“My thoughts and prayers are with the Senators that voted down gun control. My thoughts: do your job. My prayer: you’re voted out of office.” —Betty White
I’m angry. I’ll be calling my congresspeople (even though they’re all progressive Democrats). But I’m not going to write about this yet again. I’m feeling a lot like Alvin McEwen of the Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters news blog: “I can’t preach or talk about anything in my usual critical stance, folks. Nor do I feel like putting out news briefs. God, I feel so very bad over the entire thing. It’s a kind of sadness that takes away all of your purpose and makes you ask why. Nothing else. Just why. But I find that when things like this happen, it helps to let the feeling wash over you. Don’t try to keep them inside. And do something light.”
So, I’m going to go do something light before getting back to work
“Thoughts and prayers do nothing! Maybe it’s time to actually do something about it”
Kim Davis protested at work, refusing to do her job as county clerk and denied her fellow citizens their right to marry. And she was a conservative here. But let some football players protest the murders of unarmed people of color by police (who are never held to account) and that’s unconscionable!It’s the fifth Friday in September. We are fast running out of the superior month that his the home of superior babies.
This has been a really weird week in part for reasons I can’t go into here. But the weather turned hotter than I like for a few days, and that seems to send plants into another frenzy of pollenating, so we both had nasty sinus symptoms. On the other hand, I’ve been getting a lot of writing done.
Anyway, here are the links I gathered this week, sorted into categories as accurately as I could.
FBI: Violent crime up in Seattle and Washington in 2016, but murders specifically down.
“While violent crime increased in Seattle and Washington state last year compared to 2015, the city and state both saw double-digit decreases in the number of murders and non-negligent manslaughters committed during the same time period… criminologists warned the new numbers may not indicate the start of a long-term trend because violent crime remains well below rates seen in the 1980s and early 1990s. And even compared to a decade ago, violent crime in 2016 is 18 percent lower than it was in 2007, and the murder rate is 6 percent lower than it was then…”
A very interesting letter from another team owner back in the days when Donald was a sports team owner. (Click to embiggen)Why the Overrepresentation of Black Americans in Professional Sports Is Not a Good Thing.
“…anyone who has taught in a US high-school system knows that this balance is strictly imposed on black males. Intellectuality is not just discouraged but not even recognized. When you reinforce this attitude by underfunding education, the remaining opportunities for black success are not found in the classroom but in the gym.”
How Hugh Hefner’s Incredibly Complicated Legacy Got Cast as Female Sexual Liberation.
“He published features that supported abortion rights years before Roe v. Wade, and his Playboy Foundation made gifts to rape crisis centers, abortion support services, and the ACLU’s Women’s Rights Project. Hefner also fought for First Amendment protections—a predictable cause for the publisher of a nudie magazine—ran some brilliant interviews, and gave money to civil-rights causes… At the same time, Hef’s magazine explicitly trashed women who stepped outside his feminine ideal.”
The so-called President of the United States thinks that the angry, violent, racist men on the left who advocate genocide are “fine people,” but the men on the right exercising their right to peacefully protest injustice are “sons of bitches.”
Most of the news media seems to be talking about the #TakeAKnee hashtag because Donald Trump went on a rant last night calling for NFL players who take a knee during the national anthem to be fired. And a certain number of the deplorables are chiming in and angrily calling for those football players to stop injecting politics into football.
And of course I have some opinions on that.
First, insisting that people stand for the national anthem? That is injecting politics into sports. The act of playing the national anthem and unfurling the flag at the beginning of games has been injecting politics into sports for decades. There are many Americans whose religion, for instance, forbid standing for the anthem or saluting the flag. And that’s their right, as humans and as Americans. And I say that as a former Boy Scout who gets angry at people flying their flags in the rain, attaching flags to they car ariels and letting them get ragged and dirty.
