Justin Trudeau apologises over 'brownface' photo: 'I should have known better'

By artappraiser on Wed, 09/18/2019 - 10:28pm |

By Chris Graham @ Telegraph.co.uk, Sept. 19

Justin Trudeau has apologised over a photograph showing him wearing brownface make-up at a private school party.

The Canadian prime minister, who began his re-election campaign a week ago, is seen in the 2001 photo attending an “Arabian Nights” themed costume gala at the West Point Grey Academy in Vancouver. Mr Trudeau, who was a 29-year-old teacher at the time, is shown wearing a turban and robes with his face, neck and hands darkened. The photograph appeared in the school’s 2000-2001 yearbook, The View, said Time magazine, which first published the image. "I dressed up in an Aladdin costume and put make-up on," Mr Trudeau said after the picture emerged.

"I can say I made a mistake when I was younger and I wish I hadn't. I wish I had known better then, but I didn't and I'm deeply sorry for it." "Now I recognise it was something racist to do," he said. "It was a dumb thing to do. I'm disappointed in myself." [....]

Mr Trudeau also admitted to wearing dark makeup singing Harry Belafonte's 1959 hit Day O (Banana Boat Song) at a separate high school talent contest [....]

URL:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/09/19/justin-trudeau-facing-backlash-brownface-photo/

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the "Arabian Nights" photo tweeted by Alex Jones' "men's rights" buddy Mike Cernovich:

This is Justin Trudeau. pic.twitter.com/KxCdFyZWWI
— Mike Cernovich (@Cernovich) September 18, 2019

A photo of the high school performance is also reproduced in the Telegraph article, as tweeted by Canadian pundit & radio host Evan Soloman.

by artappraiser on Wed, 09/18/2019 - 10:56pm

Trevor Noah offers a solution, a buyback plan to keep black and brown makeup out of the hands of white people.

White people have demonstrated time and again that they’re not to be trusted with brown makeup ― and Trevor Noah thinks it’s time to take serious action.

Amid the blackface scandal involving Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau this week, “The Daily Show” host said that when “white people get their hands on brown makeup, they just can’t help themselves.”

Help us tell more of the stories that matter from voices that too often remain unheard.

The comedian proposed a buyback program to get blackface off the streets, and red flag laws for when you suspect your white friend might be planning to use blackface.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trevor-noah-blackface-buyback-justin-trudeau_n_5d8458f7e4b0957256b44c74

by rmrd0000 on Fri, 09/20/2019 - 8:39am

People are so retarded. From the time little kids spread mud over their faces or lipstick and rouge and mascara as play makeup, we're decorating the human face and body. Fast spray-on tan or tanning salon? Check. Tatoos? kinda check.

Here's what I grew up with. Don't think it made fun of anyone.

by PeraclesPlease on Fri, 09/20/2019 - 12:33pm

Seems not everybody got the joke. Even fro the beginning.

Minstrelsy took hold in Canada, just as it did in the United States, and just as in the United States, black people objected. As early as 1843, according to Cheryl Thompson, a scholar of communications at Ryerson University, black residents of Toronto petitioned the city government in vain to ban minstrel shows. Howard reports that “minstrelsy was very common throughout Canada into the 1970s,” long after minstrel shows had becomesocially taboo—not to say extinct—in the United States. (Bashir Mohamed rounds upa few examples of 20th-century shows in Canada.)

Source: https://pressfrom.info/ca/news/canada/-167106-canada-s-surprising-history-of-blackface.html

From Fredrick Douglas

This is exactly what African American abolitionist Frederick Douglass meant when he said that Blackface minstrels were, in his opinion, “the filthy scum of white society, who have stolen from us a complexion denied them by nature, in which to make money, and pander to the corrupt taste of their white fellow citizens.”

To today

This historical relationship resulted in the emergence of minstrelsy, with all its antiblackness, as the first purportedly “American” form of popular culture. The relationship between white pleasure and the Black body is rehearsed in blackface today, which almost exclusively occurs in contexts of fun and pleasure.

My own research has found that contemporary blackface in Canada intensifies social pleasure for blackface wearers and their audiences precisely because of the ways that it pushes the limits of acceptable racial discourse. Heightening this effect is the way in which blackface is practised despite Black objection.

http://theconversation.com/the-problem-with-blackface-97987

by rmrd0000 on Fri, 09/20/2019 - 2:06pm

Of course some use of make up is acceptable. But some of it is harmful appropriation.

This is a clear case of botanical appropriation. Unacceptable. Most flowers find this highly offensive and most bees support them. It's confusing for bees who are just trying to go about their daily work. In this day of colony collapse disorder we should be doing all we can to help the bees not exacerbating their difficulties.

Species appropriation. How is that these people can't realize how wrong this is?

Do you really think it's ok to mock someone with poor teeth? Oh wait, that's not face paint. Never mind.

by ocean-kat on Fri, 09/20/2019 - 4:38pm

Why are you comparing flippant juvenile decoration with my collection of serious artists? Would any of yours survived the 80s/90s? No Doubt turned to Meatloaf, no Heart. You just want to Clash with me.

by PeraclesPlease on Fri, 09/20/2019 - 7:56pm

Color me:confused !Because I was always under the impression that Kiss, Alice Cooper and Elton John were intentionally practicing flippant juvenile decoration. And this was of course, their art, you know, in a Warhol sort of way....

by artappraiser on Fri, 09/20/2019 - 9:01pm

Harumph. I'll remember that. Alice Cooper was *performance art*. Gallows humor to boot. Thought you would second with New York Dolls, but nope, nor with Village People - not playing nice tonight.

by PeraclesPlease on Sat, 09/21/2019 - 1:49am

for what it's worth,I'd like to throw in bit of nuance as regards this particular case, instead of the same old same old discussion that has occurred on this site many times before on this general topic.

I have noticed a lot of Canadian commentary on twitter, both from fans and detractors, that points to Trudeau's being a teacher of drama at the time, and showing a love for costumes and role play, that never disappeared, and he still does it every day, plays roles and bullshits. I just now have run across this op-ed in the right-of-center National Post precisely to that effect:

All the world's a stage: Blackface controversy shines light on Trudeau the actor

Trudeau is the ultimate performance artist, a player of roles since birth. It's only now that Canadians are realizing how much that public gaze has affected him

By Joseph Breen @ NationalPost.com, Sept. 20

The slur has always been that Justin Trudeau is a drama teacher.

Unfair though it may be to actual drama teachers, the implication is that he is frivolous, juvenile, emotional, more appearance than substance, and no more a real leader than the kid up on stage in tights and a tunic is really Peter Pan.

In short, the predominant political insult against Trudeau is that he is an actor.

The events of this week have put that image under a revealing spotlight and summoned some ugly shadows.

As a result, the 2019 ballot question may have just changed, thanks to an American magazine’s digging up an old photo. It might not be the familiar worry about health care or economics. Now the prime minister’s character is in question precisely because of the characters and caricatures he has gleefully portrayed, from Aladdin to Harry Belafonte and whatever the most recent blackface image to emerge was supposed to be, which he says was taken on a dress-up day at the white water rafting outfitter where he worked, emphasis on the white.

