Racism

This Racist Trump Ad Calls Democrats ‘Complicit’ in Murders Committed By Illegal Immigrants

Posted by on January 21, 2018 at 8:06 am. 5 Comments :

After only one uneventful year in office (if you don’t count disastrous and embarrassing events) Donald Trump is already focusing on 2020. It’s the earliest launch of a reelection campaign that anyone can recall. For the most part he’s using the guise of campaign as a slush fund to hold rallies that feed his insatiable ego. He craves the adoration of his glassy-eyed disciples, particularly considering his historically low approval ratings. And there is a fair chance he won’t finish his first term if special counsel Robert Mueller comes through.

Donald Trump

Trump just released a campaign ad (posted below) that mirrors his repulsive and bigoted personality perfectly. It begins with video of an alleged murderer spewing vulgarities. That may also be a first for an American political advertisement. But it gets worse. The ominous tone of an anxious narrator asserts that “President Trump is right” in his fetish to build a wall along the southern border that will solve nothing and won’t be paid for by Mexico. The ad is rife with thinly veiled insinuations that all immigrants are scary brown foreigners with a lust for American blood. Trump offers himself up as the sole savior of our vulnerable families. And then he drops this reprehensible rhetorical bullshit:

“Democrats who stand in our way will be complicit in every murder committed by illegal immigrants.”

Oh really? Trump is actually trying to lay the blame for random and heinous criminal activity on his political opponents. He’s associating differences of opinion with complicity to murder. It’s an absurd and unethical political attack that should be repudiated by his Republican peers. The logic of it is so weak that it, if anything, it blows up in his face. It’s more consistent with his own support for white nationalists and neo-Nazis who commit far more crimes of violence than any immigrants. In fact, even undocumented immigrants commit fewer crimes than native born citizens.

The racism is not the least bit disguised. The entire premise of the ad is that monsters from south of the border are plotting to invade our country, break into our homes, and commit unspeakable atrocities. The words “Stop Illegal Immigration” appear on screen over video of two Latino men whose faces have been eerily blurred. Never mind that the men in the picture are not engaging in any crime or acting in any way threatening. Just their ethnicity is enough to signal danger in the minds of Trump and his Deplorables.

There is also a hint of totalitarianism in the ad’s language that demands obedience on the part of Democrats, warning them not to “stand in our way.” It’s reminiscent of the threats leveled at German citizens who opposed Hitler’s enforcers as he rose to power. And the consequences of standing in Trump’s way are charges of murder, which have a penalty of death. The next step for the StormTrumpers would be to raid the homes of his perceived enemies, load them into freight cars, and deliver them to concentration camps. Don’t think it can’t happen here. That’s what many Germans thought.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

UPDATE: In a Sunday morning appearance on Meet the Press Trump’s legislative affairs director, Marc Short, first tries to distance the administration from the racist ad by saying it’s from an outside group. But that’s a blatant lie. The ad is from Trump’s own campaign committee, which Chuck Todd pointed out and Short ignored. Moments later Short refuses to to even criticize the “tone” of the ad and insists that it’s actually helpful to Trump. So after failing to disown it, he embraces it. How Trumpian.

Tucker Carlson Says That In Order to Lead America You Must Love White Supremacists

Posted by on January 19, 2018 at 12:42 pm. 4 Comments :

With each and every day Fox News manages to sink lower into the sewer of bigotry and ignorance. After spending several days defending Donald Trump’s despicable degradation of Americans who migrated here from Haiti and Africa as “shithole countries,” the network’s most brazen hate-monger, Tucker Carlson, has overtly embraced the white supremacists that make up much of his audience.

Tucker Carlson Fox News

On Thursday night’s program (video below), Carlson led off with a tirade about immigration and the low-life moochers he considers to be destroying America. He disgustingly misrepresented DACA as protecting “people who snuck into our country and are demanding rights and money.” Never mind that they didn’t sneak into the country (they were children brought by their parents), and they are working people who provide for themselves and their families. They pay taxes and contribute to Social Security. They aren’t even eligible for federal financial aid, Medicaid, Obamacare, food stamps, etc. Carlson, as usual, doesn’t know what he’s talking about.

