… another rotation of moms and dads arrived at work to discover that they should have blocked POTUS on their tween sons’ Twitter accounts. What an example for boys the age of his own son!
Posted in Donald Trump, misogyny, sexism, White House, tagged Donald Trump, Morning Joe, MSNBC, Twitter on June 29, 2017| Leave a Comment »
… another rotation of moms and dads arrived at work to discover that they should have blocked POTUS on their tween sons’ Twitter accounts. What an example for boys the age of his own son!
Posted in Democratic Party, Hillary 2016, Hillary Clinton, Hillary for America, Hillary for president, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Human Rights, misogyny, Republican Party, sexism, Uncategorized, Women in History, Women in the Media, Women Leaders, Women's History Month, tagged Bernie Sanders, Beyonce, Black Panther Party, Donald Trump, Formation, Hillary Clinton, Huffington Post, Kathleen Cleaver, Melissa Harris-Perry, MHP, MSNBC on March 28, 2016| 1 Comment »
This article is interesting for several reasons.
THE BLOG
First: The odd pairing of Hillary Clinton and MHP in a header. No comment from Hillary Clinton has ever indicated that she is aware of MHP’s existence, her show, or of the many negative remarks from MHP about her over the years. But MHP has gone after HRC enough to have made me quit watching her now-defunct show long before its demise. More than three years ago this was the final straw for me.
It Commences MHP’s Hillary-Hate: Out of the Closet and On the Record
February 4, 2013 by still4hill
When I posted this yesterday, Hillary Clinton’s Kitten Heels Not Necessarily A Shoo-In, it triggered a few emails from folks apparently not willing to post publicly in a comment thread all of which took the same tone. As if talking to a six-year-old afraid of the thunder, these presumably younger, less bitter and burnt voices assured Gen-Hillary, bitter, old Boomer me that no-no-no-no-no! If she runs in 2016, Hillary will not experience the same nasty treatment she received in 2008, not at all! Not with those high approval ratings! Bill’s wife will not be treated as appendage of his now that she has blazed her own path (as if she had not already done that in the Senate before her presidential campaign). It will be kinder, gentler campaign coverage. Yeah, right. And as if on cue, this. I will let the video* speak for itself.
“Rebecca, author of “big girls don’t cry.” she is the Hillary fan I like to bring to balance out the Hillary hate that will emerge from me if i am not careful.” – Melissa Harris Perry, MSNBC, 02-03-2013
*Vodpod videos no longer available.
Noooooooo, of course they won’t trash Hillary again. Of course not.
***********************************************************************
At the time I originally posted this, I did not know about this article. I have no idea how this flew below my radar in 2008.
MHP’s imaginary relationship with Hillary Clinton has always, oddly, been based on Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With the Wind despite Hillary Clinton having very few, if any, personality traits in common with Scarlett O’Hara and MHP continually casting herself inexplicably as some variety of anti-Mammy despite her contention that Mammy is the actual brain of the O’Hara clan. Choosing Rebecca Traister as her “pro-Hillary” foil on that broadcast was most befuddling, first because Traister was not especially pro-Hillary in her opus Big Girls Don’t Cry, and second because MHP had access to several truly pro-Hillary women among her own colleagues and connections at MSNBC at the time.
The second reason the Huffpo article is interesting is MHP’s claim that she lost editorial control over her show for wanting to discuss Beyonce’s Formation video.
The day after Super Bowl 2016, everybody was talking about Beyonce’s Formation in terms most amazing to me. As someone who spent time visiting the Black Panther HQ in New Haven somewhat regularly in 1970 and 1971, it would never have entered my head to draw any kind of parallel between what Beyonce and her ensemble performed and the men and women I knew in New Haven who provided a breakfast program for kids, day care services, and after-school tutoring for school kids in a colorfully painted basement room along with a laundry list of community services for neighbors behind the walls of a sandbagged, two story clapboard house. They did not wear black, leather, or cartridge belts. I never saw firearms or ammunition in that house, if there were any. So references to that performance as representing Black Panther women were, to me, uninformed and misleading. Apparently, though, that conflict with history was not the intended focus of MHP’s treatment of the video.
When I saw the movie Black Panther Woman around the middle of this month, I had planned to do a post about Kathleen Cleaver and put it on hold as other women organically came into the spotlight. In light of this HuffPo article, now is the time – I’ll seize it.
Many know of Eldridge Cleaver, Minister of Information of the BPP and author of Soul on Ice. His wife, Kathleen Neal Cleaver, is a woman we should meet, recognize, and give her due. She’s a very impressive person!