Rather than policy or partisanship, the vote might come down to whether Canadians believe Trudeau’s claim that he is a changed and contrite man, an authentic ally of those whose skin colour he put on for jokes, or whether they think his apology is part of the ongoing performance, a slyly calculated breaking of the fourth wall in the tradition of Ferris Bueller or Woody Allen.

If a high school throws a fancy dress party, the drama teacher might be expected to take it especially seriously. (Trudeau also taught French and math.) But the photos in the old West Point Grey Academy yearbook show that Trudeau was the one who took it the farthest.

He is in his element as the centre of attention. He can convey empathy convincingly on a wide range of topics, especially when delivering apologies for historical crimes for which he bears no personal responsibility. He can summon a singsong voice for pleasant words and a more grave timbre for unpleasant ones. [.....]

And Canadians' bigger discussion point here begs the question: but isn't this the mark of a great professional politician these days? That they can role play for different demographics and it still flies? Isn't this similar to the thing of Bill Clinton being called the "first black president" and being able to tell very different kind of folks that "I feel your pain?" Always trying to be a homeboy, no matter whether the hood is rural south or Cambridge England?

After all, Justin grew up with a father who was a famously charismatic politician to the point of "rock star" status. Always playing to an audience, but the audiences can be very different?

The question that attracts me here is: is this the type of thing a majority still admires in a politician (flipping roles and even pandering on a dime), or is it finally starting to wear as inauthentic?

by artappraiser on Fri, 09/20/2019 - 9:37pm

Pile on @ The National Post, a similar op-ed:

Andrew Coyne: Is Justin Trudeau a racist? No. He is a sanctimonious fraud

The racial masks Trudeau wore to conceal his identity 20 years ago are but one in a series: from blackface to feministface to sunnywaysface

summary paragraph:

[....] Perhaps the most damning thing that can be said is that, when the prime minister claims he was unaware, as a 29-year-old teacher in 2001, that dressing up as a member of a racial minority was offensive — that, in fact, it did not dawn on him until after he was elected as an MP, in 2008 — most of us believe him. It is difficult to believe he could be that racist, but it is all too easy to believe he could be that clueless.

by artappraiser on Sat, 09/21/2019 - 7:33pm

In the interviews with black Canadians that I have seen, they are disappointed, but will still vote for Trudeau. This drives Conservatives crazy. Conservatives note that if a Canadian Conservative had been caught in blackface, that person would be labeled racist. The problems Conservatives have is that their stances on diversity and immigration make it very easy for the racist label to stick.

Trudeau has exposed the lie that Canada is a place of racial harmony

For Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, blackface is a mere obstacle to overcome in his campaign run after receiving rebukes this week for darkening his face several times in the past. But for the millions of black, Indigenous and other people of color in Canada, this is far more than a simple scandal. Blackface is a reminder that people of color are still considered to be 'characters' instead of equal and full human beings.

To put on blackface is to be contemptuous of other people's pain. To take on the appearance of one's skin, but none of the suffering endured as a result of racism, makes a mockery of our experiences. It demeans who we are as people. And the infuriating reality is that Canada's denial of its own racism, the very same racism present in the overwhelmingly white, elite and privileged spheres where Trudeau apparently learned that blackface was acceptable, makes it impossible to change in any meaningful way.

As a child, I was taught that Canada was a country of freedom, multiculturalism and diversity. But as I grew up in the streets of Toronto, my material realities and experiences did not match that narrative.Police brutality, overrepresentation in foster care, astronomical expulsion rates in Toronto and an overrepresentation in Canadian federal prisons overall are all a part of what it means to be black in Canada. Yet, when I describe these realities to people, they immediately associate these qualities with the US. Living in America has brought home for me just how pervasive this myth -- that the racism embodied in blackface is an American problem -- has become.

and

The thing with blackface is that it is always intentional. The choice is part of the privilege. Trudeau, despite his apologies since the photos of him came to light, chose to do blackface. The consequences of that choice, however, will be felt most by people who don't look like him. People who, too often, do not get to choose. People who will have to endure unsolicited remarks on their complexion in their places of worship; people who suddenly find themselves locked into furious debates on the merits of Trudeau at work, and arguments on whether or not racism is even real from people who have never picked up a book on racial justice and who certainly weren't taught about it in any meaningful way in the Canadian educational system. Kids, who are still developing a sense of identity, will suddenly be made to carry the tremendous weight of racism as they are forced to make the impossible decision between betraying who they are to fit in, or being alienated and broken-hearted.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/21/opinions/trudeau-blackface-canada-no-raci...

by rmrd0000 on Sat, 09/21/2019 - 8:42pm

Author as described at Wikipedia

Janaya Khan is the co-founder of Black Lives Matter Toronto. They also serve as an International Ambassador for the Black Lives Matter Network. Khan identifies as black, queer, gender-nonconforming. They are an activist, author and amateur competitive boxer. Wikipedia

Janaya Khan is the co-founder of Black Lives Matter Toronto.[1][2] They also serve as an International Ambassador for the Black Lives Matter Network.[3] Khan identifies as black, queer, gender-nonconforming. They are an activist, author and amateur competitive boxer.[4] Much of their work analyzes intersectional topics including the Black Lives Matter movement, queer theory, Black feminism, and organized protest strategies[5]....

Based on Khan's activist record outlined there, I'd really be hesitant to present "them" as representing the opinion of anyone but far lefties. But that would be me.

For one thing, I think it highly unlike that the current or future Prime Minister of Canada, whoever that may be, is going to be adopting use of the latest newest pronouns in either English or French.

by artappraiser on Sat, 09/21/2019 - 9:48pm

Khan has "their" own fancy website where "they" self-describe as a Futurist, Organizer and Storyteller.

The home page has large quotes about "Afrofuturism" and recent posts include

Oddly,the CNN bio for the published op-ed suggests Kahn is longer based in Toronto, but L.A.:

Janaya Khan is an activist, writer and storyteller based in Los Angeles who lectures on racial justice, culture and gender equity across the US and abroad. Janaya has appeared in Vogue, The Cut and BET's Finding Justice and serves as Program Director for Color Of Change. They can be found on Twitter @janaya_khan. The views expressed in this commentary belong to the author

by artappraiser on Sat, 09/21/2019 - 9:55pm

Northam remained in office because of the fear of putting Republicans in charge. Trudeau may be re-elected because the Conservatives are anti-immigrant and are not supportive of diversity.

Dr. Charmaine Nelson is an art history professor at McGill University in Montreal. She said that "as a black woman who teaches Canadian slavery and histories of black representation in western art and popular culture, I am profoundly aware of blackface minstrelsy as a Canadian practice and also aware of how frequently white Canadians deny such histories by shifting them onto the U.S.A."

Nelson told ABC News via email that she believes that many Canadians "know little about" their country’s history of slavery under the French and British until 1833, "and instead we routinely celebrate the Underground Railroad (1833-1861) and embrace curriculum and narratives that position us simply as a multicultural and color-blind society."

"But the lived reality for black, Indigenous and people of color Canadians is different from the rhetoric of racial inclusivity," Nelson wrote.

Shama Rangwala, a faculty lecturer at the University of Alberta, told ABC News’ "Start Here" podcast that the scandal is quite significant because "Canadians like to be pretty smug about being nice and everyone gets along."

"I think a lot of people who experience racism in Canada are maybe not surprised, but I think that Canadian liberals who have this mythologized, idealized version of Canada are really feeling their world shaken by this," Rangwala said.

