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THE BLERD BINDER: Watchmen is a testament to trauma

NNPA NEWSWIRE — Episode six of Watchmen (titled “This Extraordinary being”), depicts vital moments in Black culture, trauma, or experiencing trauma. Episode seven delves into how we handle trauma. Episode nine goes over the story of why Dr. Manhattan after his self-imposed exile on Mars. These episodes came with big reveals in them as well as expanding the lore of Alan Moore’s original graphic novel.

Published

6 years ago

December 29, 2019

Oakland Post

In episode eight, Dr. Manhattan's decision to turn into a black man was based on the fact that Angela feels more comfortable being with a black man and Adrian Veidt's storyline connects since he was the one to erase Dr. Manhattan's Memory.

Watchmen Episode Seven and Eight Commentary

By Noah Washington

The Blerd Binder covers nerdy news for the Black nerds of the world. We welcome all as we talk about subjects ranging from Movies to Music and Tech to Toys.

(Check out Noah Washington’s previous articles on “Watchmen” and other topics in Black Nerdom. NOTE: If you haven’t seen Watchmen, there are spoilers ahead for what has happened in the series so far through episode 8. You have been warned).

Episode six, seven, and eight of “Watchmen” are what I consider to be some of the best hours of television in history.

Episode six of Watchmen (titled “This Extraordinary being”), depicts vital moments in Black culture, trauma, or experiencing trauma. Episode seven delves into how we handle trauma. Episode nine goes over the story of why Dr. Manhattan after his self-imposed exile on Mars. These episodes came with big reveals in them as well as expanding the lore of Alan Moore’s original graphic novel.

Episode six opens with Angela haven taken her Grandfather Will’s “Nostalgia” pills. This then takes her through a cascade of his memories, which begin with him becoming a police officer in 1930’s New York, being inducted by a fellow black police officer who warns him off an organization called “Cyclops” (more on that later).

Police Officer Will arrests a white man for burning down a Jewish Deli. The screenwriters inserted a subtle irony as we see a white vendor reading a Superman comic — Superman was created by two Jewish men.

When Will brings the man in to the station, the front desk officer meets him with hostility, but then there is a glimmer of hope when a white cop stands up for him and takes him in, only for that hope to be diminished as the same perp is back on the streets the very next day.

After a series of events during which we see the same cops who stood up for Will, heartbreakingly dragging two African Americans through the streets, nearly lynching Will, we witness his transformation into the original vigilante: Hooded Justice, who had initially perceived as a white man.

Later in the episode, Captain Metropolis asks Will to reach out to Hooded Justice, who he thinks is a white man that Will has been feeding information to.

In the very next scene, Will and Metropolis are engaging in sexual intercourse.

Metropolis then proceeds to tell Will not to take off his mask when he is with the other members of the Minutemen because they are racist and need to be bankrolled by racist banks — leading back to that famous quote, “Who Watches the Watchmen?”

Will then discovers a plot by the group Cyclops (who turn out to be the Cops that Will conflicted with) to use screens as mediums for hypnotism, but the Minutemen refuse to come to his aid.

Will then kills all of the members of Cyclops and, ironically, strangling the leader who had threatened to lynch Will with a wire. After a scene of Will coming home to see the trauma that he has brought to his family, there is a time jump forward to Will confronting Jud, the chief of police (on the night of his murder), using the Cyclops’ hypnotic technology to have Jud hang himself, thus ending the episode.

The writers were able to do something truly amazing: They did not change anything at all.

With sequels or reboots, something is usually modified from the source material, either making things completely different from the original story, or to add context to new material that was not in the original. But Watchmen screenwriters were able to take pre-existing lore and not change any of the original Alan Moore comics.

They gave meaning and depth to the Minutemen, who were just a plot device for Alan Moore, using the source material and creativity to turn that plot device into a complicated origin story.

Will interchanges with Angela throughout the episode. Could this be the writers commenting on genetic memory? Genetic memory refers to the phenomena that comes about when someone has endured conditions so traumatic that the memory is passed on to the victim’s descendants. We see that Angela is literally experiencing Will’s Trauma.

