Chato discusses #StrangeNewWorlds

 

[VIDEO] This is where entertainment and real life political discourse seems to converge. Longtime Trekkies seem to complain about "Woke Trek". Chato who is a former network TV producer talks about some of the woke themes in Trek.

Such concepts as emasculation, dismissing white males, no recognition of ethnicity, though recognizing putting forward people of different races, even throwing in the idea of sexual orientation. While in my mind Nurse Chapel didn't explicitly say it in season 1 of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds she seemed to insinuate that she has bisexual tendencies even as it seems she's very interested in Spock.

And I can't believe Chato is stating that the writers are choosing to emasculate him as his character is very iconic. And I dare as iconic as Uhura as the season premiere plays tribute to the departed Nichelle Nichols.

Of course what is Chato actually making an issue of? The writing. Perhaps it just hasn't been that great. Perhaps the writers are using lazy writing to make something people want to watch on streaming. And perhaps the writers are paying attention to ESG scores. UGH, really I have to be subject to that in watching my favorite entertainment franchise because they get more points for environment, social or governance. 

I could read that as adhere to this or life will be very difficult for you! 

Anyway, I'm glad to see these characters back again. I think I could live without the most recent episode. Uhura I will admire her ability to take control of her station though the other man had a job to do. It wasn't necessary. I'm still trying to figure out what a Lanthanite is and as comical as Carol Kane's performance is it felt a bit out of place.

As I wrote my comments on Twitter on Thursday I got some jokey responses, though surely as season two commences we will find out exactly what a Lanthanite is.

Dave Chappelle: The Last Real Comedian On Earth?

[VIDEO] I've slipped on my consumption of Mark Dice vids. He talks about the publicity surrounding Dave Chappelle's latest stand-up comedy special. He contrasts Chappelle's comedy with what's going on in comedy today. Too many have gone political and comedians as artists have to toe the line between what's politically correct.

I'm glad I'm not a comedian now.

BTW, this will always be my favorite recent piece with Dave Chappelle. It just shows what he's up against now... [VIDEO]

My thoughts on #Fahrenheit119

[VIDEO] Having seen the recent Michael Moore documentary Fahrenheit 11/9 a few points the movie made.

To start how did we get a President Donald Trump, I'm thinking Moore's point with that is the Democratic establishment blew the 2016 election. Besides the inevitable first woman President was expected to have it in the bag right. No one believed Trump could win it.

Next how did we get a President Trump if America is really a nation that trends to the left. We want universal health care for example. I could debate this I wonder what was the basis for the polls Moore cite to come to that conclusion about America's political leanings. And yes I know Moore himself is a lefty he's been around for years obviously.

Next and this is something I do agree with. I used to eschew this, but Michael Moore solidified this with me. America has a ruling class or perhaps a political class - I don't think Trump is part of that clique actually - regardless the influential who likely are very wealthy are the ones who are turning the levers of power in America. And I could conclude that they do this in a variety of ways perhaps economically and certainly through control of the media.

Here's another thing that makes sense to me the Democrats blew the 2016 the moment they "rigged" the nomination process to insure the inevitable woman President gets the nomination. I didn't know that although Sen. Bernie Sanders had won all the counties of West Virginia, the Democrat delegation to the 2016 convention threw their votes to Hillary Clinton.

Finally Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - a not quite ready for prime time congressional candidate from New York - is what Moore hopes is the future of the Democrat party. Ms. Ocasio-Cortez is a Democratic socialist and is one of a number of candidates who are seeking seats in Congress. And Moore makes the case through media clips that the establishment (or the so-called ruling class) doesn't want them either. The Democratic socialists are too far to the left for America and seemingly those pundits even if they're not top Dem politicos are saying this on what I may consider liberal cable news networks.

I know that Moore makes more points than this in his movie. I think he made some great points to consider in addition to bringing to light more information on the Flint, Michigan water crisis which he claims was orchestrated by Gov. Rick Snyder. He throws in the activism of students who attended Florida's Parkland High School which unfortunately was the site of an active shooter. And of course promoting union activism - which is likely how Moore got his start in filmmaking.