Carlson’s guest was ultra-rightist blowhard, Mark Steyn. An immigrant himself, he agreed with Carlson’s insulting characterizations of immigrants who don’t look like them. Steyn went on a blustering rant about how Democrats have a “preference for illegal immigrants over American citizens.” Steyn complained that liberal media and politicians say that…

“…the real problem is white supremacists in America. They’re the real monsters. Not these nice, hard working illegal immigrants. And that may be well and true. For the purposes of argument, let’s just say he’s right. It’s irrelevant. The white supremacists are American citizens. The illegal immigrants are people who shouldn’t be here. The organizing principle of nation-states is that they’re organized on behalf of their citizens, whether their citizens are cheerleaders or white supremacists or whatever. You’re stuck with them.

Really? Steyn is actually cuddling up to white supremacists just because they were fortunate enough to be born in America. And he prefers them to foreign born persons who actually represent the inclusive values of America. In his demented view they may be bigots, but they’re our bigots. And Carlson is totally on board with that view. In fact, he doesn’t think that an American leader can govern unless he loves this country’s racists:

“How can you lead a country whose population you despise? Would you be a good parent if you hated your kids? Would you be an effective officer if you didn’t care about the safety of your men? Doesn’t that kind of prima facie show that you’re not ready to lead if you don’t love the people you’re leading?”

That is the prevailing view on Fox News. It’s why Fox put Carlson in the lead off position of their primetime schedule. He sets the tone for the network’s editorial stance, which continues in primetime with noted bigots Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham. And while Fox News frequently airs blatantly prejudiced segments with openly bigoted guests, they are rarely as explicit as they were in this segment. It was a literal embrace of white supremacists who happen to be citizens by accident of birth. All while shamelessly maligning goodhearted people who choose to be American because they love the country and it’s values.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

In a Fit of Petty Vengeance Following His Racist Vulgarity, Trump Declares DACA ‘Dead’

Posted by on January 14, 2018 at 11:46 am. 2 Comments :

From the beginning of his presidential candidacy, Donald Trump has displayed a pattern of bigotry and hatred toward people of color. His campaign announcement speech famously smeared Mexicans as criminals and rapists. So the vulgar insult directed and Haiti and Africa as “shithole countries” should not come as much of a surprise to those who have been paying attention.

Donald Trump

Of particular interest to Trump has been the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program that protected immigrants brought into the United States as children. Trump has occasionally expressed a rather disingenuous support for the program, despite his refusal to take any positive action to preserve it. In fact, last year he unilaterally repealed it by executive action. At the time he pretended to be concerned about the plight of the DACA recipients (Dreamers), but claimed that it would be up to Congress to resolve the matter. He tweeted that:

Four months later Trump found himself in a controversy over his blatantly racist remarks during a meeting with members of Congress. So naturally his reaction was to deflect from the reality of the situation and, blame others for the problem, and make the innocent suffer:

To put the onus on Congress for the problem he created is just plain ludicrous. And it’s made all the worse by the comments he made during the meeting wherein he explicitly deferred to the will of Congress to settle on a bipartisan solution (which they did, but he rejected):

“I think my positions are going to be what the people in this room come up with. I am very much reliant on the people in this room. I know most of the people on both sides. I have a lot of respect for the people on both sides. And my — what I approve is going to be very much reliant on what the people in this room come to me with. I have great confidence in the people. If they come to me with things that I’m not in love with, I’m going to do it because I respect them.”

So Trump was committing to accept whatever Congress agreed on. But when presented with that agreement he told them to go to hell. And then there was this exchange with Sen. Diane Feinstein:

Feinstein: What about a clean DACA bill now, with a commitment that we go into a comprehensive immigration reform procedure?
Trump: […] We’re going to do DACA, and then we can start immediately on the phase two, which would be comprehensive. I would like to do that. Go ahead. I think a lot of people would like to see that, but I think we have to do DACA first.