Episode seven opens with a young Angela trying to buy the black exploitation film “Sister Night.”

We then see her parents were killed by a Vietnamese terrorist, leading her to wake up in Lady Trieu’s recovery room, treating her overdose.

Throughout this episode, we see Angela go through glimpses of Will’s memories only to go into her memories, linking her trauma to his (that genetic trauma I was talking about).

In this episode, we also learn that Adrian Veidt’s timeline is completely different from the main storyline as a whole year has passed since the last time we saw him. Still, the real surprise happens when we discover that Dr. Manhattan is in Tulsa walking around like an average person, and to makes matters even crazier, the Seventh Cavalry plans on killing him to allow Senator Joe Keene to take his power!

After learning this, Angela rushes home to find a sleeping Cal with the book “For Whom the Bell Tolls,” which, if you haven’t guessed by now, is a dead giveaway for who Dr. Manhattan has been masquerading as. Dr. Manhattan has been Cal this entire time!

In fairness, the writers have been dropping clues, such as Cal’s religious worldview, his accident, the allusions to Dr. Manhattan’s infamous genitalia, and the dialogue from Will saying that Dr. Manhattan can make himself look like anything with any color.

Dr. Manhattan is pretty notable for moving from woman to woman, but the questions remain: Why would he want to make himself a black man? How does Adrian Veidt’s storyline fit into the show as a whole? And How is Lady Trieu’s clock going to save the world?

In episode eight, Dr. Manhattan’s decision to turn into a black man was based on the fact that Angela feels more comfortable being with a black man and Adrian Veidt’s storyline connects since he was the one to erase Dr. Manhattan’s Memory.

How he also ended up on Europa, a moon of Jupiter, is almost heartbreakingly funny. Adrian wanted Dr. Manhattan to transport him to a place where he would be continuously worshipped but Europa turned out to be the exact opposite. This leads me to think about a little saying, “Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it.”

I’m sure these questions will be answered in the next episode as we are nearing the end of this season. This show has consistently been putting me on the edge of my seat, so I can’t wait to see how these storylines come together.

I hope that the world will watch this television spectacle and like it. Who knows how it will all play out? I can’t wait to get into the finale.

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2026 Lucid Air Grand Touring Review — Is This $136K EV Sedan Worth It?

AUTONETWORK ON BLACKPRESSUSA — Finished in Stellar White Metallic with the Tahoe Grand Touring interior, this Lucid makes a strong first impression. The shape is sleek and low, but it still feels elegant instead of trying too hard. Features like soft-close doors, powered illuminated door handles, 20-inch Aero Lite wheels, and the Glass Canopy Roof help the car feel expensive before you even start it.

Published

1 week ago

May 3, 2026

Oakland Post

The 2026 Lucid Air Grand Touring is the kind of luxury EV that makes people stop and ask a simple question: Is this really better than a Tesla Model S, Mercedes EQS, or BMW i7? At $136,150, it has to do more than look futuristic. It has to feel special every time you get in it.

Finished in Stellar White Metallic with the Tahoe Grand Touring interior, this Lucid makes a strong first impression. The shape is sleek and low, yet it still feels elegant rather than trying too hard. Features like soft-close doors, powered illuminated door handles, 20-inch Aero Lite wheels, and the Glass Canopy Roof help the car feel expensive before you even start it.

Inside is where the Air Grand Touring really makes its case. The 34-inch Glass Cockpit Display and retractable Pilot Panel screen give the cabin a clean, modern look that still feels different from other EVs. The Tahoe Extended Leather and Lucid Black Alcantara headliner lifts the sense of occasion, and the front seats are a highlight. They are 20-way power-adjustable, heated, ventilated, and include massage. That matters because luxury buyers at this price expect comfort first.

