Monday, November 7, 2016

There is no "Difficult Choice"

To me it's a very simple choice, it's not about his being a serial sexual predator nor her supposed "crookedness". It's all about who really has the experience and ability to run the country and get things done. It ain't about his big talk, selling wolf tickets to his racist supporters about what he CAN do (without a single shred of evidence he is capable) it's about the FACT that Hillary can and has shown she can navigate government BS and will do what she needs to do in a crisis or tough situation. Barack showed he could do it, repeatedly. Dubya couldn't do it and showed it, repeatedly, even though his father was POTUS and he himself was once a governor. Under pressure Trump has shown he is an excuse machine and whiny little bitch. What's he gonna do if North Korea tries some shit; send nuclear missiles at them?  Complain that it was all Obama's fault for not dealing with him before?  What happens when the next big storm takes out a significant region of this country?  I know Hillary has not only the experience, but knows who to put in charge of those situations. Do you REALLY want Chris (Krispy Kreme) Christie as the Attorney General? Rudy Giuliani as the head of the FBI?  Would you be OK with generals who have been retired because their ideas were more militaristic to come back and run policy when it comes hot spots around the globe? And lastly, seriously, the BLM movement and police issues are working towards finding common ground and common sense solutions. It is a slow slog but there is promise. All of that will indeed come to a halt and things will get worse when Trump comes into office and declares that "stop and frisk" will once again be the way police should do their jobs. 

Naw, her emails, her getting paid big money by big companies to speak don't mean crap to me. I don't want to have a man in that chair that has people so on edge that my life and the life of my son are devalued so that he can stroke his enormous ego and prove his fame made him the most powerful person on the planet. It's too much of a serious risk.
What I find most interesting and ironic in this whole election cycle is, the Republican Party leadership has sold their souls on this one, so that they can try and maintain "control" of their base.  The GOP has been losing grip on party unity and message since before John McCain chose Sarah Palin as his running mate.  The rise of the Tea Party was a direct result of Barack Obama ascending to the highest office in the land and the perception that "they" "lost our country".  So they elected people who spoke that same rhetoric of fear and hate and what it did was set the country back.  Despite what the reality of what government does or is supposed to do, all of that has been misconstrued by the media and the Right.  Do you honestly think a Donald Trump could have risen to the level of "party nominee" when Ronald Reagan or even Richard Nixon were party darlings?  But now, sheer racism is the not so subtle calling card of the Trump coalition of deplorables.  Trump has rung a waiting bell within the hearts of the suddenly disenfranchised White folk who feel that no matter what their station in life, it is their right to be doing better, especially over anyone of color.  Trump kicked off his campaign saying all the right things to those folks. Now all the fears of the Party leadership have bubbled up and those folks feel they have a seat at the table so to speak.  But what we should fear is if Trump does win; that seat at the table will dictate policies and reframe what has been considered progress for the last 20 years. 
If you have not voted yet, vote tomorrow.  Too many people fought and gave their lives for you to "feel" you don't need to.


Tuesday, August 16, 2016

Nitelifer: Trump's Lies Matter!

Nitelifer: Trump's Lies Matter!: I have been procrastinating on writing this article because it just seems like as soon as I am ready to tie his lies up in a bow, Donald Tru...

Trump's Lies Matter!