Trump was quickly interrupted by GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy who frantically sought to correct the President’s miscomprehension of the Republican position on this issue. But it was clear that Trump still didn’t understand where he went wrong after McCarthy’s correction.

It took two days before Trump was sufficiently schooled on his “mistake” to offer any further comments. And the direction he chose to go was to threaten the total demise of DACA and preposterously blame it on Democrats. Even worse, he implied an absurd connection to military funding as a related victim of the dispute. He’s trying to smear Democrats as anti-military even though it has nothing to do with DACA.

That’s just his knee-jerk reaction to any controversy. He thinks if he cites some other popular theme (military or law enforcement, the flag or national anthem, America first, MAGA) he can stir up support from his dimwitted base. And the sad thing about that is that he’s right. In the meantime, let’s not gloss over the fact that Trump has shut the door on DACA for his own partisan and racist reasons.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

Impeach Now: Trump’s Hateful, Deranged Twitter Tirade Affirms His Total Mental Collapse

Posted by on November 29, 2017 at 11:08 am. 2 Comments :

Where’s the bottom? Donald Trump is rapidly declining into a state of utter psychological incapacitation. The evidence has been apparent for years. But since becoming president the severity of his disturbance just keeps getting worse. It is unthinkable that such a diseased mind can actually occupy a position at the helm of the greatest power on Earth.

Donald Trump

This is not a common case of partisan political differences. Trump is spiraling into a profoundly dark space wherein nothing but his ego and grim hallucinations govern official acts. In just the past few days he has raged about not being chosen Time Magazine’s Person of the Year; he insulted soldiers deployed in Afghanistan on Thanksgiving; and his anti-media tweet helped slave traders in Libya.

This is not normal. It’s dangerous. And it’s getting worse. On Tuesday there were reports that he is regressing back to his birther beliefs that President Obama is Muslim born in Kenya. He is even telling confidants that the Access Hollywood video, where he bragged about committing sexual assault, isn’t him. That’s after he previously admitted that it was and apologized (just before hyping his new hotel).

On Wednesday morning Trump devolved further into his dementia. A series of tweets show that he is unarguably unfit to serve as president. Some of them were a continuation of his campaign against the free press. For instance:

Many politicians have had disputes with the media, but no president has ever advocated boycotting a particular network because he didn’t approve of the coverage. What’s more, Trump’s boycott threat is somewhat absurd considering that he has been doing that for nearly a year already.

Next Trump dived into the issue of sexual harassment with tweets about the firing of Matt Lauer. The irony is thick considering his own disgusting record of abuse and assault. However, typical of his malady, he drifted manically off the subject:

Trump’s repetitive whining about “fake news” is just getting tedious. He never actually proves any of his complaints, or even offers examples. It’s just a mindless flood of invective aimed at his perceived enemies. In this case, no one knows what the hell he’s referring to with regard to NBC News chairman Andy Lack or the others that he thinks should all be “terminated.” However, his swipe at Joe Scarborough is more proof that he’s living in a fantasy world. The incident that he wants investigated is neither a mystery nor unsolved.

Furthermore, it’s his favorite network, Fox News, that is by far the most mired in sexual harassment and abuse. It has already jettisoned its CEO (Roger Ailes), it’s biggest star (Bill O’Reilly), and several other prominent figures on the air and in the executive suites. The culture of misogyny continues at Fox with daily segments that disparage women on the news and their own personnel.

Where Trump really exhibits serious mental infirmity that calls into question his sanity is with his tweets of videos of alleged Muslim violence. The problem is that he’s retweeting a notorious British Islamophobe and an official with Britain First, a white nationalist organization. She is a convicted racist who has previously posted content that was proven to be hoaxes. Naturally, none of the videos in Trump’s tweets were verified as authentic.

