Colin Kaepernick Narrates 2 Minute ''Dream Crazy' TV Commercial Booked On NFL Football

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Colin Kaepernick Narrates 2 Minute ''Dream Crazy' TV Commercial Booked On NFL Football

Hunkering down in its support of former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick with derision from Trump and threats of a boycott, NIKE released a two-minute commercial narrated by him on Wednesday. NIKE also announced plans to run the ad on the NFL's first broadcast of the regular season.  

The ad, called “Dream Crazy,” features Mr. Kaepernick and other star athletes in the Nike stable, including Serena Williams and LeBron James. It implores viewers to dream big, using the inspiring stories of those stars and of everyday weekend warriors who overcame illness or disability to triumph athletically.  The emphasis on disabled and physically-impaired athletes is given huge exposure in the uplighting, American moxie, 'Just Do It' 30th anniversary commercial. 

Greg Hughes, a spokesman for NBC Sports, confirmed to the New York Times that Nike had purchased airtime on Thursday’s N.F.L. game. The commercial is a shorter, 90-second version of this ad released digitally Wednesday. The league did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Nike is a major partner of the N.F.L.’s, providing the uniforms for all 32 teams and the clothing worn by everybody on an N.F.L. sideline.   Read on. 

Young Activists Parkland's Jaclyn Corin & Company, BLM DeRay Mckesson Featured By Vanity Fair

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Young Activists Parkland's Jaclyn Corin & Company, BLM DeRay Mckesson Featured By Vanity Fair

The poor polling in predicting Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum's Florida Dem. gov primary win didn't take into consideration the Parkland students criss-crossing the state with a massive get out the vote effort among young people.

Bernie only endorsed the former Hillary supporter in the last month. Meanwhile, Parkland students were on the move with voter registration and barely received any recognition for turning out the votes last week. Big media and pollsters struggle with anything new that doesn't fit their narrative.

Reflecting an editorial shift, yesterday, BLM co-founder DeRay Mckesson was featured at Vanity Fair online, w/his now iconic Patagonia blue vest. (Not sure if article is in print). Now Vanity Fair takes an in-depth lookat Jaclyn Corin a key logistical brain behind the nationwide Parkland students movement. VF gives you 3 free articles a month, so take a read about this inspiring young people's movement across America and check out Deray's equally positive profile as he promotes his new book 'On the Other Side of Freedom: The Case for Hope'.

Waiting For A Perfect Protest? Op-Ed Argues I Am The Problem, Not Antifa

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Waiting For A Perfect Protest? Op-Ed Argues I Am The Problem, Not Antifa

Anne's comment: "Your op-ed sanitizes the reality of the antifa protest in Berkeley, claiming that my white woman 'perfect march' moderation (I see myself as very progressive) is a greater problem for you than antifa's right to promote anarchy -- breaking windows, shutting down businesses, creating chaos and hurting people -- because a white nationalist wants to speak on campus.

Many antifa members are as committed to overturning our govt and creating anarchy to support their vision of justice as are the white nationalists, from all I've read. Your op-ed says clearly that I -- who sued the NYPD over events in Harlem and won -- am a greater problem for social justice -- than antifa.

Those claims are 1) absurd and 2) counter-productive to the cause of social justice. I am happy to stand (and have stood ALWAYS) for BLM, as an example.

But if you also demand that I agree to no free speech for the dreadful Ann Coulter, that Condoleezza Rice is not permitted to speak on any university campus, and that I speak proudly on behalf of black-shirt violence that breaks windows and clubs people for NO obvious reason but creating chaos and overturning our economic system, then you must explain to me 1) why this is necessary; 2) how it will succeed and 3) exactly what kind of America you imagine creating in your so-called just country. " {End comment}

On AOC yesterday, I did discuss this issue and also posted the polls referenced in this op-ed. I posted a link to the clergy group that organized the counter-protests in Charlottesville and have absolutely no issue with them. But if they are arguing -- as they seem to be -- that I must support a host of other actions, like antifa in Berkeley, I cannot support that violence. I do not support anarchy and the total overturning of capitalism in America, as antifa seeks (not that I think it's even possible). ~ Anne

2017 Whitney Biennial Curators Lew & Lockshave Stand Firm On 'Open Casket' Controversy

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2017 Whitney Biennial Curators Lew & Lockshave Stand Firm On 'Open Casket' Controversy AOC The Wokes

Not in recent memory has a single painting caused such controversy and furor in the contemporary art world as Dana Schutz's 'Open Casket' (2016), part of New York's current Whitney Biennial. The portrait focuses on the disfigured corpse of Emmett Till, murdered in 1955 at age 14 by a Mississippi lynch mob after conflicting stories about whistling -- or 'worse' according to suggestive innuendos in court testimony -- at a white woman. 

The two Biennial creators  Christopher Lew and Mia Lockshave also become the target of criticism, and Artnet New's editor-in-chief Andrew Goldstein spoke to Lew about the controversy.

Dana Schutz' Painting Of Emmett Till Creates Controversy At Whitney Biennial 2017

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Black Lives Matter: Nina Simone, Beyoncé and The Black Panthers Intersect

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Black Lives Matter: Nina Simone, Beyoncé and The Black Panthers Intersect

Talking about Nina Simone in her 2013 self-produced HBO documentary 'Life Is But A Dream', Beyoncé drew contrast between her public life and the fact that Simone's lived with her demons out of the public space.

“People are brainwashed… When Nina Simone put out music, you loved her voice. That’s what she wanted you to love,” Beyoncé reminds us, while lamenting the ridiculous things people write about her. “You didn’t get brainwashed by her day-to-day life. That’s not your business. It shouldn’t influence the way you listen to the voice and the art, but it does.” Remember the rumor that she used a surrogate mother to carry her daughter, Blue Ivy Carter? Bey called it “stupid.” She explained: “To think that I would be that vain. I respect mothers and women so much. To be able to experience bringing a child into this world, if you’re lucky and fortunate enough to experience that, I would never ever take that for granted.”

It was last week that music lovers were able to draw a new contrast between Beyoncé and Nina Simone, when the superstar took to the stage at Superbowl halftime to perform 'Formation'. I'm sparing the visuals and let you read the lyrics in Bey's sing-along.