DL Open Thread: Friday, June 17, 2022

Shout-out to the State Senate.  Other than Colin Bonini.  They had to bite the bullet yesterday, and they did. They stayed in session until at least 10 pm Thursday while Bonini pulled his delaying-tactics shenanigans.  They didn’t work.  Vote-by-mail passed the Senate 13-8.  One D voted no.  No, it wasn’t Sen. Ennis.  It was Mayor Mike’s & Buccini Pollin’s latest go-to guy–Darius Brown.  Hey, he already made clear he’d sell out for money.  Somebody could challenge him, but nobody has.

How Many Kids Does Herschel Walker Have?  This outspoken critic of absentee Black fathers is revealed to be–an absentee Black father:

This week, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution debunked previous claims by Walker that he had worked in law enforcement and had been an FBI agent. Two days later, the Daily Beast reported that Walker had a 10-year-old son out of wedlock whom he hadn’t discussed publicly. Then, on Thursday, the left-leaning news site reported Walker had another 13-year-old son with a different woman as well as an adult daughter he fathered as a college student. Walker has spoken on the campaign trail about his close relationship with another son, 22-year-old Christian.

Walker has been harshly critical of absentee Black fathers, once calling it a “major, major problem.”

“The father leaves in the Black family. He leaves the boys alone so they’ll be raised by their mom,” he said in a 2021 interview. “If you have a child with a woman, even if you have to leave that woman — even if you have to leave that woman — you don’t leave that child.”

Matt Prestbury is the founder of the Black Fathers Foundation in Atlanta, which aims to end the stigma of the absent Black dad and help lift up those fathers who want to be there for their children but are struggling. His work is apolitical, and he declined to comment on Walker specifically, but said generally it’s frustrating when Black men denigrate Black fathers and might not be living up to those ideals themselves.

“It’s hurtful when anyone chastises us and comes at us as Black men and says, ‘This is what you’re not doing,’ and then it makes it so much worse if they are being a hypocrite,” Prestbury said. “I want every Black man in the world to be actively involved in the lives of their children, and it saddens me when I see anyone who is not doing that.”

Walmart Dumps The MyPillow Guy.  He did not take the news well.  Please, please, click on the links.

The Virtual Lynching Of A Black Educator.  A must-read from Pro Publica. I don’t mean to post so much depressing news, but it’s everywhere.

Sonia Sotomayor Tries To Keep Our Spirits Up.  Doesn’t succeed:

“There are days I get discouraged, there are moments where I am deeply disappointed,” she said. “Every time I do that, I lick my wounds for a while, sometimes I cry, and then I say: ‘Let’s fight.’”

“Dred Scott lost his 11-year battle for freedom in the courts … Yet he won the war,” Sotomayor said. “So that’s why I think we have to have continuing faith in the court system, in our system of government, in our ability … I hope not through war … towards continuing the battle each day to regain the public’s confidence.”

Feel better yet?

All Gun Bills Except One Pass.  The bill raising the legal age to purchase from 18 to 21 has been tabled in the Senate–but not to get rid of Speaker Pete’s horrible amendment.

I close with these words of wisdom from Popeye, “That’s all I can stands, I can’t stands no more.”

What do you want to talk about?