Why would the President of the United States disseminate dubious materials whose only purpose is to incite hatred and violence? Trump would never post videos of the vast majority of responsible Muslims helping their community or country. He is focused squarely on creating more hate and division. It’s an obsession. Even the British Prime Minister, Theresa May, lashed out at Trump’s recklessness saying that “Britain First seeks to divide communities in their use of hateful narratives which pedal lies and stoke tensions. […] It is wrong for the President to have done this.”

On top of that, Trump’s press secretary, Sarah Huckabee-Sanders, is an enabler of Trump’s lunacy. When asked about the sketchy source for the videos he retweeted she gave an almost unimaginably obtuse reply:

“Whether it’s a real video, the threat is real and that is what the president is talking about. That’s what the president is focused on.”

She is actually saying that it doesn’t matter if the videos are fake. This from the administration that constantly (and dishonestly) calls all media, except for Fox News, fake. Never mind that. Trump is allowed to promote phony videos any time he wants, even if they are openly bigoted hoaxes intended to incite violence.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

The longer Trump is in office, the more perilous America’s future. If he doesn’t start a war with North Korea or Iran, he’ll incite white riots here at home. His muddled brain is too dysfunctional to perform his job and, if special counsel Robert Mueller doesn’t take him out of the game, then Congress and any sane members of the administration have to do it. And judging by the rapid descent he is showing, they don’t have much time.

When Signing an Anti-Racism Resolution, Trump Confirms the Worst Allegations of His Bigotry

Posted by on September 18, 2017 at 9:38 am. 2 Comments :

Last week members of both parties joined to pass an unprecedented congressional joint resolution. It called on the President to explicitly “speak out against hate groups that espouse racism, extremism, xenophobia, antisemitism and white supremacy.” The fact that there was even a need for this type of communication is evidence of a disturbing sickness that infects the nation. And that sickness has only gotten worse since the election of Donald Trump.

Donald Trump

The impetus for this resolution was the violence and murder that erupted during a march of white supremacists and neo-Nazis in Charlottesville, Virginia last month. Following the tragedy, Donald Trump actually took the side of the white supremacists. He ignored their antisemitic and racist chants to falsely spread the blame around and charge that there was fault on both sides. It was that botched, insensitive, and universally condemned, reaction that moved Congress to act.

The result was S.J. 49, an uncommonly direct and bipartisan expression of the sense of the Congress that sought to force the President to go on record. It explicitly condemned “the violence and domestic terrorist attack that took place during events between August 11 and August 12, 2017, in Charlottesville, Virginia.” It further directed the Attorney General and the Secretary of Homeland Security “to investigate thoroughly all acts of violence, intimidation, and domestic terrorism by White supremacists, White nationalists, neo-Nazis, the Ku Klux Klan, and associated groups in order to determine if any criminal laws have been violated and to prevent those groups from fomenting and facilitating additional violence.”

Who could argue with any of that? It was a plainly stated rejection of racism and the hate groups that espouse it. There wasn’t a hint of politics in it. Which is why it easily gained the support of both parties. The only people who could fail to put their full support behind this resolution would be the bigots who it was condemning. So of course, Donald Trump could not simply sign it and move on. That would offend too much of his base. So he attached a signing statement to it that diluted the impact of its message:

“As Americans, we condemn the recent violence in Charlottesville and oppose hatred, bigotry, and racism in all forms. No matter the color of our skin or our ethnic heritage, we all live under the same laws, we all salute the same great flag, and we are all made by the same almighty God.”

Notice that Trump failed to do what the resolution explicitly called for. Rather than citing the white supremacists, the KKK, etc., he reduced the criticism to a more vague censure of generalized prejudice “in all forms.” That was a deliberate gesture to take the heat off of his racist followers. And to insure that his point was crystal clear, he followed it up with another public statement placing the blame on both sides:

“You have some pretty bad dudes on the other side also. […] When you look at really what’s happened since Charlottesville, a lot of people are saying and people have actually written, ‘Gee, Trump may have a point.’ I said there’s some very bad people on the other side also.”

