Populism Bernie Sanders:YES-Populism Donald Trump:NO

Steve Bannon

Steve Bannon's populism seems sketchy from his past, so why is he where he is now, leading ring-nosed Donald Trump down the path for his style of populism and nationalism? Both Trump and Bannon have evoked the name of Andrew Jackson because of his populist beliefs, but Jackson also had to deal with sectionalism between the North and the South, due to the stark difference in economies. The North was industrial, the South agricultural. This became highly complicated when Congress passed the Tariff of 1828, favoring the North.

The reason I bring this up is that, although he would tell Congress what he was going to do, then do it, regardless of their concerns, he did things with a background from experience that had led to his first election in 1828. Andrew Jackson won with and governed with a substance neither Donald Trump nor Steve Bannon could ever claim. So why all the comparisons? It is Bannon's obsession with Jackson's populism and nationalism that the White House adviser intends to steer in the direction of his own version that includes white nationalism along with racism and general bigotry.

Andrew Jackson is from Tennessee. I am from Tennessee. Jackson's view on white nationalism and racism does parallel both Trump and Bannon, according to U.S. News...

"...Jackson's belief that democracy and race were inextricably bound together, that whiteness was a prerequisite for self-governance, fits neatly with Trump's own worldview – a worldview that is coming to define not just Trump's administration, but also the Republican Party."

We also know that Andrew Jackson was also a co-founder of the Democratic Party. And Democrats regularly paid tribute to Jackson for years, until the issue of racism came into focus. You see...

"His policy of 'Indian removal,' an act of ethnic cleansing that killed thousands, moved to the forefront of his legacy, as did the fact that he held nearly 300 enslaved people, the source of his significant wealth."

It was then that Andrew Jackson began to tank with the Democratic Party. It was obvious that, "For Jacksonian democracy to work, non-white people had to be subjugated, either through their removal or their enslavement (and, in later eras, through Jim Crows old and new)." But if the Democrats now shun Jackson, Republicans in the present form of Donald Trump and Steve Bannon have picked up the gauntlet and are running with the white nationalism, tinged with racism and feminine hatred. Old Hickory surely had his faults but nothing to compare with the Trump/Bannon debacle.

Concourse tries to explain the insanity of Steve Bannon. The younger Bannon blames it all on the financial hard luck of his father...

"...a hardworking man who spent 50 years working for AT&T, accumulating as much AT&T stock as he could during that time in the belief that it would constitute a safe inheritance for his kids—saw the value of those shares crater during the 2008 financial crisis, and sold them at a loss in a panic."

As an afterthought Stevo contends that he was "outraged" that no one went to jail in the financial community over the chicanery during the Geo. W. Bush administration, Hell, so was I and millions more, but we didn't take it out on people of color nor did we debase women. Hamilton Nolan, the Concourse writer states...

"I am in no position to judge Steve Bannon’s honesty, so I’m willing to assume it’s true that the crash is indeed what spawned his political philosophy. If so, Steve Bannon is an insane man. Has he helped to fix the root causes of the 2008 financial crisis by guiding Donald Trump into the White House? No. He has helped to put in power an ignorant billionaire who has vowed to slash Dodd-Frank and other regulations designed to help prevent another financial crisis, and who has turned the regulation of Wall Street over to a coterie of Wall Street insiders and deregulation zealots."

The Daily Beast reported that Trump's fascination with Andrew Jackson only began in 2013, and there was another short conversation about the former president when there was talk during the 2016 election about removing Jackson from the $20 bill. DB says...

"But the reason Jackson has taken on such a physical and rhetorical presence in the Trump White House is, in fact, primarily because of Bannon, Trump’s chief strategist and the former head of Breitbart. According to officials in the Trump campaign, presidential transition, and administration speaking to The Daily Beast, Bannon would often discuss Jackson’s historical legacy and image with Trump on and after the campaign trail, and how the two political figures were a lot alike."

Bannon even gave Trump a suggested reading list on Jackson. And Trump placed a biography of Andrew Jackson on his desk he frequently pointed out to reporters, but no one could ever confirm that he had read it. All nice window-dressing for an administration in the throes of taking this county back to the dark ages of racist hangings, house burnings, and a Ku Klux Klan that gave rise to the 784 hate groups that now reside in the U.S. Thanks in great part to Donald Trump adviser, Steve Bannon. Let me leave you with this from the Daily Beast...

"The simplest explanation for Steve Bannon’s actual political philosophy is 'He is racist, xenophobic, and has deep-seated resentments and anger issues with origins that we can only begin to explain.'”

God help us all! 

North Carolina Tea Party racist hangs Obama in effigy

It seems that VR Phipps, a Command member of the Tea Party from Faison, NC has a hanging truck that he is driving around the country.  The racism part comes with a combination that the person in question is Obama who is black, and the noose is a symbol of lynchings so prevalent in the 1960’s South.  Not sure why this has become news all over again since it dates all the way back to over 2 years ago and was revived for the Charlotte Sept. Democratic convention.

