Here’s a link to one of the articles published in the Guardian – it pretty well covers today’s events as the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville and all the violent ugliness it brought. After last night’s white supremacist/neo-Nazi (let’s call these assholes what they are, rather than alt-right) rally, complete with lit torches, where they were chanting old Nazi Germany slogans (e.g., “blood and soil”) among other white supremacist slogans.
Even a cursory scan of Memeorandum or twitter will turn up plenty of stories, and video footage, of the ugliness. The man who mowed down counter-protesters was arrested and will be facing homicide charges. Suffice it to say, tRump’s statement after today’s events was weak, to say the least, and stunk of false equivalence.
Look. It was only a matter of time before a right-wing rally of that size, and with weaponry, occurred. These goons have been emboldened to act increasingly brazenly and violently. It is no coincidence that dozens of the white supremacist marchers wore “Make America Great Again” hats. tRump has been channeling neo-Nazi and white supremacist animus for quite a long while, from his retweeting specific white supremacist accounts to his very public birther tweets and statements directed toward former President Obama a few years ago. Digging deeper…today’s actions were cultivated over years and decades. Let’s look at the increasingly shrill hatred that has been broadcast and published via outlets that were at one point in the margins but has become mainstream. David Neiwert, on his Orcinus blog, used to right quite forcefully about the threat the right-wing posed to our democratic institutions and public safety. These fascists have been enabled by what passes for law enforcement in this country that has often given their marchers a wide berth while coming down on counter protesters. If these are bad apples, they were cultivated within a very rotten barrel.
Let’s call it for what it is. And as far as I am concerned, we should be climbing the fucking walls whenever white supremacists, whether as lone wolves, or massed together as was the case in Charlottesville, commit acts of violence, or otherwise attempt to terrorize us. This is not acceptable, to state it mildly. To put it as clearly as possible, this is home-grown terrorism, plain and simple. We’ve seen this too many times over the course of my lifetime. When someone or a group decides that the way to make their point is by running down political opponents with a vehicle, or by gunning down others, or bombing mosques, churches or other buildings, they’ve crossed the line into terrorism. Those who advocate the use of these tactics may be able to hide behind the First Amendment, but I have no qualms calling them out as terrorism apologists.
In the meantime, if like me you need to vent, here’s a space.
Those of you who already follow No More Mister Nice Blog have undoubtedly seen his coverage about right-wing media reaction (or lack thereof) after last night’s neo-Nazi rally in Charlottesville, and the right-wing whining about the negative coverage of tRump’s failure of a reaction in the aftermath of today’s violence.
Been on cable much of this evening. The suspect’s mom apparently acknowledged to her that he was planning on going to the Unite the Right Rally. That news is breaking as I type.
Yeh, Steve M. has been on top of that issue — and many more — and doing a fine job of wading through those swamps to bring us back trenchant news and commentary. He’s been my number-two political blog go-to (after Booman) for a long time now.
[aside] I’m Never Ben Better (my Blogger ID) in the comments over there, not janicket.
The Mayor of Charlottesville is accelerating the removal of two Confederate statues as a consequence of the weekend’s bloody events. Good.
Meant to say in Lexington. I really should not have tried watching CNN and typing at the same time. My bad for not reading just a wee bit more carefully.
Vox has this interesting article featuring the account of the events since last night as seen through the eyes of one of the counter-protesters. He was right on the scene when a woman was killed and numerous others were injured by that asshole who drove a car into the crowd.
Thanks for the link — it brings home viscerally what it’s been like for decent people struggling against the stormtroopers.
Why isn’t the media pointing out that there is no historical connection between Robert E. Lee and Neo-Nazis? Why do Neo-Nazis care about Robert E. Lee? They don’t! Also, why doesn’t the media discuss that someone from Ohio would go to Virginia to protest the removal of a statute of the commander of the Confederate army? Ohio was solidly Union and Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant, an Ohio native.
I meant statue, not statute.
Why?