One of the things Moore asks is how did a nation that trends left get Donald Trump? Perhaps America isn't that much of a leftist nation in the first place. Perhaps we could believe the hype that America wanted something different a President with very little political experience. Perhaps it was just Trump's time and it wasn't time for the first woman President. And certainly the inevitable first woman President Clinton and her team thought it was in the bag that she didn't have to really work for it. While on the other hand, Trump did the work he needed to do to win.

What this movie reminds me of is, some aspects of politics aren't as black & white. Perhaps a conservative in a red state probably has the same issues with the so-called ruling or political class as a leftist in a blue state. With that said, now we know why we do have a Ocasio-Cortez who defeated a longtime Democrat politico in New York.

With this film which is a take-off of Moore's earlier effort released during the Iraq War - Fahrenheit 9/11 - seems not to pull any punches. The label doesn't matter - Republican or Democrat - Moore didn't pull his punches.

The people's champ

I guess we could say we are certainly living in populist times. Donald Trump was a very unlikely presidential candidate somewhat representing a form of populism and then we have Bernie Sanders who represented a different form of populism. One form of populism proven more popular or potent than the other since one populist movement elected a man to the White House and the other well he couldn't even win his party's nomination.

Regardless, sometimes I have thought what if I combined two of my favorite past times or subjects professional wrestling and politics. What if I as a candidate sported a wrestling championship belt emblazoned with text "people's champ". Perhaps I as a candidate utilizing social media video could cut campaign speeches in the style of wrestling promos. Though I know I can't be violent in my speech, it would be important to cut through the cutter and present something different. Something the public wouldn't expect, worst case scenario is that this would be too different and I wouldn't be successful anyway

The people's champ could be a euphemism of populism, a people's movement. Say in Chicago, Illinois people are sick and tired of being taxes and having very little in return. Bad schools, awful public safety (as I wrote on my other blog downtown Chicago is even seeing an uptick in violent crimes), the costs of goods continuing to rise, etc. I'm sure people are having enough of this and perhaps there needs to be a people's champion in Chicago, Cook County or Illinois. Unfortunately in this year's primaries this candidate hasn't emerged, and sadly the Republicans aren't even woke.

I have very dubious graphic design/sketching skills but this people's champ belt would be done in the design of the big gold belt made famous by "The Nature Boy" Rick Flair during his time in WCW. Then I can imagine in script lettering "people's champ" on the front of the belt. Of course a championship belt isn't complete without an American or democracy or popular themed side plates. It should be designed well to really catch the eye of the public. Depending on the importance of this public figure any videos seen of this candidate - the so called people's champ - and the belt will hopefully be seen in a museum.

Big Gold Belt

I'm surprised that the President hasn't done such a thing as he has the money to do it. Perhaps he isn't as huge of a wrestling fan as I thought, especially since he literally fought Vince McMahon and was involved in shaving the WWE's owner's head. I could possibly relish Trump lifting that belt over his head during a campaign rally.

Well a wrestling fan can dream about the imagery of "sports entertainment" used in a political campaign. And I realize in publishing this post my idea could be snatched away from me. Oh well, and unfortunately I don't know when a future candidate will emerge who will truly become "the people's champ". Will be the political world's version of The Rock or Diamond Dallas Page who have been referred to during their wrestling careers as "the people's champ".

Perhaps I should realize this could be an idea that could backfire. Perhaps depending upon where you may attempt to run for office voters could be jaded to this idea. Then one may wonder how one could afford to create their own championship belt. There will be some questions, however, there is and will always be a way for those questions to not matter. Besides imagine a people's champ movement in populist politics.

Saw #ThePost on Friday

[VIDEO] It allowed me to come to some conclusions especially with the term "fake news" flying around since Trump ran for President in 2016 and during the administration of President Trump currently. It depicts a battle - mainly legal battle - between the press and the government.

