Stop Blaming Others for Your Failures Papa John

John "Papa John" Schnatter took a page out of the late Attorney Johnnie Cochran's bag of defense tricks when he pulled out the race card as the blame for his company's drop in pizza sales. To be clear, John didn't come right out and say, "Those black niggas in the NFL are messing up my money" but that's what he implied. 

During a recent conference call with investors, the 55-year-old Schnatter blamed low pizza sales on the NFL Players protest.  You know the protest I'm talking about...where predominately black players are taking a knee during the national anthem to protest the injustices committed against blacks in this country.  Thanks to the ignorance of Donald Trump,the protest got turned into a protest against the anthem itself and the military, which is definitely NOT the case.

During this conference call, Schnatter is quoted as saying "The NFL has hurt us by not resolving the current debacle to the players' and owners' satisfaction."  As a result, he says he is pulling ads from some of the NFL games for the remainder of the season.  He blamed a 24 percent drop in his company's stock to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell not being able to control those black players who are exercising their rights under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.  He, like Trump, has made this an issue about disrespecting the anthem, while closing their eyes to the FACTS behind the ongoing protests. 

Schnatter has, very cleverly (and stupidly) used the NFL protests to cite his company's poor sales performance. The fact that some of his products aren't all that great doesn't seem to be a factor.  I can tell you, first hand, how bad their chicken philly cheese pizza is. Without coming out and blaming it squarely on the black players, he knows the overwhelming majority of protesters are black and they are an easy scapegoat since he can rally the Trump base to be on his side and take up his cause.  And guess what?  That's just what they did!

The day after the Papa John conference call, the white supremacist website, The Daily Stormer, came out and pledged its support for Papa Johns's pizza and posted a photo of a pizza with the swastika symbol displayed with pepperoni.  The called Papa John's the "Official Pizza of the Alt-Right."

I bet Papa John's pizza sales will probably drop even lower.  Whether or not the majority of whites support the NFL black players peaceful protest, I do believe the majority will fail to support the company knowing they are supported by a neo-nazi, racist group.  Schnatter knows that too since he was forced to come out and issue another statement on the matter:

"We condemn racism in all forms and any and all hate groups that support it.  We do not want these individuals or groups to by our pizza."  

TOO LATE!

Perhaps the Trump base will keep Papa John's in business.  After all, he did support Trump's campaign financially. Perhaps the NFL owners will rally to his defense, since he has been the official sponsor of the NFL since 2010 and Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, owns at least 100 of the Papa Johns franchises in Texas. 

One thing I do believe is, he has lost the support of the general public and the people on social media will not let him forget it.

No Ticket No Meeting With Our North Carolina Senator

Senator Thom Tillis decided to come out of hiding this week and meet with his constituents.  On Monday, he held a ticket-only event for his "political base."  These were the so-called good republicans who will sit very quietly in their seats and allow the politician to tell them all kinds of half-truths and alternative facts without demonstrating any anger.

The angry crowd was outside begging to be heard but because they had no tickets, their concerns fell on deaf ears.

Senator Tillis and Senator Richard Burr must've thought they would have it relatively easy over the next four years with a republican controlled Senate and House. But then Donald Trump became President and everybody's world got turned upside down.  Their staunchest supporters are now starting to question their party loyalty.

The fact that Tillis has been unwilling to meet his constituents face-to-face until now and the fact that he made his Town Hall Meeting a ticket only event is very telling.  Either he and Senator Burr know they are in a world of trouble and don't want to face the music or they are going to see how long they can ride the storm with their good, ol' southern republican base.  

Speaking of Senator Burr, it is obvious that he is not and has not willing to listen to the voice of the North Carolina voters.  I was among hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people who called his office to ask him to vote AGAINST the confirmation of Betsy DeVoss as Secretary of Education.  But what he do?  Read his statement below which he posted on Facebook:

Betsy DeVos has dedicated her life to improving education, so I am glad she will continue to fight for all children as Secretary of Education. Attempts by Senate Democrats to stall the President’s nominees only distract from the very real struggles of North Carolina’s families seeking the best education for their children.