That would require the media to expose the anti-Semitism and racism at the base of the Republican Party and the conservative movement. And the affection that conservatives have for Nazism as an anti-dote to socialism and liberalism.
It is about ant-ethnic politics, not about heritage or history. Has been since 1875. These white guys desperately want their Jim Crow laws back. They really don’t believe all their bullshit about market competition. They want the deck that daddy stacked for them.
The suspect grew up in Kentucky and only recently moved to OH. And there is at least some connection between KY and the confederacy.
I’m not saying that neo-nazis only live in the confederacy, just that it doesn’t apply in this case.
I wasn’t aware the suspect grew up in Kentucky. Kentucky didn’t ratify the 13th amendment until 1976. What’s that say?
all of that well said Don.
especially this part
>>These fascists have been enabled by what passes for law enforcement in this country that has often given their marchers a wide berth while coming down on counter protesters.
Which is of course exactly how the original Nazis came to power.
the TV news here in liberal San Francisco called a spade a spade and described the protestors as “neo-Nazis and Ku Klux Klan”.
Thanks. And good point about the rise of the original Nazis. That bit of history is not lost on me, and hopefully not lost on many who frequent here. I fear it is lost on so many other people. My local news is pretty useless. Part of the joys of living in one of the red areas across the US. MSNBC broke away from its usual “Lockup” nonsense for a while. Joy Reid did good work tonight. Made the mistake of switching to CNN, and the coverage was maddening. That split scream format needs to be ditched, as do those who seem willing to dismiss the real danger that an ascendant neo-Nazi movement poses. In the meantime, from my recollection of the WAR Skins back in the 1980s, I thought they were a threat. They have nothing on this new bunch who’ve dressed up their racism with that “alt-right” label. I hope this weekend turns out to be a wake-up call. I am concerned that we are in for considerably more turmoil before all this is said and done.
If the donald cannot withdraw open support for Nazis, he will never get that warm welcome from the county (Great Britain) the Nazis tried to destroy.
I cannot decide if this is another self inflicted wound of the result of friendly fire?
The guy who did it was an Assad fan boy:
link to picture
And the night before there were Assad fan boys praising his “fight against the globalists” and his barrel bombing helicopters.
Oh, lovely. So now we’ve got white supremacists –> Assad –> Putin –> Trump –> white supremacists? Would that we could jerk that whole circle right off the planet.
Heading off to a vigil, but yeah good catch y’all. Our own home-grown fascists seem to love them some nasty dictators – especially if they are in bed with Putin.
That is more like the pre-WWII Silver Shirts and less like the KKK. The Silver Shirts hung out in Appalachian NC in the 1930s. A small group but loud enough.
Charlottesville’s attraction is that not only is it a liberal university, it was established by Thomas Jefferson. For their purposes, the “heart of the beast”.
I notice that Yashar Ali has his own axe that he is grinding. Assad is a lesser issue with these guys. A plague on both their houses.
I also notice how well the Charlottesville PD goes about protecting and serving. Can’t possibly allow anything to happen to one of the authoritarian triumph-of-the-will-weenie fan boys and their older companions.
Just let one of them get popped, and we’ll have instant gun control. Just watch.
Heather Heyer – Bernie supporter who then joined the DSA and was at the Demonstration.
She died.
The next time you want to attack a DFH think of her.
Because the truth is it was the DSA and the other left groups that opposed the NAZI’s on the ground.
Not sure why you want to pick a fight with me, but whatever. What’s really fucking hilarious is that I probably agree with or at least sympathize considerably with a large number of folks who are on the ground whenever Nazis show up. I was fucking antifa in the 1980s. Anyhoo, I am heading to a vigil soon. It would have been nice if Heather Heyer’s memory could have been honored for her good work, rather than for your pointless dickwaving.
It took that for a generic “you”, not directed at Don Durito personally, else I wouldn’t have recced it.
Fladem please clarify.
Fladem and I have a bit of history – none of it good. Bottom line is we don’t mix well and never will. Unless it’s made clear, I assume the snide comment he made was aimed at me personally. Even if aimed generically, it seems really crass to use a fellow human being’s death as a stage prop to slag the rest of us. Heather’s memory deserves far better, especially given that she and the rest of this group share so much in common.