Basically some documents were smuggled from the Pentagon analyzing the war in Vietnam and those papers which have been publicly released shows a history of deception by the government as far as their Vietnam policy. The papers apparently start well before America became involved with the Vietnam War and it's escalation. There was a court case NY Times vs. U.S. which allowed the Times and the Washington Post to publish government documents without an reprisal by the government. In other words, the gov't can't censor you because they don't like the fact that you published some documents they didn't want you to see!

Allow me to share the big picture of the movie. We have a free press in this country, and resultantly free speech. With that said and I tweeted this out during the course of the movie - not during the movie of course.

#ThePost it’s fine with me if @realDonaldTrump takes on #FakeNews and it’s also fine w/ me if the press takes on the President #fb

— Levois J (@levois) January 5, 2018

There is no issue with me if President Trump pushed back against the press - or least the press he refers to as Fake News. Among conservatives I've seen that they believe the press has a bias against them. They believe the press or mainstream media trends liberal and in their coverage of Republicans or conservatives is colored with a liberal slant. Thus perhaps for many on the right - or perhaps "alt-right" - it's refreshing that the President isn't going along with that and is effectively punching back.

Our nation is supposed to have checks and balances between the President, Congress and judiciary. Who checks the press? We do need a strong press to check the government and it's three branches. A strong press is worthless if it's unwilling to check the government. As addressed in the movie, there were occasions - and perhaps they still ocurr - that newspaper publishers & editors or producers, reporters, journalists, etc. can be chummy with politicians on occasion. Thus it's possible to think that perhaps the press would cover for the politicians that they are chummy with when things are found out about them.

With that said when Trump takes on CNN or MSNBC or the NY Times it's entirely OK with me if her refers to those outlets as "fake news". We should consume news or information, we need not think that everything they say doesn't have a bias. We need not believe they don't have an agenda and perhaps it doesn't always benefit the people who consume the news & information they publish.

So it's OK with me if Trump calls the mainstream media "fake news". It's also OK with me if the media pushes back against Trump. What we're seeing is healthy. Who says the politicians shouldn't challenge the press - of course without suppressing them legally? Also who says the press shouldn't challenge the politicians?

BTW, if you check hashtag #ThePost on twitter you may see mostly negative views of The Post. Many have opted not to even watch the movie thanks to the liberal politics of Tom Hanks and Merryl Streep. Indeed another tweet I saw connected this movie with the Harvey Weinstein scandal. And I've learned that the film has only earned a half-million dollars when it was released New Year's weekend. Although when I saw the movie it was almost a full-house in my theater.

It's still a great movie and yes I can separate the politics or even complicity in some social context i.e. Weinstein from the work of art. Then again that's the beauty of America, we have the right to support or not support whatever we want for whatever reasons we have. Besides, I gave that dreadful Al Gore global warming sequel a chance even though I'm not likely to ever want to see it again!

Although I said enough #Cubs posts...

Sloopin has a post about the championship rally for the Cubs last Friday. An estimated 5 million came to Chicago to see the parade and the rally in downtown Chicago. The 7th largest gathering of humans in the world. A lot of people have been waiting to see the unthinkable - a Cubs world series championship.

Consider this a mental break while we wait for more states to be called in this presidential election. There has been some interesting results, I was never sure what was going to happen but the results was never what was expected.

Fascinating

A series of links found on Instapundit. Different philosophies of Star Trek. Particularly political & legal philosophies. Questions about the Prime Directive, especially.

Better yet the philosophy of American when Star Trek premiered 50+ years ago. How did America go from a robust pro-liberal philosophy to a more UN-centric "moral relativism".

Then what if Star Trek was written by libertarians.

I can only image a different vision for Star Trek and different drama if someone decided to reboot the universe of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Check this video from reason which is what you see on Instapundit.

Sometimes I miss things like this on Twitter

So our new Governor hasn't been in office for almost two weeks and he's showing us his road trip to Springfield. Of course he made some stops along the way especially seeing some state troopers and a quick stop for his dogs and some Micky D's. And you would think he's driving in a fancy luxury car right?