The Black Panther Party
She was in charge of organizing a student conference at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee. At the conference, Kathleen met the minister of information for the Black Panther Party, Eldridge Cleaver. She moved to San Francisco in November 1967 to join the Black Panther Party. Kathleen Neal and Eldridge Cleaver were married on December 27, 1967. Cleaver became the communications secretary and the first female member of the Party’s decision-making body. She also served as the spokesperson and press secretary. Notably, she organized the national campaign to free the Party’s minister of defense, Huey Newton, who was jailed. Kathleen Neal Cleaver was among a small group of women that were prominent in the Black Panther Party, which included Elaine Brown and Ericka Huggins.[1] In 1968 (the same year her husband ran for president on the Peace and Freedom ticket) she ran for California‘s 18th state assembly district, also as a candidate of the Peace and Freedom party. Cleaver received 2,778 votes[2] for 4.7% of the total vote, finishing third in a four-candidate race.
INTERVIEWER: In retrospect, what was the Civil Rights revolution all about?
CLEAVER: By the time the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 were passed by the United States Congress, the process of legal change and elimination of official racism was legally completed, but it was not socially completed.
The government that was interested in encouraging the end of restrictions on voting and education on the basis of race didn’t do very much on the level of changing basic attitudes. So where you have a cessation of the implementation by law of racist practices, you really have never seen any major effort on the part of the government or the larger institutions to transform attitudes. And that is where we’ve failed.
INTERVIEWER: What was it that was appealing to you about the Black Panther Party?
CLEAVER: I encountered the Black Panther Party when I was in SNCC. I had gotten involved with the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee at the same time that it articulated black power as its position. I was a student in New York, and I started working in the New York office. The Black Power Movement challenged all the preconceived notions of blacks not being able to determine their own destiny. It was essentially a very nationalistic self-determination position. And what appealed to me about the Black Panther Party was that it took that position of self-determination and articulated it in a local community structure, had a program, had a platform and an implementation through the statement of how blacks should exercise community control over education, housing, business, military service.
INTERVIEWER: Why did the Panthers-SNCC coalition fall apart?
And read even MORE >>>>
Memories Of a Proper Girl Who Was A Panther
By SOMINI SENGUPTA
Published: June 17, 2000
Kathleen’s story is testament that we do not stay where we started out. But we stay with the struggle.
Kathleen is featured in the movie Black Panther Woman. It is a must see!
In the days of the New Haven trials, I drove around with my homemade “Free Ericka” sticker on my car window. The point was that Ericka Huggins was unarmed and thus could not have committed the crime of which she was accused.
What MHP was planning to do with Beyonce’s video appears unrelated to the BPP and what they represented and accomplished. That might have qualified as informative, relevant, and appropriate to news media. But MHP never was a true member of the fourth estate, and a cable news hour is not an elective course in political theory.
It should be noted that Eldridge Cleaver ultimately endorsed Ronald Reagan and joined the LDS Church. Kathleen is a graduate of Yale U and Yale Law and a longtime professor of law. “By any means necessary” turned out, very quickly, to be working within the system and never had anything to do with guns and ammo belts.
It is important to get the history right. It is also important to learn from history. Three years ago Millennials and Gen-xers emailed me condescendingly to assure me that there was no way Hillary Clinton would ever again be the target of biased, sexist media. Maybe they thought that the revolution was over. If those same Millennials now follow Bernie Sanders and his call to revolution, they misunderstand the nature of the American Revolution. It is never over. The American Revolution has continued for what will be 241 years next month.
It is one revolution that continues and progresses in extending equal rights to all. It is not a new thing invented in the lifetime of 20-year olds. The American Revolution is the establishment. It is the system. It is the way we have made progress given the right leadership – i.e.- leadership that understands how all aspects of inclusion and participation in our democracy intersect.
There are imposters and the entitled. It is important that we discern them correctly.
***********************************
Edited to add: And now this from HuffPo today. Millennials and Gen-Xers needn’t bother to email me with any horse manure. Been through this before, as I said this first time. If you pull again what you did in Feb. 2013, I will publish the emails and your email addresses.
Posted in Karen Finney, misogyny, sexism, Uncategorized, tagged Karen Finney, MSNBC, Rush Limbaugh on September 27, 2013| 6 Comments »
Rush Limbaugh simply cannot resist Karen Finney! Now he wants her to be his nurse and put him in a straitjacket! Oooohhhhh the fantasies abound!