Don’t want to get into the middle of a private fight, but I really don’t read it that way.
That’s alright. I’m not asking you to do that. If you read it differently, that’s fine too.
fladem was making a valid point. DSA took the lead in the counter-protests and were joined by BLM activists and left oriented students. No “pink pussy hats” there because this wasn’t for the faint hearted — potentially (and sadly actually) physically dangerous.
This is going to damage Trump far more than all those liberal — fun-fest — anti-Trump rallies because swastikas on display by his supporters hits at a negative emotional level for all but the 10% of like-minded people. Those that had the courage to show up and confront the disgusting display of fascism, etc. deserve enormous respect.
These counter-protesters are DFHs. A species that has been trashed here at the Pond for over two years.
No one here is denying that DSA was among the activists counter protesting in Charlottesville or for that matter among the activists counter protesting the Trump presidency or the Rs attempts to roll back the ACA, roll back environmental regulations, etc.
In Charlottesville specifically other people protesting including the clergy of the city joining arms, Indivisible helping to organize the various groups, etc
The point I have always seen made and that I have always made is that no Senator Sanders and his group “Our Revolution” are not THE leaders in the fight against Trump and Republicans. There are among the leaders but not THE leaders.
And by the way those women you are denigrating by your snide comment about their “pink pussy hats” are also among the leaders. Women are the majority of people calling, demonstrating, organizing, etc and yes many of those women who are doing that marched in the Women’s march.
Like you, my impression was that there were multiple factions involved among those protesting the neo-Nazis, including a lot of folks who would be well within the mainstream of American liberal politics. Indivisible as far as I was aware did have a hand, and that should never be forgotten. The various actions yesterday in support of those in Charlottesville were also largely organized by Indivisible. In my community, credit Indivisible and our local Democratic Party. Bottom line is that using a critical moment where people got harmed to air personal grievances is crass at best. It is sad that it has come to this. The focus should be on the fact that neo-Nazis came in to trash a community and people got hurt and killed as a result. The focus should be on the lack of GOP White House occupant to condemn the neo-Nazis. It is necessary to focus our anger and resources where needed, rather than look for excuses to be the proverbial circular firing squad. The folks on the ground in Charlottesville, regardless of their specific politics, were focused on the task at hand. They deserve at the least that much from the rest of us who are allies or potential allies. Anything less? I really don’t want to know about and don’t care.
Here is a description of the anti-Nazi counterprotesters from Blake Montgomery of Buzzfeed:
Fighting fascism takes a united front. Were these folks sniping at each other while organizing and executing their action? No. Think about how things would have gone down had they sniped at each other like we see on the comments of blogs and other social media. Hell, the neo-Nazis could have kicked back, enjoyed some Coors Lights and watched folks who should have been allies beat each other up instead. But no. That’s not what happened, and not what should happen. As I said when I first posted this diary, we have good reason to be very angry that neo-Nazis invaded a community. Let’s keep our anger focused where it is richly deserved. Beyond that, I really don’t have the time or patience. Nor do, I suspect, potential allies who will be dealing with something akin to this playing out in College Station in a few weeks.
Trump tried to blunt the impact for impact for himself by pointing a finger at both sides – “Trump spoke to reporters saying her condemned the “egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence, on many sides. On many sides.”).
There were two sides in Charlottesville, both of which included many groups. Here’s the counter-protest list:
Did even one of those groups get even $1 from “Resistance Summer TM?” Cornel West was there. Anyone of similar stature from The Resistance TM? Until you can supply a list of individuals and organizations not identifiable as leftists but as associates of the DP, your “many activists leaders” claim is just trying to take credit for the DP where none has been earned. And in the process you also use your unsupported claim as an opportunity to engage in more hippie punching.