Well this tweet is from one of the governor's staffers.

This is happening... #rollingtrashcan pic.twitter.com/mYmBbH04mm
— LTrover (@LTrover) January 24, 2015

The last time I saw that vehicle it took him to the south side to make a deposit at a neighborhood credit union. So if it got to the south side safe and sound as a candidate for Governor, it could get him to Springfield our state capitol.

At least we can say this for Gov. Rauner, at least he forgo a trip on a state aircraft as one of his predecessors Rod Blagojevich had. And for good measure he came home to the executive mansion in Sprinfield as well.

Stella pumpkin and I made to the mansion! What's a fun ride. Glad to be home pic.twitter.com/M9oXKKYvws
— Bruce Rauner (@GovRauner) January 24, 2015

Here's hoping this is what we can look forward to the next four years. A traveling Governor showing us around the great state we call Chicago...I mean Illinois.

BTW, hopefully I can catch this stuff on Twitter when I see it. :P

Capitol Fax: Shooting for viral

[VIDEO] So it's campaign season here in Illinois. So Rich Miller is taking a look at campaign videos that could go viral. He starts with videos produced by the gubernatorial campaigns of Gov. Quinn & Bruce Rauner and shows that Rauner has more views on his videos although not to viral levels. The video above is what Miller hopes to go viral.

And that begs the question for anyone involved with political videos. What does it take to make a video go viral?

Classical liberalism superior to libertarianism?

The political philosopher in me is somewhat intrigued by this article found at Instapundit!. For a long-time I've considered myself a "classical-liberal" although there's not a certainty as to what that means. I've always equated that philosophy with libertarianism, however, it seems that you still can't. There are some differences as explored in this article.

One takeaway is that the discussion is centered around US Sen. Rand Paul who's only in his first term as a Senator and is something of a rising star. Let's not forget his father was Presidential contender and former US Congressman Ron Paul.

While I'm sure that this is not the only classical-liberal book out there, it's probably about time to read John Locke's Second Treatise of Government (which is a public domain book) again. Thankfully without the pressure of school! :P

Detroit's Mayoral home rebranded

Manoogian Mansion Residence - Detroit by yrvelouria

Over at Curbed Detroit we've learned that the new Mayor of the Motor City - one Mike Duggan - has sold his home and is moving into the city's mayoral mansion. Not only that he's electing to rebrand the home.

While that move could be seen as PR move, as the writers of Curbed stated "the house simply isn't very big". The home is only about 4,000 square feet apparently big, but not mansion big. And at that Curbed further states Mayor Duggan would "lose a third of his living space compared to his old house".

In doing this post I also thought, how much is this residence worth to Detroit? Why isn't this one of those assets that could be sold to get Detroit out of bankruptcy? I'm sure it has been looked at as other city-owned assets were.

A catchy political slogan???

What you see @ http://www.michaelscottcarter.com/

If I recall correctly when I was in elementary school me and a group of friends at the time started a clique that was named for the Nickelodeon Network. And our "leader" was also named Mike, but somehow we created a slogan for him "I like Mike". Not sure who created it, but it was catchy.

Not sure how it came about, but it almost certainly matches another famous slogan - "I like Ike!" - created in time for a past US Presidential campaign. It's possible that this was an inspiration for that back then or even now.

Truth be told, I wonder if the Mike of "I like Mike" - in this case Michael Scott Carter - is the same as the one that I knew. Haven't seen or spoken to him in years, but it would be cool to know that I once went to school with someone who is making moves on the state level here in Illinois.

Alas, Mike got my attention today finding a statement of his on the Capitol Fax this morning. An e-mail he sent to supporters noted that Illinois has 110 counties as opposed to the 102 it actually does have. Rich Miller quipped.

I wasn’t aware that Illinois had annexed southern Wisconsin. The “Illinois Dells” somehow just doesn’t have the same resonance, but I suppose I could get used to it.