Rush’s crush on Karen took on new dimensions on Thursday when he implied that she, in defense of her honor and the rights of women, had put him in some imaginary male version of a chastity belt. He may just have graduated from the fourth-grade pig-tail-in-the inkwell level to the sophomoronic “words I need to know for the SAT” niche.
Limbaugh grumbles about women’s forum, MSNBC host Karen Finney’s ‘testicle lockboxes’
By David Edwards
Thursday, September 26, 2013Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh on Thursday slammed a Washington women’s forum because he said that MSNBC host Karen Finney and the other “testicle lockboxes” were attacking him.
At the “Fair Shot: A Plan For Women to Get Ahead” event last week, Finney had noted that many elected Republicans were afraid to speak out against Limbaugh or the tea party.
Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) agreed that Republicans needed to “take him on” because “people don’t support fear.”
“Women of Washington,” Limbaugh said on Thursday. “I mean, how many testicle lockboxes do you think were at this forum? Washington women? Ha!”
SNIP
“She doesn’t come across as friendly,” he said at the time. “She doesn’t — she, you know, she’s like — my favorite name for her is Nurse Ratched.”
Well, not friendly to you, Rush! For reasons obvious to all.
Now I am not exactly sure of what a “testicle lockbox” is, but when it comes to Rush, I am pretty certain his should be in one. Clearly he has an obsessive case for Karen (understandably – she’s gorgeous and brilliant) as he did/does for the woman who he claims precipitated the term (Karen’s former boss Hillary You-Know-Who, also gorgeous and brilliant).
I sort of wished I had Karen’s phone number when I read this, but it would have been a waste because you shouldn’t call somebody just so that both of you spend all of your air time laughing too hard to speak.
You can catch Karen, and her gracious response to Rush’s grab for attention (should she choose to acknowledge it) at 4 p.m. ET on Saturdays and Sundays on MSNBC. She really deserves a better spot.
Posted in Women Leaders, tagged Karen Finney, MSNBC on April 2, 2013| Leave a Comment »
Karen Finney has shown herself to be fair and balanced, strategically sophisticated politically, and kind enough to share campaign advice with the opposition (even though they have not been wise enough to take it). Ever since she began appearing as a commentator on MSNBC her fan base has steadily grown (as witnessed by the many hits this post receives every time she fills in for Bashir) and become increasingly insistent that she be given a show of her own.
Regularly seen on Bashir Live, where she has also filled in for Martin occasionally, as well as on Weekends with Alex Whitt, Now with Alex Wagner, and Lawrence O’Donnell’s prime time hour among other MSNBC offerings, Karen’s pleasant humor, incisive intellect, and ability to put issues in an historical perspective have made her an ideal guest.
Her ability to get ahead of the pack on back stories and bring in fresh perspectives will make her a stand-out host as seen when she filled in for Martin Bashir and exposed ALEC as the organization behind “stand your ground” laws in many states. Thus it was most welcome news when we learned today that Ms. Karen Finney has been given a spot to call her own at MSNBC.
02 Apr 2013 1:37 PMKAREN FINNEY NAMED MSNBC WEEKEND HOSTKAREN FINNEY NAMED MSNBC WEEKEND HOST
Finney to Host Weekends 4p-5p ET
NEW YORK –April 2, 2013 – Karen Finney has been named host of a new MSNBC program to air on weekends from 4-5 p.m. ET. More details about the program, including the launch date, will be announced in the coming weeks.
“Karen’s rich background in both education policy and politics will add a unique point of view to our expanding live weekend programming,” said Phil Griffin, President of MSNBC.
Finney has been an MSNBC political analyst and guest host on the network since 2009.
We will all be watching, Karen! We know you will do a terrific job and are looking forward to your debut. Congratulations! It’s about time!
Posted in Hillary Clinton, Hillary Rodham Clinton, tagged blood clot, Fox News, Hillary Clinton, Hillary Rodham Clinton, James Carville, Karen Finney, MSNBC, The Last Word on January 5, 2013| 4 Comments »
In the continual tornadic swirl surrounding Hillary Clinton which is borne of clashing fronts of information and misinformation, you really need to be careful, Dorothy. The storms could stir up a nest of bayou vipers. Or a goddess might rise from the furious clouds and throw lightning at you.
While those of us here were worried sick about our Hillary this week, FOX News* continued, in fact worsened, their outrageous attacks on our girl saying she would go to any length, including developing a life-threatening blood clot, to avoid testifying about the attack on the consulate in Benghazi.
