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James Earl Carter, Jr.: Centenarian

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It’s time to Break It Down!

Jimmy Carter, the 39th president of the United States, set a record yesterday, October 1, when he observed his birthday, and became the first American president to reach triple digits.

It’s a milestone more and more Americans will reach in the years to come – and frankly, it’s something for which our national social safety net is unprepared.

Carter left office in 1981 after Ronald Reagan defeated him in his reelection bid. He was 56, at the time, too young for Social Security and Medicare.

A very long, incredible retirement

Carter opted not to follow the traditional post presidential path of dedicating himself to sitting on corporate boards and raking in speaking fees.

Instead, Carter got his hands dirty building houses, took on peace missions to Cuba and the Middle East, negotiated the release of hostages, lived in his hometown, taught Sunday school and college classes, wrote books, and won Grammys.

His has been, indisputably, the longest, most righteous and most productive post-presidency in history, although John Quincy Adams’ post-presidential, anti-slavery efforts in Congress get honorable mention.

In the nearly 44 years since leaving office, Carter helped essentially eradicate Guinea worm, a parasite that infected around 3.5 million people in the mid-’80s and just 14 in 2023, according to The Carter Center.

It’s been 22 years since he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002, just as the US was preparing for war in Iraq. Carter also paid a landmark visit to Cuba that year.

It has been nine years since Carter announced at a news conference that he had been diagnosed with brain cancer and might not have long to live.

CNN’s Stephen Collinson wrote at the time:

“I have had a wonderful life,” Carter said with the same unsparing honesty and meticulous detail that marked his presidency. “I’m ready for anything and I’m looking forward to new adventure,” Carter said, in the 40-minute appearance before the cameras, in which he frequently beamed his huge smile and never fell prey to emotion. “It is in the hands of God, whom I worship.”

Carter had more to do

By December 2015, Carter announced that after treatment, the cancer was gone. A timeline of his life maintained by CNN’s research library has many more notable entries.

It’s been nine years since Carter published an autobiography, “A Full Life: Reflections at Ninety.” He won a Grammy Award– his second – for the audiobook. He would win a third a few years later.

It’s been seven years since he was hospitalized for dehydration in Winnipeg, Canada, where he was outdoors – still working! – for Habitat for Humanity, the organization with which he had a long association.

It’s been five years since he won that third Grammy in 2019, broke his hip and joked that there should be an age limit on the presidency since he couldn’t have done the job at 80. He also turned 95 that year, and became the longest-living American president, surpassing George H.W. Bush.

It’s been nearly two years since Carter entered hospice care and almost a year since his wife, Rosalynn, died. They were married in 1946.

More people will turn 100

As remarkable as Carter made his years since American voters retired him from the White House, there’s also something increasingly normal about people living to 100.

Former presidents, all well-to-do and protected by a generous pension, aren’t a representative sample of society, but it’s notable that the four oldest former presidents – Carter, Bush, Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan – all lived in the 21st century.

Overall, US life expectancy dropped during the Covid-19 pandemic. It has not yet returned to pre-pandemic levels, and it lags behind other developed countries, according to an analysis by KFF. As of 2022, the life expectancy for US males was 74.8 and for US females was 80.2.

But the population of 100-year-olds is expected to quadruple in the coming decades, according to PewResearch Center. It estimated in January that the current number of centenarians was around 101,000 and that the figure would increase to about 422,000 within 30 years, a small but growing portion of the US population as the average age increases and the birth rate declines. Today, celebrate “James Earl Carter, Jr.: Centenarian!”

I’m done; holla back!

Read my blog anytime by clicking the link: http://thesphinxofcharlotte.com. Find a new post each Wednesday.

To subscribe, click on Follow in the bottom right-hand corner of my Home Page at http://thesphinxofcharlotte.com; enter your e-mail address in the designated space, and click on “Sign me up.” Subsequent editions of “Break It Down” will be mailed to your in-box.

For more detailed information on a variety of aspects relating to this post, consult the links below:

https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/30/politics/jimmy-carter-presidents-what-matters/index.html

https://www.axios.com/2024/10/01/jimmy-carter-100-birthday-president-record

James Earl Carter, Jr.: Centenarian

Mark Robinson is No Donald Trump: Just Stating the Obvious

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It’s time to Break It Down!

Mark Robinson, the ever controversial, recently embattled GOP candidate for North Carolina Governor is quickly discovering what many politicians, especially Republicans who’ve endeavored to mimic Trump’s obnoxious, reckless, devil-may-care attitude and behavior. To paraphrase Lloyd Bentsen’s soberingly soul-snatching put down of Dan Quayle, Lt. Governor, you’re no Donald Trump. 

