I have not one crumb of respect left for President Obama. Anything positive that he's managed to accomplish over the past six or seven years would be plowed asunder by this so-called "trade deal", the equivalent of a flesh-eating viris to what remains of the American middle class. Yet Obama defends this as "progressive" policy. Yeah it's "progressive" all right.... for the RICH, the LORDS & MASTERS OF HIS FUCKING UNIVERSE. Vote for the "lesser evil" and all you get is evil. If the Obama presidency doesn't make that crystal clear, nothing will.

I can hear Mr. Fabian pointing out yet again that the middle class made its bed, voting for these scumbag politicians over the past several decades while giving their mindless blessings to the erosion of our safety net. I believe there's a lot of truth to that. But where do we go from there?! I heartily applaud Bernie Sanders' announcement of his candidacy for president. Anyone who doesn't vote for him is a damn fool, in my not-so-humble opinion. Bernie is the ONLY candidate addressing the real issues in this country. If he doesn't win the Democratic ticket, I just might end up writing in Donald Duck for president, or Bozo the Clown.

I don't approve of Senator Sanders' endorsement of Israel either, but let's not allow the "perfect" to sabotage the "good". The stakes are just too damn high.

My two cents, as always.

PaulHosse, are you suggesting these black communities are causing their own problems? That all this shit would just go away if only they'd behave themselves, clean up their streets, get up off their lazy black behinds and go find work? Where are the bloody jobs?! In case you haven't noticed, oligarchs and privatizers have left our education system in shambles. The poorer the neighborhood, the crappier the schools. "Proper education"? Gimmie a break. Meanwhile the school-to-prison pipeline is in fine shape these days.

It never ceases to amaze me that so many of my fellow whites assume they are somehow qualified to judge poor black folks and chastise them, and tell them how to solve their problems. “Go to school! Get a job!” is the knee-jerk mantra. Gee, how original. How insightful.

Black folks have been accused of laziness since slavery was the law of the land. Yet this country was built on the backs of black slaves. What's more, black people have contributed more than their share to American culture. We have them to thank for much of the greatest music and literature ever created here. What's more, you guys don’t know squat about these young people you're so busy judging and criticizing, looking down your pointy anglo noses at them like you're so above it all. You have no clue what it’s like, to walk in those shoes. Your arrogance is appalling. It makes me cringe. Apparently nothing Thom has to say about the racism in this country has had any impact on you. If you read Thom's analyses and assessments with an open mind, you might learn a thing or two. But I'm not holding my breath.

Reply to #2, #7 & #8: dianhow, ArizonaMike & flyguy, the cops are the out-of-control "hoodlums" and criminals. Young black men are being murdered for no reason, yet all you want to address here is looting and property damage. The friends, family, neighbors and peers of these murdered young black men have had enough. If they protest quietly and peacefully they will be ignored while the killing and the abuse continue unabated, and THAT is what's "wrong, wrong, wrong." It's just so easy for folks not living in these conditions to judge the reactions of those who are, and are tired of it and have no other recourse. If these killings continue with the impunity we've seen so far, it will only get worse. Those who are repeatedly let down by our so-called justice system will eventually resort to desperate means and this is the inevitable result. They take to the streets. And they have my sympathy. If I was there, I'd be out in the streets with them. In light of the tragedies provoking these revolts, it seems to me that bitching about property damage is pretty shallow. Just like the clueless white folks Thom is complaining about. Again, with my sympathy. And flyguy, you don't know what the hell you're talking about. Do YOU know any of these black families you're dissing? You're on the outside looking in, pal. Nothing but empty cliches to base your judgments on!

I ment you CANT SPEND OUR WAY OUT OF THIS or TAX our way out either. CLOSE THE BORDERS STOP FREE TRADE.

This ws nothing more than an opportunity to steal and loot. Look aty the films. I would not doubt if they had some actors in the crowd. I could have sworn I saw the same white lady being beaten up three times. Seems to me she would have left after the first beating instead of staying around for more.

I have noticed some disturbing facts and similarities about Furgason and Baltimore,both of them seemed to have some instigators riling up the crowds and encouraging the violence.

If this test were administered in the US, I believe that class would be more of a defining issue than race. Ask any white person what they think about poor white people, and you'll get an idea of what I mean.

"Today, we don't need to completely throw off our government"

I agree, although we do need to completely throw off the Oligarchs/Fascists who currently own and control our government. They own and control it for one reason only...to have control over our economy, and we all know where this has lead!!!