However, she said she was "not sure how much it will affect the election itself."

and

Nelson said that there are different reasons why "Trudeau’s clearly racist behavior" will not change people’s minds about him.

"For many white Canadians, they simply do not see his acts as racist at all or as racist enough for them to change their vote. While for many black Canadians, we understand that we can't afford to vote for a party like the Conservatives who have never acknowledged the reality of Canada as a nation with a problem of deep-seated systemic and institutional racism and bias, at a moment when too many of the world's western governments are moving to the far right," Nelson said.

https://abcnews.go.com/International/justin-trudeaus-blackface-scandal-hurt-election/story?id=65745270

A black Canadian member of Parliament offers support to Trudeau

Among the cabinet ministers and Liberal MPs defending Trudeau’s character this week was Greg Fergus, leader of a small parliamentary Black caucus who is running again in the Quebec riding of Hull—Aylmer.

Speaking to reporters Thursday, Fergus said people should acknowledge Trudeau tried as prime minister to improve the lives of Black Canadians and people from all backgrounds. He pointed to the “historic” decision to enshrine the story of Viola Desmond on the $10 bill. Desmond was a Black Nova Scotian woman who was arrested in 1946 for refusing to leave a whites-only section of a theatre in New Glasgow.

Fergus also hailed the Trudeau government for embracing diversity and adopting the United Nations Decade for People of African Descent, an initiative that continues to 2024 as the federal government commits to improve research and data collection on racial inequality, address the impacts of anti-Black racism in Canada, and earmark $25 million for community projects to celebrate Black Canadians.

The government also launched a $45 million anti-racism strategy this year, with $30 million going to community programs that address racism and discrimination, and a new division to help increase diversity in the federal public service.

In an email Friday, the Liberal party also highlighted decisions in government to analyze the impacts of all federal policies on women and minority populations, increase representation of visible minorities in the courts, and more.

https://www.thestar.com/politics/federal/2019/09/20/liberals-say-look-to-record-on-racism-amid-justin-trudeaus-brownface-scandal-so-we-did.html

Northam probably called Trudeau and told him to simply ride it out.

by rmrd0000 on Fri, 09/20/2019 - 11:14pm

NCD's historical fact of the day. Racism and it's most depraved outcome, a look at lynching in Canada.

Canada records only one lynching in the country's history. It was of 14 year old Native American Louie Sam in 1884. It was committed by a mob of white Americans.

The NAACP reports from 1882-1968, 4,743 lynchings occurred in the United States. None were committed by Canadians.

by NCD on Fri, 09/20/2019 - 11:35pm

Canada had slavery.for over 200 years

Canada's 150th birthday has prompted much looking back at our history. And one of the things Canadians have long been proud about is our status as the final stop on the Underground Railroad, a safe refuge for American slaves fleeing bondage.

This is true, and we should be proud. But let's not be too proud -- after all, the colonies that became Canada also had slavery for more than two centuries, ending only 30 years before U.S. President Abraham Lincoln wrote the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863.

When Britain took over New France, about 7 per cent of the colony was enslaved, or around 4,000 out of a population of 60,000. Two-thirds were indigenous slaves, known as Panis, and the other third African, who cost twice as much and were a status symbol. The British did not set them free.

"We don't know about what happened before the Underground Railroad, which is that indigenous and black Canadians endured slavery."

-- Afua Cooper, historian

Unlike our American cousins, Canada did not itself end its slavery -- in fact, in 1777 slaves began fleeing Canada for Vermont, which had just abolished slavery. It took Britain to finally outlaw the practice across their entire empire in 1834.

You may not have known this because, well, social media isn't the only place where we curate our lives, humble-bragging our best moments and hiding our shames.

https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2017/06/17/slavery-canada-history_n_16806804.html

The history of slaver is the country’s best kept secret

As Afua Cooper says, slavery is Canada's best-kept secret.

What Nelson calls our "strategic ignorance," harks all the way back to slave-owners themselves, whose selective diaries were replete with euphemisms like "servants" and extended family.

The slaves themselves were silenced. They worked so hard that they died at 20 years old or so. If ever they had time to collect their thoughts, they could scarcely record them for posterity. Masters often prohibited them from speaking their own languages. They stripped them of their original African and Indigenous names, and assigned French and English names, effectively wiping out their identity.

Now a small but growing number of scholars is unearthing court records, local registries and a host of archives to get a glimpse into the less luminous chambers of our past.

Thanks to a new generation of historians — building on the work of pioneers like James Walker and Marcel Trudel — at least part of the injurious erasure is being reversed.

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/canada-s-slavery-secret-the-whitewashing-of-200-years-of-enslavement-1.4726313

by rmrd0000 on Sat, 09/21/2019 - 1:28pm

An interesting aside. The man who wrote the Canadian National Anthem performed in minstrel shows.

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/the-current-for-january-1-2019-1.4954366/he-clearly-did-not-believe-in-canada-the-surprising-story-behind-the-man-who-wrote-o-canada-1.4962389

by rmrd0000 on Sat, 09/21/2019 - 1:40pm

He also enlisted with a Rhode Island Union regiment during the Civil War, and wanted French Quebec to secede from Canada and become part of the US. Henry Louis Gates should find a unkowing descendant of this guy and get their reactions on his genealogy program.

by NCD on Sat, 09/21/2019 - 2:14pm

whole story is very interesting. I am intrigued by what the musicologist throws in here to interpret it

Harris believes the song, with its twisted backstory, is a perfect fit for Canada's sometimes rudderless identity.

"I would argue, well into the 1970s, we were still a British colony, emotionally," he said

Quebec, of course, is known to have quite separatist attitudes to this day.

Back to Justin Trudeau, he is a mix: Scottish and French Canadian.

His father was responsible for the bi-lingualism that was a major attempt to heal the divide.

I'd like to throw in the Cajun/Acadian thing here as a thought provoker about the cultural issues.

by artappraiser on Sat, 09/21/2019 - 3:19pm

throwing in afterthought: Scots haven't always been known to be exceptionally loyal to the British crown. Don't know much Canadian history, now wondering the reason the first Scots settled in Canada.

Do know one thing: as to their visual art history, Canadians are waaaay behind the U.S. in appreciating their own art as distinct and important, and not just derivative of French or British. We started considering our art equal or better post WWII. loud and proud, and a lot the western world quickly started to agree. They've only just begun doing that like a decade ago: scholarship, then interest, then soaring prices. It's like an inferiority complex thing. Still, it's only most Canadians collecting Canadian art, not international market.

by artappraiser on Sat, 09/21/2019 - 3:30pm

Add Champlain, Marquette and Joliet, and western French fur trappers who named Boise, Idaho, "they called this "La rivière boisée", which means "the wooded river".

by NCD on Sat, 09/21/2019 - 5:31pm

there was also this little bit of history, that the Continental Congress and George Washington wanted Lafayette to invade Canada. Lafayette gave it a half-hearted try, he was not really on board with the wisdom of it. It was "let's send the French guy, that'll work"? And the French aristocrat guy is going: I'll try but I doubt this is going to work?

by artappraiser on Sat, 09/21/2019 - 5:59pm

This does bring to my mind how the first Trudeau blackface incident has very little to do with the minstrel show tradition and I think it is important to note that if one is going to talk about the offensive racial nature of the minstrel show tradition. The other high school incident might have more in common with minstrel show tradition, but doing Aladdin as having a black face has nothing to do with minstrel show tradition, it is not the same meme at all.