People’s Action for Racial Justice on August 12 was sponsored by Together CVille and Charlottesville Center for Peace and Justice, and had Indivisible Members present. Indivisible and Together We Will tend to work hand in hand – noticed that a lot in local communities in my area. I will repeat one more time: there was a broad coalition of people and groups involved in the counterprotest. They deserve to be applauded for their dedication and the risks they took. I really don’t see that there is a damn thing else to read any more into it, nor see any damn reason to use these people (including, correction, especially those who were injured or killed) as stage props to litigate grievances between members of this blogging community. It’s crass. It’s disgusting. And I’ve had enough. If you refuse to find some words of support for the collect group who were involved, or for the collective group of folks and organizations all over the country who are holding vigils and pressuring politicians, holding neo-Nazi participants accountable by any and all means necessary, etc., then please do everyone a huge favor and get out of the way. There is much to be done. Onward.
The Women’s March and the activities that grew out of it were not organized by the Democratic Party (DP) or more specifically the DNC. They are not one in the same and I have no idea where you got the idea that they are. Now are there members of the Democratic party involved the Women’s March organization? Sure. Just like there are members involved in BLM, Indivisible, etc.
Regarding this conversation today. In your original post you denigrated those who participated in the women’s march (your pink pussy hats snipe). I simply pointed out that many who participated in that march have kept up their activism in opposing both Trump specifically and the Republican agenda as a whole. That includes the counter protests in Charlottesville. That is what makes them AMONG the leaders of the activists doing all they can to push back against Trump and the Republicans.
To make this very clear I didn’t try to claim credit for the Democratic Party. I did, however, push back against the notion that only DSA was in the opposition in Charlottesville.
As witnessed by the Beahmont rating.
Yes, one of the ever-ready DFH punchers. They do seem to hate the left as much as rightwingers do or maybe they just hate the left for holding up a mirror in front of their faces.
It’s funny as hell you think “All Lives Matter” Voice is a DFH. It’s funny as hell you think you, Marie3, the apologist for Dictators are a DFH.
I dare you Mr. mad troll rater to find any comment from me in which I spoke approvingly of “All Lives Matter.” Entirely possible that I never even typed those three words together in any comment at all. As usual, you’re just making up shit to fling at those that don’t share your “centrist” orientation.
A question, since you are feeling so free with your opinions,
How many times does a persons opinions have to perfectly align with what Putin believes before they are a Putin supporter?
5? 7? 20?
Another question,
Is it ethical for a person to use stolen property for personal gain or enjoyment…if they did not personally steal the property? Would it be ethical for a person to use that stolen property to try to get someone fired? How about to just publicly embarrass someone? Would that be ethical?
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I’m sorry, but nonsequitur attack. I called you out for referring to Voice as a DFH when he’s an All Lives Matter supporter who thinks Dems are a Black Nationalist Party as he just commented below. No, I may not know much according to you, but I damn well know that no DFH is going to call someone who shouts the same thing the neo-Nazis were shouting in charlottesville a DFH.
But then you always do seem to have a rather convenient memory about such things.
That’s not what he/she said. What was said was that Voice has stated “All Lives Matter” (oh look he affirmed it below), but that you are an apologist for dictators like Assad and Putin (prolly have to add Maduro to the list now that he’s cancelled elections).
All lives DO matter. So FOAD you goddamn racist bastard. Because white lives matter too. Except to Democrats who want us all to die.
Your BlackLivesMatter revealed what they really stood for when they stopped Bernie Sanders from talking about social security. So it’s just a racist front for the centrist DNC and Wall Street.
Let’s see who steps up and rates this.
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Tempted to rate this as a troll
But decided that its a nice example of where some here are detached from the lived experience of real people.
In the fight to win “the War for the Moral Soul” other people apparently can shove it.
This place makes less sense than twitter at this moment in time.
That said, people i disagree with still make valid points, its just that more and more people just go off on tangents that dont make sense, but to stick it to “the others”
Someone mentioned cleanliness of thought, never thought newspeak was coming into fashion here.