Second, you want to talk disrespecting the flag? Anyone who has ever defended the Confederate Flag is disrespecting the U.S. flag each time they do it. That’s right. So, Donald disrespected the flag when he defended the Confederate Flag-waving people. He disrespected the U.S. flag each time he defending the swastika-waving neoNazis. He disrespected the U.S. flag each time he criticized people calling for the removal of Confederate monuments.
Third, the brave men and women of our armed forces who risk their lives, and in far too many cases gave their lives, did so not to defend a piece of fabric or a song. They died defending the ideas that flag stands for. When I cry during the national anthem (and I do every time I hear it), I do so not because of that piece of fabric or the song itself, but because of the ideas that flag and that song are supposed to stand for. And among those ideas are that people have a right to protest. People have a right to petition their government. People have a right to demand justice. People should expect that their lives will be valued equally no matter the color of their skin. And the reality is that our society doesn’t do that latter. Men of color are at least nine times more likely to be shot and killed by police than anyone else. That is neither justice nor equality. It is unAmerican to claim otherwise. So, no, taking a knee during the anthem doesn’t disrespect members of the military, either.
Fourth, Hurricane Maria just devastated Puerto Rico, which is an American territory inhabited by 3,411,307 U.S. citizens. The hurricane wiped entire towns off the map, knocked out electricity to the entire island, has disrupted the public drinking water system. That we know of 13 people died during the storm, but with so much of the infrastructure wiped out, the death toll is probably higher. But even worse, many more could die because of things ranging from a dam that is failing and continued flooding, not to mention what the destroyed roads and lack of power means about deliver of food, medicine, and other essentials or getting sick and injured people to medical attention. ‘If anyone can hear us … help.’ Puerto Rico’s mayors describe widespread devastation from Hurricane Maria What with more than 3.4million Americans in imminent danger, what has the so-called president said about the devastation or how the federal government will respond? Not one single word. He can go on rants about sports figures and reports who say things he disagrees with, but can’t be bothered to comment on millions of his fellow citizens in danger.
And why, exactly, has he been silent on Puerto Rico? Could it be because in the minds of most the people there are just a bunch of brown folks and therefore not “real Americans?”
The President of the United States doesn’t think that the 3.4million Americans in Puerto Rico who are without power, safe drinking water, and more because of Hurricane Maria deserve even a mention on Twitter.
One of the other things people were talking about this week was a commentator on ESPN calling Donald a White Supremacist. And a lot of people who think they are being open-minded are arguing that that isn’t an appropriate label. But Donald himself said so. Remember in the aftermath of the Charlottesville protests? When Donald was defending his ludicrous “both sides” claim, he got into an argument with a reporter who pointed out that all of the violence recorded was from the neo-Nazis. Donald said, “but what about when the Black Lives Matter folks came at us… I mean, when they came at them…” Loose lips sink ships, as my Grandpa used to say. Donald said himself that he was one of the neo-Nazis… (and that isn’t the only time).
And while we’re at it:
He appointed Jeff Sessions as Attorney General, a Republican Senator who, ten years ago, was considered by even his fellow Republicans too racist to be a judge.
He pardoned a sheriff who was convicted of disobeying court orders in order to racial profile and otherwise deliver justice by policy in racially-motivated ways.
On the same day that the African-American commentator called out the president for giving encouragement to white supremacists, the newly chosen Miss America called out the president for the same thing. But Miss America is white, so guess which critic the president went nuclear on in with twitter storms, and having his press secretary call for a firing, et cetera?
When addressing the United Nations, Donald literally said he intends to wipe out North Korea. A country that is home to 25million people, the vast majority of whom do not support the actions of their dictator, but rather are victims of the dictator’s regime. Killing 25million people (who happen to be asian) to destroy an entire country? That’s genocide.
He defends racists. As a businessman, he tried to keep black families out his properties. He has said multiple times that he “doesn’t want black people” counting his money, when explaining about some of his hiring practices. He attacks people of color for peacefully demonstrating or stating opinions. He appoints racists. He appoints white supremacists. He enacts (or tries to enact) racist policies. When talking about neo-Nazis and White Supremacists he sometimes refers to them collectively as “us”.