As to minstrel shows being popular in Canada in the past (which again, has virtually nothing to do with Trudeau's blackface Aladdin), I was thinking of the French cultural attitude towards simplistic slapstick (think Jerry Lewis) and also their early 20th century practice of liking to import exiled black entertainers from the U.S. Though culturally elite U.S. blacks liked to exile to France because life was better for them there, there is considerable amount of scholarship that the French approach to American blacks was still racist, more of a "noble savage" kind of thing. They liked their jazz girls to dance with banana leaf costumes. A lot of what American blacks found in France of the early 20th century was a lack of Jim Crow restrictions but make no mistake it was still a minstrel show situation where the French audience found them to be exciting performing exotics, not equals. But then it's part of French culture to think of anyone not French as not equal...

The silliness of minstrel shows' main memes actually come out of the European tradition of commedia del arte popullst street entertainment, unsophisticated carnival type entertainment, the Punch and Judy show type of thing. (Hence the word "minstrel", as in wandering troubadour) This George Mason University coursework page on minstrel shows starts out with a good summary that gets at that:

The Minstrel Show

The Minstrel Show presents us with a strange, fascinating and awful phenomenon. Minstrel shows emerged from preindustrial European traditions of masking and carnival. But in the US they began in the 1830s, with working class white men dressing up as plantation slaves. These men imitated black musical and dance forms, combining savage parody of black Americans with genuine fondness for African American cultural forms. By the Civil War the minstrel show had become world famous and respectable. Late in his life Mark Twain fondly remembered the "old time nigger show" with its colorful comic darkies and its rousing songs and dances. By the 1840s, the minstrel show had become one of the central events in the culture of the Democratic party....

It does not surprise me for that reason that it would appeal to French Canadians of the time

But again, I do not see anything relating to "minstrel show" in Trudeau's blackface Aladdin, that is a different type of blackface. One can certainly find all blackface costumes of this kind offensive, but it is still incorrect to conflate the two and doing so gets you nowhere as far as mining the American Minstrel Show phenomenon for its racist roots.

by artappraiser on Sat, 09/21/2019 - 4:45pm

So Trudeau did not appear in total body black makeup?

https://globalnews.ca/news/5922861/justin-trudeau-brownface-video/?utm_m...

When discussing the brownface photo, Trudeau also admitted he wore blackface in high school to sing “Day-O,” which is a Jamaican folk song made famous by Harry Belafonte, but he did not bring up the video published by Global News

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/43kn3g/now-theres-a-video-of-justin-t...

There may be more photos to come.

Edit to add:

Tradeau did acknowledge something important

Because his words help explain, in ways that others caught wearing blackface have not, why blackface and brownface are truly awful traditions. Not just poor judgment. Not just youthful indiscretions. Not just costumes with a problematic history.

“It was a terrible idea,” Trudeau said in an address to the media Thursday. “It was something that minimizes and takes advantage of a reality that I have not had to live with, of being discriminated against, of being marginalized, of being judged for the color of my skin, for my language, my background.”

That’s the key: “Minimizes and takes advantage of a reality that I have not had to live with.”

“I come from a place of privilege,” he continued, “and I have endeavored in my life to put the advantages and the opportunities I’ve been given to serve this country, to fight for people’s rights. And I have to recognize that I let a lot of people down with that choice.”

https://www.chicagotribune.com/columns/heidi-stevens/ct-heidi-stevens-friday-justin-trudeau-blackface-apology-0920-20190920-5takqqomyfgujjojao5wxcrvdq-story.html

by rmrd0000 on Sat, 09/21/2019 - 7:05pm

So tell me, geniuses, why is it okay to have white people performing Harry Belafonte's "Day O" in a very minstrely way, twerking and gyrating with exaggerated calypso? (Why is it amusing for non-Jamaican blacks to imitate Caribbean patois in the same way?) Why is it ok for Michael Keaton to wear white face and run around the whole film (Beetlejuice) in a very minstrely way as a "ghost" (get it? heart of African black "otherness", just ghosts of the jungle/bush)? Here's a totally over-the-top modern rendition of minstrel tradition that earned Belafonte and Burton and others Academy Awards and still accepted as a "great movie" by a great director, while respectful homages to black figures (or other people of color) and black culture involving black makeup or any black style (I assume putting on Bob Marley dreads isn't allowed) is treated as anathema. Of course maybe Beetlejuice will be burned at the stake tomorrow (fine with me, I hated that flick).

by PeraclesPlease on Sat, 09/21/2019 - 10:05pm

Hated it? You're just scared. Otherwise why were you so careful to only say Beetlejuice twice in your post.

by ocean-kat on Sat, 09/21/2019 - 10:24pm

Beetlejuice. There. Thpppt!

by PeraclesPlease on Sat, 09/21/2019 - 10:48pm

Which film won Harry Belafonte an Academy Award?

Too difficult to get through the rest of your gibberish.

by rmrd0000 on Sat, 09/21/2019 - 11:02pm

Fine, it won an Oscar for Best Makeup and Danny Elfman got a BMI for best music score, and a successful box office haul.

Oh, and fuck you, asshole.

Pedantic and unreachable as usual.

by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 09/22/2019 - 1:51am

by artappraiser on Sat, 09/21/2019 - 11:13pm

I’ll have to get around to watching the movie.

by rmrd0000 on Sun, 09/22/2019 - 9:44am

Speaking of stereotypes, I wonder what "Great White North" types like the MacKenzie Brothers might be thinking about all of this, eh?

I am also thinking of the enormous irreverant comedy talent that comes out of Canada, along the lines of SCTV, how they are very talented at skewering things like this little moment in a mild-mannered way without raising hardly any hackles. I'm betting most were probably pretty cynical about Trudeau before this happened...

by artappraiser on Sat, 09/21/2019 - 10:04pm

I see these older accounts on Twitter:

Not Justin Trudeau (Parody)

@TrudeauParody

Just a humble school teacher bravely fighting to save the world. (Parody)

Joined August 2019

----

Trudeau Googles

@TrudeauGoogles

Programmed to tweet Justin Trudeau's search history.

Joined October 2012

by artappraiser on Sat, 09/21/2019 - 10:16pm

Canada's one big "elite coast" with a spattering of rural elements. They're pretty much used to taking the piss out of each other, not too serious because they're just the mini-me mini-US. Whites are frequently able to stand being the butt of jokes, like Eddie Murphy's "White Like Me" or "White Men Can't Jump". McKenzies are likely able to make fun of and respect Trudeau (a bit) at the same time.

I do wonder how much pushback there was to a black comedy show (In Living Color) having a depiction of a smelly incoherent homeless black as "humor" (Jamie Foxx?) To me that role was more mean-spirited and preying on black stereotypes than this outrage over Chris Matthews saying "colored" or whatever the latest is, though not nearly as outrageous as a cop punching a black guy on the pavement over and over with impunity and no hesitation/self-doubt for an expired license.

by PeraclesPlease on Sat, 09/21/2019 - 10:17pm

I can't believe the things black people let black comedians get away with, especially but not only Jamie Fox. Imo he is so racist and misogynistic I can't watch him. I suppose one could try to claim he's mugging for the white folks but I've watch some of his live performances and the majority of the audience was black. Laughing uproariously at bits like this.

by ocean-kat on Sat, 09/21/2019 - 11:20pm

Jamie Fox did his Ugly Girl skit before live audiences?