Let’s say you’re right about BLM — you’re not, but let’s say you are. How do you expect people in the coalition who are very receptive to BLM supposed to want to hear about your concerns re: Wall Street when you refuse to hear their concerns about police violence against black citizens? You aren’t going to convince anyone with this kind of language, and your side on this issue is increasingly being marginalized within the center-left/left coalition. Have you thought that by treating others who think this is important with contempt — indeed, comparing them to racists — you’re actively harming the left cause overall? This is like when I hear he left saying “we don’t need liberals”. Nonsense. How do they expect to wield power? Magic?
“Because white lives matter too. Except to Democrats who want us all to die.”
This is hate-filled delusional talk right here.
He was a national politician who got interrupted by protesters. It happens to all politicians if they get to the point where they have a high enough national profile. Do you have such sanctified view of him that you think he is above dealing with what ever national politician has to deal with eventually?
Also you have been told this before but apparently didn’t remember it – BlackLivesMatter is not one national group. It is loosely affiliated local groups. Those two women didn’t even represent all of their local group let alone the black lives matters activists across the nation. Trying to recast these loosely affiliated groups as front for the DNC just because you view Sanders as someone who should never be protested against is intellectual dishonesty at its worst.
I’m pretty sure the deplorables that were making a public show of force this weekend see all of us as leftist scum in need of helicopter rides. They don’t care about our squabbles.
As recently as two years ago, I thought of moving to Charlottesville. I went there many times when I worked at NAVSEA on Navy business with Sperry. I thought as a University town it would be more liberal. I even contacted a realtor and had a long exchange regarding taxes and properties. I was pleasantly surprised when the realtor told me that the tax rate in Loudon was the highest in Virginia, because that tax rate, I knew from experience, was peanuts compared with Illinois. I knew that my second alma mater, U of Md, held public lectures and looked forward to the same. I looked forward to Winters that didn’t look like the Arctic.
Not any more. I remember now what I hated about Virgina. Things like damnyankee as one word. If you don’t have a drawl, you are a damnyankee.
No, better to die where I was born, on the mean streets of Chicago, just another poor Dago. One cannot escape Karma.
The university towns/cities are often fairly liberal relative to the states that house them. In many respects they become bubbles – one can live in some otherwise very hostile environs as if all is just peachy as long as one never ventures out beyond the town or city limits. Unfortunately, those bubbles are easy to burst, as was made clear this weekend. Residents of any other university town in the cross-hairs of these neo-Nazi nuts should be thinking long and hard about what went down in Charlottesville and plan accordingly. Expecting that things will get ugly is not pessimism but realism.
I wouldn’t mind retiring in a university town (especially one where there’s a medical school), but would definitely do so with eyes wide open. As it is now, most likely I’ll end up staying put where I am, periodically griping about the more crazy making or stupid facets of life here, but otherwise just making the best of it. And so it goes.
As an Ithaca/Cornellophile I can only agree.
Surrounded by the barbarians, only real knowledge…and a whole bunch of money and related power…can hold them off.
So it goes.
Round up them wagons…
We are surrounded, but we still have the upper hand.
More brains.
Later…
AG
Ah, Cornell! I’ve never been then but when I was at International Harvester we had a Cornell EE professor who came in regularly for lectures. He was quite smart and a regular human being too.
EE? Environmental Ecology? Who was it? Do you remember?
Yes. My son is getting his doctorate in EE there and I lived in Ithaca for two years when I was studying music at Ithaca College.
A blessed place surrounded by…dare I say…deep deplorability.
Much more “human” than Cambridge MA or New Haven, CT, two other bastions of Ivy League “respectability.” Ithaca itself is very…”relaxed.” It’s unlike any other major college town I have ever experienced, and I’ve been in a lot of them as a musician.
Betcha there are very few CIA personnel out of Cornell.
Betcha.
AG
I bet EE means Electrical Engineering, which would be more useful in a Caterpillar Factory (Peoria, Illinois?) than Environmental Ecology, although Cornell’s biology and ecology programs are first-rate.