I have been procrastinating on writing this article because it just seems like as soon as I am ready to tie his lies up in a bow, Donald Trump drops another bombshell that is worse than the last and I can't get caught up.  But enough is enough, I have to tailor my point to just not detail them all but encourage you, an informed citizen, to always be mindful that just about all that comes out of that man's mouth is some bull.
We need to start with the fact that Donald Trump's initial foray into this election was taken as a joke by not only myself, but the national (and probably international) media as well.  The people of this country who refuse to read and investigate (if they are at all capable) are so desperate for a person that they can connect with that they mistakenly believe they can connect with a billionaire who wouldn't talk with them if they somehow got stranded together for 3 hours in the same elevator.  But a TV reality show star, who, they have watched for years, and professes to be "super rich" captured their attention.  But you see, that is the first lie.  Donald Trump is not as rich as he professes, which is why most of us are speculating he refuses to release his tax returns.  But though that is the first lie, that is not the most important one.  The big lie that we keep glossing over is, Donald Trump is NOT a "businessman"; he is a salesman.  If you are a salesman/ person, or have dealt with them you know that in order to make a sale, you tell the customer exactly what they want to hear. You emphasize the positives and downplay the negatives.  Donald Trump does this, and does it in spades.  But before delving into that, allow me to explain why he is not a "businessman" as opposed to a salesman.  Do you remember the movie Boomerang with Eddie Murphy?  If you do then you remember Lady Heloise, played masterfully by the late Eartha Kitt.  She was the face of the company that acquired Eddie's company, but she held absolutely zero power within the company.  But like the lunatic fringe of this America, Eddie was determined to get in bed with that face to advance his own selfish ambitions.  And like Donald Trump, Lady Heloise was an aging insignificant who was desperate to be stroked in order to feel better about herself.
Trump sells his name and uses that name to make his money while fooling everyone into thinking he runs anything within his own company.  Trump puts his name on a "university" and promises that if you spend your money there, you will become a wealthy and successful real estate broker.  When that doesn't work out he tells you that YOU didn't have what it takes.  Trump puts his name on steaks and tells you that if you pay exuberant prices for these regular quality steaks you will be getting the best steaks ever.  But you THINK you are on the same level as Trump because you are eating the same steaks he eats; you have bought into the lie yet again.
When I think of a true businessman/ person, I think of a Warren Buffet or Oprah Winfrey or even a Bill Gates.  These are true "business people" who took an idea and built globally recognized successful businesses and are hands on in all important aspects of their businesses.  (Bill Gates is no longer running the day to day operations of Microsoft but until he stepped away no one could argue with the success and importance of the way he ran that company).  If Donald Trump were indeed all that he pretends to be in business, he would not have time nor the inclination to always be interviewed about political matters.  You see that entire farce, where reporters would actually interview him about world affairs, went straight to his overblown ego and allowed his pontifications to seem important and worthwhile, to himself.  Like assholes, everyone has an opinion and Donald Trump has the biggest of both.
But back to the specific lies.  Trump will stand at a podium or even in an interview and tell all who listen that he is can fix all the ills that America has.  No he can't, no one person or President can.  To be 110% honest, all of America's ills cannot be fixed.  But the ills that he is telling you are a problem, either do not exist, or are being over emphasized by the Right while some of the serious major issues are either being underplayed or ignored.  He will tell you that our military is in shambles, it is not and any serious military person would be insulted to be told they are inferior.  Yet, for some reason I will never ever understand, the Republicans always win the military card despite Presidents like Bill Clinton and Barack Obama using them to their fullest without unnecessarily exposing them to harm's way, yet George Dubya started wasting lives as if they were just useless pawns on a chess board.  