Whites can do blackface because.....Jamie Fox?

Do you believe that a black comedian who repeatedly made fun of Jews is OK? Would the come dine called anti-Semitic?.

If a black politician were revealed to have appeared in Orthodox Jewish clothing in a skit, would they be called anti-Semitic?

I think that there is comedy that is limited to certain groups.

by rmrd0000 on Sun, 09/22/2019 - 9:42am

I am not surprised:

'Trudeau blackface photos a non-issue' BBC News #elxn43 #cdnpoli https://t.co/lj2dDO7XiY
— Jeffrey Luscombe (@JeffreyLuscombe) September 19, 2019

by artappraiser on Sat, 09/21/2019 - 10:21pm

Those interviews were before the full body blackface video, weren’t they? The woman mentions Aladdin.

by rmrd0000 on Sat, 09/21/2019 - 10:55pm

That one is from the early 1990's and most of them here are saying that the 2001 incident was too long ago to matter.

Geez you have a lot invested in trying to prove everyone gets as outraged about this stuff as you do, don't you?

Seems to me the most common opinion about these finds from 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 yrs ago is "people can change, it's what they are doing now that counts."

You seem to have like this insatiable outrage and grievance about historical acts. The oppo people hunting through the ancient history of politicians running for office are counting on those like you. (What's odd is I don't see you upset about things like the movement to allow convicted felons to vote and run for office. Why should those that have committed felonies be special?)

Who promised you all people running for office were saints?

And why are you so driven to find proof that others feel the same way you do? Why does that verify what you feel? Have you no confidence in your own feelings?

by artappraiser on Sat, 09/21/2019 - 11:53pm

The full body black makeup was the last image to appear. The video interview appears to be before that time.

Do you agree with the white woman who said that whites need to check the racist things in their past and also recognize their white privilege?

Northam and Trudeau offered their9 apologies. If there was nothing wrong with blackface, why apologize?

by rmrd0000 on Sun, 09/22/2019 - 9:09am

An early poll suggests Trudeau’s party has lost ground in the aftermath of the brownface/blackface images.

The day before the pictures emerged, “the Liberals were at or very close to a majority” in the House of Commons, Graves said. “That’s completely turned around and maybe the Conservatives are in majority range now.”

“The Liberals’ Ontario lead appears to have evaporated almost overnight,” he added. At the end of August, the Liberals had a 15 percentage point lead on Conservatives Ontario, according to an EKOS poll.

Conservatives would now win 35.5% of the vote and the Liberals 32.9%, a Nanos Research poll released on Sunday said.

https://ca.reuters.com/article/topNews/idCAKBN1W70ID-OCATP

Obviously, the election results are what matters.

by rmrd0000 on Sun, 09/22/2019 - 3:34pm

Obama endorsed Trudeau in a tweet Oct. 16:

I was proud to work with Justin Trudeau as President. He's a hard-working, effective leader who takes on big issues like climate change. The world needs his progressive leadership now, and I hope our neighbors to the north support him for another term.
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) October 16, 2019

by artappraiser on Fri, 10/18/2019 - 1:38am

Trudeau is the better alternative in Canada. He was dumb enough to wear blackface. He had a drop in the polls. Obama tries to correct a situation that Trudeau created. Wearing blackface is not nothing. Wearing blackface effected his polling.

Voters will head to the ballot box to elect their new prime minister on Monday, bringing an end to six weeks of campaigning that has been light on policy and heavy on personality.

A Nanos Research poll published Wednesday put Scheer's Conservatives on 33%, with Trudeau's Liberals narrowly behind on 32%.

With the Liberals and Conservatives struggling to attract enough support to govern alone, some of Canada's smaller parties could be relied upon to form a parliamentary majority.

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/17/canada-election-pm-justin-trudeau-battles-to-stay-in-power.html

Some police official, politician, or entertainer will still be dumb enough to wear blackface this Halloween and plead ignorance.

by rmrd0000 on Fri, 10/18/2019 - 8:17am

Black population Canada is 3.5%. Not a big hit.

by PeraclesPlease on Fri, 10/18/2019 - 10:28am

There is no reason only black voters would be offended. In a close race 2-3% could be important. At any rate, we will know on Monday.

by rmrd0000 on Fri, 10/18/2019 - 2:16pm

Nobody else gives a fuck. Don't kid yourself.

by PeraclesPlease on Fri, 10/18/2019 - 4:09pm

I do think other people care, otherwise, he wouldn't need Obama.

Polls show Trudeau could lose to his Conservative Party rival in national elections on Monday or fail to win a majority of seats in Parliament and have to rely on an opposition party to remain in power. Not since 1935 has a first-term Canadian prime minister with a parliamentary majority lost a bid for re-election.

A combination of scandal and high expectations has damaged his prospects.

Last month, photos of Trudeau in blackface and brownface when he was younger surfaced, casting doubt on his judgment. And the boyishly handsome 47-year-old was tarnished by a scandal that erupted earlier this year, when his former attorney general said he pressured her to halt the prosecution of a Quebec company. Trudeau has said he was standing up for jobs.

“I don’t think he’s totally negated, but he’s not just the draw, the leader, if you like, that people wanted and expected,” said Robert Bothwell, a professor of Canadian history and international relations at the University of Toronto

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/trudeau-could-lose-power-in-canadas-election-monday/2019/10/18/b4766b62-f15c-11e9-bb7e-d2026ee0c199_story.html

by rmrd0000 on Sat, 10/19/2019 - 12:11pm

He's the son of a popular Canadian Prime Minister *and* Margaret Fucking Trudeau, who balled half the Rolling Stones in the 70's, plus he's half French, half Anglo. He doesn't need Obama. Things are different up in Canuckland.

by PeraclesPlease on Sat, 10/19/2019 - 12:24pm

here's yet another op-ed on the fallout from the blackface revelations, oh wait, no, I can't find that part:

“While Canada's GDP has grown 8% since 2015, its semiconductor business has expanded 11%, electronic products 27%, computer systems 23%, and information technology 36%.” https://t.co/UItKnVPMLn
— Frank Luntz (@FrankLuntz) October 19, 2019

“Canada recorded its biggest immigration wave in more than a century last year, admitting 321,065 people.

The government's Global Skills Strategy attracted about 24,000 technology workers and other skilled workers in the two years since it started.”https://t.co/RscgKsNGT7
— Frank Luntz (@FrankLuntz) October 19, 2019

Funny, sounds just like the kinda pol Obama would support?