That written, I never went to Cornell for science, even though I am a biologist and have great respect for their graduates. Instead, it was for drum corps, as the stadium has been used for regional and national championships. Here is a video of one of the corps I marched in (although not that year) at Cornell’s stadium.
Of course.
Duh!!!
AG
From my cursory review (subject to correction as more is reported), those holding and attending in support of Nazis and the KKK were out-of-towners. (The murderer was from Ohio.) Whereas the counter-protesters (with the exception of a few notables) were locals. So, it’s not Charlottesville that gets a black eye for this mayhem.
Even looks as if the LEOs gave the neo-Nazis the treatment usually reserved for DFHs.
One correction: SPLC entry on Jason Kessler, the White Nationalist organizer of the protests:
Sounds like one sick puppy attracting other sick puppies. Here’s info on one of his associates, Richard B. Spencer who was fired by The American Conservative in 2007, deported from Budpest, Hungary in 2014, and kicked out of a CPAC conference last February because he’s “too repugnant” for them.
>>Even looks as if the LEOs gave the neo-Nazis the treatment usually reserved for DFHs.
I have not seen this reported anywhere. The usual police tolerance of right-wing violence has been widely reported.
The Alt-Right picked Charlottesville exactly because it is the sort of place that you would like to move to. They would also pick Chapel Hill NC (what the late Sen. Jesse Helms called the “North Carolina Zoo”. It is why they love going to Berkeley and recruiting in the Pacific Northwest and liberal arts college Midwest.
And “damnyankee” is one word. There is no offense until someone parses it as two words. The retort is “Sam Douthener”.
This rally is not characteristic of Charlottesville is the main point. It would be characteristic of the sentiments of Lynchburg.
Adam Silverman of Balloon Juice posted a link to the Daily Stormer (you’ll have to scroll down a ways to find the link), so thankfully I won’t do so here. Reading through it was about what I would ordinarily expect from neo-Nazi scum. Plenty of misogyny, plenty of conspiracy theorizing, and more racism than you can shake a stick at. They were claiming that the driver of the car that killed Heather Heyer was an “alt-Left” Jew. Never mind reality. Always good to know your enemy, especially since they seem to go to so much trouble to telegraph their worldview.
Sounds as if they’re following their der leader’s strategy when he comes in for criticism, double-down.
Trump’s mealy-mouthed criticism of his supporters brandishing swastikas and chanting “sieg heil” is going to cost him his soft support among old white people that have had a livelong hatred of all things related to Hitler and Nazism.
Strikes me as a fair assessment. One can only hope that tRump’s pathetic reaction to Charlottesville will cost him. They may be fewer in number, but those who were young adults during WWII or who gained many of their formative memories/experiences during that era are still reliable voters, and an aversion to Nazism is very much a part of their mindset. There are also some fairly conservative folks from my age cohort who are at best soft supporters (i.e., didn’t endorse/vote for tRump, but were willing to “give him a chance”) who also have an aversion to Nazism. Folks I’m thinking of often grew up in military families (I hung out with mostly Army and Air Force brats – to use the parlance of the times – growing up) – small sample from my circle of acquaintances, but possibly worth considering.
Consider the 2017 election results demographics. 16% of the electorate was 65 and older (born 1950 and earlier). Trump received 52% of their vote (same for those 45-64). Those that experienced WWII with anything like an adult consciousness are now over the age of 85 and they are a small and dwindling portion of the electorate. Those 75 to 84 absorbed the war sec through the eyes of a child — from adults and the mass media – radio, magazines, comic books. Easy to forget that the WWII propaganda was ubiquitous and absorbing that sort of stuff as a kid is highly resistant to change. Trump received 52% of their vote. Those between the ages of 65 and 74 have no personal memory of WWII even as a child, but thanks to TV, they consumed gobs of old WWII propaganda movies and adults (parents, relatives, teachers, preachers) who had experienced it in some way shared it with the children. Those 60-64 got less but they were still informed by it. Reduced to “USA! rah, rah” for those under the age of 55; so, they won’t have that visceral repulsion to the symbols of Nazism.