And I could go on and on.
Donald Trump is a racist. That is a fact. He encourages white supremacists. He has been endorsed by the Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacist groups. Not only did he not disavow those endorsements, he accepted them and praised them. If Donald Trump isn’t a white supremacist, then why call them “fine people”?
Click to embiggenIt’s the fourth Friday in September. The last Friday that I will be my current age. September, that blesséd month, which brings us extraordinary babies.
I’m not sure whether we haven’t quite recovered from last week’s illnesses, or if all the rain has made plants go extra crazy with the pollen and just making my hay fever worse, but we have both been a bit out of it all week.
Anyway, here are the links I gathered this week, sorted into categories as accurately as I could.
Several years ago I witnessed an altercation on the bus. When I first got on, I noticed one guy with blond hair that was combed just so and his mustache was freshly trimmed, and he was dressed in what looked like a new suit and tie. He was sitting up super-straight, as if he had an iron rod up his backside. Everything about him radiated attitude. His smile was particularly smug.
I had already seen that one of my favorite seats near the back was open, so I headed back there and turned my attention back to the news radio I was listening to on my headphones.
Except as the bus pulled away from the stop, I could see people up in the front of the bus near this guy being more agitated. A couple people leaned forward and seemed to be addressing him angrily. And then I noticed that a woman also up in the front had put her hands over the ears of the little boy (who I presumed was her son) in the seat next to her, so I pulled off my headphones to hear was was happening…Continue reading Angry men on buses — not all violence is equal→
Click to embiggen)So Trump supporters have been organizing a so-called Mother Of All Rallies online for some time, and yesterday was the day. They have boasted, variously, that they had hundreds of thousands of confirmed attendees, or over a million confirmed attendees, et cetera. And how many people showed up? “Hundreds.” They couldn’t even get enough to fill a suburban high school football stadium! Pro-Trump rally draws hundreds, not thousands to Washington.
But just a few blocks away there was a bigger rally in front of the Lincoln Memorial: Pro-Trump Rally Dwarfed By ‘Juggalo’ Demonstration In D.C.. So fans of Insane Clown Posse were able to muster a much bigger crowd the the Make America Great Again people. But it gets worse! On the same day, Hillary Clinton was doing a book signing at a Costco in Brookfield, Connecticut.. guess what? Hillary Clinton Book-Signing Draws More Than 1,000 To Brookfield Costco. Hillary’s book signings are drawing larger crowds that the Trump supporters can muster!
Some folks are pointing to the news stories about former Trump supporters burning their Make America Great Again hats and this rally as indicating his support is slipping among his hardcore. I’m not sure that’s anywhere near the whole story. I think another important part is just how many fake accounts (twitterbots and such) make up the online Trump supporter crowd: Trump Twitter bots, numbering in millions, could be used to blanket internet with weaponized false info (by the way, that headline should read “is already being used to” not could be). A similar problem exists on Facebook, though because of some of the company’s policies, it’s a lot harder to determine just how many fake Americans Russian hackers manufactured to spread fake news and amp up membership on Pro-Trump pages: The Fake Americans Russia Created to Influence the Election. So I think one reason the organizers were expecting bigger crowds is they just haven’t figured out how many of their supportors online are fake accounts.
Besides, the Trump supporters burning their hats? They’re doing it for very racist reasons: Trump Supporters Are Burning Their MAGA Hats: They’re not happy about his prospective deal with Democrats to protect DACA recipients. That’s right, the hardcore supporters are angry because undocumented people who were brought to this country as children might, might be given a path to citizenship. You know, that thing the Trump supporter keep angrily asking why the Dreamers and such haven’t already done (because legally they still can’t)?
One more thing: all of those supporters burning those hats? They may want to think about the little American flag on that thing: I Wonder If Angry, MAGA Hat-Burning Trump Supporters Know They’re Burning a Tiny American Flag, Too. Since the pro-trump/anti-semetic/pro-gun demographic (i.e., most of his supporters) is also historically the same people who scream bloody murder if someone burns a U.S. flag as a protest.