[edit to add second tweet]

by artappraiser on Sat, 10/19/2019 - 4:40pm

If Trudeau has the economy booming, why is this a nail-biter?

by rmrd0000 on Sat, 10/19/2019 - 5:35pm

WTF

The race is a tie. That is why he called Obama, Trudeau's rep took a hit.

by rmrd0000 on Sat, 10/19/2019 - 5:33pm

oh sure, that totally splains why the alt right is trying to paint him as the politically correct police:

Trudeau will censor your social media if reelected - The Post Millennial https://t.co/KNyjWnnpng
— The Notorious Poso (@JackPosobiec) October 19, 2019

by artappraiser on Sat, 10/19/2019 - 6:03pm

Dunning-Kruger totally rule in the field of political analysis.

by PeraclesPlease on Sat, 10/19/2019 - 6:23pm

I got my own bias, I am taking troll bait from someone who can't even see that he appears to be desperately rooting for Trudeau and his party to lose to conservatives in order to prove that politicians cannot apologize for social indiscretions in their youth. That they must live with them like a scarlet letter. What does that really mean in the end? It means: if you ever did something naughty, you should not run for office. It's sick.

Some people may indeed be disappointed that this golden boy was not all that he seemed on many levels, and that ain't just about a couple of long ago costumes. Personally, I think Obama threw the endorsement out there because he doesn't want "suburban swings" making the same error as they did here in 2016. What Obama's tweet says to me: voters need to think globally, not tribally, when they elect the guys that will be representing them globally. that it's real important at this time in history.

by artappraiser on Sat, 10/19/2019 - 6:47pm

I can't cast a vote in Canada. The blackface photos appear to have impacted Canadian voters.

Pollster David Coletto of Abacus Data said the biggest risk to the Liberals was low voter turnout among their supporters.

"They were already, in our data, showing that they were less motivated than Conservatives ... there is certainly the chance that this further de-motivates those Liberals and makes them less likely to want to actually cast a ballot," he said.

https://www.businessinsider.com/battered-trudeau-gets-brief-reprieve-ami...

You may not be offended by blackface, but that doesn't mean that some white Canadians are not offended. We will get the election results tomorrow. If Trudeau power, there will be tons of post-election analysis.

The blackface photos did not help Trudeau.

by rmrd0000 on Sun, 10/20/2019 - 11:07am

Nor can MLK III (disappointed in how the negative travels):
https://nationalpost.com/news/politics/election-2019/martin-luther-king-...

Race talk in Canada superficial:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/election-racism-analysis-1.5318768

but that doesn't mean that some white Canadians are not offended.

Well that's horridly deceptive wording - it certainly doesn't assure that more than a handful of white Canadians are offended either. Frankly, I'd bet that the whites most vocal about this are doing it more re: the pipeline or other issues, and just find this a convenient handle to grab onto.

by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 10/20/2019 - 12:01pm

We will have election results tomorrow. Post election analyst will likely include data on the impact of the blackface images.

by rmrd0000 on Sun, 10/20/2019 - 3:31pm

Ever the optimist.

by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 10/20/2019 - 3:34pm

Precisely because Trudeau apologized and clearly will never do it again, I will find it disgusting if it did change any votes. I think it should be a point of shame to vote that way, and certainly not something to get all excited about as a factor. It's the eternal revenge factor. Especially when nobody got killed. For that reason, I hope pollsters don't separate it out from more broader reasons like "I don't trust him." Not the least of which because doing so will feed further oppo hunts galore about past life stuff politicians will then apologize for. Which will feed fewer and fewer people willing to run for office. Unless you're like Marion Barry or Donald Trump, then you could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue in broad daylight and it wouldn't hurt.

by artappraiser on Sun, 10/20/2019 - 4:03pm

Young people considering politics can cross blackface off the list of things they can do. They also have to be aware that social media comments last forever. Employment opportunities can be impacted as well.

by rmrd0000 on Sun, 10/20/2019 - 5:54pm

Wow, thanks for the heads up - we didn't know. (eyes roll)

by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 10/20/2019 - 6:06pm

Cut the crap. I simply made a truthful statement.

by rmrd0000 on Mon, 10/21/2019 - 8:37am

By your standard I doubt that any of the men over 50 could be elected if there was a digital record of the things they said when they were teens. Not Booker, not Sanders, not Biden. Every thing I've read leads me to believe that blacks are more anti-gay than whites. But I'm sure you'll be willing to forgive the black dude for his anti-gay comments.

by ocean-kat on Sun, 10/20/2019 - 6:14pm

Or misogyny?

Whom among us hasn't rapped along to a ho's and bitchez opus?

by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 10/20/2019 - 8:43pm

Biden and Sanders faced questions about misogyny. Biden on his actions regarding Anita Hill and Sanders early in his phis prior campaign.

Name the homophobic black legislator.

Edit to add:

Ben Carson is a member of Trump's cabinet. Carson is homophobic. Do you think I support Carson?

by rmrd0000 on Mon, 10/21/2019 - 9:54am

Encouraging making a big deal about social or behavioral indiscretions in politician's past personal lives is the real evil here and is a many-edged sword, it encourages the practice of digging up dirt when the target has changed his or her ways. You judge what they are currently doing and who they currently are! That is Obama's point. HE WOULDN'T BE TRYING TO HELP IF HE DIDN'T WANT HIM TO WIN! There is no one who always has been a saint running for political office. Zero. I think the purity-police style obsession that you and others like you have with this one issue is an example of something that social media can be used for that is very detrimental to our current political system.

When voting you should judge what the candidate has done in political office unless it's actual criminal activity in their past that was hidden. Even racists and criminals can change and become useful servants of the people. Period.

What don't you get about that? How far back does this litmus test go? If they wore blackface as a 5 year old? It is so ridiculous that this is considered of import if the person has publicly apologized. It is ridiculous in the first place that right wingers are scouring old yearbooks to bait people like you into thinking it matters. The most ridiculous case was that woman politician that was being "outed" for wearing blackface 50 years ago. C'mon, if that's not being purity police, I don't know what is. Even right wing anti-abortion people are known to forgive a woman who had an abortion in the past, which they consider murder, if she changes her tune. But rmrd and friends think black face should never ever be forgiven? Give me a break.

by artappraiser on Fri, 10/18/2019 - 6:39pm

Tell me a man is older than 50 and I'll bet he made some really nasty homophobic comments, jokes and insults when he was a teen. I'd almost never lose that bet. If the internet was common back then it would be in his digital record. I don't care if he's black, white, or hispanic. I don't think it's changed that much either. I'm not sure enough to bet but probably men in their 40's or 30's made the same type of homophobic comments in their teens too. People are going to have to learn to forgive people now that there's a digital record because almost everyone who grew up in the internet age has something bad in it.

by ocean-kat on Fri, 10/18/2019 - 10:04pm

Oh yeah, well I got worse: Liz Warren was still a Republican in the early 90's, and then, gasp!, I found this:

by artappraiser on Fri, 10/18/2019 - 11:14pm

P.S. Bill Clinton really did inhale that marijuana, it's just that there were no pictures.

by artappraiser on Fri, 10/18/2019 - 11:30pm

As the bus rolled along Blue Hill Avenue some one started a chant "there are no more Jews on Blue Hill Avenue".

I joined. (The next line was "They've all moved to Columbia Road".)

The person I happened to most admire happened to be Jewish.

If he had ever asked me about it at any time in the next 60 years I'd have said "Of God. Of course I did. Did you ever do something like that?"

by Flavius on Sat, 10/19/2019 - 1:06am

Bernie's Civil Rights activity was brief and localized. It ended in 1963.

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/02/bernie-sanders-core-university-chicago/

Hillary went undercover to examine racial discrimination in Alabama. She was inspired by Madeline Wright Edelman.