That’s at least twenty percent of the electorate that by some high ratio (more than 75%) carry a heavy aversion to Nazism. For a liberal or leftie to say that Trump is a fascist/racist/etc. doesn’t compute for those inclined to vote for support/vote for him. MAGA supporters parading with banners bearing swastikas? That computes.
Republican Leader in Israel Hails Robert E. Lee as ‘Great Man,’ Blames ‘Leftist Thugs’ for Charlottesville Violence
Zionist Nazis are one of the stranger breeds. Then again all rightwingers have more than a normal number of loose screws in their heads.
Will take advantage of this opportunity to once again mention a pet peeve of mine: The Robert E Lee Memorial. On Arlington House:
Custis died in 1857 and at long-last in his will had the belated decency to emancipate the large slave holding passed down to him from his wealthy Custis grandfather. Robert E Lee, as executor for his father-in-law’s estate honored the terms of the will even as he was preparing to fight for preserving institutional slavery. Long past time to restore Arlington House to its original intended purpose. (Mt Vernon had passed down to Washington heirs and due to lack of funds had been falling apart since Martha Washington’s death in 1802. Sold to a preservation group in 1858.)
While the WH has been working to contain the damage of Trump’s inability to denounce the neo-Nazi’s, dim-son doubles down:
Told ya that this Trumpkin is really dumb (a nasty piece of work as well). A current definition of a dummie: retweeting from a fake account.
Another bit from the same Guardian article:
That’s what years of living in a rightwing bubble does to people. Allows them to think that they are a real majority and not a small collection of small and warped individuals in great need for attention at any price.
Guess what?
The Hill reports today:
Don’t break out the champagne just yet as he still has a ways to go to match the last GOP POTUS:
his sidekick fared even worse:
(Brazil’s coup leader President is down to 7% and still in office.)
Helpful reminders from Atrios:
And Democrats need to can the GWB nostalgia BS:
‘And Democrats need to can the GWB nostalgia BS:’
Could you please provide a link to a mainstream democratic leader who is showing nostalgia for Bush?
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The Atlantic, April 2017 How Democrats Came to Feel Nostalgic for George W. Bush
But this has been so widely reported over many months that it’s stunning that you managed not to see/read any of them.
As I thought, the word does not mean what you think it does.
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that article is a really amazing piece of work. It’s rare to see so much built out of a one-sentence out of context quote.
This stuff is just bait.
I don’t think that word means what you think it means
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The powers-that-be just let out the word that the only way to protect your freedom of speech and assembly from suppression by the police is to come well-armed. The police did not suppress this march (like, say, most Black Lives Matter protests) because the Alt-Right ralliers were “better armed” with assault rifles than were the police.
Yes, where were the APVs and the machine guns on the roof of trucks?
Not a good message to send that the police are politicized and in sympathy with the right wing neo-Nazis.
Nor is the legal jeopardy of the driver of the car the right message when peaceful protesters in DC and No DAPL are being tried for felonies with much more time than the young man from Maumee OH will be facing.
Not a new message. Been that way for over a hundred years. Cops are simply incapable of “otherizing” rightwingers because they are out of a similar mind-set. (However, too be fair, the white nationalists didn’t get as much of a free pass in Charlottesville as they expected.)
Has always put the left in the bind: to follow Gandhi and MLK, Jr or bring weapons with which to fight back. Even if one doesn’t hold non-violence as a high principle, history is very clear on that question. Weaponized leftists (or suspected weaponized leftists) don’t fare well themselves and it leads to set-backs for the movement since the Haymarket affair in 1886. So clear that cops make use of it by planting weapons and implanting provocateurs in the protests.
Linkage
The people who own this bloodshed are easily identifiable, as they dominate one of the two major US parties – something that should be a source of outrage not only for fellow Americans but globally. We should not have a white nationalist party dedicated to transferring wealth from the rest of us to a handful of corporate cronies dominating the damned landscape. That’s where I focus my anger and energy. Nothing else. That’s where we should all focus our energy. Any questions? I really hope not. Seems pretty effing self-explanatory.
