and that he hadn’t done anything wrong and to call him-

https://twitter.com/kelseybew_/status/989142316794380290

-if needed.

So FINALLY he was able to call me. At this point all I’d gotten was a frantic jumbled “I got pulled over and they’re searching my car text” so I had literally gotten in my car to search precents after an hour had gone by and I ain’t hear nothing else.

https://twitter.com/kelseybew_/status/989142678205059072

He called me before I made it to Chesapeake City Jail. Dawg I was finna drive there, VA Beach, Norfolk, Newport News, Hampton...I ain’t give a FUCK. As soon as I saw that text my heart dropped. As soon as I saw that text I was terrified I wouldn’t see him alive again.

https://twitter.com/kelseybew_/status/989143003032948738

The timing was just too damn long, ya know? He called me SOBBING. SOBBINGGGG.

He said he’d never been more terrified in his life. And this is a man whose car has been shot at before. He said he just knew when that gun’s Officer was pointed at his back he was going to die.

https://twitter.com/kelseybew_/status/989143393287790592

He said his life started flashing before his eyes. All the things he wouldn’t be able to do. How he was never going to see any of us again.

Chile...

https://twitter.com/kelseybew_/status/989143730300096514

And I just...I’m soooo MAD. And it’s that mad you get when you’re powerless. There was literally nothing any of us could’ve done.

That man got pulled over because an officer saw him give someone CHANGE.

https://twitter.com/kelseybew_/status/989144139106267136

And my boyfriend is a good man. He doesn’t have a mean bone in his body. He will do anything for anyoneeee, even if it’s to his own detriment.

But the media wouldn’t have seen that. They would’ve seen a thug. Someone who “had to have done something” to get pulled over.

https://twitter.com/kelseybew_/status/989144418740506625

That man works and comes home. He plays video games. He cooks Sunday breakfasts. He paints murals on my grandparents’ walls. HE GIVES TO STRANGERS.

And allllll they would’ve seen is another “worthless” black male getting what was coming.

https://twitter.com/kelseybew_/status/989144854704918529

He finally got home around 4am. Crying, shaking, unable to sit still. He was like “I didn’t leave Georgia for this shit.”

Boyyyyyy I don’t know who told you Virginia was any better 🤦🏽?♀️

https://twitter.com/kelseybew_/status/989145312873807872

Anyway. We ALL “know” police brutality is real. Last night/this morning it got too damn real.

I have a final today. I’m going to fucking fail it. I can’t.

I cant even bring myself to care. At least my man’s not fucking dead.

https://twitter.com/kelseybew_/status/989145884356169733

So, yeah. Shoutout to Sheriff Smith, cause who knows what would’ve happened if your somewhat competent ass wouldn’t have pulled up.

Your system and your people suck tho, so FUCK THE POLICE.

https://twitter.com/kelseybew_/status/989146125478359041

I think I’m done. I think that’s all I got. I’m going to smoke another cigarette now.

I will never look at anyyyyy of these cops the same. And I wish a white person WOULD with me. (Some of them)be the same ones scared of all black people since they were robbed by one in 1996.

https://twitter.com/kelseybew_/status/989146602207154176

TUH.

And that, my twitter friends, is how my boyfriend got pulled over by the police for being a Good Samaritan.

Excuse me while I go grieve for the further loss of our innocence.

https://twitter.com/kelseybew_/status/989146903328763905

I appreciate all the encouraging words and support. I can’t keep up.

Thanks so much for letting me vent to y’all. Sometimes you just need to know that good people are out there.

https://twitter.com/kelseybew_/status/989180819142004738

April 26, 2018