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/28/us/politics/how-hillary-clinton-went-undercover-to-examine-race-in-education.html

Both Hillary and Bernie face criticism for supporting the 1994 crime bill.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/02/12/1994-crime-bill-haunts-clinton-and-sanders-as-criminal-justice-reform-rises-to-top-in-democratic-contest/

Hillary and Bernie have not been accused of wearing blackface

by rmrd0000 on Sat, 10/19/2019 - 12:34pm

Hillary and Bernie have not been accused of wearing blackface

because wearing blackface in a Halloween costume when you were in college 50 years ago is worse than working for Goldwater. One is forgivable the other isn't

by ocean-kat on Sun, 10/20/2019 - 1:18am

A history of wearing blackface is not going to boost your reputation. Northam stayed because Fairfax faced sexual abuse charges.. The Governor of Alabama stayed because it is no big deal in Alabama. Trudeau took a hit. The blackface also tarnished the image of Canada. We now know of blackface and slavery in Canada. The previous view of Canada was as a central station on the Underground Railroad.

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/canada-s-slavery-secret-the-whitewashing-...

by rmrd0000 on Sun, 10/20/2019 - 11:17am

Interesting that Obama's tweet synchs with this campaign meme I just ran across:

Because it does. Vote for #ClimateAction. Vote Liberal.https://t.co/LYFpWxoNeY #ChooseForward pic.twitter.com/gqv48ulGQQ
— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) October 21, 2019

by artappraiser on Mon, 10/21/2019 - 3:02pm

The blackface episodes remain in the forefront of analysis on why the race is tight

MONTREAL — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada has crisscrossed his vast country from the Pacific to the Atlantic coasts, and all the way up to the Arctic, shaking hands, cradling babies and posing for his signature selfies — sometimes doing all three at once.

Along the way, his campaign for re-election became an apology tour after it was revealed that as a young man he had dressed in blackface and brownface.

The racist caricatures were damaging enough, but for Mr. Trudeau they also seemed to validate a troubling critique of his character: His critics have long said his liberal image was merely a politically expedient veneer.

He is an environmentalist, who, they point out, bought a pipeline.

He is a self-declared feminist who was accused of bullying his own female attorney general.

Now, with Canadians voting in a national election on Monday, the question hanging over Mr. Trudeau is: Will voters forgive him? Will they choose him even if he has not always been the leader they hoped for

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/21/world/canada/trudeau-election.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage

Blackface confirmed doubts about character.

by rmrd0000 on Mon, 10/21/2019 - 8:45am

Ocean-Kat made the following observation above

Every thing I've read leads me to believe that blacks are more anti-gay than whites. But I'm sure you'll be willing to forgive the black dude for his anti-gay comments.

I agree that there is homophobia in the black community. Since we are talking about a national election, I looked at how homophobia played out in an election in the United States. GW Bush ran campaigns targeting Evangelicals. In his re-election, he emphasized that he was against Gay marriage. How many blacks voted for GW Bush?

In 2000, Bush got 9% of the black vote and 55% of the white vote.

https://ropercenter.cornell.edu/how-groups-voted-2000

In 2004, when he had anti-Gay marriage as a major part of his campaign, Bush got 11% of the black vote and 58% of the white vote. Bush did get 16-20% of the black vote in Ohio.

https://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2004/pages/results/states/US/P/00/epolls.0.html

The national voting record indicates that whites are more likely to vote for a homophobe.

Marian Barry blocked Gay marriage in DC, I wouldn't have voted for him.

by rmrd0000 on Mon, 10/21/2019 - 10:39am

Re: Marian Barry blocked Gay marriage in DC, I wouldn't have voted for him

Elsewhere you're trying to argue that public evidence of being politically incorrect will influence enough voters to make the candidate lose. Here you are bringing up an example of how the candidate can win despite it. Which are you arguing? That a lot of people think like you and make litmus tests out of things like this, or that your attitude is atypical?

I bring this up because: as I have mentioned before, you would get far less flack here if you used the first person pronoun more often rather than implying that whole groups. such as all blacks, all minorities or all Democrats think like you. If you just spoke for yourself, and didn't imply that you represented whole tribes and knew that they thought exactly like you, it would just be you giving your opinion and far fewer would argue with you.

by artappraiser on Mon, 10/21/2019 - 3:16pm

The comment was in response to ocean-kat suggesting how I would vote. I gave numbers for how many black voters cast votes for GW Bush, so there is no suggesting that blacks are a monolith. A minority of black voters cast votes that supported GW's rejection of same-sex marriage in a national election. A majority of white voters favored the homophobe. A majority of white voters favored Trump. It is likely that a majority of white voters will vote Trump again.

We will have arguments because you use terms like pity olympics. You want to dictate the wording of my posts. I am offended by statues of white supremacists, you are not. I think calling police on people existing while black endangers lives, you do not. I think policing black hair is idiotic, you do not. I think identity politics is a dodge used to avoid talking about serious issues, you do not. We are going to argue.

by rmrd0000 on Mon, 10/21/2019 - 5:00pm

If a politician wrote anti-Semitic comments at any point in life, that person would have to answer for their actions.

The current news chief at NBC is being questioned about misogynistic comments he made in college.

https://pagesix.com/2019/10/11/nbc-news-chief-noah-oppenheim-objectified-woman-mocked-feminists-in-college/

Blackface is offensive, that is why a part of Trudeau's campaign has been an apology tour. This is the normal course of events.

by rmrd0000 on Mon, 10/21/2019 - 6:09pm

CBC is calling the race for Trudeau's party. Unclear if it will be a majority or minority party.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2019/oct/22/canada-election-2019-justin-trudeau-faces-reckoning-as-polls-predict-close-result-live

by rmrd0000 on Mon, 10/21/2019 - 10:07pm

Catface is now a thing. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/12/01/british-mixed-race-ballerina...

by PeraclesPlease on Mon, 12/02/2019 - 4:06am

Makes clear that these days a gal has to make sure her foundation makeup matches exactly:

"Obviously I would never have agreed to be a part of something that would change the colour of my skin had I been playing a human,” she said.

Edit to add: and that blusher could be a no-no.

by artappraiser on Mon, 12/02/2019 - 12:39pm

and the horror.

by artappraiser on Mon, 12/02/2019 - 12:57pm

One day, the police will be knocking on the door at 3am, "open up, we know you've got a contraband tanning booth in there..."

by PeraclesPlease on Mon, 12/02/2019 - 2:11pm

Speaking of doing orangeface, the Drumpf method has finally been revealed:

Fashion Tip: To obtain that orange look, #Trump slathers his face with Bronx Colors-brand face makeup from Switzerland, says undocumented housekeepers who worked for him for many years at low pay.https://t.co/A7lMOkEYdh
— Bonnie Britt (@editndesign) December 5, 2019

pic.twitter.com/kRxmt8AIFx
— Tim O'Brien (@TimOBrien) December 5, 2019

by artappraiser on Thu, 12/05/2019 - 12:18am

In the News

Russia plays weak hand in Palestine
Russia plays weak hand in Palestine

submitted by PeraclesPlease 11 months ago

The intra-Palestinian meeting in Moscow has precedent

Russia's hosted such meetings in the past, most recently Feb 2019

Russia has long lamented the US' "monopolization" of the peace process & tried to carve out a niche for itself: mediating among the disunited Palestinians/2
— Hanna Notte (@HannaNotte) February 29, 2024