Maybe Tills and Burr will come to their sense before long and act like true representatives of their voters.  If not, we will do the same thing #45 says he is committed to doing:  We will drain the swamp to make sure they don't return to Washington.

Dear Uneducated Blue Collar Rural Poor White People

Dear uneducated, blue collar, rural , poor white people,

Since you're uneducated I promise not to use very big words because you probably won't understand the meaning and I don't want to further insult you.

What you did on Tuesday, November 8, 2016 was show the world that although you might be classified as dumb, ignorant and stupid, you were pretty darn smart when you got Bobby Jo, Cooter, Cletus, Mary Lou, Savannah Jean and everyone else in rural white america to drive their pick-ups down to the polls to vote for your man, Donald Trump.  And to think the pollsters and all of the so-called intelligent think-tankers got it wrong.  They said "There's no chance in hell that buffoon can win!  The country will never stand for a bigoted, racist womanizer who says he will make America great and white again."  Hello No!  That won't happen.

But ha! ha! uneducated, blue collar, rural, poor white people....the joke was on Anderson Cooper, Rachel Maddow, and the rest of those liberal, communist, mainstream media jokers because, once again, you showed how darn-tootin' smart you were by believing in Fox News as much as you believe in the Bible and you showed up at the Trump rallies fired up and ready to punch out anybody who protested against him.  And some of you made national headlines Ya-hoo!!!

Trump spoke the language you've been speaking and wanting to hear from a Presidential Candidate since you heard your pappy tell you about George Wallace's campaign slogan of"Segregation now, Segregation forever!" back in 1968.  He was a real son of the South for down-trodden southern whites.

Dear uneducated white people, you also showed those lazy, no good, no votin' niggas and those prissy little college-educated white women that your voice would be heard at the ballot box and you did it loud and clear.  You can be proud of what you did because for the first time in a long time YOU actually made a difference. 

You can now be proud to know you have some claim to the White House--yes it's the WHITE house.  It doesn't matter how many times your President has disrespected and sexually assaulted women because your uncle Bobby Ray, Billy Bob and Bodean have probably done it so many times they've lost count.  And I bet you are now looking for all those nude photos the First Lady-elect posed for as a model (if you don't already have them).  

The next four years should be a good ol' hell raisin', take off your kkk hoods time for ya'll!

But dear uneducated, blue collar, rural , poor white people, I hate to tell you the joke is going to be on you.  And don't say I didn't warn you.

Peace be with you.

Donald Trump Speaks One Truth at First Presidential Debate

I gave up Monday Night Football and an evening of virtual Spades to watch the first Presidential Candidates' debate.  

I was happy to see fellow journalist and baby boomer Lester Holt acting as moderator, although I was somewhat disappointed that he didn't take better control of Donald Trump's rants.  But, then again, that is who "the Donald" is so he was true to form.

And speaking of being "true", Trump stated something during the debate that I have been saying for years about the Democratic candidates.  He said they court Blacks and other minorities during election season and then dump us once they get elected.  Now that, in my opinion, is a TRUE statement.   I am not sure how we (especially Southerners) got hoodwinked and bamboozled into believing the Democratic Party was our Saviour from the economic, racial and social ills that continue to plague us. Obviously, black people in the South don't recall the history of the Dixiecrats, the Southern Democrats who seceded from the party in 1948 and created their own agenda which included states' rights to freedom from governmental interference and the right to exclude whomever they wanted from business and other organizations.  

Democratic candidates constantly dangle a carrot of hope and opportunities in front of us making us believe they will fight for our rights once they get elected.  What they NEVER tell us is they will be fighting against a majority of other elected officials who have their own hidden agendas  that don't include the well-being of minorities.

Case in point:  About 10 years ago when my daughter was entering college at North Carolina A&T I had an issue and wanted my local Congressman, David Price, to get involved and help me or at least guide me in the right direction.  I called his local Durham, NC and Washington offices repeatedly and left messages.  I got no response.  I lost all respect for him and his staff after that and have never voted for him again---although he keeps winning.  He is a great example of "showing up" when he needs us but he obviously didn't need me at that time or I'm sure there would've been a response.  

So even though I think Donald Trump is an imbecile and unfit to be President I do give him a kudos for ranting one truth at the first Presidential debate.