Did Demi Lovato’s Super Bowl rendition of the national anthem knock Jay-Z and Beyonce off their feet?

Unlikely. But until he explains himself, Jay-Z is obviously working against the goal he and the NFL partnered to accomplish not even six months ago. The music mogul really needed to be “Raising the Barr” when it came to how he behaved himself in public. It was bad enough that members of the National Center’s Project 21 black leadership network think he and his wife ought to be “publicly condemned” for such flagrant disrespect.

When the NFL lost fans in droves after former player Colin Kaepernick knelt or was missing from the field during the national anthem, and after Kaepernick displayed hostility toward law enforcement and recruited other players to his crusade, Jay-Z – who had been in solidarity with Kaepernick – was brought in to use his own star power to energize the League and try to bring fans back to the gridiron. In August, he claimed: “[W]e’re going to get things done.”

Maybe not. Fans may have started coming back, but Jay-Z’s behavior in Miami could end up being the equivalent of throwing an interception.

That’s because, on pro football’s biggest day, Jay-Z was caught on camera sitting with Beyonce and their daughter, Blue Ivy, while the vast majority of the people in Hard Rock Stadium were proudly standing for Lovato’s “flawless” performance of “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

Project 21 member Martin Baker says:

It’s amazing how Jay-Z, who partnered with the NFL to open a dialogue with fans regarding Colin Kaepernick and why he took a knee during the national anthem, would essentially do the same thing at the ultimate NFL event.

While pundits will undoubtedly point to others who did the same thing, how many of those “others” had as direct a stake in the League?

Apparently Jay-Z forgot the old adage that it’s not what you do, but what you are seen (not) doing.

Despite inquiries from multiple news organizations, Jay-Z has not yet explained the reasons for his family not standing while the national anthem was being sung.

Project 21 member Emery McClendon adds:

I was saddened to learn that two of the most high-profile people in today’s black culture treated the national anthem with such blatant disrespect. During the Super Bowl pregame show, not only did they remain in their seats and refuse to stand, but they didn’t put their hands over their hearts and Jay-Z continued to wear his hat.

It made a statement.

Jay-Z had publicly agreed to help the NFL work out the differences surrounding the controversy started by Colin Kaepernick. Yet he, his wife Beyonce and their child Blue Ivy Carter set a terrible example for those who observed them during the event. It also showed – through their silence – what can only be seen as a personal disdain and hatred for the county and the economic system that has provided them with their personal prosperity.

They should be publicly condemned by the NFL and the media.

What’s worse: just saying something offensive, or knowing that what you said was offensive and trying to deny you meant it?

In Tampa, City Councilman Orlando Gudes used a blatantly anti-Semitic slur to complain about a contractor working with the Florida city. While he immediately caught his bad behavior, he nonetheless went on to claim that he didn’t mean what he said.

It’s not that easy to just brush off something so serious.

Influential politicians and popular celebrities ought to be held to a higher standard because of the power and status they wield. Remember when actress Roseanne Barr essentially lost her career when she made inappropriate comments about someone else’s race? Shouldn’t Tampa be “Raising the Barr” on its political class?

Project 21 member Marie Fischer, who has called out anti-Semitic politicians in the past, certainly thinks so.

In the case of Councilman Gudes, he complained “We’re getting Jewed” during a conversation with a Tampa Bay Times reporter about a high cost estimate for a new community center. While he reportedly made an immediate attempt to take back his comment, he had a novel way of explaining himself later:

Sometimes people use the word[s] “I got Jewed” meaning by a Jewish person… And I thought, someone could take that the wrong way. Let’s not go down that road, okay? I’m not a racist.

Gudes, a former police officer, is black.

Confusingly, Gudes additionally told the Times, “I was just talking in the moment because I was passionate about it,” and tried to talk the reporter out of writing about his comment. Claiming “no intent by me of anything,” he charged that critics are “just trying to throw a story out there for some papers.”

Commenting on Gudes and other politicians who have used the term “Jewed,” Marie says:

“We’re getting Jewed” were the words that came out of former police officer and current Tampa City Councilman Orlando Gudes’s mouth. Not “we’re getting screwed” or “we’re getting swindled.” We are getting Jewed.

There was a time when no one would ever say those words – at least not so openly. But here were are again, with another government official spewing out anti-Semitism. And all that is being said is to move along – there’s nothing to see here.

I find it odd that, when others say racist words, even when they are saying them to describe what someone else said, they are run out of their own companies. But say something anti-Semitic… and you hear crickets.