Read the article at https://twitter.com/HannaNotte/status/1763116222256701787

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Mother Jones is Reaching out to Alternative Party Voters
Mother Jones is Reaching out to Alternative Party Voters

submitted by HSG 11 months ago

Here's what I told them: https://halginsberg.com/vote-for-jill-stein-again/

Read the article at https://halginsberg.com/vote-for-jill-stein-again/

2 comments

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Controversial Brazil law curbing Indigenous rights comes...
Controversial Brazil law curbing Indigenous rights comes into force

submitted by artappraiser 1 year ago

Controversial Brazil law curbing Indigenous rights comes into force https://t.co/pCoDg05irX
— Gareth Harris (@garethharr) December 28, 2023

Read the article at https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/dec/28/brazil-law-indigenous-land-rights-claim-time-marker?CMP=share_btn_tw

1 comment

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Security Alert: U.S. Embassy Port-au-Prince, Haiti (...
Security Alert: U.S. Embassy Port-au-Prince, Haiti (December 25, 2023)

submitted by artappraiser 1 year ago

Location: U.S. Embassy and residential compounds

Events: Heavy gunfire is occuring around the area of the U.S. Embassy and residential compounds adjacent to the Trutier area of Tabarre. All Embassy personnel have been instructed to remain indoors and shelter-in-place until further notice. All others should avoid the area.

Actions to take:

Avoid the area;

Avoid demonstrations and any large gatherings of people;

Do not attempt to drive through roadblocks; and

If you encounter a roadblock, turn around and get to a safe area.

Read the article at https://ht.usembassy.gov/security-alert-u-s-embassy-port-au-prince-haiti-december-25-2023/

3 comments

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Pakistan Is Creating the World’s Next Refugee Crisis
Pakistan Is Creating the World’s Next Refugee Crisis

submitted by artappraiser 1 year ago

By The Editorial Board @ Bloomberg.com, December 8, 2023

A mass expulsion of Afghan migrants could destabilize the region and fuel radicalization. The West should pressure Islamabad to change course.

Read the article at https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2023-12-08/pakistan-s-expulsion-of-afghan-refugees-risks-another-crisis

6 comments

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Internet shut down in Chad
Internet shut down in Chad

submitted by artappraiser 1 year ago

All eyes on #Chad right now
Chad has two internet trunks coming into the country: One from the Red Sea via Sudan; the other from Cameroon. Not possible for the totality of the country's internet network to be shut unless done centrally. A lot of rumors swirling; few facts. https://t.co/N6bDJZ2ixO

Read the article at https://x.com/_hudsonc/status/1732891968709992511?s=20

2 comments

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[Economy] where Joe's success falls short
[Economy] where Joe's success falls short

submitted by PeraclesPlease 1 year ago

Read the article at

3 comments

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[CRIME News] 3 loss-prevention employees in Macy’s across...
[CRIME News] 3 loss-prevention employees in Macy’s across the street from Philadelphia City Hall stabbed

submitted by artappraiser 1 year ago

BREAKING: Three loss prevention employees in Macy’s across the street from Philadelphia City Hall stabbed, one of them has died from stab wounds, @PhillyPolice sources tell me. Police converged on the store as the three workers were rushed to Jefferson Hospital. pic.twitter.com/4U1eKycL4W

Read the article at https://x.com/KeeleyFox29/status/1731713272942940365?s=20

38 comments

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Former U.S. Ambassador Arrested, Charged With Working As...
Former U.S. Ambassador Arrested, Charged With Working As Secret Agent For Cuba

submitted by artappraiser 1 year ago

Former US Ambassador Arrested, Charged With Working As Secret Agent For Cuba https://t.co/LDwo4ZJI1K
— HuffPost (@HuffPost) December 4, 2023

Read the article at https://www.huffpost.com/entry/manuel-rocha-ambassador-arrested-cuba_n_656d1e2ae4b028b0f3d07478

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[War in Israel, Chapter II] UNRWA under scrutiny
[War in Israel, Chapter II] UNRWA under scrutiny

submitted by artappraiser 1 year ago

[Chapter I news is HERE, Oct. 7 til today]

You don’t get it.
It’s not about an UNRWA teacher who held an Israeli kid hostage in his house.
It’s all about how for 75 years you have destroyed the future of generations of Palestinians, including my family.
My cousins in Arab countries are still not citizens - not even the… https://t.co/nv6anubGhc
— George Deek (@GeorgeDeek) December 2, 2023

Note 'Community Notes' attached to UNWRA's statement.

Read the article at https://x.com/GeorgeDeek/status/1731020551328579863?s=20

58 comments

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Maduro, Under Pressure, Holds Vote to Annex Territory From...
Maduro, Under Pressure, Holds Vote to Annex Territory From a Neighbor

submitted by artappraiser 1 year ago

Imperialism for me but not for thee?

It's wild that Venezuela is now holding a vote on whether 2/3 of Guyana actually belongs to them! Analysts suggest that Modoru may want military action to pump up his sinking popularity.

Could we have a war in South America?!?

"The people who live in Essequibo are largely… pic.twitter.com/QvMEjkkgwy

Read the article at https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/03/world/americas/maduro-vote-essequibo-guyana.html

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[Where is the GOP headed?] Divisions leave Florida’s House...
[Where is the GOP headed?] Divisions leave Florida’s House Republicans powerless

submitted by artappraiser 1 year ago

The lack of a cohesive delegation has allowed attention-seeking lawmakers to act on their own.

McCarthy: “You have [Rep. Matt] Gaetz, who belongs in jail…”

Gaetz: “Tough words from a guy who sucker punches people in the back. The only assault I committed was against Kevin’s fragile ego.”https://t.co/LctPuz6Pcf

Read the article at https://www.politico.com/news/2023/11/29/divisions-leave-floridas-house-republicans-powerless-00129200

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‘She got so mad at me’: book on the ‘Squad’ details AOC-...
‘She got so mad at me’: book on the ‘Squad’ details AOC-Pelosi clashes

submitted by artappraiser 1 year ago

By Martinn Pengelly in Washington DC for TheGuardian.com, Nov. 30

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tells Ryan Grim life in Congress ‘completely transformed’ after Democratic leader stepped down

Read the article at https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/nov/30/squad-book-aoc-nancy-pelosi?CMP=share_btn_tw

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US health insurers Humana, Cigna in talks to merge -source
US health insurers Humana, Cigna in talks to merge -source

submitted by artappraiser 1 year ago

@ Reuters, Nov. 29

Read the article at https://www.reuters.com/markets/deals/us-health-insurers-humana-cigna-talks-merge-wsj-2023-11-29/

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Central Africa’s dinosaur regimes and the art of coup-...
Central Africa’s dinosaur regimes and the art of coup-proofing

submitted by artappraiser 1 year ago

"Both the AU and the intl community place more weight on whether elections are held than whether they are free and fair. Sanctions/expulsions occur when there is a coup but not necessarily when elections are rigged or if an “institutional coup” occurs." https://t.co/m9dNimJP0D
— Cameron Hudson (@_hudsonc) November 28, 2023

Read the article at https://africanarguments.org/2023/11/central-africas-dinosaur-regimes-and-the-art-of-coup-proofing/

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