Rear passengers are not ignored either. You get 5-zone heated rear seating, a rear center console display, and power rear and rear side window sunshades. Add in the Surreal Sound Pro system with 21 speakers, and the Air feels like a true long-distance luxury sedan.

Lucid also gives this car serious EV hardware. The dual-motor all-wheel-drive system, 900V+ charging architecture, and Wunderbox onboard charger are big talking points. Buyers in this segment care about range, charging speed, and everyday ease, not just raw performance. That is where the Lucid continues to stand out.

On the technology side, the Air Grand Touring includes DreamDrive Premium, with 3D Surround View Monitoring, Blind Spot Warning, Automatic Park In and Out, Automatic Emergency Braking, and a Driver Monitoring System with distracted and drowsy driver alerts. This one also has DreamDrive Pro, which adds future-capable ADAS hardware.

There are still some real-world annoyances. Based on your notes, the windshield wiper control is hard to find and use, and that matters more than people think in a high-tech car. When controls become less intuitive, even a beautiful interior can feel frustrating.

Still, the 2026 Lucid Air Grand Touring succeeds where it matters most. It feels luxurious, advanced, comfortable, and thoughtfully engineered. For buyers who want an EV sedan that feels truly premium and less common than the usual choices, this Lucid makes a very strong case.

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Snoop Dogg Celebrates 10 Til’ Midnight at the Compound

LOS ANGELES SENTINEL — The album is paired with a film that stars Snoop Dogg, Hitta J3, G Perico, and Ray Vaughn, and one of the strongest elements of the whole project is that the production stayed rooted right here in Los Angeles.

Published

1 week ago

May 3, 2026

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Snoop Dogg celebrated the premiere of 10 Til’ Midnight at his Inglewood recording studio & multipurpose facility, The Compound, but the night felt like much more than an album release. It felt like Los Angeles. It felt like legacy. And it felt like another major move from one of the city’s greatest cultural architects as he continues to prove that he is not just dropping music — he is building moments, shaping narratives, and pushing the culture forward in real time.

What made the event so powerful was the clarity behind the vision. During a panel conversation with DJ Hed, Snoop opened up about the heart behind 10 Til’ Midnight, explaining that the project was created to help bridge older and younger generations while also speaking to the long-standing divisions between Bloods and Crips in a unique way through film. That alone gave the project a different kind of weight. This was not just about songs. This was about using creativity as a tool for connection. This was about taking a story rooted in Los Angeles and telling it in a way that could bring people together.

Snoop Congratulated By Rapper & Fellow 10 Til Midnight Cast Member G Perico (CreativeLB/KreativeKapturez)

The album is paired with a film that stars Snoop Dogg, Hitta J3, G Perico, and Ray Vaughn, and one of the strongest elements of the whole project is that the production stayed rooted right here in Los Angeles. The film was shot in the city, including at WePlay Studios in Inglewood, which gave the entire project an even deeper hometown feel. It was not just a West Coast story in content — it was a Los Angeles-made production from the ground up.

That matters because, in a city like this, authenticity still carries weight. Snoop understands how to make sure that what he creates does not just represent Los Angeles on the surface, but actually comes from it.

What also makes 10 Til’ Midnight significant is that it represents another major step in Snoop’s evolution as both an artist and executive. Public reporting around the project identifies it as his 22nd studio album, but the bigger story is what it represents in this season of his life. This is one of several consecutive moves he has made in his 50s that show he is still building, still expanding, and still finding new ways to reinvent what the next chapter looks like.

Snoop Dogg at the Premiere of 10 Til Midnight (CreativeLB/KreativeKapturez)

Now, as the head of Death Row Records and the newly aligned leader of Death Row Pictures, he is taking the brand into a new dimension. That is what made this moment feel bigger than music. Snoop is not just protecting the legacy of Death Row — he is stretching it. He is expanding it beyond records and into film, visual storytelling, and larger creative worlds that can continue carrying the label’s impact forward. Public reporting has noted that this project arrives as part of that broader cinematic push.

