Commentary: Are we already living in Donald Trump's America?

[HonestJohn]

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-race-police-shootings-commentary-idUSKCN0ZN2GI

Thu Jul 7, 2016 5:22pm EDT
PENIEL E. JOSEPH

Is this what it looks like in a land led by Donald Trump?

At the same time the presumptive Republican presidential nominee was defending himself from his latest dog-whistle tweet about Hillary Clinton – featuring a Jewish star he says isn’t a Jewish star superimposed over a pile of cash and an accusation of corruption -- two black men were being tragically killed by police.

The police shooting deaths of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, early Tuesday,  and Philando Castile after a traffic stop in Falcon Heights, Minnesota, on Wednesday, were each captured on video. The aftermath of the second shooting was live streamed on the Internet by the victim’s girlfriend. As the videos played on cable news programs across the nation, both offered a stark illustration of what it means to be poor, working-class black folk in America today.

The U.S. Supreme Court just gave police carte blanche to stop virtually any person they want. So now it might be even more acceptable for black men and women, girls and boys, gay, straight and transgender to be routinely marked for surveillance and harassment. Perhaps again leading to brutality, violence and death.  It is a world in which, so far this year, police have killed more than 560 people.

Though Representative John Lewis of Georgia was rightfully applauded for leading a sit-in on the floor of the House of Representatives to press for a vote on gun reform, many national politicians have exhibited no such energy in challenging the now routine deaths of blacks at the hands of the police.

Will any politician have the courage to stage a new House sit-in for Sterling and Castile and push bipartisan legislation to end this epidemic of anti-black violence?

This time, for Sterling, it was selling CD’s outside a convenience store and possessing a gun. The video evidence that has been widely played, however, does not appear to corroborate these allegations. Instead it depicts two officers tackling, beating and shooting Sterling several times in the chest in what, to many who viewed it on social media, looks more like a public execution than an act of law and order.

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[Luis Gonzalez]

I read today that according to polling done after Comey's press conference, 54% of the people polled thought that the entire affair had been handled improperly, and that Clinton should have been made accountable to some degree.

The pollster concluded that the American people do not like to be treated like they're stupid, thus the polling results.

Yet, in spite of that, Clinton continues to be the heads-on favorite to win the Presidential race over Trump.

The only conclusion that can possibly be made from those findings is that the vast majority of the people are actually stupid and don't know it, and that my friends, is the most logical explanation for this year's race.

Clinton and Trump are a reflection of America as it stands today, not the other way around.