People are ignoring these incidents. By ignoring you are, in so many words, condoning these actions.

These actions may seem like a pebble, but enough pebbles can not only do damage to a group of people but to our society as a whole. If you do not believe it,  just look back to the horrific tragedies of the Holocaust, the Armenian Genocide in the early 1900s and the Rwandan genocide of 1994.

In October, and about a thousand miles to the north, Trenton, NJ City Council President Kathy McBride similarly told her colleagues that an attorney for the city had gotten a preferable settlement in a case because the attorney was able to “Jew [the plaintiff] down.” That attorney happened to be Jewish. McBride’s colleagues actually defended her. Marie called her out.

In a commentary published at the time on the Politichicks website, Marie wrote:

I cannot believe these people, apparently intelligent enough to be elected by their peers, really believe that “Jew down” is simply a harmless verb and not a slander against Jews. If they knew history, they would understand it comes from a negative stereotype about Jews being stingy, tight-fisted or excessively frugal. It paints the picture of us as lovers and hoarders of money.

Marie is Jewish. She added:

They might not consider themselves anti-Semites, but they are espousing words and feelings that mimic those who have a dislike, if not an outright hatred, of Jewish people.

As for Gude, he has said “I apologize.” But, considering his other statements surrounding it, can he be taken at his word? Will he eventually resign? McBride never did.

Sandy Freeman, a former mayor of Tampa who knows Gudes, said she’d “never seen that side of him” but recognizes the hateful power of the words he used. And she acknowledged that he would likely be taking her to task if she had used the n-word.

Nike pitchman and washed-up professional football quarterback Colin Kaepernick has appeared to defy yet again the narrative that’s been created for him. This time, he dispelled the assertion that he doesn’t have a beef with the American military when he tweeted that they are a “weapon… to enforce [America’s] policing and plundering of the non-white world.”

Kaepernick issued a pair of tweets this past weekend after the American airstrike that killed Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, a key figure behind the recent embassy attack in Iraq and behind several other attacks that have led to the deaths of many American servicemembers.

This latest reveal by Kaepernick shreds the image maintained in the media that he is not advocating anti-military, anti-police or anti-American sentiment through his protests. Members of the National Center’s Project 21 black leadership network are asking that Kaepernick be held to the same standard for his actions as Roseanne Barr. She was a once-celebrated member of the entertainment industry who was essentially exiled from Hollywood after making inappropriate comments about a former Obama Administration official.

Shouldn’t Kaepernick be judged by the same terms as Barr? That’s what these black conservatives believe.

Project 21 member Emery McClendon, a veteran of the U.S. Air Force, says:

Colin Kaepernick didn’t put much thought into his recent comments about our military. To equate them with war criminals or those who plunder non-white countries is to speak very ignorantly of what the job of the military encompasses. It is the job of those who serve in our military to protect American interests and combat threats to our nation.

They took appropriate action and carried out their sworn duty in the recent attack in Iraq to eliminate Iranian General Qassem Soleimani.

In my opinion, Kaepernick should be strongly rebuked and held accountable for his tweets.

In his first tweet, Kaepernick made the sweeping declaration that “[t]here is nothing new about American terrorist attacks against Black and Brown people for the expansion of American imperialism.” In the second, sent out a minute later, he added that “American militarism is a weapon wielded by American imperialism, to enforce its policing and plundering of the non white world.”

Project 21 member Rich Holt, an Army veteran, suggests Kaepernick’s complaints are rooted in animus for both the military and white people – making these tweets racially intolerant as well. Rich says:

At some point, you just have to recognize that Colin Kaepernick’s real issue is his hatred of white people. His racist narrative that spreading freedom is “plundering” the “non-white world” runs in the face of the multi-ethnic character of American civilization.

The expansion of global freedom is our moral obligation, and it is up to Americans to deliver freedom to those poor shackled souls who still toil in slavery to pontiffs, kings and general-secretaries. If Kaepernick hates the America military so much, maybe he should lead the way by joining the Peace Corps or volunteering overseas.

These tweets – in which the military is suggested to be involved in terrorism and plunder – shatter previous assertions by Kaepernick supporters that his protests are not meant to be against the military. Sports reporter Dylan Gwinn writes that “it’s hard to make a case that he’s not accusing the military of being a willing partner in what he views as a racist and imperialist empire.”