Trump, who fervently endorsed, and repeatedly boosted Robinson’s candidacy, has appeared to cool on the Maverick from Greensboro, since a CNN story last Thursday linked Robinson to a pornography website, where among other things, he allegedly characterized himself as a Black Nazi, expressed support for slavery…even indicating he would like to own a few himself, and made an array of lewd and sexually explicit remarks. For his part, Robinson has vehemently denied the report, calling it false lies, and salacious tabloid trash. He added, “You’d better understand I am coming after CNN full throttle.” 

Since then, Trump visited North Carolina but declined to include Robinson in his coterie of influential state pols. In fact, at least 10 Republicans and conservative groups have canceled events with Mr. Robinson, rescinded endorsements, and/or erased their digital footprints to distance themselves from their fellow GOP candidate in the upcoming General Election, to be held in just under 6 weeks. It’s fair to say, Mark Robinson is officially, politically toxic.

Prior to last week’s explosive revelations, Robinson was already a controversial figure, well-known for making sexist, racist, Islamophobic, homophobic and otherwise vile comments. And, for quite some time, he appeared to float above the chaos that would seem destined to result from such bellicosity. Not unlike a certain other public figure, Robinson may have gone out of his way to craft a public political persona with the express intent of owning the libs.

America writ large, if not the world, is well aware that for nearly a decade, Trump has flouted virtually every known political protocol, and more often than not, still managed to thrive. Liable for sexual assault and an $83 million settlement, no problem. Convicted of 34 felonies, no problem. A classified documents case, no problem. Election racketeering, no problem. Election obstruction, no problem. Trump University $25 million settlement, no problem. Civil fraud case, $354.9 million settlement, no problem. Assert that he could shoot people on 5th Avenue, and not lose any votes, no problem. Propose a Muslim ban, no problem. Commentary ignited an insurrection at the Capitol, no problem. And those infringements on decency don’t include such gems as the Charlottesville saga, the housing discrimination case, of the newspaper ads seeking the death penalty for the Central Park 5, all of whom were exonerated.

Suffice it to say, a much more extensive list would be required to complete a Greatest Hits Summary for either of these men. But hopefully, you get the point. Robinson, who pointedly refused to abandon his Gubernatorial bid, has been jettisoned from the GOP Inner Circle. While there is still a chance he might secure the Governor’s Office if Trump wins North Carolina, it was already substantially less than a sure bet, and now looks flat out unlikely. Conversely, Donald Trump is in the thick of the race to return to the Presidency, in a contest that 6 weeks out, appears too close to call. He leads in most of the Sunbelt swing states, though within the margin of error, and trails in most of the Midwest Blue Wall states, though also within the margin of error. Current assessments, 1,500 GOP lawyers, and a host of new GOP-inspired state laws make it a foregone conclusion the outcome of the race will not be known by the end of Election Day. Oh yeah, did I say, the majority of Republicans, especially office holders and candidates are sticking closer to Trump than a straight razor shave? “Mark Robinson is No Donald Trump: Just Stating the Obvious!”

I’m done; holla back!

Read my blog anytime by clicking the link: http://thesphinxofcharlotte.com. Find a new post each Wednesday.

To subscribe, click on Follow in the bottom right-hand corner of my Home Page at http://thesphinxofcharlotte.com; enter your e-mail address in the designated space, and click on “Sign me up.” Subsequent editions of “Break It Down” will be mailed to your in-box.

For more detailed information on a variety of aspects relating to this post, consult the link below:

Mark Robinson is No Donald Trump: Just Stating the Obvious

In Black & White: Racism or Just My Imagination

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It’s time to Break It Down!

Just a quick note about a subject that merits much more discourse than I am going to give it today. Yesterday, Hunter Elward, a former Mississippi sheriff’s deputy who was a member of a group that described itself as the “Goon Squad,” was sentenced to 241 months in prison for his role in torturing two Black men last year, after the two men were reported for staying in a home with a White woman. Jeffrey Middleton was sentenced to 17.5 years.

U.S. Judge Tom Lee, who sentenced Hunter Elward, and Jeffrey Middleton, two of the six “Goon Squad” members, is also set to sentence the other four renegade former lawmen who admitted subjecting Michael Corey Jenkins and Eddie Terrell Parker to various and sundry acts of racist torture. It is commonplace for White people in America to object to being called racist. In that light, I will not even deign to assert that these former officers were racist. However, due to the Court’s charges, and the defendants’ subsequent admissions, their behavior met the criteria. I’ll leave it at that. You may decide for yourself.