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

Note that Trump is referring to the counter-protesters who oppose the white supremacists as “the other side.” Therefore, his side is the one aligned with the alt-right neo-Nazis. And this is how Trump responded to the congressional resolution seeking to put him on the record. Well, it certainly did just that.

Fox News Attacks Superman Because He Defended Immigrants From a Racist Slaughter

Posted by on September 15, 2017 at 3:55 pm. 6 Comments :

For twenty years Fox News has marketed itself as an ultra-patriotic mouthpiece for conservative principles. Their editorial posture has brazenly taken the side of what it considers American exceptionalism. Never mind that such bias is a breach of journalistic standards. An ethical news operation cannot be seen as exhibiting such favoritism. It would make it impossible to objectively criticize the U.S. when necessary.

Superman

This makes the commentary by Fox News host Todd Starnes all the more peculiar. Starnes unleashed an opinionated column that viciously attacked the concepts of “truth, justice, and the American way.” That’s right, he’s taking on Superman. And the offensive behavior by the Man of Steel was that he saved the lives of brown people from a murderous racist. In an article titled “Superman defends illegals against angry American,” Starnes writes that:

“The Man of Steel has now become a propaganda tool for the defenders of illegal aliens. In the most recent issue of Action Comics, Superman comes to the rescue of a group of illegal aliens — under attack from a white guy wearing an American flag bandana and waving around a machine gun. The man is reportedly infuriated because the illegal aliens took his job,” […]

“Instead of rounding up the illegals and flying them back to where they came from, the Man of Steel snatches the white guy and with a menacing look snarls, ‘The only person responsible for the blackness smothering your soul — is you.'”

So Starnes is outraged that our fictional superhero prevented the mass slaying of innocent human beings. Which is pretty much what Superman has been doing for seventy-five years. But Starnes is unconcerned about the killer’s admitted racism and intention to kill Latinos he believes cost him his job. Apparently Starnes would have preferred a version of the story with more bloodshed and dead immigrants. He concludes his tirade with a lament that D.C. Comics is “turning its stable of iconic heroes into political pawns” and “indoctrinating our kids.” The author of the comic, however, sees it differently:

It’s notable that nowhere in the comic are the Latino victims described as undocumented. But that doesn’t stop Starnes from repeatedly referring to them as “illegals” And even if they were undocumented, that wouldn’t justify them being murdered to anyone but bigots like Starnes. Their hatred is exactly what heroes like Superman are dedicated to fighting against. And the comic contains a thought that could easily be applied to Starnes and his pals at Fox News and in Donald Trump’s White House:

“Something darker is at work here. As though anger and ignorance have boiled over all at once. Where people can’t look past their own selfishness and the common good is a foreign concept.”

Precisely. The dark anger and ignorance that is boiling over at Fox News is a product of selfishness and prejudice. It’s too bad we don’t have actual superheroes to protect us from the cretins who peddle such hate. But it’s even worse that we have to suffer idiots like Starnes who wallow in it.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

Here are 11+ Reasons Trump Should Never Have Pardoned Sheriff Joe Arpaio

Posted by on August 26, 2017 at 3:16 pm. 1 Comments :

On Friday night, Donald Trump used the weekend, as well as Hurricane Harvey’s tragedies, to bury his latest despicable act. In seeking to satiate his racist base, Trump awarded the notorious birther and disgraced former sheriff, Joe Arpaio, a pardon for his federal crimes. Arpaio was convicted of criminal contempt for violating a federal court order to stop racially profiling Latinos. He was found to have deliberately breached the constitutional rights of American citizens.

Joe Arpaio Donald Trump

The fact that Trump thinks these are pardonable offenses is definitive proof of his bigotry and support for fellow bigots. The white supremacists who make up much of his support were elated at the whitewashing of Arpaio’s vile criminality. (With an emphasis on “white”) But Trump’s exacerbation of the racial division for which he is largely responsible has not gone over well with everyone. Patriotic Americans who value equality and justice will not forget this affront to the rule of law.