Previously, Kaepernick’s socks depicting cops as pigs undercut his advocates’ claims that his protests weren’t supposed to be insulting to police officers in general. And assertions that his kneeling during the national anthem was not to protest the American flag were disputed after Nike shelved a shoe featuring the 13-star Betsy Ross flag after Kaepernick complained.

Project 21 member Martin Baker says:

Typically, I would leave tweets like this alone – considering that I think the bravest thing Colin Kaepernick ever did was not signing with the Chicago Cubs after the 2009 Major League Baseball draft.

I find it amusing that Kaepernick, as a paid shill for Nike, talks about the plundering of the non-white world when his own shoe is not discounted from its exorbitant price when you cross over into the hood. And was he feeling oppressed as he cashed his checks from his team and from his endorsement deals? This is hypocrisy at its finest.

Again, I ask the simple question: Had he won the quarterback competition during 2016 training camp, would he have ever been this vocal? I highly doubt it.

I will continue to believe that comparing the actions of our brave military to the plight of an athlete who lost his starting job in the highest profile position in the NFL is a joke that has zero humor. We must stop this silly prattle in its tracks as we are about to potentially sending young men and women into harm’s way.

The Divine Miss M is belting out sour notes these days.

Fading celebrity Bette Midler – and Twitter – are being criticized by members of the National Center’s Project 21 black leadership network after Midler used the social media platform to speak fondly about a brutal attack on Senator Rand Paul.

It’s not the first time Midler has done this, or been criticized by Project 21 for her boorish behavior. It’s also not the first time, and probably not the last time, it will be said that she needs to be “Raising the Barr” in how she engages in political discussion. Right now, she’s acting no better than when Roseanne Barr was ranting, raving and losing her standing in Hollywood due to her own boorishness.

Because Midler disagreed with Paul and his support of a Trump Administration plan to draw down American forces in Syria, she took to Twitter to pretty much praise Paul’s neighbor – who went to jail and paid a large fine for attacking the lawmaker.

Paul ended up with six broken ribs after he was attacked by Rene Boucher in 2017. The injuries resulted in Paul contracting pneumonia and losing part of a lung. Boucher pled guilty to the felony crime of assaulting a member of Congress and was sentenced to 30 days in jail, 100 hours of community service and a $10,000 fine. Paul also won over $580,000 in damages from Boucher in a civil lawsuit related to the brutal attack.

In expressing her disapproval of Paul’s position on the Syria pullout, Midler posted to Twitter on October 23 that “I DO NOT promote violence, but… Rand Paul says the Kurds are being ‘ingrates’ for taking their frustrations out on U.S. troops. Which is a good reminder for us all to be more grateful for the neighbor who beat the s— out of Rand Paul.”

Paul had used the term regarding Kurdish soldiers who were reportedly throwing food at American forces in Syria. Midler later deleted her tweet.

This is only the latest incident in Midler’s longstanding animus toward the junior sentator from Kentucky. She has referred to Boucher’s attack before – in February 2018 – when she was mad at Paul about something else. She asked in a tweet: “Where’s Rand Paul’s neighbor when we need him?”

Neither of these occasions appeared to have brought any retribution for Midler despite people pointing out in 2018 that her comment appeared to violate Twitter’s policy against using the platform to wish harm on others. Midler’s latest verbal attack comes as Disney announced it might make a sequel to an old film of hers, “Hocus Pocus.”

Speaking about Midler’s crassness, Project 21 member Derryck Green says:

Senator Paul had hernia surgery and a portion of his lung removed as a result of being attacked by his neighbor, Rene Boucher. And yet, Bette Midler celebrates and makes light of it.

So, in other words, Midler’s tweet amounts to: I don’t support violence until I do. Especially against people who hold views that are different from mine.

Will Bette Midler say the same thing about Congressman Steve Scalise if and when he says something she disagrees with? This kind of rhetoric is way out of bounds, and Midler needs to be called on it.

Disagreeing with people is OK. Advocating violence against those you disagree with is not just wrong – it’s immoral.

Project 21 member Martin Baker adds criticism of Twitter when he says:

Comments such as this tell me all I need to know about Bette Midler’s compassion.

To applaud an unprovoked attack on anyone, much less a United States senator, is a sad cry for relevance. Where is this tolerance the left and its shills like Midler speak of?

Apparently not on Twitter.

Midler even lost a fan in Project 21 member Marie Fischer:

Growing up, I used to always hear that if you could not say something nice you shouldn’t say anything at all.