That is a major Los Angeles move because the city has always been built on the intersection of music, film, neighborhood identity, and cultural storytelling. With 10 Til’ Midnight, Snoop is leaning all the way into that intersection.

The room at The Compound reflected that. It felt like a private premiere, but it also felt like a statement — a reminder that Snoop Dogg’s staying power has never been based only on nostalgia. It comes from his ability to remain connected, remain visionary, and remain in tune with how to move the culture without losing the essence of who he is.

That is why this premiere mattered. It was not just about celebrating another album. It was about witnessing a Los Angeles legend continue to evolve, continue to unify, and continue to use art to tell stories that hit deeper than entertainment alone.

In that sense, 10 Til’ Midnight became more than a project launch. It became another example of how Snoop Dogg is still taking Los Angeles to the next level — using music, film, and legacy together to build something bigger than a moment.

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OP-ED: Small Businesses Need Minnesota to Act on Pass-Through Tax Policy

MINNESOTA SPOKESMAN RECORDER — A Twin Cities immigrant entrepreneur who built several businesses including grocery stores in underserved neighborhoods is calling on Minnesota lawmakers to extend the Pass-Through Entity tax option before it expires, warning that its loss would hit small businesses already recovering from Operation Metro Surge with higher federal tax bills.

Published

1 week ago

May 3, 2026

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A Twin Cities Small Business Owner Is Urging Minnesota to Extend a Tax Policy That Could Save Thousands of Businesses

By Daniel Hernandez | Minnesota Spokesman Recorder

I came to the United States as a teenager with a clear goal: to build something meaningful through hard work. I put in long days in construction, restaurants, and landscaping; doing whatever it took to learn, save, and eventually start my own business.

Over time, I built and ran several successful ventures, including an event photography company, a magazine, a tax and accounting firm, and now grocery stores serving neighborhoods across the Twin Cities where other retailers chose not to invest. I’ve created jobs, supported families, and committed to communities that deserve stability and opportunity.

That’s why I’m speaking out now.

Small business owners in Minneapolis and the communities we serve are recovering from serious disruptions, including the impacts of Operation Metro Surge. That event hit immigrant communities especially hard. In my own case, I lost nearly half of my 60 employees and saw revenue drop by about 85%. While I worked to provide competitive wages, health benefits, and paid time off, the real hardship fell on the people who lost their jobs and income.

Even as we rebuild, small businesses are facing another challenge. The Minnesota Legislature is considering letting an important tax policy expire: the Pass-Through Entity tax option.

Here’s what that means in plain terms.

Many small businesses, including mine, are pass-through businesses. That means the business itself doesn’t pay income tax. Instead, the owners report the income on their personal tax returns. But under current federal rules, there’s a limit on how much state tax we can deduct. That often leads to higher federal tax bills.

The Pass-Through Entity option fixes that. It allows the business to pay the state tax directly, which means the business can fully deduct those taxes on its federal return and lower the total amount of income taxed federally. The result is straightforward: small business owners pay less in federal taxes, without reducing what the state collects.

This policy is not new or controversial. Thirty-six states already offer it. It doesn’t cost Minnesota anything, it’s revenue neutral. And it benefits more than 66,000 businesses across the state.

In a state where the cost of doing business is already high, it’s hard to understand why we wouldn’t offer the same basic tax treatment as states like California and Illinois.

Small businesses have carried a heavy load in recent years, through a pandemic, rising costs and public safety disruptions. We’ve adapted, reinvested and stayed committed to our communities. What we need now are practical policies that support that work, not make it harder.

If the Minnesota House does not act soon, many businesses will face significantly higher federal tax bills. That’s money that could otherwise be used to hire workers, raise wages or reinvest in local neighborhoods.

I urge Gov. Tim Walz and members of the House Tax Committee to pass House File 3127 and extend the Pass-Through Entity election.

Small businesses are the backbone of our communities. We’ve proven our resilience. Now we need our state leaders to show the same commitment to us.

Daniel Hernandez is the owner of Colonial Market located at 2100 E. Lake St.

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