Since we were all preoccupied with her condition, I left those attacks on the sidelines earlier this week. We just wanted her safe and healthy, so my attitude (and probably yours) was “Screw them!” We simply wanted not to lose her! God, I was worried! Now that her condition has improved and she is looking forward to returning to work (an understatement according to Victoria Nuland who said today, “…she is raring to go… “), we can take a step back to the atrocious remarks that echoed all over FOX News about the genesis of Mme. Secretary’s health crisis.
The malicious and cold-hearted comments did not sit well with those who know our Hillary. James Carville rose like a cottonmouth from the bayou, as Politico reports.
James Carville: Hillary Clinton haters ‘inhumane’
By KEVIN CIRILLI | 1/4/13 5:57 PM ESTJames Carville slammed the “inhumane, idiotic” critics who questioned the legitimacy of Hillary Clinton’s recent head injury and said it was “duly noted” inside Clinton-land.
“What kind of human being is going to think like that with everything going on with concussions, head injuries? The fact the woman was dehydrated from the fact that she’d been overseas so much — I just don’t know, and some of these people I know and I get along with,” Carville said Friday in a CNN interview.
With Lawrence O’Donnell on The Last Word, the goddess, Karen Finney, let loose with a torrent of well-aimed lightening bolts to insta-burn to a crisp each and every opprobrious sound bite, and she was glorious!
Vodpod videos no longer available.
Wasn’t she magnificent?
Having realized that by polishing my second floor furniture (a rare occurrence) two days earlier, I may well have caused Sandy to blow through that area, breaking windows and walls, and that by moving the shovels we used to scoop the plaster up back to their rightful place in the cellar I probably caused last week’s snow dump, I think I just might be a witch and Hillary attackers should beware of me too (as soon as I can fine-tune my powers not to backfire on me). You just don’t want Hillary’s people (especially Hillary’s women) mad at you. Anything can happen.
Cross-posted at Still4Hill.
*Exception: Greta van Susteren
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Bashir Live, Karen Finney, MSNBC on August 17, 2012| Leave a Comment »
If you have had enough of the blowhard, bloviating, spewing, anger of anchors (the usual suspects and a few new ones) during this electoral season you might find Karen Finney a pleasant change-of-pace. Filling in for Martin Bashir on Bashir Live this week at MSNBC’s 4 p.m. (EDT) time slot, she she been a breath of fresh air. Sure, she addresses many of the same issues as the loudmouths do, but there is a lot to be said for a musical voice, a dazzling smile, and graciousness. If you have not caught up with the beautiful job she is doing, there is still time. One more round tomorrow at 4. If you cannot be home, set your DVR.
MSNBC should give her her own time slot. Ratings would soar!
Posted in Women in Military, Women in the Media, Women Leaders, tagged Karen Finney, Martin Bashir, MSNBC, Twitter, Women in the media, women's issues on March 25, 2012| 24 Comments »
Fans of the lovely and lively Ms. Finney were overjoyed to see her finally have a go at guest-hosting on Thursday and Friday of last week when she filled in for Martin Bashir. We hoped she would make a big splash and capture the attention of execs at MSNBC who might consider giving her a show of her own. I doubt that any of us ever dreamed that we would see her attacked unfairly, misquoted, and abused the way we have for the past few days on Twitter.
Like some warped version of The Telephone Game, Hate-Tweeters have twisted her words and worse claimed she said things that she did not. People whose attention spans do not exceed 140 characters retweet without checking to see what she really said. The videos and transcripts are all available at the Bashir Live homepage, but let us not waste valuable retweeting time looking for the truth!
Ms. Finney organized and presented some compelling programming. Of course she covered the story of the week, the Trayvon Martin case. The language used by the accused perpetrator, George Zimmerman on 911 record, not Ms. Finney, is what brought race into the discussion. She along with her panel presented the facts as they found them. So what did Karen do to precipitate this hailstorm of hate on Twitter?
There is a “B” word that I have yet to hear in connection with the Trayvon Martin case. With all of the attention being paid in this country to bullying, I have not heard the suggestion that as a self-identified authority figure, George Zimmerman may have bullied Trayvon Martin. We do not like thinking about that kind of bullying. We do not want kids bullying other kids, but I notice a resistance to suggestions that authority figures also bully. Some teachers do, coaches do, and yes, security and police personnel also do. Karen did not raise this issue, but if the latest Zimmerman information, that he is injured, is true, it could be consistent with Trayvon fighting back – against a bully.