Bette Midler is a bit older than me, so I know she heard that suggestion as well. So why in the world would she tell people to be grateful for Rand Paul’s neighbor, who severely injured the senator that he is still recovering from an assault that occurred over two years ago? And her basis is for what he said in just the last few weeks.

Her statement sounds like something out of “Minority Report,” where people are punished for possible future actions. She either truly believes this, or is so starved for attention she will say anything.

Midler was once a role model for me growing up. Now I pray no one grows up to be as bitter and caustic as she is.

And Project 21 member Deroy Murdock says:

The Divine Miss M does not sound so divine these days.

It would be really nice if the same Trump-haters who scream about the need for civil discourse tried civil discourse sometime.

This is not the first time Project 21 members have said that Midler was due for Raising the Barr when it comes to civil discourse. Also on Twitter, this past July, she made the allegation that black people at a rally appearance by President Donald Trump were paid to be there, tweeting, “How much did he pay them to be in the ‘blackground’?”

At that time, Deroy took her to task for “dismiss[ing] these grown black men as props for hire.”

Joy Behar, a panelist on ABC’s “The View” chat show, really has a chip on her shoulder when it comes to the Trump Administration. This mean streak is not good for her brand, and it has reflected poorly on her employer. Members of the National Center’s Project 21 black leadership network believe she needs to be “Raising the Barr” when it comes to her professionalism.

To put things in perspective, Behar once jumped into a discussion on the show in which she specifically bashed Vice President Mike Pence, his Christian faith and the sanity of all Christians by saying those who claim to hear Jesus speak must have “mental illness.” At the prompting of the National Center’s Free Enterprise Project, Disney CEO Bob Iger revealed that he had made Behar apologize to the Vice President (Disney owns the ABC network).

Just recently, and certainly not the only time, Behar questioned President Donald Trump’s sanity as well, suggesting someone should “just put him in a home” for the mentally ill instead of impeaching him. But she has also pushed for impeachment, and just this month yelled “Resign! Get Out!” at the opening of an episode of “The View.”

In her latest outlandish performance, she seemed to take pride in telling her colleagues and viewers that she argued with supporters of the President while on vacation. In England. On a tour of a historic site. Underground.

During a tour of World War II-era “war rooms” underneath London, Behar said she took on a Trump supporter whom she said had simply asked her to “give him a chance,” just as conservatives had tolerated former president Barack Obama. Her description of her retort was an exaggerated diatribe against the President: “Give him a chance? He’s destroying the planet. He’s destroying the democracy. He doesn’t know what he’s doing. He’s writing stupid letters to [Turkish President Recep Tayyip] Erdogan. He’s killing people far away from us who did nothing but help us. Give him a chance? That’s the argument you’re giving me?”

Commenting on how Behar should have relaxed on her vacation – taking a break from the 24/7 radical politicizing that always seems to get her in such hot water – Project 21 member Emery McClendon says:

Behar states she engaged with a Trump supporter while on vacation. Why pick a fight on foreign soil while on vacation? Both parties should have been trying to relax.

The supporter asked Behar to give President Trump a chance just like we gave President Obama. That wasn’t good enough for her. Just like any average bully, she keep on badgering the supporter.

It’s time for liberals to raise the bar and leave people who are enjoying life alone. She just wanted to bash a person with a different political view than hers.

Project 21 member Leo Fuller adds:

Why would Joy Behar choose to fight with a private citizen about the sitting President of the United States while vacationing in London?

I sympathize with the exasperation that the producers of “The View” and Disney executives must feel. I am sure that this is not an event worth sharing with millions of busy Americans.

And Project 21 member Richard Holt suggests that Behar’s anger comes from an inability for liberals to tolerate those who disagree with anything they believe:

Joy Behar does what liberals do best these days, and that’s go crazy at the sight of a red cap.

But it’s really a free-thinker who frightens people like Behar the most.  Every red cap, every Trump shirt and every Trump sign to them are reminders of how the liberal elite and the deep state haven’t been able to penetrate enough of society to maintain a stranglehold over everyone.

Behar’s comments really illustrate how devastating it’s been to these elites to have lost a free and fair election. That’s what really frightens them. It’s not Trump as much as the revelation that people can watch their biased media, read their biased newspapers, receive their biased education and yet somehow still not agree with them.

Behar should be angry at the sight of a Trump supporter because it’s a reminder of how little power she really has.

Actor Mark Ruffalo is a one-man wrecking crew on-screen and off.