Heh, and the comments weren't very kind to Mr. Carter either. They roasted him for that gaffe in his e-mail and then noted that they don't trust a man with three first names.

Well I'm trying not to go full on negative here. He would definitely be a different face to the 2014 race as it's noted that he's reportedy a Black Conservative Republican running for state treasurer. Also he's said to have worked with the Chicago Urban League. He's ready for the attack of the "liberal attack machine" in this race.

As for the screenshot up top, it would be great if it went viral and it just had to be preserved for posterity. Who knows how far this gent will go in politics?

#facepalm part 3

[VIDEO] Our esteemed State Rep. Monique Davis was on The O'Reilly Factor on Thursday to talk about her comments made on a Detroit radio station regarding cops shooting young people. She never walked back her comments and still maintains that she was only repeating what her constituents were saying to her. Bill O'Reilly was right to say that with her credibility as an elected official it was irresponsible to repeat such a statement unless there was evidence of such activity.

With that in mind, just because one is an elected official doesn't make them credible. For airing out such a statement is Davis more credible now than she was after making those statements, I would say unlikely. She does appear to be quite a spitfire over the years especially being named the worst person in the world after essentially attacking an atheist at a state legislative hearing years ago.

We have a member of the Illinois House or Representatives - who just so happens to be Davis' colleague whether I'm sure she likes it or not - who has been indicted for soliciting a bribe. Not only was he indicted but last year he was booted from the state House. However, he was re-elected last year to his old house seat because he refused to quit the race even after he had been removed from the house. Does anyone view him as credible now?

In any case another part of the discussion was the most important issue facing Black-Americans. O'Reilly wants to argue that it's the family, but Davis didn't really talk about that and stated that it was the lack of services, jobs, and education. It's hard to disagree with that to be sure, but Davis never talked about the family lives of many of these young people.

Speaking only for me, I never consider the family. I recognize that the family life of a lot of our young people are very imperfect. Would a father make more of a difference in the home? Haven't the slightest clue to be honest.

Personally I do believe before having children one should get married first. It doesn't always happen that way and there's nothing but evidence of that. However, I think anyone who has children should strive to create a nuclear family that includes a father at least.

Of course we could talk about the disintegration of the black family, but let's also recognize that having mother and father as head of a household could be a good thing. It's certainly excellent if mother and father were on the same page as far as what's in the best interest of the children. And hopefully that means at the very least the children go on and do something productive with their adult lives and stay out of trouble with the law.

Hat-tip The Blaze

#facepalm part 2

View more videos at: http://nbcchicago.com.

Well in response to the controversy that state Rep. Monique Davis stirred when she offered an unsubstantiated rumor that the police was behind some murders in her community. She discusses those comments made on a Detroit radio station in a press conference on Friday. Our local NBC affiliate has the video you see above. I'm sure there are still some who really see this as a farce.

An ya know other than the comments over at the CapFax, I should've known 2nd City Cop would have something to say as well.

#facepalm

Remember a few years ago that Keith Olberman listed a Chicago Democratic state Representative Monique Davis as the worst person in the world because she lit right into an atheist at a hearing. If only Olberman still had a TV program, if he heard about this story would she still be the worst person in the world?

“I’m going to tell you what some suspicions have been, and people have whispered to me: they’re not sure that black people are shooting all of these children,” Davis said.

“There’s some suspicion – and I don’t want to spread this, but I’m just going to tell you what I’ve been hearing – they suspect maybe the police are killing some of these kids.”

When WBBM asked Davis if she thinks it’s possible that police are killing children, she said, “I don’t know. I don’t know that they are, and I don’t know that they aren’t, since no one’s been arrested. We don’t know who’s doing it.”

Unbelievable! The police's response:

Chicago Police Department spokesman Adam Collins responded to Representative Davis’ comments:

“The men and women of Chicago Police Department work tirelessly every day to keep our city safe.

“These comments are so outrageous and baseless, that they do not merit any comment.”

