Sunday, August 27, 2017

Pardon for Sheriff Joe....

Pardon for Sheriff Joe....
Heading out to the grocery store before they get busy but I just wanted to post this link to a liberal site with an inflammatory click bait type headline that details (and provides links to) the atrocities committed by Joe Arpaio. Yes, this is a left leaning site. Far left. I am posting the link because it backs up its claims with links to other sites (some left, some right, some in the middle) If you want to see what has been said about him over the years....I encourage you to check out this article AND follow the links. For those who are all for these tough punishments because "jail is supposed to be punishment" bear in mind that some of these people who were killed or abused....tortured is not too strong of a word....were innocent. The only thing some of them were guilty of is being Hispanic on Sheriff Joe's turf. 

Here is another link...to an article that claims neither side of the debate is working off of facts. It confirms that Arpaio is indeed a despicable human being but that the law he violated was an over reach on the part of the judge who issued it.

And while the letter of the pardon may be legal...the spirit of the pardon is nothing more than a head nod from Trump to his base of supporters...among whom Joe Arpaio was one of the most fervent.  

Tuesday, August 15, 2017

Trump - in full "wink-wink-wink" mode?


So Donald Trump finally got around to putting a face with a name and called out racists and white supremacists for the weekend's events. It certainly didn't convince the prominent white supremacist, Richard Spencer, who called the statement kumbaya nonsense that only a dumb person would take seriously. I saw a FB meme that compared the enthusiasm of Trump's denouncement to that of a hostage forced to read a statement prepared by his captors. His heart clearly was not in it. 

Check out this Business Insider article that talks about Richard Spencer and his view of the president. Although he does not consider Trump Alt Right, he does consider him the first true nationalist in his lifetime. Well, there you go. 

And please watch this short, sobering video...earmarked especially for those (including Trump himself) who claim that Trump did not do anything to incite this kind of violence. I call bullshit on that claim. 

And finally, here is a link to a Vox artricle...definitely worth reading. One of my favorite comments from the article quotes an "Alt Right" Trump supporter:


“Our Glorious Leader and ULTIMATE SAVIOR has gone full-wink-wink-wink to his most aggressive supporters.”

Even they don't believe his denouncements....


Monday, August 14, 2017

Silence equals Complicity


It is not okay…NOT OKAY….for Americans wearing armbands adorned with the Nazi swastikas to be parading around the streets of America. Doesn’t this go without saying. I saw a cartoon that proclaimed that truth…and then mentioned…an actual war was fought over this…remember?


And along with the mayor of Charlottesville, I proclaim that a line runs directly from the race riot we witnessed to the White House and Donald Trump. He may not have placed the rifles in the hands of the militias who attended…and he may not have lit their tiki torches…and he may not have slipped the bands with the Nazi Swastika onto the arms of those willing…no proud…to wear them... but his rhetoric, his platform, his agenda and his refusal to denounce these hate groups led to what we saw in Charlottesville this weekend.


He is their enabler. And if he doesn’t want to claim that honor or be associated with their agenda then he needs to speak out loud and clear. Because they are wearing his hats, claim they are fulfilling the Trump agenda and getting a little pissy because of the lukewarm rebuke he did manage to get out.


Others took it as endorsement. The Daily Stormer...yes, that same disgusting website that called Heather Heyer a fat slut...too fat to outrun the car that killed her had this to say:



"He didn't attack us. He just said the nation should come together. Nothing specific against us. He said that we need to study why people are so angry, and implied that there was hate ... on both sides! So he implied the antifa [anti-fascists] are haters. There was virtually no counter-signaling of us at all. He said he loves us all. Also refused to answer a question about White Nationalists supporting him. No condemnation at all. When asked to condemn, he just walked out of the room. Really, really good. God bless him." 

I can't link to the Daily Stormer because, thankfully, Go Daddy refused to host the site any longer and they could not find any other takers (at least at this point)


Yes, I denounce violence on both sides…left or right/black or white/liberal or conservative…but this racist stuff runs deep and to the bone in our country. Sixtyish years ago, Emmett Till's eyes were gouged out and he was lynched for flirting with a white woman (which he didn’t do) or when three men were murdered because they were actively helping blacks register to vote. There were separate bathrooms, separate water fountains, interracial marriage was illegal and many blacks were lynched for being too uppity.


Martin Luther King and his followers marched in my lifetime. I am old enough to remember. It wasn’t all that long ago. And while many of us changed with the times…evolved…embraced the equality of all humans….others stayed rooted in the pre-civil rights days. The hate and prejudice festering in their hearts. To me this is undeniable.

I think Trump covertly courted the white supremacist vote so he does not want to offend them. I think he shares many of their values and beliefs so he does not want to denounce them. Could I be wrong how “all in” he is with white supremacists? Sure. But those who deny that the present administration is not bringing that festering hatred to the surface are just not taking a good clear “look-see.” With its self-proclaimed Alt Right advisers like Steve Bannon and the robotic Steven Miller…and others of that ilk,haters have been emboldened by Trump's presidency. They don’t have to hide their hatefulness or bigotry for fear of the consequences. They are not holding back…and what we saw in Charlottesville this weekend couldn't make it any clearer.