Two Segregationists Confirmed In Two Days

2017's Black History Month will go down in American history as either the beginning of the end or the end of the beginning. If February 7th & 8th are any indication of what is to come—and I believe in my heart of hearts that they are—we are closer to Civilutionary War than ever before. Indeed, I'll be surprised if the country hasn't broken down into armed militias by spring and torn itself apart by summer.

On February 7, Betsy DeVos was confirmed as Secretary of Education. DeVos is committed to privatizing the school system even though private schools have flagrantly higher rates of segregation and were originally created as a white-flight backlash against SCOTUS' ruling on Brown vs The Board of Education. 

Later that same day, Senator Elizabeth Warren was silenced by GOP Senate Majority Leader Mitch "The Bitch" McConnell when she tried to read the letter Coretta Scott King wrote regarding Jeff Sessions’ racially bigoted patterns of behavior. The GOP senators then voted to censure Senator Warren using an obscure rule only invoked ONCE in American history, effectively barring her from speaking during the February 8 confirmation hearing of Jeff Sessions to the position of Attorney General.

As awful as all the above is, perhaps the most frightening and foreboding thing to occur on February 7 was this: The House Administration Committee voted 6-3 along party lines to eliminate the Election Assistance Commission, which helps states run elections and is the only federal agency charged with making sure voting machines can’t be hacked. The agency was set up after the Bush-Gore debacle of 2000; the GOP has been trying to get rid of it ever since—mission accomplished.

On February 8, 2017 Jeff Sessions was, as expected, confirmed to the position of U.S. Attorney General. He will be in charge of the country’s civil rights division despite his racist and anti-gay views. All Republican senators and a Democrat from West Virginia voted in favor of his confirmation while all other Democrats voted against it. 

I knew both confirmations would go through, but I’m still gutted by the fact they did. America, I do not recognize you anymore. 

Questions or Comments?

Tweet to @left_republic

White Americans, Social Media & Accountability

This is a piece I wrote on September 15, 2016. Bear that in mind if it feels dated. Also bear in mind how pathetic it is that America is spiraling downward fast enough for 4 months to even feel "dated"...

-------------

The San Bernardino shooting. The Dallas police massacre. The cold, calculated executions of gay men at Orlando's Pulse nightclub... 

All three of those horrific killing sprees were committed by American citizens against other American citizens. While that fact in and of itself isn't as shocking as it should be, the common denominator that sets these specific mass murderers apart from the rest is rather noteworthy. To put a fine if blunt point on it, none of the assailants were white males. 

In the United States, mass murders and serial killings have almost exclusively been carried out by members of the most privileged group of Americans amongst us. In terms of domestic terrorists alone, white males kill innocent victims at a rate double that of all Black, Latino, Asian, and Native American men combined. For the first time in... well, EVER... the United States is experiencing a new wave of domestic terrorism perpetrated by males from marginalized groups. Yet few if any are asking why.

Muslims have been a part of the American fabric since the nation's inception. Black men can claim a longer history in this country than most whites can. Access to guns has always been a fundamental right in this here. In other words, very little has changed in the U.S. 

This observation is especially marked when we narrow the scope of change to the past thirty or so odd years. Other than the legalization of same-sex marriage, the advent of the internet and, much more recently, an ever-increasing reliance on social media, time has essentially stood still. So what has changed for the marginalized male and, as we saw in San Bernardino, the marginalized female?

Racism and Otherism have always been more American than a freshly baked apple pie served on a flag during a baseball game. Minorities have had to deal with the reality of discrimination, stereotyping, and victim-blaming since before our country's birth. The only difference between then and now is this is the first time in our checkered history where oppressed peoples have been subjected by their oppressors to an every moment of every day assault on their character, dignity, and basic human value. This continuous bombardment of white volatility mixed with white denial and blame-shifting is as traumatizing as it is radicalizing.​

The above screenshots were taken from just one conservative site, on one day, four years ago. Since that time, online hatred and defamation against minorities has become frighteningly commonplace. Here's a quick recap of what is now the new norm:

• Innumerable videos of police officers killing unarmed black men and children are available to view online. Instead of feeling mortified and demanding justice for the deceased, large numbers of white people dismiss, trivialize, and even blame the victims for their own murders. This behavior hit an all-time low with the death of Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old Cleveland child who was executed by a police officer while playing with a toy gun. Again, a large number of whites blamed the child for his own death, despite the fact his killer had a history of emotional instability and disciplinary reprimands. Imagine the collective rage if a 12-year-old white child named Tommy Rice had been the victim? There wouldn't have been an excuse good enough to appease white America. 
• After a series of fatal incidents involving unarmed black people being murdered by police officers, the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter surfaced on social media. Rather than agreeing and stating that black lives do indeed matter, large numbers of whites responded with #BlueLivesMatter, #WhiteLivesMatter, #AllLivesMatter, and so on. In other words, many whites trivialized and deflected a very real trauma in the black community by making the story about them. ​​​ ​​
• Hate speech against Muslims has been on the rise for a few years now. This hostile outpouring of vengeance and rage has spilled over into the offline world, culminating in a climate where American Muslims are now being routinely attacked in vicious hate crimes. A few days ago, on the 15th anniversary of 9/11, a Muslim woman was set on fire in the middle of New York City; last week two young Muslim mothers were attacked in the New York City borough of Brooklyn by a rabid Trump supporter who punched one of the women in the face, tried to forcibly remove her hijab, and assaulted her 15-month-old child by attempting to knock over his baby stroller. ​ 
• Georgetown University has found a marked correlation between the rise of Donald Trump in this election season and hate crimes toward American Muslims. (An excellent article with summations can be found here.) Update: The Southern Poverty Law Center has found the same correlation since Trump's electoral college "win".

Those four bullet points barely scratch the surface of the new Wild West free-for-all that has become the internet and social media. There is also the wall Trump wants to build along the Mexican border, Trump's campaign promise to end birthright citizenship (aimed at people of color), and on the list goes. Compound these major issues with a seemingly endless supply of demeaning articles, posts, and commentary dehumanizing minorities and what you are left with is a recipe for disaster. Or in this case, a recipe for domestic terrorism.​

Anonymity of the internet does not negate the lasting ramifications of the words we write or our culpability in having written them. Choosing to overlook volatile comments rather than calling people out for issuing them makes you equally responsible for any tragedy that results from them. WORDS MATTER. The commenters I've highlighted here might not have technically pulled the triggers in San Bernardino, Dallas, and Orlando, but at the end of the day they are as ethically and morally responsible for all of those American deaths as the gunmen themselves.

----------

Questions or Comments?

Tweet to @left_republic

The Resistance Has Only Begun

While it is difficult in this specific moment to see the forest from the trees, we must. Despair isn't an option. Settling for subhuman status isn't on the menu. If you can't pull yourself together for you then take your strength from the enduring love you have for your children/parents/spouses/etc. In other words, wo/man up. Cry if you must—rage if you must—but be quick about it. Time is not on our side.

Fight. Resist. Refuse nothing less than total victory. We cannot let it come to power...

Ever.

#MidnightMartyrs 

Episode #10: The Common Ground of White Nationalists and Minorities

Nazi Spotting: Twitter & The Frog

Twitter is the easiest of the various social media platforms to identify white supremacists on. Just look for the frog:

Richard Spencer; founder of alt-right (a.k.a. Nazi) white nationalist movement

And another "winner" of a white boy...

David Duke of the KKK; pro-Putin Nazi

----------

Questions or Comments?

Tweet to @left_republic

----------

Putin, Trump, and the US Military: Can Americans Trust ANYONE?

A mural in Vilnius, Lithuania. Photo credit: The New Yorker

I've been watching the words and deeds of vets and active military personnel pretty closely over the last 16 months... and every day my view of them as a collective whole grows warier. I don't want to distrust the people who are supposed to be fighting for our freedom, but the loudest ones are making it difficult not to. 

After news broke yesterday of the CIA's confirmation that Russia interfered in the 2016 election with the intention of getting Trump elected, a thinking person would believe such a massive revelation would give the military pause. It hasn't. If anything, they have dug their cyber heels in deeper, going so far as to voice pro-Russia sentiments. This leaves me no choice but to ask, just who the fuck's side is the US military on anymore? If it's the American people's, I sure can't tell.

The level of misguided hostility toward Hillary Clinton coupled with a nonsensical devotion toward Trump is brain-ache worthy. Just what kind of "training" goes on in bootcamps these days? I don't know that we'll ever have that mystery solved. What I do know is there are two arenas which, once explored, fuel more questions than they provide answers: the three retired generals Trump may or may not appoint to his cabinet and the massive cognitive dissonance between what many vets/military say is important versus how they voted. First, lets look at the basic ticking points on those three retired generals.

