BLACK PRESS DAY UPDATES

A Good Day to Support Black-Owned and Operated News Publications and Digital Services Instead of Legacy Media, Inc.

-As most if not all readers of this Substack are aware of by now, the hideous Continuing Resolution created by House MAGAts that included backsies on many of the worst actions of President Elon Musk, additional powers to Vice President Trump, lawnmowers throwing out billions of social service budgets, and the promise to MAGA that even more cuts will occur if a twinge in Trump's diaper tells him to do so with MAGA throwing Congress' power of the purse down with that twinge ... passed the Senate on Thursday. And most of us are placing blame for the passage squarely on the shoulders of Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer - with, in my humble opinion, plenty of reasons to do so. And I cannot resist throwing my two cents in that conversation - but to try to talk about something a little different, I want to hop on the soapbox for an essay I will call On Leadership ...

-(STEPS ON SOAPBOX)

-I am, even now, willing to entertain a debate about whether shutting down a Federal government run by a pair of Mad Kings is better or worse than keeping it open, even at the cost of legalizing a lot of the crap of what has already been enacted. The time to have had that debate, however, was in the lead-in to this legislation. Doing so in public should have been essential to bring some kind of public support - and, more importantly, to then back 100% behind whatever the end of that debate would have been.

-That did not happen. Debates were occurring, press reports were telling us Senate debates were long and pitched and anguished, and on Wednesday the Caucus - apparently in conjunction with the Democratic House, who came out full bore against the CR (save for Jared Golden of Maine) - came out and clearly announced they opposed the CR and would vote to sustain a filibuster on it, thereby raising the likelihood that doing so would shut the Government down. In other words, Congressional Democrats put out that they had that debate and this was their plan of action.

-Great! So be it! That was the message and that was clear, and the grass roots Democrats out here began to act accordingly, continuing to make calls and demands and readying attacks we all knew would eventually come. We knew sustaining the filibuster might be tough especially when a shutdown would have happened, but my sense was most Democrats were ready and willing to do it.

-Unfortunately, one of those Democrats was not Chuck Schumer - and both Huffington Post and Talking Points Memo noted a couple of hours after that Wednesday press conference, that Schumer started to plant weasel words that signaled that he was still not really on board with a shutdown. Well ... okay ... if that were true, then the play should have been to go to the supporters and plot how to try to extract something - ANYTHING - from Senate Republicans (many of whom, we were told, also loathed the CR - and all of whom have stayed silent about the entire CR to this very moment, in case you didn't notice) so as to, at the very least, save face of everyone who by then were committed to sustaining the CR.

-THAT did not happen. Instead, Schumer seemed to not only make the decision to vote against sustaining the filibuster, he then began looking to find at least six other Senators to join him. (He needed seven, but PA's John Fetterman announced very early on that he would support the CR because of a belief that he would never vote to shut the government down - and whatever you think of Fetterman, at least his position on the CR and shutdown was made clear and stayed consistent. In this context, Fetterman acted more honorably than Schumer.) He found seven more, and on Thursday he made his announcement that he was going to vote to end the filibuster, thereby undercutting every other Democrat who, not 24 hours earlier, marched out to those microphones to fight to stop that CR or at least slow it down.

-Schumer could not have played the plan any worse than he did. To Democrats, his word is now worthless - any trust he had with House Democrats is shattered, possibly beyond repair. Who would fight beside a guy who will tell you one thing and stab you in the back as soon as possible? Senate Republicans laugh out loud at what they see is Schumer throwing a giant KICK ME AND MY DEMOCRATS on his own back, telling NBC's Sahil Kapur that to them, the entire process (MAGA writes legislation based on X comments with zero Democratic input, shoves it through the House because OWN DA LIBZ, and threaten a shutdown knowing Schumer will fold with a flick of the hand) went so well and brought them so much amusement they will do it again as soon as they can. To the base, Schumer is the Lead Vichy Democrat.

-And it should be noted that the only two places - the ONLY two places - where Schumer has been praised for his actions are the GOP Senate Campaign Committee ... and Donald Trump.

-Schumer himself, either because he is that oblivious or that compromised or that self-deluded, has been defending the vote, calling him and the Spineless Nine "heroic" for their vote while writing the second of two New York Times articles since the vote announcing his support of what Columbia University is doing as one of their graduate students sits in an ICE detention center in Louisiana awaiting deportation ... while promoting a book this week where you can drop $50 down to hear him talk about gutsy leadership and trying to bring a bipartisan consensus in a time of onrushing autocracy.