We should not have a nationalist party dedicated to transferring wealth form the rest of us to a handful of corporate cronies and wealthy elites dominating the damned landscape.
There fixed it for you. And that is at the core of the divide between those on the left and those affiliated with either the center and the right.
What else is in Charlottesville, VA?
Did Trump hire local goons to patrol the property to make sure it became run-down enough that there were no other buyers?
Nor should we have a black nationalist party doing the same, which is why many Democrats and former Democrats are now pushing back against the DNC and the Clinton Wing.
This is really off-topic but I felt I had to respond in view of the Camussie attacks above.
Forty-nine years after the assassination of MLK and his dream seems deader than ever with White and Black fighting for domination instead of cooperation.
Noting that there were more groups on the ground in Charlottesville than just DSA is not an attack. Noting that Senator Sanders and “Our Revolution” are AMONG MANY leaders in the fight against Trump and Republicans is not an attack.
The DNC is not a black nationalist party, nor is any faction backing HRC from the start of the campaign season last year. Guess I must have missed the memo prior to viewing coverage of the convention last year.
There is no black nationalist party. You’re just making shit up now.
From the Foreign Policy website:
FBI and DHS Warned of Growing Threat From White Supremacists Months Ago.
And of course, there have been reports of this sort in the recent past. Domestic terrorism within the US has been carried out primarily by white supremacists. Should be a Captain Obvious observation, but one that the White House occupant has a difficult time with. Then again, since he has the like of Gorka, Bannon, and Sessions as his right-hand men, it’s no wonder. He’s one of them.
Looks like the leader of the free world (through her spokesperson) strongly condemned the neo-Nazi terrorist attack in Charlottesville.
The “White Lives Matter” rally planned by white supremacists, featuring Richard Spencer, has been cancelled by Texas A&M. Bipartisan support for the move. Concerns about spreading police too thin, which makes sense.
You can read about it here.
The state government passed a law a few years back to prevent local governments from removing these statues. After what happened this weekend, it’s not too surprising that angry citizens decided to take matters into their own hands.
Mixed feelings about that; I’m happy it’s down, of course, and the law is despicable, but I wouldn’t be so happy if it were a pack of neo-Nazis pulling down a statue of, say, Frederick Douglass.
Which unfortunately I think could happen now. Boston has already seen its Holocaust Memorial vandalized twice this summer, the most recent episode just last night. News report indicate it was done by a 17-year-old boy from I think Somerville, who was tackled and held for police by bystanders, so it could just be drunken adolescent stupidity, but….
And it’s been happening for a while. The incident you mentioned certainly looks like a possibility. Then there was mosque bombing near Minneapolis last week (which had been targeted by vandals previously). One of our local Islamic Centers had been vandalized late last year near election time. I am aware that there had been a significant uptick in these sorts of activities along with threats and the like especially since tRump’s electoral college victory. His base has become emboldened, and his every action or non-action merely encourages them. I could be wrong, but if I had to bet, I’d wager on things getting considerably worse in the near term. This ain’t over by a long shot.
Sadly, I have to agree it will get worse.
And that POS so-called president* just went back to blaming both sides in this afternoon’s presser, claiming the violence was the fault of the “alt-left” as much as anybody.
Yep, we’re going to see a lot more bloodshed in the days to come as the white supremacists and neo-Nazis take heart at their Dear Leader’s embrace.
Of course he would. That’s his default – deflect blame from where it squarely belongs: the neo-Nazis who thought terrorizing a city was such a grand idea, and from himself, for inciting these assholes starting with his campaign during the primaries, and for hiring white supremacists to influential positions within the White House (e.g., Bannon, Gorka, Sessions). Last I checked, the counter-protesters were not the ones using ISIS tactics (e.g., driving a car at high speed into a group of pedestrians). Last time I checked, the counter-protesters from the most moderate to the democratic socialists & BLM, to the antifa were not advocating for the elimination of entire racial or ethnic groups.