Lt. General Michael Flynn

• Closely allied to Russia
• Not unlike his master, has a WTF relationship with facts
  
• Frequently disseminates pro-Putin and anti-Clinton propaganda
  
• Believes Islam is a political ideology rather than a religion and thereby poses a direct threat to peace between the US and the Middle East
  
• Has a personal vendetta against President Obama, which he chose to unleash against Hillary Clinton

General David Petraeus

• Convicted of divulging classified information to his mistress and biographer
• FBI Director Comey wanted him charged with a felony; he was convicted on a misdemeanor
• Still/currently on probation
• Former Head of CIA, "resigned" in 2012

General James "Mad Dog" Mattis

• His nickname = enough said
• Known for such "gems" as, “Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everybody you meet,” and "If you fuck with me, I’ll kill you all"
• Requires a congressional waiver to become Secretary of Defense; has only been retired 3 of the required 7 years per The National Security Act of 1947
• Will face opposition from retired military who serve in congress

None of the three generals come without massive amounts of baggage. Petraeus, frighteningly enough, is the least scary of the unholy trio. Give him some head and he'll give you classified info—yet still he's preferable to General Frick and General Frack. Which brings me to point #2...

If the military is sooooo outraged by Hillary Clinton's email server because potential classified documents could have "compromised soldiers" (they didn't) then why the hell are they okay with General Happy Pants being in a position of massive power? The truth is this: not a single one of them can articulate a reasonable argument that explains the cognitive dissonance on display here. They throw shade, sputter, and shout "commie" at you for asking, but that's as persuasive as their (cough) arguments get.

Again, I ask, whose side are soldiers on?

Before the 2016 election, there were certain absolutes within the ethos of military culture we could count on. If for no other reason than not giving a soldier with a different background/race/etc from your own a reason to not have your back when you most need it, the absolutes were few but sacred.

Always show the utmost respect to Gold Star families. 

Before the Trump Virus infected US politics, that golden rule was one only the dumbest of soldiers would dare break. Since we never heard stories about the Gold Star Family rule being tossed aside pre-Trump, we can probably safely assume any scant incidents of it were quickly stamped out by fellow soldiers or their superiors. Fast forward to the post-Trump world we now live in and it's as if that ethos never existed at all. I cannot count how many insults against Mr. and Mrs. Khan—especially against the former—I have personally seen with my own two eyes since the grieving father delivered his now historic speech at the Democratic National Convention:

Rather than defend the Khans when Trump attacked them, I watched members of the military defame and mock grieving parents. I saw posts from self-proclaimed soldiers in which they shamefully disseminated falsehoods about the Khans' faith, claiming they were supporters of Sharia Law when the opposite is true. Again I ask, whose side is the military on?

POWs Are Off-Limits

Before Trump, you would be hard-pressed to find any American, much less a veteran or active duty soldier, who would cast a vote for a presidential candidate that mocked John McCain's status as a former POW. You would also have difficulty finding a candidate who could make it to the primaries much less survive them after spouting such an insult, but that's another story.

This election has brought about many firsts, none of which have been good. We have gone from being a people with normal relational issues amongst ourselves—for the most part—to a people firmly and perhaps irrevocably divided. Trump did that... and many vocal members of the military both past and present helped him bring us to this place.

Active military personnel are supposed to be publicly apolitical, but I saw little evidence of that during this election. Perhaps the worst, most vile spewers of online hatred have been the nasty ass, racist, venomous wives of these men. It's difficult to argue a soldier is apolitical when his own spouse is filling up Twitter with repugnant hatred, pro-Trump propaganda, and little else. More than a handful of these women also sport the frog logo on their Twitter bios; frogs might have been associated with Navy Seals in the past, but on Twitter today they represent the alt-right, Neo-Nazi, white nationalist movement.

And so I ask all members of the military for the last time, whose side are you on? You might want to figure that out before the black/Muslim/Hispanic wife of a soldier of color you depend on to have your back gets word that it's reasonable to assume you don't have his.

