On This Day: MLK Delivers His "I Have a Dream" Speech

On Aug 28th 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his iconic "I Have a Dream Speech". There's not much for me to say other than, "Take it away Dr. King".

On This Day: Chris Matthews vs. Reince Priebus on Morning Joe

This is the first installment of a periodic series in which I post about events from the past.

One year ago today during a segment of Morning Joe, the hosts and their guests discussed the then-upcoming Republican National Convention and what candidate Mitt Romney could do to turn things around. At about the 2:35 mark of the clip below, the fireworks start when Chris Matthews takes RNC Chairman Reince Priebus to task for what he felt were the GOP's underhanded attacks against President Obama. Chris is like a pitbull because once he gets his teeth in an opponent's ass, he isn't going to let go easily. Because I rarely see Priebus get called on his BS when he's on news programs, it was nice to see him get challenged.  Damn I love live TV!

Lee Daniels: America Is a More Racist Country Since Barack Obama Became President

On Piers Morgan's program last night, Lee Daniels (the director and producer of the hit movie Lee Daniels' The Butler) was a guest along with two of the film's cast members (Lenny Kravitz and Cuba Gooding Jr.). During the segment, Piers asked Lee if America is a more or less racist country since Barack Obama became POTUS. Lee responded by saying that sadly, America is more racist since then. In addition to Lee's remarks, the clip below also contains comments by Lenny and Cuba.



I don't think America has become more racist since Barack Obama became president. Instead, his presidency has caused the racism simmering below the surface to rise to the top. The people harboring racist views already felt this way before Barack Obama was sworn in as POTUS. His presidency has just allowed them an excuse to spread their venom. The same thing happened during the Rodney King and O.J. Simpson trials back in the 1990s. As I've said before, America has come a long way when it comes to race relations. However, events such as the presidency of Barack Obama demonstrate that we still have a lot of work to do.

What are your thoughts on the state of racism since the presidency of Barack Obama?

Sunday Funnies: Cheerios Ad Parody

In June of this year, a Cheerios ad featuring an interracial family generated some controversy. In response to the backlash, comic filmmaker Kenji created the following parody (which has over 1 million views on You Tube).

Megyn Kelly Set to Take the 9 PM Slot On Fox News

According to a UPI.com story, Fox anchor Megyn Kelly will be taking over the 9 pm timeslot on Fox News once she returns from maternity leave this fall. This doesn't come as a big surprise because the powers that be at Fox have been grooming Kelly for prime time for at least a couple of years. With this impending primetime shakeup, my guess is that Sean Hannity's program will move an hour back to 10 pm and Greta Van Susteren (who currently holds the 10 pm slot) may want to brush up her résumé. 

Kelly's move to the 9 pm slot on Fox will be an upgrade over the current occupant and a better complement to The O'Reilly Factor. It's no secret I'm no fan of Sean Hannity, but it's not because he's a conservative. I don't like him because he's habitually dishonest, whiny, and boring. The trifecta of bad broadcasting. Although I've had issues with Kelly, she can be one of the more reasonable voices at Fox (which is like calling Moe the "smart Stooge"). Change can be a good thing and I'm intrigued to see what Kelly does with her upcoming primetime show.

The clip below is from a spring 2013 segment of America Live with Megyn Kelly in which Kelly challenged guests Erick Erickson and Lou Dobbs on their views about women in the workplace.