The actor best known for playing The Hulk in Disney’s Avengers movies has now focused his wrath on Ellen DeGeneres. Her offense? Simply being friendly to former president George W. Bush.

Forget decorum or civility. If he was in her position? Hulk smash! In a viral tweet, Ruffalo rebuked the popular talk show host for calling for basic kindness that transcends political disagreement.

Calling Ruffalo’s boorish behavior “sad” and “droll,” members of the National Center’s Project 21 black leadership network wonder if Disney and Hollywood casting directors should be “Raising the Barr” when it comes to considering a conservative-hating and mean-spirited actor for action movies and other media meant to appeal to consumers of all political stripes.

In the current polarized political climate, it was big news when DeGeneres and Bush were seen sitting together in the owner’s box at the recent football game between the Dallas Cowboys and Green Bay Packers. Ruffalo wasn’t the only celebrity critic of the meeting. But DeGeneres, who is an outspoken liberal and lesbian activist, didn’t back down when she came out of the closet about her friendship with the 43^rd president. On her talk show, she explained that she’s able to enjoy the company of many people with opinions different from her own:

Here’s the thing. I’m friends with George Bush. In fact, I’m friends with a lot of people who don’t share the same beliefs that I have. We’re all different, and I think that we’ve forgotten that that’s okay….

Just because I don’t agree with someone on everything doesn’t mean that I’m not gonna be friends with them. When I say, “Be kind to one another,” I don’t mean only the people that think the same way that you do. I mean be kind to everyone. It doesn’t matter.

That made Ruffalo angry. And you won’t like him when he’s angry.

In a tweet, Ruffalo wrote:

Sorry, until George W. Bush is brought to justice for the crimes of the Iraq War, (including American-lead torture, Iraqi deaths & displacement, and the deep scars—emotional & otherwise—inflicted on our military that served his folly), we can’t even begin to talk about kindness.

Commenting on Ruffalo and his tweet, Project 21 member Melanie Collette calls the radical actor a personification of what’s wrong with current political discourse:

Actor Mark Ruffalo’s inability to see how people can disagree politically and still be friends represents a sad, elitist segment of our country.

Ruffalo’s antagonistic attitude toward Ellen’s message of kindness is exactly what’s wrong with today’s political climate.

Project 21 Co-Chairman Stacy Washington also criticizes Ruffalo’s elitism:

Mark Ruffalo is a part of the outrage mob that currently punishes any person daring to think for themselves or step outside the acceptable thought bubble. Ruffalo thinks because he is an actor his opinions are of the utmost importance. How droll!

Ruffalo, by the way, was responding to a tweet by Vanity Fair magazine, which was promoting an essay calling acceptance of Bush “incompatible with reality” and criticizing DeGeneres for promoting a “simulated apolitical utopia.”

Rough stuff! But not unexpected from a radicalized entertainment media.

Two wrongs never make a right. And when it comes to Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, a member of the far-left “Squad” in the U.S. House of Representatives, wrongs were recently plentiful.

In July, Tlaib introduced legislation to prohibit public housing security infrastructure from employing facial and biometric recognition technology. It would also require the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to essentially prove the negative, that the technology isn’t harming those living in federally subsidized communities. The next month Tlaib doubled-down when she challenged the Detroit Police Department (DPD) – which helps protect the 13^th Congressional District of Michigan which she represents – to “rethink… this whole facial recognition bulls—t.”

This prompted an invitation from the DPD for Tlaib to take a tour and see the technology in use. On that tour, Tlaib confronted DPD Chief James Craig with a racially-charged proposition. It was an offer Craig could easily refuse. She said: “Analysts need to be African-Americans, not people that are not. It’s true, I think non-African-Americans think African-Americans all look the same!”

Craig responded, “I trust people who are trained, regardless of race, regardless of gender.” Tlaib countered, suggesting there was a 60 percent “error rate among African-Americans, especially women.” Craig replied, “I understand the technology real well.” Tlaib held her ground, demanding: “See if you can get some of our money back until they fix it.” Craig curtly responded: “No.”

Tlaib’s one piece of evidence about black people allegedly looking alike to white people is that her congressional colleagues Elijah Cummings and John Lewis are often mistaken for each other. It’s something CNN has done, yet something even Lewis has simply joked about rather than making it an issue to hamstring law enforcement efforts.