Prior to sentencing, Judge Lee characterized Elward’s and Middleton’s crime as egregious and despicable,” and opined a “sentence at the top of the guideline range is justified – is more than justified. It’s what the defendants deserve. It’s what the community and the defendants’ victims deserve.”

The terror unfolded on January 24, 2023, with a racist call for extrajudicial violence. A White person called Rankin County Deputy Brett McAlpin to register a complaint that two Black men were staying with a White woman at a house in Braxton, Mississippi. McAlpin told Deputy Christian (ironically named, apparently) Dedmon, who in turn texted a group of White Deputies so willing to use excessive force, they called themselves “The Goon Squad.”

This led to the group of six, five Deputies, and a police officer, bursting into the home, with no warrant in hand, and assaulting Jenkins and Parker with stun guns, a sex toy, and other objects. Elward, by his own admission, shoved a gun into Jenkins’ mouth and fired it, in a “mock execution” that went awry.

The “Goon Squad” handcuffed Jenkins and Parker and poured milk, alcohol, and chocolate syrup over their faces. They forced them to strip naked and shower together to conceal the resulting disarrayed clutter. They hurled racial slurs at the victims and shocked them with stun guns.

After the mock execution went left, they attempted to execute a coverup that including planting drugs and a gun. The false charges associated with that ruse stood for months.

Not surprisingly, the victims, Jenkins and Parker called for the “stiffest of sentences” at a news conference Monday.

Jenkins noted, “It’s been very hard for me, for us. We are hoping for the best and preparing for the worst.”

Jenkins, who was shot in the mouth, endured a lacerated tongue and a broken jaw. He still experiences difficulty speaking and eating.

Attorney Malik Shabazz, an attorney for both victims, said the results of the sentencing hearings could have national implications.

He went on to say, “Michael Jenkins and Eddie Parker continue to suffer emotionally and physically since this horrific and bloody attack by Rankin County Deputies. A message must be sent to police in Mississippi and all over America, that level of criminal conduct will be met with the harshest of consequences.”

An investigation by The Associated Press, prior to charges being filed, linked some of the deputies to at least four violent encounters with Black men since 2019, that left two dead and another with long term injuries.

In addition to Mr. Elward, and Mr.. Middleton, the other former officers charged include McAlpin, Dedmon, and Daniel Opdyke of the Rankin County Sheriff’s Department, and Joshua Hartfield, a Richland police officer. They pleaded guilty to charges including conspiracy against rights, obstruction of justice, deprivation of rights under color of law, discharge of a firearm under a crime of violence, and conspiracy to obstruct justice. Court papers identified Hunter Elward as one of the “Goon Squad” members. The others identified as part of the “Squad” were Middleton and Opdyke.

Elward faced a maximum federal sentence of 120 years, plus life in prison and $2.75 million in fines, as does Dedmon. Hartfield faces a possible sentence of 80 years and $1.5 million. McAlpin faces 90 years and $1.75 million, Middleton faces 80 years and $1.5 million, and Opdyke could be sentenced to 100 years with a $2 million fine.

All the former officers agreed to prosecutor-recommended sentences ranging from five to 30 years in state court, but time served for separate convictions at the state level will run concurrently with the potentially longer federal sentences.

Interestingly, Ranking County, which is majority-white, is just east of the state capital, Jackson, home to one of the highest percentages of Black residents in any major U.S. city. The officers warned Jenkins and Parker to “stay out of Rankin County and go back to Jackson, or ‘their side’ of the Pearl River,” according to court documents, referring to an area with a higher concentration of Black residents.

These crimes, committed by men charged with, and authorized to, enforce the law, hearkened back to Mississippi’s dark history, including the 1964 killing of three civil rights workers after a Deputy handed them off to the Ku Klux Klan. People like to pretend such acts are relegated to the past, which brings to mind Faulkner’s sage observance: “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.”

Bryan Bailey is the Sheriff of Rankin County. He supervised the five Deputies who, along with a Richland police officer, committed the crimes. For months, Sheriff Bailey said little about the episode. After his officers pleaded guilty in August, he said the officers had gone rogue, and promised to change the department. Jenkins and Parker have called for his resignation, and they have filed a $400 million civil suit against the department. “In Black & White: Racism or Just My Imagination!”

I’m done; holla back!

Read my blog anytime by clicking the link: http://thesphinxofcharlotte.com. Find a new post each Wednesday.