Trump will tell you that he is doing "great with Blacks", yet he is polling at 0.0% in most polls in urban areas.  Trump will tell you that President Obama and Hillary Clinton are the founders of ISIS, yet the truth is the decision to go to war in Iraq was squarely on the shoulders of again, George Dubya Bush. The lie that Russian leader Putin called President Obama a nigger was an out and out lie that was solely designed to inflame Black voters possibly to his side, while advancing the false narrative that Obama is a weak leader.  The lies become even more bizarre after that when he declared that the NFL sent HIM a letter asking that he change the date of the 1st Presidential Debate so it wouldn't interfere with the start of the season, yet the NFL says no such correspondence ever happened.  And let's just look at THAT one for a second please?  The NFL is the only sport in America that literally owns a day of the week.  They literally print cash.  The last thing the NFL is concerned about is losing ratings to a Presidential debate.  And to be clear, IF the NFL did wish for the date for a debate to be changed, they would make a request to the Commission on Presidential Debates; they are the ones that are in charge of the debates.  Trump will say that the only way he would lose Pennsylvania is if the elections are rigged.  Hello, the rigging of elections are the tool of the Republican party when they make changes to districts and regions to make it more difficult for minorities to get to the polls.  But the truth about that issue alone is that Trump is polling so badly in urban and suburban areas in that state, (as well as other battleground states) that he can't make up ground with his silly and inflammatory rhetoric.
Finally, I have to bring up my favorite of all of Donald Trump's lies; this idea of a wall to keep illegal aliens out of our southern and border states.  The entire idea of a wall is far fetched in and of itself.  Though there is definite need for more border control, and some sort of serious conversation should be brought to the forefront; the idea of a wall and Trump being able to build it is some hooey.  Friends, on a recent trip to Nevada I visited the Hoover Dam.  It is truly a modern marvel and when you consider that in 1937 they were able to get that built in 2 years is utterly amazing.  But this is 2016 and in the atmosphere of this political discord, it would take at least 2 years of jockeying in Congress just to find the funding for such a project.  But if we wanna play "shits and giggles" lets just pretend that on Day 1 of a Trump Presidency he is allocated the say, 40 billion dollars needed just to start a project of this magnitude.  Then if by some other miracle within a few magic days a viable and deliberate effort begins to start construction of an impenetrable wall, how long do you think it would take to complete a wall that would deter determined South and Central Americans from crossing our borders?  How long did it take to clear and rebuild just around ground zero created by the 9/11 attacks in New York?  We are talking about a 20 year project at best, and oh by the way, no, Mexico would NOT pay for it.
The whole thing with Donald Trump is fool's gold.  He is not only a salesman, he's a snake oil salesman and he is selling his followers a bag of beans.  Just as the snake oil salesman of Western lore sold hopes and dreams to those who were too ignorant to know better, Donald Trump is selling a product to people who are willing to swallow any swill that he puts in front of them.  And also like those snake oil salesmen of yesteryear, Trump will be gone as soon as the deal is done, or hopefully rejected.  You have to understand something when it comes to this guy; he is not interested in helping you, helping me, helping anyone in this country other than himself.  Donald Trump is doing this just because he wants to prove to all that disbelieved him and to himself, that his ego is able to be stroked all the way to the White House.  The sad part of all of this is is that Donald Trump is so obsessed with winning this race that he has given little to no energy towards actually governing should he win.  He just wants to prove a point, and he will say anything to get to that point.  And the irony of this whole "candidacy" is this man's lies shows how dangerous he is because of the lies and how sad it is that no matter how outlandish they are, there are those that are willing to believe every word he says.  Trump lies to so he can win; he very well could win because there are always enough people willing to buy snake oil to cure a problem that they don't even have.