Having raised that “B” word, I find what is happening to Karen on the Twitter feed also a form of bullying. The attacks are merciless,and the “quotes” have no basis in fact. It is hate talk and very dangerous. I still cannot fathom why it is Karen who receives this treatment. I hope it is not rooted in sexism, racism or both, and I certainly hope it is not because she is beautiful and brilliant. We have seen enough of that! Thanks to Ryan Olsen for the picture.
Posted in Uncategorized, Women in History, Women in the Media, Women Leaders, tagged Karen Finney, Martin Bashir, MSNBC on March 24, 2012| 9 Comments »
As you know, our homegirl Karen has spent the past two afternoons filling in as host on Bashir Live at MSNBC. Fans hailed the choice. Some live-tweeted which was helpful to folks like me who were stuck at work. It provided a chance to take an occasional peek. Fortunately, I long ago set my DVR to record this show (and others) in case Karen might be on a panel. So I have spent two evenings watching my favorite commentator running two shows on her own and found her impressive. More than impressive. By mid-way through today’s show the word “expert” kept leaping into my mind.
Tweets during and after the first show on Thursday were largely encouraging. The “Finney Fans” were high-fiving her in all of their genius 140 or < character ways. When I came home from an extra-long day today to look at the Twitter feed, I saw something quite different. It looked like someone had taken a rake and knocked a wasp’s nest off of a tree branch. Negativity rained down like someone had opened a faucet. It may be that this Politico article had something to do with the gathering of the haters.
Democratic strategists as MSNBC anchors
By DYLAN BYERS|
3/22/12 3:55 PM EDT
MSNBC has no problem letting viewers know where its political ideologies lie, but I think it’s worth noting that Karen Finney, Democratic strategist and network contributor, is currently filling in as anchor on the Martin Bashir program.
Since I am not the resident “wingnut site snoop” (Jen holds that post), I do not know if there were other, similar articles or whether Byers simply shot around the interwebs like buckshot. Whatever it was, that swarm on her Twitter feed today came as a shock to me as well as to the many homegirls and homeboys who regularly visit there and encourage her efforts.
Somewhere along the line I saw the term “race-baiter” used. Really? Are they talking about this Karen Finney? Race-baiter? I can think of no term less appropriate.
I watched yesterday’s Bashir Live twice. I have watched today’s show only once, but is this the Karen Finney who has so angered so many? Seriously?
Vodpod videos no longer available.Stand Your Ground Laws, posted with vodpod
As is her wont, she gave Rick Santorum credit for something well done. She is not a Santorum supporter, but she always gives credit where it is due. She asked an honest question on every decent person’s mind: “Where is Zimmerman?” It is a fair question. I just wonder what, in this segment, angered so many and where was the race-baiting?
In my book, Karen has done an extraordinary job over these two days and well deserves her own show. Her research is deep and broad, her views are circumspect, and her presentation is clear. She has a lot of charisma.
In the end what does an anchor do? It holds fast while the currents swirl around it. Karen held strong for two days while the tides built around her. She was genial, courteous, artful, and fair. I say. “Give her a forum of her own!” Five Stars, Karen. Wonderful! (Oh! Wait! the code won’t give stars. Well then I think you deserve diamonds!) ♦♦♦♦♦
Posted in women in government, Women in History, Women in the Media, Women Leaders, Women's History Month, Women's Issues, tagged Karen Finney, Martin Bashir, MSNBC, women in government, Women in History, women's issues on March 22, 2012| 1 Comment »
For those who are fans of this awesome researcher, analyst, and commentator, I have a treat for you.
Karen Finney
Fans have been clamoring on Twitter for awhile for Karen to have her own show at MSNBC, but of course, first things must come first. As a popular guest commentator, she has demonstrated the talents and gifts that are indispensable to success on current events talk TV. She is animated, quick-thinking, well-informed, and circumspect. Not to be shallow, but she is also very easy on the eyes. She is the whole package, but that is not a direct route to a show. What CAN be is filling in for hosts of current shows.
Karen is a regular panelist on Bashir Live at MSNBC 3 p.m. ET. Tomorrow and Friday, Karen will be filling in for Martin Bashir in his absence. Her fans could not be happier to see have this opportunity to showcase her her appreciable skills as a host and moderator.
So tune in to MSNBC at 3 EDT (or check your local listings) tomorrow and Friday and catch Karen! We wish her the best. She’s our homegirl, and we hope this is a step to a Karen Finney show to be aired regularly.
Here’s lookin’ at YOU Karen!