But then, you can’t expect consistency from people who define the Statue of Liberty as a non-patriotic symbol, and reduce Christianity to hating queers.
This week’s Surviving the World Comic is spot on. (click to embiggen) survivingtheworld.netIt’s Friday, the third Friday in September. I should be more happy about that than I am.
This week, my husband came down sick early in the week, and I have followed. So it hasn’t been a fabulous week for us. And you may notice that this week’s collection of links is a bit shorter, as once again I haven’t had as much time to read the news.
Anyway, here are the links I gathered this week, sorted into categories as accurately as I could.
This Week in Racists, White Nationalists, and other deplorables:
Good Christian Boys: Jesus Worse Than Hitler.“We executed Nazis after World War 2 for engaging in collective punishment and ordering reprisal killings—rounding up and shooting innocent villagers after resistance fighters staged attacks. Kevin would have us believe that Jesus—the Prince of Peace, the Friend of the Poor, the Lamb of God, etc.—will happily drown little old straight ladies in nursing homes because He’s angry at gay men cavorting in bars on the other side of town.”
This photo of the Eagle Creek Fire, taken by Kristi McCluer of Vancouver, Washington, went viral this week, though few who shared the photo gave her credit.It’s Friday, the second Friday in September. Usually at this point I will wax poetic about the blessédness of this month and the superiority of people burn during it, but right now with all the insane weather and earthquakes and wildfires and tsunamis… I’m not sure it’s really appropriate
All week long locally they’ve been promising us that the hellish smoke layer (seriously, ashes were falling from the sky like snowflakes on Tuesday, and the sun has been blood red for days) would start to clear out and be all gone before the end of the week. And then each day the forecast has revised and moved that day back. As I right this Thursday night we are still under a layer of smoke, air quality has only improved to Moderately Bad, and there has been no sign of the promised rain.
Anyway, here are the links I gathered this week, sorted into categories as accurately as I could.
Click to embiggenIn 1990 Mister Rogers Sued The KKK For Impersonating Him (and won!). In 1990, Mr. Rogers sued the KKK for impersonating his voice in prerecorded messages. These messages said “AIDS was divine retribution” and included radio skits simulating lynchings of black children on a playground. The messages were spread to elementary and middle school children by passing out misleading fliers with a phone number to call for a special message from a friendly neighbor.
Often on Saturdays I post some follow-ups to stories that were in the previous day’s weekly roundup of links, or just post commentary on some news items that I found after posting the Friday roundup. But not a whole lot jumped out at me. This is probably because I worked a longer day than I hoped to yesterday, and then I immediately went into holiday weekend mode, so I have been avoiding the news, unless it has to do with my beloved Seahawks. I also save images and memes and such as possible illustrations to blog posts all the time, but only use a fraction of them. So here are some of my recently collected images/memes/what-have-you:
“Spoiler Alert! The Nazis lose at the end.”“If you’re unemployed it’s not because there isn’t any work.” Click to embiggen and read this explanation of one of the things wrong with our current version of capitolism/corporate welfare…“Muslims serving Houston: this is American. Nazis destroying Charlottesville : this is Unamarican.”“Stupid liberals! Always focusing on love and mercy instead of condemning these no-good sinners!”Presidents Bush, Obama, and Clinton all showing the proper way to respond to a natural disaster…If you’re a Nazi and you’re fired it’s your fault *clap* *clap*, If you’re a Nazi and you’re fired it’s your fault *clap* *clap*, You were spotted in the mob, now you’ve lost your f-ing job, If you’re a Nazi and you’re fired it’s your fault *clap* *clap*!”
Ah, September, the most blessed of months. The month in which superior people are born! Perhaps, now that it has arrived, are long horrible hot and dry nightmare of a summer will end?
It’s also Friday, so, here are the links, sorted into categories as accurately as I could.
Font Folly 