Monday, August 1, 2016

Nitelifer: Why Black Lives Matter MATTERS

Nitelifer: Why Black Lives Matter MATTERS: White America, White REPUBLICAN America, you are totally missing the point of what the real BLM movement is about. Let's change some wo...

Why Black Lives Matter MATTERS

White America, White REPUBLICAN America, you are totally missing the point of what the real BLM movement is about. Let's change some words here and perspective here and see how you'd feel. What if instead of the alarming amount of Black people who have been killed ON CAMERA by police and those ACTING as cops, there was the same amount of say DOGS murdered this way?  Certain groups in America would be up in arms and totally blowing up. Michael Vick financed and owned dog fighting businesses. He personally killed losing dogs and kept those fighting dogs in inhumane conditions. People across the country held rallies, called for his arrest, protested at his trials, petitioned for him to never be allowed to play football again, sent him death threats!  Ray Rice had a fight with his then fiancĂ© and hit her and knocked her out in an elevator in Atlantic city while both were drunk. And even though they both admitted culpability in the incident and moved on to still get married and sought counseling and he accepted full responsibility for what happened, he's been blackballed from the NFL and probably will never play the game again.
After those situations no one ever said "animal rights groups get too much attention" or "domestic abuse is a sexist organization that is seeking to divide the country". You know why?  Because Black people standing up and saying ANYTHING that makes White America nervous is viewed as a threat to the peace. Black Lives Matter is not a call to arms and is not a racist movement, the KKK is. Black people are trying to say "stop killing us as if we are less than dogs, as if we mean less than any woman who has ever been abused by her spouse, we deserve better". Those who have attacked police are just as wrong as those of you who think BLM is a racist movement. If all of YOUR nieces and nephews, sons and daughters, siblings and cousins were being shot when they were walking home from the store, standing on a corner, driving home from work, traveling to a new home, sitting in church praying, attending a party, or sitting in their homes watching TV, I bet YOU'D be screaming My Family's Lives Matter and begging people to pay attention that no matter what you and your family do, they SEEM to be targets and don't know where to go to feel and be safe!  No one would accuse YOU of being racist even if you said, "until you stop killing (fill in YOUR family's name) we (fill in your family's name) will stop patronizing your stores and banks and spending money". What they would say is, "that family man is doing all he can in a non-violent way, to draw attention to what is happening to his family. God bless him. 
Stop being afraid of the BLM movement and stop the call for ALL Lives Matter as a counter. We KNOW all lives matter, we just want to be counted IN the "all" and stop seeing our loved ones and those that look like us show up in more cellphone videos dying at the hands of those we WANT to serve and protect us; along WITH the "all".






Sunday, January 31, 2016

A Few Things....,

Iowa, Iowa, Iowa!

Monday marks the official start of the primary season.  First on deck?  The Iowa caucuses.  While Iowa is not the make or break of a lot of campaigns, it will go a long way towards weeding out the contenders from the pretenders.  On the Democratic side, regardless of outcome, Hilary and Bernie will both move on to New Hampshire.  However, this should be the reality check Martin O'Malley needs to have him move out of the way and start his REAL campaign towards respectability in 2020 and beyond.  Any hopes he had of being the next Barack Obama and catching the excitement of a disappointed electorate should be dashed by now; a very distant 3rd place finish should seal that deal.
Now, on the Republican side, the "gang of clowns" who are all fighting to be at least recognized should be whittled down to those that have the stones and the cash to limp into New Hampshire and come up for one last try at the brass ring.  We all know it is really just a matter of time for the reality to slap Christie, Paul, Santorum, Huckabee, and Fiorina in the face and tell them to get off the stage; though I am sure Christie will try to take a "bite" out of that slap before he has to "swallow" his truth.  But Jeb Bush should have the long green needed to keep limping along for a few more primaries, sad to say, but what is even sadder, the choices left to challenge Trump are going to be Rubio, Cruz and Carson; a couple of kooks and a Doctor with dementia!  WOW!

Don't Drink the Kool-Aid!