To subscribe, click on Follow in the bottom right-hand corner of my Home Page at http://thesphinxofcharlotte.com; enter your e-mail address in the designated space, and click on “Sign me up.” Subsequent editions of “Break It Down” will be mailed to your in-box.

For more detailed information on a variety of aspects related to this post, consult the links below:

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/mississippi-goon-squad-ex-deputy-gets-20-year-sentence-racist-torture-rcna144104

In Black & White: Racism or Just My Imagination

Biden-Trump 2.0: It’s On

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It’s time to Break It Down!

Yesterday, like last Tuesday, Super Tuesday, several U.S. states conducted Primary Elections. Nikki Haley bowed out of the GOP Nomination process a week ago today. At that point, technically, there was no remaining mystery related to who would represent the Grand Old Party in the 2024 Presidential Election. The reality is, we’ve known for some time who would be the two principal candidates. 

But, as is often said, the job is not done until the paperwork is complete. Wrapping up the job requires a candidate on each side to reach the required numerical threshold. For Biden, the number of delegates required to clench the Democratic Nomination is 1,968. Biden exceeded that number early last night, almost as soon as the polls closed at 7:00 p.m. in Georgia (ironically), and news agencies projected Biden’s win in the Peach State. Within 10 minutes of the polls closing at 11:00 p.m., in Washington State, Trump, who needs 1,215 delegates, was declared the winner, and simultaneously, cited as having earned his party’s nomination. States voting yesterday included primaries in Georgia, Mississippi, and Washington, and Caucuses in Hawaii.

So far in the pre-electoral process, Trump has won every state, but Vermont, while Biden has lost only the Territory of American Samoa. This is one of the earliest points in history when the finalists have been determined for both parties. There are 236 days remaining until Election Day. That means many things, perhaps none more important than for the next 33 weeks, we will be locked in one continuous 2024 Election Day news cycle. Oh yeah, it is vital to know and note, both candidates have to go to their respective Conventions and be officially voted in as the Nominee.

We have been warned about the intrusion of AI into our election process. The candidates and their surrogates will be endeavoring to paint their opponent with the least flattering of brushes. Meanwhile, The GOP House will try to impeach President Biden. Team Trump will be working to delay, and or pursue judicial elimination of court cases in New York, Washington, DC, Georgia, and Florida, on one hand, while, on the other, appealing massive (literally, hundreds of millions of dollars worth) court ordered payouts.    

Lest we forget, last week, President Biden delivered the State of the Union (SOTU) Address. Republicans leaned head over heels into painting Biden as an old, addled, dementia-suffering frail being, who may not live to next week. Frankly, it sounded as though they didn’t think he’d even make it through the SOTU last Thursday. Not surprisingly, after the GOP lowered the bar of expectations to just North of ground level, Biden easily cleared the hurdle, so much so, until they were forced to change their attack line from Biden’s inescapable feebleness to, Biden was, instead of low energy and lost, he was too loud, and overly political. Side note: let’s not gloss over the fierce and loud suggestion of Biden’s mortality, as I have previously advised in other posts, is primarily about the intense fear that in the event Biden were to die while in office, he would, horror of horrors, be succeeded by Vice President Kamala Harris. The fear (and in may instances disdain) of a Black woman President is real, and palpable. Even Nikki Haley argued, when she was an active candidate, “There will be a woman President. The choice is whether it will be me or Kamala Harris.”

The beauty of being entrenched in opposition to Biden is, when one idea or position fizzles, or is demonstrated to be untenable, the GOP just secures another attack line and rides the wave until it’s necessary to reboot and find another rhetorical brick to hurl into the debate. Yesterday’s brick was the testimony of Special Counsel Robert Hur, who wrote a report describing Biden as “old, forgetful, and sympathetic.” However, despite those notable negative traits, the one that most ignited Republicans was “Unlikely to be convicted by a jury.”

During questioning, Hur likely left both Democrats and Republicans dissatisfied. He insisted on noting the word exonerated did not appear in his report. That frustrated some Dems. And, while he defended his decision to characterize Biden as he did, he added he did not say Biden was senile. GOP House members were visibly and audibly disappointed. Upon direct questioning, Hur said Biden didn’t hide documents, or refuse to cooperate/testify, or direct his lawyer to lie, or ask aids to move classified material to keep them hidden or deny access to any of his homes. There was more, but you get the point.

I understand you may be tired of hearing about the coming Election. I apologize. Regardless of whether I write about how our nation’s political dynamics are playing out, you will find them at every turn, and in every nook and cranny. We are there. “Biden-Trump 2.0: It’s On!”

I’m done; holla back!