I found this article via CapFax. The comments seems to be universal against Rep. Davis. They wonder why no one has either challenged her or defeated her. She's got a hold on her district in some way. Rich Miller himself noted that the powerful 19th Ward has attempted to move her but has had little success.

Ouch!!!

Well before I tell a long story let me set this post up. A long time Alderman - Richard Mell - will be retiring from his seat on the Chicago City Council. He was not only an Alderman but a ward boss as he was a Democratic Committeeman for his 33rd Ward. In that capacity he helped his son-in-law one Rod Blagojevich move up in the world of Chicago politics.

For his part Mell regrets that noting:

With the benefit of hindsight, "I think that he would have probably stayed a state representative," Mell said of his son-in-law.

Rich Miller went further, as a state political blogger he's had many dealings with the Blagojevich administration. It's obvious although he's free to correct me that he doesn't care for Blago at all:

Why even go that far? In hindsight, he should’ve been kept out of politics altogether.

Ouch indeed!

Needless to say I'm sure the history justifies that assessment. From Illinois House of Representatives to the US Congress to Illinois' Governor's mansion and now in federal prison for corruption. Could anyone have seen that coming?

Ward Room: Pride Parade a Who's Who in Illinois Politics

While I didn't actually go to this event on Chicago's North Side there were many who were on their way to these festivities Sunday morning on the CTA. I'm starting to view this as just another party, however, it appears to be a very crucial party. Ward Room noted the many politicians who were present for this.

One of those politicians were actually a Republican, that person being current State Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka. She was listed as a "gay icon" for some reason but she was the only Republican spotted at the parade. It's possible any other Republicans there weren't recognized well enough for it to matter. Come to think of it, when it comes to gay marriage in Illinois there were some Republican supporters it's a bit surprising that some of them didn't attend this parade or at least weren't spotted there.

Also let's not forget that there's an election coming up in 2014. So the Pride Parade was one event where an aspiring politician might want to get their name out there and hopefully gain some voters. Some of the other politicans on the list would certainly explain that such as Gov. Pat Quinn who may well go down for the count next year as his record as Governor still leaves a lot to be desired. Also a downstate politician State Sen. Mike Freirichs also attended away from his hometown of Champaign, IL who wants to run for State Treasurer.

You know I think I should keep an eye for such a post when it's time for the Bud Billiken Parade. Who might come out for a back-to-school parade that is also another party for the Black Community. Will Judy Baar Topinka bring any other Republicans with here to the Billiken in August?

Wager made in Stanley Cup series Hawks v. Bruins...

The game is on as I type this post. There's not just a world championship at stake here between the Black Hawks & Bruins. There's a wager as well.

In all the years, I have followed Chicago sports when a local franchise head into the playoffs and especially the further up they go there is often a wager. Most of the time it has been our former Mayor Richard M. Daley who offers up Chicago food treats as a wager. Don't entirely remember what the opposing cities offer although they may be similar to the foods Chicago wagers.

Now in the case of Chicago teams going into the playoffs or better yet wagering in a game that involves one of sports' longest running rivalries (Bears/Packers) it seems the trend involves Governors. This year in the current Stanley Cup playoffs Governor Pat Quinn and his Massachusetts counterpart Deval Patrick wagered volunteering at their respective local food banks. Of course who has to pay up on this bet depends on who wins Lord Stanley's cup.

It was noted somewhere, perhaps a blog, that Quinn almost didn't pay up on a similar bet made with regards to the Bears/Packers. He ultimately did, but really didn't try too hard to honor the wager he made. I do believe he that bet with Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker.

BTW, it's noted that Gov. Patrick is a native of Chicago. As a matter of fact he grew up in those often maligned housing projects in the city. Where ever Patrick was reared those projects are likely long gone, but to his credit he's come a long way.

Still, another Stanley Cup coming to Chicago would be excited. And that means Gov. Patrick would have to volunteer for the Greater Chicago Food Depository. Feeding the hungry, is definitely a worthy cause don't you agree?