What they, the Fascists realize, is that without their complete control of our economy, "an economic concept that calls for sharing the wealth of a society among all of its members, rather than reserving wealth for an exclusive few" could evolve, and that concept is part of Democratic Socialism.

"Economic institutions should be controlled and owned by the people affected by them."

I agree with Angelos. Much of this is about the poor, housing, crime, education, and jobs. But you don't solve any of these problems by looting stores, burning homes and businesses, or by cutting fire hoses. All that does is drive out the very things your community wants and needs. It creates an reputation that no business owner would be dumb enough to invest in the area. The end result, is more blight and fewer jobs, which, in turn, only creates more poor and so the cycle repeats.

Yes, peaceful protests are the way to go; protests which not only expresses a message but should also offer solutions. The death of Mr. Gray didn't cause this. The issues were already there, but where was the leadership to address those issues? Neighborhoods need to own the issues. They need individuals to step up and take ownership and responsibility of what's happening in and around them. This would have helped to attract more investors, and that, in turn, would mean more jobs.

They needed to make sure children in those neighborhoods were getting a proper education, not "flunked through". This nationial black culture that excelling in school, using proper grammer is "acting all white" and discouraged the lazy and low lifes needs to stop. Education--even just high school--is the key to get out of poverty and out of declining neighborhoods. Walking around with your underwear (and sometimes not even that) hanging out doesn't make you look cool. It makes you look like an idiot. Local leaders and ordinary residents need to work with the police to not just keep out these petty thugs and gangbangers, but work to point them out to the police. By the same token, the police can stop behaving like they're the Waffen SS. Intimidation is not good policemanship.

I had to answer "no" on this. This had been peaceful protest, aimed at bringing attention to police over use of deadly force. However, it's been gangbangers, out of town thugs that have turned this violent and disgraced the memorty Of Mr. Gray. The individuals in these neighorhoods lobbyed long and hard to bring a new CVS into the neighborhood, where it employed local residents. The mall which was looted had been on the verge of closing, but neighborhood activist were able to keep it open, thereby saving more local jobs. And what about the Senior Care Center? How many people were affected by this blantant stupidity? And there are other store and placed destroyed by this vandalism and burning; no different than the boned headed acts in Ferguson, except here we have a black mayor and black chief of police and a much higher percentage of other officials who happen to be black.

Who are the racebaiters going to blame this time? How will they answer when businesses and residents decide to move out and folks start yelling about "bight" and no jobs? Much of this area was just starting to recover from their riots of 1968! None of this was about Mr. Gray anymore the looting or burning had anything to do with Mr. Brown. This is about individuals taking charge of their children and taking control of their schools and of their neighborhoods. Violence is never the answer. Taking responsibilty and ownership of the issues before they become problems are.

There are neighborhoods in Baltimore and other cities where there are no retail stores except for possible liquor stores. Despite all of the complaints about bankers, these inner-city neighborhoods sometimes also lack bank branches. In small cities in suburban and rural areas, there are sometimes more chain stores which are permitted to more in than are needed. Mom and pop and other locally owned stores are put out-of-business. WIth the drought in California, the building of more and more supermakets in certain cities gives the impression that there is an unlimited supply of crops, produce, and water to help grow them. California is the nation's largest agricutural state. Sometimes, these suburban big box and chain stores co-exist; occasionally, a new store might take away business -- and scheduled hours -- of workers at already-existing stores in the same area. Instead of increasing the economic pie, more and more businesses of a similar type open up in a given community, diluting the business among more and more players. I have found that having more than store in relatively close proximity to other stores of the some type does not result in price wars or a significant lowering of prices among the different stores. Some companies have slightly lower prices than do others, but it is not the duplication or competition that is the reason.

I think Chris Hedges is one author who would agree that establishment liberals have largely overlooked urban poverty and deterioration of living conditions in inner-city neighborhoods. But another group of mostly low-income and poor people, the disabled, have also been largely ignored by progressives and by Democrats. A PBS documentary called Autism: Coming of Age has several people, including a Boston attorney who tries to help developmentally disabled people become eligible for state services, pointed out that states have woefully inadequate resources to help the autistic people who were once children and have become adults, and in a majority of instances are living at home with aging parents.

Who will invest in neighborhoods in Baltimore, Detroit, and other cities with high rates of poverty? These neighborhoods often have significant problems involving child-rearing, drug use, and violence. No one knows exactly what could be done to turn things around, even if the government had the money to expand services or try new things.

Opposition to gay marriage on the basis that they will be unable to procreate:

Sure, all the world needs are a lot more people to place more strain on Mother Earth.

Isn't seven billion enough already?