The situation in Flint Michigan has surpassed absurd and is squarely looking like criminal negligence.  In an effort to save money, the appointed city manager, made a decision that will have disastrous consequences for decades to come.  The water flowing through the pipes and infrastructure of that city is so dirty and so toxic that unlike in areas like the Hinkley California case showcased in the book and movie Erin Brockovich, people are not seeing the effects later in life and in the new born children; the lead levels and pollution is immediate and visible to the naked eye. 
Children are showing effects now, older folks are suffering now, hospitals and restaurants are not able to use the water flowing out of their pipes to clean, cook, or wash.  This is 2016, so how crazy is that?  And in a classic example of the "peter principle", the same city manager who was directly responsible for the decision to change the source of the city's water supply from Lake Huron to the already known polluted Flint River, has been assigned by the Michigan governor to take control of Detroit's school system.  Not up on THAT story yet?  Well it is a disaster of such horrendous proportions that teachers' union has gone all in to bring attention to what is happening to those students, those schools, those teachers and the whole system.  When schools cannot use the gymnasiums because the floors have buckled, when kids are going to class in buildings that are overrun with black mold, when teachers are having to "survive" instead of live off of their salaries; then you have what is by definition, a disaster.  Why is the state of Michigan killing its lower status citizens and then failing to educate its children, and why is this NOT on the agenda of the Republican Presidential candidates?  The governor is Republican.  Why is this not on the agenda of the Democratic Presidential candidates?  Why are we continuing to read and hear about how Obamacare is destroying the future for our children and grandchildren but no one is discussing how the reality on the ground in Michigan is killing the people TODAY?  Do yourself a service, investigate these issues and start asking these hard questions; your NOW deserves answers.  Flint is saving dollars, one life at a time.

Enabling A Murderer: Hey Netflix!  

Look, if you have not watched or started watching the Netflix documentary "Making a Murderer", you should start doing so if at all possible.  I will not reveal anything here as to the final resolution of the story or to any subsequent follow up shows and stories about the case.  What I will say is, I just wish, the same attention, the same scrutiny, the same media attention would be focused on George Zimmerman and the Trayvon Martin murder. 
Nothing about that case made any sense to those of us who understand the fear and outrage of a community that is to this day beset with killings of young Black men.  Why won't someone do some serious in-depth investigation and bring to light details of that fateful night and follow up on the life of the man who pulled the trigger and killed that young man?  Will someone please start asking hard questions about the how the case was turned to make the victim the wrong doer and the killer the hero and how that hero continues to walk the streets and cause mayhem amid societal norms?  What happened in the prosecution's criminal investigation of that night that ended up with a young child dead and a glory seeking asshole walking amongst us?  Nancy Grace, how come YOU are no longer beating the drum for Trayvon?
This country is all abuzz over this case in Wisconsin, but no one is as outraged as the Black community still is over Trayvon.  The shame of it is, the truth should still be released, we owe it to Trayvon.

Oops, Our Bad; We Didn't Mean It

What if you staged a standoff and no one came?  What if you raised a call to arms but forgot to tell people to bring provisions?  What if you provoked the police and they actually fired on you?  Well if you are a White man with a bunch of guns trying to show how big your testicles are based on the caliber of your weapons, you get a quick lesson in what WILL happen IF the government does come for your guns.  Those fools, no, Domestic Terrorists; those Domestic Terrorists in Oregon found the answers to those questions this last week.  After staging a protest in support of people who did not want their support.  After taking over a federal refuge and declaring you were there for a fight, and walking around wearing their AR-15s around the necks and dressed as if they were real soldiers, Ammon Bundy and a few of his followers got the confrontation they SAID they were looking for from authorities.  Guess what?  They fought the law and the law won!  This is not a game People! This is not a show and tell situation where people in the federal government are cowered by seeing big bad men with guns on TV talking big game.
Now, from behind bars, arrested protest leader, Ammon Bundy is telling the 4 fools still at the refuge to stand down and go home.  He is also telling all of us that "this was never meant to be an armed stand off".  Hmmm...., how do they call walking around brandishing guns and saying they aren't leaving, NOT an armed standoff???? Where I come from, if it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and points a gun at you and says it will shoot if you come for it, that is what it IS!  And finally....,


It IS just TOO Important!