Confronted by a reporter about racial recognition being a bigger problem, Tlaib responded: “I think there’s actually been studies out that it’s hard for, you know, like African-Americans would identify African-Americans, similar, Latino same thing.” While not citing any such studies or responding about whether black analysts could differentiate white people, she said “look it up” before walking away from the reporter.

Craig called what Tlaib said “insulting.” He added: “If I made a similar statement, people would be calling for my resignation – right now. We know that. So is it a double-standard? That’s the number-one question I have.” And Craig is black.

Project 21 member Marie Fischer definitely thinks there’s a rush to play the race card in this and other politically and racially sensitive situations. It’s why Tlaib and others like her who want to polarize such issues need to be “Raising the Barr.”

In an interview with OneNewsNow, Marie said:

The left seems to have a get-out-of-jail card. They’re the ones that are pushing this racist narrative. They are the ones pushing that everybody’s-a-racist agenda. And basically it’s not everyone’s a racist; it’s anyone who disagrees with them.

She told OneNewsNow correspondent Chad Groening that constant allegations of racism threaten to cause the term to lose its seriousness and possibly lead to it failing to raise interest should there actually be a problem in the future. She added:

I have a friend; he’s a political analyst. This guy is like a 6-foot, 2-inch black man, and he says he’s been flat-out called a racist – a Nazi – just because he’s a conservative.

So it’s not a racist agenda on any part. They just do not want to hear anybody that sounds different than they do. They just want to shut down the narrative.

To read the entire OneNewsNow article, click here.

MSNBC host Joy Reid recently warned a group of teachers that she believed “wealthy, white Christian men” are willing to create something akin to the apartheid regime of the former South African government to stop a “numerical majority” of Americans from winning in a “simple election.”

This stoking of racial fears to attack both the Electoral College and Americans of religious faith is being criticized by members of the National Center’s Project 21 black leadership network. They suggest the media personality take a civics class. And also that Reid not use her celebrity status to enlist educators in her divisiveness. In short, Reid needs to be “Raising the Barr.”

Reid’s comments were made during a panel discussion about “Civic Participation in an Age of Democratic Peril” at the “In Defense of American Democracy” conference organized by the American Federation of Teachers, Shanker Institute and Onward Together. Other notable speakers at the event were former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, Senator Ron Wyden and former attorney general Eric Holder – all of whom have not addressed Reid’s incendiary comments.

Saying that “multiracial democracy is so fragile,” Reid claimed there is “a very determined minority, in this case wealthy, white Christian men and Christian Americans who are of the fundamentalist variety” who want to “maintain power forever” and will do so even “if they have to pull the South Africa model.” She added that “Donald Trump is merely an avatar for this.”

Reid called for “just a simple election” to “actually have majority rule in this country.”

Constitutional experts note that the Electoral College protects against a “tyranny of the majority” in which elections could effectively be determined by just a few densely-populated areas rather than through broad national support.

This is at least the second time Reid has suggested the existence of apartheid in America. In July, in response to allegations about the detention of an illegal immigrant, Reid tweeted: “This is apartheid.”

Commenting on Reid’s historical histrionics, Project 21 Co-Chairman Stacy Washington says:

The use of the word apartheid has no place in American political discourse. It is insulting and demeaning to the millions of Americans who simply disagree with leftist political ideology. Joy Reid uses the term to deflect from the millions of women, Jews, Hispanics and blacks who support President Trump.

Reid is wrong on so many things it’s no surprise she doesn’t understand our form of government, which is a republic. We do not have, nor have we ever had, the mob rule of a simple democracy.

However, Reid is correct that our form of government is a fragile one – dependent upon a moral upright and well-educated electorate. Her contribution in this speech to the malignant campaign of misinformation echoes the garbage that she so regularly issues on her television program.

Wouldn’t it be great if, instead of making speeches, Reid enrolled in a civics class?

Discussing how Reid’s comments actually hurt racial harmony, Project 21 member Richard Holt adds:

Dishonesty is a common tool for a leftist regime determined to prevent us from evolving into a colorless society. Its insistence in continuing this charade would be comical if its reach wasn’t so deep and its effects so dangerous.

Joy Reid talks about these boogeyman “white Christian men” as if they conspire in the darkest corners of our society and are working tirelessly to divide us. But we all know white Christian men don’t act like liberals! And they don’t need to divide us – the left is already doing that very effectively.

