Seldom Balanced – Usually Fair
From Our favorite Earth-Bound Misfit:
Because chanting racist rhetoric is so patriotic, I guess. This is what Trump does: He says something hateful, often racist, and then he listens to Ivanka and some professional politicians, so he walks it back. But he can’t avoid drinking Racist-Cola, so Trump goes right back to what he said the first time.
The Defenders of All Things Trump are achieving new heights of ridiculousness.
One tragic aspect within a tragic era within the history of a great country is now being tragically repeated.
And it is deliberate.
It was 1877, Rutherford B. Hayes had just become President. He did not get the most votes. He made deals with corrupt politicians. He got a special committee to award him electoral votes that should have gone to his opponent.
Part of the deal was to end federal protection for newly freed slaves.
Lynching resumed right after.
The June Issue of the Atlantic Monthly that year contained an article by an author identified only as A South Carolinian.
My principles now lead me to abhor slavery and rejoice at its abolition. Yet sometimes, in the midst of the heat and toil of the struggle for existence, the thought involuntarily steals over me that we have seen better days.
The article chronicled a few enthusiasms of the newly freed slaves, including an apparent passion for travel.
They are literally crazy about traveling.
The author thought it was, well, kind of cute.
Continue reading “Refugees and Sanctuary – Sofi’s Choice”
Continue reading “Trump Racism, Resolution, Omer, Caged Kids, Dumb on Refugees”
From Max’s Dad:
Besides being from my hometown, Gibby was a pitcher as was I. He owned the mound as did I. He taught me how to pitch by watching him and reading his book. Now my abilities and his are far different but when I was on that mound, I let him into my mind. I emulated his style by falling off the mound towards first base at times when I needed that extra ooomph. I told catchers to leave me alone when they came out to calm my emotions. But I couldnt be him because I didnt have the talent and I also didnt have the experience of growing up in the Omaha ghetto.
Bob Gibson is an angry man. He always has been. His first book, From Ghetto To Glory was an angry book for 1968. Most sports bios were sweet and inspirational and sugary. Bob Gibsons bio was angry and resentful and not flattering to his hometown, my hometown. He spoke of segregation and racism and riots and other things nobody from here wanted to hear about. I loved it. It taught this white suburban kid a thing or two about something other than throwing a baseball. I remember my Mom thinking I shouldnt be reading it for some reason. Too bitter. Too angry. But she let me read it anyway. In fact she bought it for me cuz I was a little kid with no money.
So in this cancer fight I am rooting for Bob Gibson.
From CATO Institute:
CATO Institute’s Julian Sanchez talks about the Department of Homeland Security’s expanding use of facial recognition technology in airports and border areas.
From Sandra Sallee at MadMikesAmerica:
I watched a tiny clip of that racist rally in NC last night. I saw the man many of my former friends voted for whip up murderous fury against a woman whose only crime is opposing him. No, she does NOT hate America. No, she does NOT support terrorism. Those are lies that sorry excuse for a human made up to rile up his base of supporters. And it worked.
He called her by name. She is already receiving death threats, and he just made it so much more likely that she will be assassinated by some violent rabid follower of his. She is a single mother who is raising three children, but they’re not tiny white fetuses inside a white woman’s uterus, so I guess it’s okay if their lives are torn apart by a murderer who worships at the feet of that malignancy in the Oval Office.
If any one of the four Congresswomen walked into that arena, her life would have been over. I absolutely believe that with every fiber of my being. He would have stood at that podium and watched with glee while a woman was torn to pieces by the mob.
From The Life and Times of Bruce Gerencser:
Many Baptists believe that the moment a person is saved, the Holy Spirit takes up permanent residence inside of them. Now, that’s only for people who are saved after the resurrection of Jesus. Those saved before the resurrection of Jesus — say people in the gospels and the Old Testament — the Holy Spirit came upon them when he needed to use them in some sort of powerful, supernatural way. Once this was accomplished, the Holy Spirit departed.
Other Baptists believe that the Holy Spirit has always lived in saved people — both before and after the resurrection of Jesus. These Baptists see a continuity between the Old and New Testaments. This belief is popular among worshippers of John Calvin.
And yet other Baptists believe that all saved people are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, but “special,” on-fire, sold-out Christians can receive a special outpouring of the Holy Spirit if they really, really, really beg God to give it to them. Some preachers I heard growing up called this being baptized with the Spirit.
Wander off into the Evangelical weeds and you will find all sorts of additional — and contradictory — beliefs about the Holy Spirit. Some sects believe that you receive the Holy Spirit the moment you are baptized by immersion. Other sects believe similarly, except the evidence of being filled with the Holy Spirit is speaking in tongues. What is speaking in tongues, you ask? Ah yes, another belief Christians are hopelessly divided over.
From Patrick Holman at The Moderate Voice:
It wasn’t too long ago that many of us believed the United States, finally, was moving past its ugly and hurtful past of slavery, inequality, and injustice. But, for black Americans, the consequences of our history are still apparent, and they’re consistently amplified by the man sitting in the White House who casually throws around racist and ethnophobic tweets and comments. Because of Donald Trump’s leisurely approach to race, racism today stands tall and continues to loom over us.
Donald Trump has long dealt with issues of race.
From News Corpse:
On Fox News Kellyanne Conway Calls Democrats a ‘Dark Underbelly’ Who ‘Pal Around with Terrorists’
Also on Tuesday morning Trump’s Senior White House Counselor, Kellyanne Conway, managed to make matters even worse. She was “interviewed” on Fox News (video below) where she performed her famous filibuster routine, refusing to allow even the friendly Trump-fluffers of Fox to get a word in. And in this harangue, Conway let loose some more racist dog whistles to earn the affection of Trump and his Deplorables. Referring to the four Democratic women known as “The Squad,” Conway said that…
“They represent a dark underbelly in this country […] We’re tired of some of these women palling around with terrorists.”
The audacity of these people is shocking. Conway had no reservations whatsoever about highlighting the “darkness” of the critics she was so intent on vilifying and dehumanizing. And her reckless accusation of an imaginary terrorist affiliation is the sort of thing generally reserved for fascist propagandists. It is also a retread of Sarah Palin’s slanderous yelping at President Obama. The Fox News hosts didn’t react or follow up on these sick statements at all. Of course, Trump said much the same thing yesterday when he explicitly – and falsely – asserted that Rep. Ilhan Omar expressed pro-Al Qaeda sentiments. But Conway wasn’t finished with her crusade of defamation. She defended Trump’s racist tweet tantrum saying that…
“The President explained what he meant by those. The President explained that if you don’t like it here get out. That, by the way, goes way beyond these four people. That goes to everybody who’s tearing down the American flag and putting up the Mexican flag.”
How does that make anything better?
From North Carolina pastor John Pavlovitz:
The America that I came to know as real, was deeply flawed: erected on supremacy, steeped in misogyny, forged through force, and polluted with prejudice—but still beautiful in what it aspired to. Despite its fractured and ugly parts, that America was a place where I believed most people were trying really hard to make space for difference, to defend the vulnerable, to listen to someone else’s story.
The America I accepted as real, was a place where our leaders were expected to be public stewards of the dream. They were supposed to be the ones leading us to our better nature. They were there to steady us in turbulence and to bring clarity when confusion reigned. They were the people, at least on the surface—declaring the inherent worth of every human being and working to make each person feel seen and safe and welcome here.
The America I accepted as real wouldn’t tolerate an unrepentant racist at its helm.
That America is dead.
Our leaders no longer even need to pretend.
They can hate with impunity.
It is not lamented by their supporters, but celebrated.