I did a quick experiment on social media the other day.  I asked supporters of both Hilary Clinton and Bernie Sanders if their candidate did not win the nomination, would they still support the ticket, or do what several supporters of Hilary did in 2008; refuse to throw their support behind Obama.  How short memories are for those who claim to be progressives.  In 2000 people who sought a different kind of candidate wrote in for Ralph Nader, if just half of those voters had put their support behind Al Gore in Florida and Ohio we would not have had 8 years of George Dubya Bush.  Don't be so butt hurt because your candidate won't get the chance to stand next to Donald Trump or Ted Cruz to fight for rational thinking, that you
  • lose the chance to keep Obamacare, 
  • to set the direction of the Supreme Court, 
  • to keep marriage equality,
  • to continue the fight against global climate change
  • and to keep the Black Lives Matter movement front and center
This election is more important than your personal desires.  This is an election that could change the status quo of  party change every eight years.  Not since Reagan to Bush has one party held the White House in consecutive administrations.  The Dubya Bush years where a disaster both domestically and abroad.  Though the anger of power comfortable White folk have marred the tenure of Barack Obama, his administration has been good for this country.  Respect abroad has encouraged other countries to believe in America's greatness again; whereas England and Israel have already held parliamentary votes to decide if they should ban Donald Trump from their borders because of his crazy divisive rhetoric on the campaign trail. 

I am not choosing a candidate at this juncture, but I am imploring you, if you proclaim to be a Democrat first, then follow your mind and not your heart if Hilary or Bernie is not your first choice.  I was blown away by how many people are so vested in their personal choice at this point that they declared they would either stay home, or refuse to support the nominee if they don't get what they want.  Well if you don't think you will get what you want if either Bernie or Hilary is your choice, wait til you see what happens when a stacked Congress sends Obamacare repeal legislation to the White House and it is signed.
This election is just too important to walk away with your feelings.  Vote the party, both candidates have admiral qualities and either will make a great President.  And either of them are a much better alternative then what the Clown Car is gonna drop off at your doorstep.

Saturday, January 2, 2016

The Fault Isn't In Our Stars

Happy New Year fellow students.
At the start of 2016 there is unfinished business of 2015 that we need to explore.  Of all of the "scandals" and outrages of the past year, there seems to be just one that won't die out and it is the oldest of them all and the one that is the most "personal" and intimate.  After the ridiculousness of Rachel Dolezal, the revelation of Charlie Sheen, the shame of this Donald Trump candidacy, over indulgence of the media for Bruce Jenner's self aggrandizing and the other beyond silly social media/ entertainment stories; the one that just won't die is the sad tale of Bill Cosby's issues.
The fact that this is a national story is not surprising; after-all, the Cosby show was a television phenomenon.  It helped NBC to unprecedented ratings, it launched a successful spin-off, lasted eight highly rated seasons, and started the careers and resurrected careers for people who starred on the show.  But what it did that was more impressive and important than all of that?  It re-established the functional nuclear family sitcom.  And it did that while showing that Black people, just as our White counterparts, can have 2 parent homes where both parents work and have successful professional careers and lovingly take care of their children while honoring the parents they learned from themselves.  This fact cannot be overemphasized enough; it is important to the social fabric of where we are today as a nation.  Before that show, Black family life on television was defined by what was shown on The Jeffersons.  Now the Jeffersons was not a bad show, but it was based on certain stereotypes of the times and the main character was more of a caricature than a realistic portrayal for most professional Black men. There are plenty of White people to this day, that only think of George Jefferson when they think of a Black businessman and Herman Cain did nothing to dispel that impression, (Mr. Nine, nine, nine).  Heck, some even only think of Fred Sanford when it comes to Black professionals on television.  And let us also not forget that not only did this show show us how easy and normal it was to be a "normal" Black family, it taught us values, emphasized education, focused on love and respect for others, all while making us laugh and smile.
But even before THAT show Dr. Cosby won accolades and awards for his groundbreaking Saturday morning cartoon, Fat Albert & the Cosby Kids, and his clean cut, family based stand up comedy routines and albums.  Since the early sixties, Dr Cosby has been America's "favorite" Negro.  He stood front and center during the Civil Rights era, he used his fame and fortune to further the cause of education on all levels and was honored as he gave his name, his fame, and his money to small historically Black colleges and universities and major universities as well.  And yes, he sold us a lot, a LOT of Jell-o pudding.
Now, I am not offering all of this background to plead Dr. Cosby's case, nor to proclaim his innocence of these allegations and current charges.  I just want to clarify his history for folks who are now so quick to swear they know what happened between Dr. Cosby and all of his accusers.  Actually I am more disappointed than I am convinced, either way.  Whether he did do these things or whether he did not, the one thing that cannot be denied is that Bill Cosby has always been an advocate for all people, Black people, and education.  There is no denying his influence on society, no whitewashing of the record of the amounts of money he and his wife gave to those schools who are now quick to rescind his honorary degrees.  In fact, what is a concern is if these schools are taking away his honorariums, are they also writing refund checks to William and Camille Cosby?  Do they, do WE have a right to take a moral high-ground on the current state of affairs?  Yeah, I kinda think we all do.  I think we have every right to be outraged and upset.  But we also have a right to be skeptical and curious.  What we don't have a right to do is discount who the man is and all that he's done.  I mean, I get it, the jokes about what happened are funny and some of the memes are clever.  But the time has come to just move on now.