-In short, regardless of the merits (or lack thereof) of the CR itself, Schumer's multiple acts of leadership malpractice, on their own, merit an immediate need to remove him as Leader of the Senate Democratic Caucus. Polling now shows Democrats at their lowest level in history. Calls for a primary challenge to the 78-year-old relic are loud and getting louder, with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez being the person named most often as the best to challenge him. There are reports that Sen. Jeff Merkley has begun circulating a petition to oust Schumer (with Merkley being named as his potential successor). And Democrats who are flexing their boycott muscles on Target and Amazon are now focusing on drying up the coffers of the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee - particularly since its Chair, NY's Kirsten Gillibrand, was one of the Spineless Nine herself - until and unless Schumer goes.

-For many Progressives, Schumer has long symbolized the centrist approach they believe have helped put Democrats in such a weak and dangerous position against Trumpism and MAGA. That those forces have been chirping since the election to try to regain their roles - despite more than a little evidence that it was their centrism that infected the Harris campaign enough to drive down Democratic turnout just enough for Trump to win - means that what Schumer did is likely to bring that internal fight to the forefront. Naturally, Legacy Media Inc. will be doing cartwheels as they once again dust off DEMS IN DISARRAY stories - but if the battle is about simple competent leadership and who does and does not do that, and finding leaders to be good leaders, that is not about disarray, it's about getting in array. Because most Democrats, and arguably every non-MAGAt in the country ... that is, the overwhelming majority of the country ... desperately need and want that fight.

-Before that fight is not going to matter.

-Now on to a few updates since those atrocities will be documented ...

-(STEPS OFF SOAPBOX)

-Yesterday, in an attempt to defend deporting five Venezuelans who allegedly are part of a notorious gang based out of that country and prevent a court order to bring them back, Trump and the Department of Justice invoked the Alien Enemies Act - first enacted in 1798 and last used in court to attempt to defend proposed deportations based on the word of Senator Joseph McCarthy - they argue gives Trump the power to declare an emergency of some sort and personally sign off on such expulsions. The attempt legally failed as the judge ruled planes that were currently flying out of the country needed to turn around and return to the US, but some reports indicate a flight with over 200 Salvadorans completed its flight and transferred the immigrants on said flight off, which if true would be the first (and wildly flagrant) ignoring of a court order by Trump, which many expect if it did not happen there ...

-Activists and non-MAGA military historians are infuriated after multiple reports confirm that signage and identification of historically-important soldiers of color and women soldiers were removed from Arlington National Cemetery as part of Defense Secretary Pete "Drunky McHoneyPotAnyone?" Hegseth's anti-"DEI" purge. The action, which further makes what many Black writers are saying is MAGA using "DEI" as a substitute for the N-word, follows one of his most inebriated most Christian nationalist dumbest moves, an order to remove a photo from public display of the airplane that dropped the Hiroshima atomic bomb because its name was "Enola Gay" - not realizing that Enola Gay was the name of the mother of the pilot of the airplane and not an LGBTQI reference ...

-Negotiations between Ukraine and Russia continue, with Vladimir Putin ordering his son Donald to remove his previously-appointed envoy Keith Kellogg off the main team (by reportedly refusing to let him in negotiations, a move Trump vehemently denied so you know it happened) and getting Trump to parrot claims Ukrainian troops were surrounded by Russian forces in the Kursk area, a move vehemently denied by Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Meanwhile, European leaders met to support Zelenskyy and, in a show of support, took off their suit jackets to do so - a dig on Presidential Intern J.D. "Butthair" Vance's snide demand that Zelenskyy wear a suit in front of Dear Leader Trump (Zelenskyy was wearing a military uniform as he has been since the start of THE RUSSIAN INVASION of Ukraine.)

-SLAVA UKRAINI!

-Lots of Sportsball News coming, with the NCAA Mens' and Womens' Basketball Championship Tournament brackets to be announced later on Sunday. The Mens' tournament is one of the most wide-open in a long time, with bracketologists noting there could be at least eight teams that are worthy of a number one seed, making said brackets more fraught than ever (as you fill yours out!) - and already getting lots of drama with the sprained ankle of Duke superstar Cooper Kupp putting their potential number one seed in question.

-As for the Womens' side, the Caitlin Clark/Angel Reese college era has already given way to two more soon-to-be-superstars that will highlight this tournament: UConn Senior guard Paige Bueckers and USC Freshman guard JuJu Watkins - all of which is looking like the WNBA may be positioning itself to be on the brink of their Magic/Bird/Jordan era to propel it into the professional womens' sports powerhouse league the sports world may be poised for.

-Also, look out - the Major League Baseball Season's Opening Day is going to be this Tuesday! It will be super-early in the day in the States, as the new Evil Baseball Empire Los Angeles Dodgers start defense of their championship in Tokyo with two games against the Chicago Cubs. The games will feature Dodgers super-mega-giga-giganta-star Shohei Ohtani against Cubs pitching ace Shota Imanaga playing before their home countries, with the games counted as Cubs home games and counting in the standings. Opening Day stateside is March 27, which is what happens when playoffs expand and your games spill into and close to Election Day. Nonetheless, PLAY BALL!!!!