One critic, a professor at Harvard University, makes a credible case that Trump’s pardon could itself be an impeachable offense. Add it to the list: Russia, obstruction of justice, financial corruption, the Emoluments Clause, cover ups and perjury, sexual harassment and assault.

As for Arpaio, he also has a list offenses. And his acceptance of Trump’s pardon carries with it an implicit confession of guilt. That can be used in civil cases against him going forward. The Phoenix New Times has been on the front lines of the Arpaio assault on humanity for twenty years. They posted a series of tweets linking to the horrific record of Arpaio’s unlawful regime. Here is just a taste of what they have been reporting for years:

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

The Phoenix New Times has many more examples of this official misconduct and heinous brutality. And by pardoning a cretin like Arpaio, Trump is effectively making himself complicit with those crimes. He is intentionally aligning himself with Arpaio’s disdain for the rule of law. And it is very likely he is also setting the stage for future pardons of his family, his partners in crime, and perhaps himself. Based on on his behavior to date, you can’t put anything past him.

Fox News ‘Reporter’ Exalts White Supremacist Killer in Charlottesville as a ‘Vigilante’

Posted by on August 15, 2017 at 3:17 pm. 3 Comments :

It’s been three days since the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville. The deliberately hostile affair claimed the life of Heather Heyer, a counter-protester, and injured dozens more. Donald Trump distinguished himself as a Nazi-sympathizer by refusing to condemn the hate groups that organized the event in his first public comments. It took him two more days to say anything remotely critical of the perpetrators of the violence.

Fox News

In the meantime, Fox News went to work covering for the callousness of the President. They made excuses that stretched the limits of credulity. Fox and Friends worked overtime to portray Trump as calm and restrained during his first non-comment, and bold and decisive after the second. Trump-fluffers Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson labored to turn him into a statesman who embodied harmony and fellowship.

For his part, Trump maintained his well-known posture of arrogance and bigotry. He posted tweets blaming the media for the public’s repudiation of his insensitivity. He also retweeted a comment by a known alt-right conspiracy monger that sought to shift the debate to evil black folks. And to top it off, he retweeted another Fox and Friends story (the 18th time this month). This one was about his consideration of a pardon for the racist former Arizona sheriff, Joe Arpaio.

It’s no secret that Fox and Friends, Hannity, et al, are opinion-based programs masquerading as news. But Fox’s Washington D.C. correspondent, Doug McKelway, seeks to present himself as an actual journalist. Which makes his report on Tuesday all the more troubling (video below). The segment began as a story about activists taking down statues that honored confederate traitors. But it quickly derailed into propaganda of the worst sort. McKelway’s commentary completely twisted the narrative into right-wing bullshit juxtaposing…

“…those who find the system of slavery to be so abhorrent that we should have no memories of it whatsoever to those who believe that what their great-great-great-great granddaddy did in the Civil War should be remembered and preserved.”

Is McKelway arguing that slavery was not really that abhorrent after all? Also, he apparently thinks that commemorative statues are the only way to record history. Maybe he should read a book. No one is suggesting that the memory of slavery be wiped out. Just that the memory be held in the context of its inhumanity, rather than being honored in bronze. And if anyone wants to preserve what their confederate forefathers did, let it be preserved as the treason and brutality it actually was.

But McKelway wasn’t through. It wasn’t enough that he wanted to remember the civil war slave states fondly, he implied that any other recollection was a communist plot:

“And then, this ventures into the area of airbrushing of history. A tactic of totalitarian governments, a common practice in the former Soviet Union where people who fell into disfavor in the government were literally airbrushed out of history.”

Again, no one is airbrushing anyone out of history. Patriotic Americans very much want to maintain the historical record of the civil war. Including the parts that document the barbarous agenda of the South. But to smear those who advocate an accurate retelling of history as totalitarians and commies is just plain nauseating. In fact, it is a tactic of totalitarians and commies. McKelway believes that slave owners have simply been unfortunate to have fallen out of favor. Poor babies.