The Hypocrisy of Angry White Men

#FormerHomeOfTheBrave

Attention Angry White Men: You lost the non-hypocritical ability to make fun of any woman's "safe space" the moment you decided to turn the USA into one YUGE therapy blanket. Feeling triggered by the little old hijab-wearing lady down the street? Does the Special Snowflake have a mental boo-boo? Awww. I'd say to find a liberal who cares, but yeah... we don't. Our bleeding hearts have turned to ice where Republicons are concerned.

Pot, Meet Kettle: Angry White Man, Meet Special Snowflake

CAWMs (Conservative, Angry White Men) have spent the last few years of their online lives cyber-harassing women and minorities for suffering from what they like to call Special Snowflake Syndrome. While some of their original grumblings about over-the-top PC culture were arguably justified (social justice warriors are hypocritical bitches!), their collective resentment slowly extended over time to CAWMs hating on everyone who dared to speak truth to real injustice.

I'll be honest: a hardcore lib I may very well be, but when this fallout first started even I had reached the point of being irritated by (a) everyone claiming a minority status even if they were not minorities and (b) said minority-wannabes constantly trying to out-victim each other. Add into that face-palm-fest the hyper-vigilance of social justice warriors who were waiting in the wings to viciously attack any hapless person who mistakenly referred to a disenfranchised group member by the wrong politically correct term du jour, and... BAM. Shit got real.

So, yes, in the beginning I was an admitted CAWM-sympathizer. I was sick and tired of white men not being allowed to share their opinions online without SJWs snarkily dismissing their contributions as man'splaining and/or white'splaining. I stood up for these guys, much to the chagrin of many, and took heat for doing so. To real feminists, though, and not the online psychos that appropriated the term and its meaning, the exchange of ideas and viewpoints is a good thing. Listening to the experiences of others—especially members of one's out-group—helps all of us toward better understanding of and communication with each other. Unfortunately, the sympathy I was experiencing for conservative, angry, white men was to be short-lived. 

Similar to how authentic liberal feminists were outshouted by fanatical fringers calling themselves liberals, what I now recognize to be the alt-right (a.k.a. white nationalists) began outshouting authentic conservative men. In both cases, the extremes tended to be viewed by the opposition as the majority instead of as the political leeches they were and are. The problem being, I didn't—and still don't—see conservative white men (minus an exception of literally ONE) distancing themselves from their parasites. 

Before long, everybody was a special snowflake... at least according to the alt-right who were the only conservative men speaking up. Amidst conservative silence, they took their fanaticism against minorities to intolerable extremes. Worse, because genuine conservative men weren't calling bullshit, the alt-right disease continues to spread as insidiously as a computer virus. I never thought I'd see the day where seemingly nice white people always—without exception—explained away the executions of black men and youth by police. I never thought I'd see the day where seemingly patriotic white Americans embraced Russia and Putin as some sort of sick savior. I definitely never thought I'd see the day where fundamentalist white Christians who have been taught all their lives to protect the Jewish people would start the Jew-blaming rhetoric racists embrace.

The most nauseating example of this normalization of prejudice within the conservative party is the wholeheartedness with which they have embraced the continual demonization of George Soros. Seeing that bigotry expressed in hate-media every day has taken its toll on me. It has radicalized me. It has made me a less tolerant person overall. It has pushed many liberals and minorities further away from a white America that now disgusts us. George Soros, you see, is more than Hillary Clinton's friend and ally; Mr. Soros is also a beloved philanthropist, an elderly man, and a Holocaust survivor. For the last reason alone, NOBODY has the right to impugn his character. He is old, he has suffered much, and he is off limits.

Conservative angry white men are so busy living up to the angry part that they have become the very thing they hate most: special snowflakes. And make no mistake about it: they are the social justice warriors of special snowflakiness, the imaginary victims who demand to be heard.

"This is my country!"

No more than it is mine.

"Everything's rigged against white people!"

Yeah. I'm sure it's tough to make more money for equal work and not get executed by police at traffic stops. Let me fire up my violin to set the appropriate mood for your whiny ass... 

"Why can't I use the word nigger if black people do?!" 

Nigga is not nigger. And you still can't use it without a pass. *face palm*

"Go back to your country!" 

We're in it. Whether our ancestors were dragged here in chains or came in search of a better life, this country belongs to all of the colors of people within it. Don't like it? Too bad. Go to a seance and take it up with your dead grandpappy eight times removed.

Dear CAWMs, you are no longer distinguishable from the monster you chase. Wake up and take your politics back before it's too late.