-In closing, this Substack will bring you petty indignities inflicted on members of this regime because in part they all richly deserve all the humiliations they get, in part because fighting such repressive forces requires humor and wit - two things repressive regimes do not have or understand, because we know for a fact that Team Trump takes such slights so seriously they must be amplified to torque them off even more - and because we deserve it! This week's Petty Indignities on The Regime include ...

-Marco Rubio arriving in Canada for trade talks - and being met with a red carpet the size of a typical welcome mat leading directly into a puddle he could not avoid to meet Canadian diplomats, with the explanation that because of the STUPIDSTUPID tariffs being imposed, Canada could only find a rug that was 25% as big as a typical red carpet.

-Presidential Intern Butthair Vance - fresh off claiming he was acosted by rude and dangerous pro-Ukraine protestors only to have multiple videos reveal respectful questions being asked of Vance as he approached said protestors - arriving at the Kennedy Center for a classical music concert (one of the very few events booked at the institution since MAGAts and Trump suck-ups including Vance's wife Usha have been appointed to their board) and being greeted with loud and sustained BOOOOOOOOs. The Vances just sat there.

-And Vice President Trump, being interviewed after the Senate vote, was visibly pissed off after a boom microphone whacked him in the mouth as he finished his spewdrivel response to a reporter's question. AI and clever insurrectionists have taken that clip and have done some hi-LAR-ious modifications to it if you can find it, which I am sure you can.

-OH - and over the weekend, hundreds of thousands of protestors filled the streets in Hungary, Italy, Romania and Serbia, demanding the nonviolent ousters of what they see as autocratic regimes - inspiration as we work to build the 11 million that, if military researcher Erica Chenoweth is correct, represents the 3.5% of the population that becomes the tipping point for removing autocratic regimes and replace them with small-d democratic ones that sustain themselves. With protests continuing across this country and the White House pouting about what is happening to Teslas, this seems doable!

-GOT THAT, SCHUMER?!

-OK, now to the history of the day ...

-NEWS ON THIS DATE: In 1945, American forces captured the island of Iwo Jima. In 1968, American forces killed as many as 500 people in the village of My Lai, Vietnam. In 2008, Bear Stearns collapses and is sold to J.P. Morgan Chase - a collapse that anticipated the collapse of the U.S. economy months later (in case anyone in authority wants to notice this sort of thing ...). In 2014, Crimea "voted for" a referendum to cecede to Russia - a vote most consider illegitimate.

-DEBUTS ON THIS DATE: The United States Military Academy at West Point, New York (1802), THE SCARLET LETTER (1850), anticeptic surgery (1867), the liquid-propelled rocket (1926), a posthumous number one song (Otis Redding's "Sitting On the Dock of the Bay," 1968), 1776 (1969).

-HAPPY BIRTHDAY: James Madison, Georg Ohm, Mike Mansfield, Henny Youngman, Pat Nixon, Mercedes McCambridge, Jerry Lewis, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Howard Schnellenberger, Chuck Woolery, Bernardo Bertolucci, Jerry Jeff Walker, Erik Estrada, Victor Garber, Kate Nelligan, Isabelle Huppert, Nancy Wilson, Ozzie Newsome, Jorge Ramos, Flavor Flav, Eiji Aonuma, Mark Carney, Lauren Graham, Judah Friedlander, Alan Tudyk, Blake Griffin, Wolfgang Van Halen, and Joel Embiid.

-REST IN PEACE/POWER: Joseph Medill, Tammi Terrell, Thomas E. Dewey, Pie Traynor, T-Bone Walker, Arthur Godfrey, Rachel Corrie, Ivan Dixon, Jack Haley, Frank Sinatra Jr., James Cotton, and Stuart Whitman.

-FEED THE WORMS: Josef Mengele entered Earth on this date.

-CULTURE ON THIS DATE: The number one non-fiction book in the United States on this date ... in 2025, THE HOUSE OF MY MOTHER by Shari Franke ... in 2015, AMERICAN SNIPER by Chris Kyle with Scott McEwen and Jim DeFelice ... in 2005, BLOOD BROTHER by Anne Bird ... in 1995, BREAKING THE SURFACE by Greg Louganis with Eric Marcus ... in 1985, IACOCCA: AN AUTOBIOGRAPY by Lee Iacocca with William Novak ... and in 1975, THE BERMUDA TRIANGLE by Charles Berlitz.

-TODAY'S MUSICAL INTERLUDE: Rest in Peace to the King of the Surf Guitar, Dick Dale ...