And if you thought that was the end of McKelway’s atrocities, you’re not giving him and Fox News the credit they deserve. He closed the segment with a note regarding the funeral service for Heather Heyer. But in doing so he elevated her murderer to a status that is utterly offensive:

“We’ve also learned when the funeral service will be held for Heather Heyer, the young woman, the 32 year old that was killed by the white vigilante who mowed down people in downtown Charlottesville on Saturday.”

Vigilante? For the record, a vigilante is someone who has decided to take the law into his own hands. It is itself against the law. It is generally undertaken when the perpetrator believes that legal authorities are deemed inadequate or unresponsive. And the victim is someone who is thought to be guilty of a crime, at least in the eyes of the vigilante. It’s wrong and indefensible in civil society, and often leads to innocents being targeted and harmed. But some crackpots believe that it’s justifiable and romantic.

That said, what crime does McKelway think that Ms. Heyer committed that would make her fair game for a vigilante? The driver of the car that killed her, James Alex Fields, had only one motive: To do harm to innocent people who opposed his racist ideology. That is not a vigilante. It’s a cold-blooded murderer and a radical right-wing terrorist. McKelway really needs to adjust his definitions, as well as his heinous biases as a person and a so-called reporter.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

https://youtu.be/NI-FDpKfj9I

UVA Prof to Trump: Fire All the White Nationalists on [Your] Staff, Starting with Steve Bannon’

Posted by on August 13, 2017 at 12:11 pm. 1 Comments :

The tragedy that occurred in Charlottesville, Virginia on Saturday has ironically united the nation. Most decent Americans are repulsed by the bigotry espoused by the alt-right white nationalists who organized the event. Unfortunately, the President is not among them.

Trump/Bannon

Donald Trump’s initial response to the violence was to issue a mealy-mouthed statement that blamed “all sides.” But only one side engaged in deliberate hostilities that resulted in the death of a young woman. Trump’s callous and tone-deaf response was criticized by Republicans and Democrats alike. Reacting to that criticism, the White House put out an anonymous, unsigned statement that continued to ignore the reality of the tragic events:

“The President said very strongly in his statement yesterday that he condemns all forms of violence, bigotry and hatred. And of course that includes white supremacists, KKK, neo-nazi and all extremist groups.”

So now it “includes” white supremacists. Which, of course, is reaffirmation of his position that it also includes others. He is still trying to dilute the grotesque actions of the bigots who are unarguably responsible. And the process of dilution is being carried out by Trump’s surrogates. On CNN’s State of the Union, Tom Bossert had a peculiar excuse for Trump not identifying the racists. He said that the President didn’t want to “dignify the names of these groups.” That argument flies in the face of relentless insistence that Muslims had to be identified as “radical Islamic terrorists.”

On the Fox News morning program, Fox and Friends, co-host Pete Hegseth sympathized with the racists. He complained on their behalf that they feel like they’re being “treated differently” and have become “second-class citizens.” Poor privileged, snowflake, babies.

Consequently, it was encouraging to hear someone on TV tell the truth about the rioting white supremacists. On CNN’s Reliable Sources, University of Virginia professor Larry Sabato didn’t mince words. And he gave some harsh advice to the President who can’t seem to do or say anything right. Here is the exchange he had with host Brian Stelter (video below):

Stelter: Would what the President says in the coming days matter in Charlottesville? Would it actually help or affect the community?

Sabato: Thanks for asking that, Brian, because Donald Trump, of course, is very unpopular anyway here, but he missed his moment. He had the opportunity to do something when it mattered yesterday afternoon. And any of his predecessors in modern times would have had the good instincts to say the right things. He wouldn’t because he won’t denounce part of his base. They’re white supremacists. We know what they are. We know who they voted for.

So listen Brian, if he wants to do something to help us and everbody else, let him fire all the white nationalists on his staff, starting with Steve Bannon. Actions speak louder than words. Words written by his staff.

Stelter: You know Bannon would reject being described as a white nationalist?