Read my blog anytime by clicking the link: http://thesphinxofcharlotte.com. Find a new post each Wednesday.

To subscribe, click on Follow in the bottom right-hand corner of my Home Page at http://thesphinxofcharlotte.com; enter your e-mail address in the designated space, and click on “Sign me up.” Subsequent editions of “Break It Down” will be mailed to your in-box.

For more detailed information on a variety of aspects related to this post, consult the links below:

Biden-Trump 2.0: It’s On

The GOP’s Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

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It’s time to Break It Down!

Allow me to illuminate:

The Terrible – An Appeals Court rules there is no such thing as Trump Immunity

The Horrible – Republican efforts to impeach Alejandro Mayorkas failed

The No Good – The Party’s standalone Israel aid bill fell in the House

The Very Bad Day – Trump’s denial of endorsing Langford was exposed as untrue

All things considered, in the future, 75%, or. 3 out of four of those items could be reversed. And quite frankly, GOP voters have established that the fourth, simply does not matter…to them.

In a 57-page unanimous opinion, a 3-Judge panel of DC Circuit judges wroth that our justice system allows a former president to be held accountable for his actions while in office, because the public interest in holding a potentially criminal president answerable outweighs any potentially “chilling effect” on the presidency.

Trump has promised to appeal. He appointed 3 of the nine Justices, and 6 of the 9 are conservative/Republican.

The House is nearly evenly divided, but Republicans hold a slight numerical edge. Yesterday, they thought they could only lose three votes. Then, when an unexpected Democrat showed up and voted, suddenly the magic number was 2. They lost 3, which resulted in a tie. In a last-minute bit of parliamentary legerdemain, one supporter changed his vote to nay, widening the defeat, but giving the GOP the opportunity to bring the measure up again, later. 

Almost certainly, when it resurfaces, Republicans will have the requisite numbers.

The Israel aid bill came about because many House Republicans want to demonstrate support for Israel. However, the Freedom Caucus split from the majority, leaving Republicans needing to employ a procedural maneuver that requires two-thirds majority for approval. The arithmetic of that ploy left Republicans needing Democrats to bail them out, for the measure to pass. 

Democrats, however, want to secure funding, not just for Israel, but also for Ukraine, for Taiwan, and for border security. Dems passed; the bill failed.

In an interview with conservative radio host Dan Bongino, Trump claimed, never to have endorsed Senator Langford, a conservative Oklahoma Senator who led the GOP negotiations in the Senate that produced a bi-partisan bill to resolve a host of border security issues, while also providing aid to Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan. While the bill is bipartisan, it is pretty much all things the GOP wants on the border, and nothing preferred by Democrats. It been labeled by most knowledgeable observers as the most conservative leaning border legislation ever. While the bill includes things the GOP would normally salivate over, Trump has asked Republicans not to sign off on it, because he wants to run on the border. Back to the question of Trump having endorsed Langford. Trump told Bongino:

“Just to correct the record, I did not endorse Sen. Lankford. I didn’t do it. He ran, and I did not endorse him.”  So, I’m sure your person will be happy to hear that.” He later added, “I like James. I did not endorse James, but I like James.”

Trump’s claim is untrue. Trump said in the September 27, 2022, endorsement statement: 

“James was strongly committed to America First, and everything it stood for, and likewise strongly committed to me, as President. Sometimes we didn’t exactly agree on everything, but we do now. He is a very good man with a fabulous wife and family, loves the great State of Oklahoma, and is working very hard on trying to Save our Country from the disaster that it is in.”

Trump categorically and repeatedly declared, with no caveats, that he had not endorsed Lankford at all. In a word, untrue.

The one is irrevocable. But history has shown, Trump being untruthful is not a deal-breaker for MAGA-voters. So, in conclusion, though it may not stick, yesterday was “The GOP’s Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day!”

I’m done; holla back!

Read my blog anytime by clicking the link: http://thesphinxofcharlotte.com. Find a new post each Wednesday.

To subscribe, click on Follow in the bottom right-hand corner of my Home Page at http://thesphinxofcharlotte.com; enter your e-mail address in the designated space, and click on “Sign me up.”

Subsequent editions of “Break It Down” will be mailed to your in-box. For more detailed information on a variety of aspects related to this post, consult the links below:

https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/06/politics/takeaways-donald-trump-immunity-appeals-court/index.html

https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/06/politics/house-vote-mayorkas-impeachment/index.html

https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/06/politics/house-vote-israel-aid-package/index.html

https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/05/politics/fact-check-trump-james-lankford-endorsement/index.html

The GOP’s Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day