Reid’s unsubstantiated mistruths do a disservice to a nation that entrusts the fourth estate of journalism to behold the truths of the world and ensure an educated populace. But, like many pathetic liberals, she resorts to inventing conspiracies by white elites who are trying to oppress us. Well I just so happen to know these elites, and I can assure you they are far better company than she could ever be.

Project 21 member Donna Jackson notes that this behavior is unfortunately common for Reid:

Let’s first acknowledge that we have racist, bigoted minorities on the left in America whose goal is to create fear in exchange for power. Joy Reid is one of them.

Reid’s statement now, like Vice President Joe Biden’s 2012 assertion to a black audience that conservatives would “put you all back in chains,’’ is just another tactic to intimidate and manipulate people into supporting the liberal agenda.

And it’s clear Reid has never been afraid to express her disdain and hatred for white Americans. In a 2017 podcast interview, she suggested liberals give up on white people once and for all and focus on only minorities.

We’ve seen a lot of good things from current conservative policies – including black unemployment at a record low and black-owned businesses being launched at a healthy rate. Of course, there is much more to be done. We need solutions, not scapegoats. Joy Reid’s targeting of white Christian males will accomplish absolutely nothing.

When it came to her television show and its promotion of homosexual lifestyles, actress Debra Messing of the now-cancelled (for the second time) “Will and Grace” celebrated her “opportunity” to be “normalizing” the LGBT community.

After all, homosexuals were once classified as mentally ill by the American Psychiatric Association. While Messing obviously disagrees with that diagnosis, she still approves of using mental illness as a label to vilify those who have different political views than her own.

Pastor Michael Jordan of the New Era Baptist Church near Birmingham, Alabama recently put up a message on his church’s street sign that read, “A black vote for Trump is mental illness.” Instead of being shocked at such an broad accusation, Messing retweeted an article about the act that said “THANK YOU.”

A recent Zogby Poll found that President Donald Trump has 28% approval among black voters. Over 15 million blacks voted in the 2016 election. Using 2016’s numbers and 2019’s polling, does Messing really think it’s alright to label possibly 4,200,000 black Americans as mentally ill?

In her heart, she must not. She deleted the tweet from her Twitter feed. But she has not apologized for endorsing such a crass accusation. And apologies are not uncharacteristic of her. She apologized earlier this year – on International Women’s Day – for liking female anatomy-themed baked goods that offended transsexual activists who believe gender is merely a social construct.

Members of the National Center’s Project 21 black leadership network – recognizing that Jordan’s universal and unkind accusation should be reviled in the same manner Hollywood shunned actress Roseanne Barr for her 2018 accusations against Obama advisor Valerie Jarrett – see this as a reason for “Raising the Barr.” Deleting her tweet is not enough; Debra Messing needs to formally apologize for her shameful behavior of endorsing the marginalization of millions of black Americans.

As an organization, Project 21 does not support, endorse or otherwise seek to advance the campaigns of any political candidates or parties. But, as conservatives, Project 21 members cannot ignore the problems inherent in focusing on aspects such as race as a means of tearing people down for their political views. Because of their outspoken nature, Project 21 members are frequently the targets of similar harsh criticism.

As Project 21 member Nadra Enzi explains:

You can’t accuse the political preference of one group of black people as being a sign of mental illness without betraying a painfully limited expectation of black intellect generally.

A mental plantation isn’t an upgrade over a physical one. In fact, it’s infinitely harder to escape.

Noting the pastor is not free from blame in this incident, Project 21 member Emery McClendon adds:

It’s really perplexing that a Baptist church would post a sign calling black folk mentally ill for supporting President Trump. It’s even worse that a celebrity like Debra Messing would tell her large Twitter following that she thanks the church for what it did. Is she thanking the pastor for calling blacks crazy, or is she expressing her opinion that blacks who think for themselves are mentally unstable?

Why would they make such a judgement of people exercising their right to support a politician? Whatever happened to freedom of choice?

Messing took a deeply troubling position. Because of her popularity and visibility, she has influence over those who follow her. That following could also view her as anti-black or a racist because of her “thank you” comment.

This is all very disturbing. In their obviously non-professional opinions, Messing and Pastor Jordan assume free-thinking blacks are somehow mentally unstable. Blacks of all political persuasions should be upset over the message that she tweeted. Once again, we see that racism is the tool that progressives love to use to benefit themselves and divide the rest of us.