President Obama speaks to the Morehouse College class of 2013

[VIDEO] Here is the President's address to the class of 2013 at Morehouse College. All 32 minutes and while I'm aware of how the President is portrayed by those who oppose him it's certainly great to have the leader of the free world speak at a graduation especially if it just so happens to be my own alma mater. I'm looking forward to seeing the full ceremonies as it's not the President who's important here, it's the graduates as they worked very hard to see this day come!

Alas, the past week haven't been very good to the President. We have the story regarding the IRS targeting Tea Party groups come out. Also the Benghazi is still in the news, that was where an US Ambassador was killed in Libya by insurgents.

I also found that someone threw politics into the momentousness of President Obama coming to Morehouse to speak to the graduates. Here's the title to an article from the New York Daily News: "As President Obama tells Morehouse grads he strives to be ‘a better man,’ Republican critics suggest he ought to". Although the article itself mentions some of the commencement address it says very little about Republican critics connecting some of what he said which some of the bad press he's been receiving as of late.

I do believe, however, that most of this criticism you may have seen in a variety of quotes seen on TV. Perhaps even FOX News it seems although I would have to corroborate this will actual videos. That's something I'm not prepared to do at the moment.

All the same, I still view the President coming to Morehouse as a positive. It causes me to cringe when anyone event the President himself referring to himself in the same vein as Dr. Martin Luther King because Obama is more of a political leader than Dr. King. King himself was certainly more of a religious or moral leader than Obama can ever hope to be. Although perhaps King's vision of a Black person or anyone becoming President of the United State by the content of his character but not because of the color of his skin is something that we could get out of this comparison.

In spite of his current problems, it was great to see Morehouse College get some international attention and hopefully this could mean that more people will see the primary mission of Morehouse in a good light. Especially to see the positivity of mostly Black males completing their college education!

Was a commencement speaker at Morehouse College disinvited?

While it's great that my alma mater was able to get the President of the United States to speak at this year's commencement ceremonies it's unfortunate that it's hit the press that there's some controversies around one of the other speakers.

A prominent pastor was allegedly disinvited from speaking at Morehouse College’s baccalaureate service this week after he criticized President Barack Obama, who will deliver the school’s commencement address.

The Rev. Kevin Johnson, a Morehouse alumnus and the senior pastor of Bright Hope Baptist Church in North Philadelphia, Pa., wrote an opinion column earlier this month in the Philadelphia Tribune accusing Obama of neglecting the black community in his cabinet picks–they’re overwhelmingly white–and broader political agenda.

The day after the article ran, Johnson said, Morehouse President John Silvanus Wilson, Jr. phoned to express reservations about his “untimely” comments regarding President Obama. Johnson asked administrators to honor their invitation, but learned days later he had been replaced by three alternate speakers.

Now, a group of two dozen pastors who lead churches across the country are demanding Morehouse re-invite Johnson.

As always, I realize there are always two sides to every story and the current President of Morehouse denies that Rev. Johnson had been disinvited:

That being said, I pause to write to you now regarding a related matter that is germane to our educational mission, but one that has regretfully generated quite a bit of distraction in recent days. In brief, I extended an invitation to a distinguished alumnus to speak at our upcoming Baccalaureate service. I subsequently made a decision to adjust the format of the Baccalaureate program and opted for a more creative, multi-speaker approach that is used by many leading institutions.  This sharing of the stage comports with the spirit of upholding democratic ideals, including freedom of speech and expression, and is entirely consistent with the spirit of camaraderie that Morehouse holds dear.

As president, I believe this is in the best interest of the college. In this instance, I decided to ask this invited speaker to share the Baccalaureate stage with two other speakers so as to reflect a broader and more inclusive range of viewpoints.

To my chagrin, my decision has been wrongly construed by some as an effort to “disinvite” this individual. He was not disinvited, but rather declined to participate in the format. Worse yet, this decision has led to allegations of censorship, which of course has no place in any viable academic institution. These allegations are fundamentally deleterious and are undeserved.

I first got wind of this story via Instapundit earlier this week. Just to note it's considered a right-wing blog!