Sabato: I don’t care. We’ve read all that we need to read. And there are others on that staff too. You know darn well there are.

Exactly! Prior to joining Trump’s campaign, Bannon was the chairman of Breitbart News. The website openly bragged that it was “the platform for the alt-right.” He now occupies an office down the hall from the Oval Office. And he is likely the author of the statements that tread so lightly on the hateful culprits of the violence in Charlottesville.

Sabato’s observance that there are others in the Trump White House who hold these disgusting views is indisputable. On an earlier appearance on CNN he named one of them. Sebastian Gorka is a special advisor to the President. He also happens to be a former Breitbart editor and is associated with known Nazi groups. But people like Bannon and Gorka are among Trump’s favorite advisers. He isn’t likely to fire them and piss off his base of supporters.

As a result, Trump will continue to get counsel from the worst of the worst. And it’s precisely what he asked for. This is not a case of clandestine fascists infiltrating the government. These are people that Trump selected with full knowledge of their resumes. And if he thinks he can paper over these abhorrent cretins and their hateful philosophies, he is going to be sorely disappointed. Americans will not long tolerate this. Trump already has the worst approval ratings of any president in modern history. Don’t look for that to improve anytime soon.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

Trump Calls For an End to Violence in VA, But Doesn’t Condemn the White Supremacists

Posted by on August 12, 2017 at 2:24 pm. 2 Comments :

Anyone who thinks that white supremacists and the racism they espouse are a thing of the past can officially STFU. On Saturday a “Unite the Right” rally erupted into violence as they were met with counter-protesters. The rally was organized by avowed white supremacists seeking to preserve a statue commemorating Confederate General Robert E. Lee. Among their ranks were members of the KKK and the racist alt-right. They proudly expressed their bigotry with chants of “blood and soil,” “white lives matter,” and “Jews will not replace us.”

Trump Charlotsville

The event quickly degenerated into chaos as the marchers assaulted the counter-protesters. Peaceful citizens opposed to the hate groups were beaten with poles and, in one case, run over by a car. At the time of this writing there is one confirmed fatality.

The rioting racists continued their rampage for hours without any comment from Donald Trump. Despite the brazen acts of terrorism, Trump couldn’t tear himself away from his vacation at his luxury golf resort in Bedminster, New Jersey, long enough to condemn the rioters. But when he finally did make a comment – on Twitter of course – it might have been better if he had kept his mouth shut:

That’s a very carefully crafted comment that fails to attribute responsibility to the hostile bigots who initiated the assaults. It’s a vague repudiation of violence that could be interpreted as directed at the counter-protesters. And it is abhorrent to suggest that America needs to unite with the sort of vile trash who advocate white supremacy.

If that weren’t bad enough, Trump appeared at a photo-op for a Veterans Administration announcement and made things even worse. In a brief statement he affirmed his position that the fault for the violence in Charlotsville should be assigned to both sides:

“We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry, and violence on many sides, on many sides”

Any moral observer of these events would recognize that there is only one side here responsible for the hatred and violence. But Trump is obviously afraid of offending his supporters among the white nationalist, alt-right crowd. He benefited from the support of racists throughout his campaign and well into his presidency. And he is too cowardly to risk losing their support by condemning the obviously guilty parties.

One of his staunchest supporters is David Duke, a former KKK Grand Dragon. Duke made an appearance at the Charlotsville event and had this to say about the riots and his hero in the White House:

“This represents a turning point for the people of this country. We are determined to take our country back. We are going to fulfill the promises of Donald Trump. That’s what we believed in. That’s why we voted for Donald Trump. Because he said he’s going to take our country back.”

https://twitter.com/jowrotethis/status/896392449760698368

That pretty much says it all. And Trump’s mealy-mouthed public comment is proof that Duke, and the rest of the right-wing hate mongers, got just what they voted for. They now have a president whose own bigotry and weakness allows prejudice to flourish. It’s a dream come true for haters, but a nightmare for Americans who care about one another.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.