If you disliked Cosby coming to your town and preaching to you about how you are not raising your kids, or taking an active role in how they speak, what they watch on TV, or making sure that they go to school, then you are probably kind of happy that he is now in the center of this shit storm.  But all of you who are still debating his guilt or innocence have laughed at or side eyed the man and his works over the decades.  And if he IS guilty of doing these things, he should be punished by the law for what he did.  It just bothers me that so many that either directly or indirectly benefited from his pioneering efforts on their behalf, are still beating this horse that is dragging him to the gallows; so to speak.  People like Larry Wilmore, who seems to base at least one Nightly Show per week on attacking Dr. Cosby.  He is making this as personal as Gloria Allred and it is bothersome.  Other so called "leaders" of our community understandably find themselves in a tough spot, whether to defend this man, or jump on the bandwagon and push him off the cliff.  But why?  Why is this such a hard choice?  Whether they believe him or believe IN him, they should all, each and every one, stand by the man they know and the work he's done.  It is not uncommon in this country for any Black man, especially a prominent one, to be character assassinated by the media, White America and the public in general.  What is unusual though is for Black America to be so quick to help them take down one who has dedicated his life to trying to help us.  There was more support for OJ Simpson during and after his trials then for Bill Cosby.  Conversely by all accounts, once OJ achieved HIS level of Hollywood fame, all but forgot about the Black America who would come to his defense when he was on trial for MURDER.
And while I am talking about OJ, allow me this, even though he was not THE star of any movie or TV show, he was in any number of movies and shows.  You have not heard of nor seen where networks or stations have refused to air HIS acting projects.  Cable networks like TVLand, TV One, Centric and others have pulled The Cosby show from their rotation.  Does this punish Dr. Cosby?  Yeah, in a way, in a small financial way.  But it really punishes the Phylicia Rashad's, Malcolm Jamal Warner's, Keisha Knight Pullium's and other members of the cast who still get residual checks from the show being in syndication.

Look, at the end of the day, what Dr. Cosby is accused of is reprehensible, disgusting and sad.  If he did these things to these women, then whatever comes his way is deserved.  But when we sit around and day after day see videos of Black men and boys being murdered by White cops who are then (in some cases) absolved of all wrong doing; why are we so quick to believe a case or cases, where there is absolutely zero evidence of any wrongdoing?  Why are we as the people who have enjoyed being entertained and benefited from 50 years of advocacy by this man, so fast to want to see him found guilty?  Sure, Bill Cosby should have gotten off the stage about 10 years ago.  Maybe he should not have launched his own personal campaign to try to force us to take a hard look at our own children and how we are raising them.  Maybe that got under your skin in a way you can't understand.  But whatever it is, can we all please stop ignoring all of the things he DID DO, in favor of what you are being told to believe?