Project 21 member Donna Jackson notes that – despite Hollywood’s usual antipathy for the church – Messing embraced the pastor’s sign to advance her political agenda:

It’s safe to say that today’s celebrities have become the new ambulance chasers – scouring the Internet for anti-Trump sentiments to seize upon and champion. Debra Messing is no different in her quest to grab headlines. She has no connection to the black community, but – like most of the Hollywood elite – feels it’s her right to attach herself to black and brown faces to boost her career.

If anything, Messing should start with her own industry as a place where real change needs to occur. Hollywood has vilified Christians as being unhinged for decades. Yet now it wants to praise a Christian church that bows and serves the liberal agenda.

Noting that Messing is also demanding that potential Hollywood donors to President Trump’s campaign essentially be “doxxed” and subsequently punished by the entertainment industry, Project 21 member Derrick Hollie calls Messing and people like her “unhinged”:

Debra Messing’s tweet is another example of elite liberal privilege.

The church sign promoted hate and divisiveness along with ignorance on the part of the pastor. And it’s this type of rhetoric from liberals that fuels the passion of Trump supporters. It’s also hypocritical on the part of the pastor to promote and play with mental illness – an issue that impacts so many in the black community.

Messing’s second demand, for the names of people attending a Trump fundraiser in Beverly Hills to be made public, further shows how unhinged some liberals are and just how far they will go to destroy the lives of others who don’t agree with them. It’s a shame.

It may be regrettable that CNN personality Chris Cuomo was trolled on his personal time, but it’s outrageous that Cuomo would try to compare being called “Fredo” to a black person being called the n-word. And it is unforgivable for CNN to jump on the bandwagon to call it an “ethnic slur.”

Members of the Project 21 black leadership network think CNN should be “Raising the Barr” when it comes to the crass political maneuvers of its staff and not joining in the effort to label anything they don’t like as racist, sexist or some other unforgivable offense.

After all, both Cuomo and CNN appeared to condone the use of “Fredo” on the network in the past when it served their purposes. Cuomo even used it to describe himself.

Project 21 member Deroy Murdock, a Fox News contributor and contributing editor at National Review Online, pointed out that “Fredo” comes from a well-known movie and not the Ku Klux Klan. In his confrontation, Cuomo himself identified it to mean “weak brother” (his brother is New York Governor Andrew Cuomo). Deroy said:

Chris Cuomo is confused.

“Fredo” refers to Fredo Corleone, the weak and deceitful son in a novel and film called “The Godfather.” In other words, “Fredo” is a fictional character. Cuomo once compared himself to Fredo, by name, on air.

Meanwhile, “the n-word” is a vicious anti-black epithet and arguably the ugliest expression in the English language. CNN’s Chris Cuomo is confused, but even he should understand this distinction.

While they might have different interpretations of the term that has been defined by their views about the movie, Italian Americans interviewed by the New York Post also unanimously did not consider Fredo a slur. “Not like the n-word,” said one person. “That’s another level.”

And Cuomo obviously knows the difference between the n-word and Fredo because he’s allowed it to be used on his show without challenge. In January 2019, CNN contributor Ana Navarro referred to Donald Trump. Jr. as Fredo on Cuomo’s show while Cuomo remained expressionless. Ditto for CNN. Guest Rick Wilson called Representative Devin Nunes the Fredo of his political party while a similarly expressionless Anderson Cooper looked on in a March 2019 panel discussion.

Christopher Arps, a Project 21 member who is also a talk radio host, said this is “liberal logic” run amok:

This is America in 2019.

CNN has a white man of wealth and privilege who hails from a prominent political family. He claims he’s the victim of a very questionable slur.

This is liberal logic.

Project 21 member Rich Holt, a political consultant, said that Cuomo’s rush to define Fredo as bigoted term is emblematic of the leftist penchant for trying to portray opponents as out of the mainstream. He remarked:

This is just another example of the prevailing attitude among liberals that any kind of criticism of any kind is an overt act of bigotry and racism. The entire purpose of CNN these days seems to be the promotion of the worldview of liberalism – which is a political theory based on victimhood and division.

Cuomo, like other little brothers we are familiar with, obviously lacks the intellect to truly be great in America. That’s why he has to settle for being little more than a propagandist.

That being said, Rich suggested that conservatives take the high road to keep these accusations from being able to be made in the first place:

But critics of the toxic divisive culture of liberalism should rise higher than petty name-calling. As conservatives, we need to set the example of what it is to be an American. We should focus on being honest, guided by our faith and inspired by a true desire to be just.

People like Cuomo are temporary, but our values are eternal. Let’s set an example for others to follow.