Phipps hanging gallows truck in New York

This incident over two years ago found Patriot Phipps driving around New York City, without the President, but with other Faison politicians Phipps claims did nothing in the murder of William Henry Phipps.  Obama was added when Phipps was unhappy with the way a federal case ended.  This is when he decided to take his show to the Charlotte convention.  WBYV in Charlotte covered the story last October with vivid pictures you can see on the link.

Faison, NC has a population of just 961 with a median income of $31,656 compared to the United States as a whole, $56,775.  The town is 47.7% white, 38.5% Hispanic and 12.8% black.  It ranks 40.2 in the cost of living index compared to the U.S. at 100.  Faison’s closest large city neighbor is Raleigh.  If ever there was a case of everyone knowing each other, it should be here.  With the majority of the population of color, you wonder about Tea Party numbers. 

Phipps claims there is nothing racist in his display, and in all fairness he did have the noose thing before adding Obama.  But anyone coming from the South must, or at least should, understand the connections between a noose and Southern racism.  I grew up in the 50’s and 60’s South and witnessed first-hand the appalling treatment of blacks.  I knew a Ku Klux Klan member and I remember his dedication to this sick cause.  To say we have fixed this is simply absurd.

You can see my posts on racism here.

As I write this post I am corresponding by email with VR Phipps about his Tea Party membership which I confirmed on his site you can see here.  Not only is he a member of the Tea Party but a part of their Command Center as well,   whatever that means.  The Phipps I am talking to claims that he is not a member of the Tea Party, although the VR Phipps I originally emailed was an address taken right from the man’s own site, which he actually asked me to explain.

More gallows from Patriot Phipps:

Maybe CNN brought this up again as a news item to remind Americans what a gang of radicals the Tea Party is, and also that there is still considerable work to be done yet on the equality of the races.  Blacks have almost taken a back seat on race issue in the last few years as the state of Arizona persecutes the Hispanics.  Between Gov. Jan Brewer, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, plus disgraced State Sen. Russell Pearce, this state is considered the most bigoted.

But there is no excuse for what VR Phipps did, even though he claims that he intended no racism.  It is disrespectful of the office of the President to hang the man in effigy.  I remember being told by my superior in the Navy, you may not respect the officer, but you aren’t saluting him, you are saluting the rank.  As much as I disagreed with George W. Bush, I would never condone that kind of action against him.  Mr. Phipps should tear down his gallows for good.

Obama in noose

By the way, I have not had an answer from my latest email to VR Phipps asking:

“Are you the VR Phipps that drove a trailer with gallows of mannequins hanging in effigy around New York City and Charlotte, NC during the Democratic Convention?  If not, there are two VR Phipps living in Faison, NC.”

Earlier emails from me with answers in chronological order from the first:

“Are you a member of the Tea Party?”

Answer: “No are you.”

“If you aren't, how do you explain this [your Tea Party] site?”

Answer: “What do you mean explain the site.

         

“Mr. Phipps, this is your page, clearly stating you are "now a member of Tea Party Command Center."  If I have to explain your own site to you we have more than a communications problem.”

Answer: “Are you a member of the Tea Party.”

“Apparently you are refusing to answer my question.  I thought Tea Party Patriots were proud of their status.  Obviously you are not.”

Answer: “No sir I do not claim to be a tea party member a Republican only.”

With that last answer, the GOP must be cringing right now.  More if I hear from Mr. Phipps.

Racism is here to stay

Racism hasn't really changed over the years

You can talk about the strides that have been taken since the Civil Rights Act of 1964, but, in a nutshell, they haven't worked. I said in an earlier post that since 1964, radical racism has simply gone underground, with those who practice this vile lifestyle, playing in the shadows, putting on the good-guy front. Until Donald Trump. Until the White House loaded up with racists, white nationalists, and a bigotry that isn't disguised, rather, put right there in the open for all to see. Steve Bannon is proud of his white supremacist label, flaunting it regularly around Washington. And Donald Trump is quick to tell you, Steve Bannon is his man.

Donald Trump afraid to offend white nationalist supporters

After days of not repudiating white nationalists and the Ku Klux Klan after the murder in the Charlottesville demonstration, T-rump finally denounced the KKK and neo-nazis. This was his statement...

• "Racism is evil, and those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs, including the KKK, neo-Nazis, white supremacists and other hate groups."

The media made me do it

Daily Progress reports that the only reason Trump changed his tone--it is widely known that he does not adhere to political correctness--is that the media made him do it. What a pathetic moment in history when it takes outcry from the media to make the President of the United States do a duty that should have been his top priority the moment that woman was killed by James Alex Fields' car. But that would have insulted Donald Trump's base of double-digit IQ bigots. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said, "From the beginning, President Trump has sheltered and encouraged the forces of bigotry and discrimination." Why would we expect more just because of a death?

Sports personalities criticize Trump

LeBron James, basketball star, said, “Hate has always existed in America. Yes we know that but Donald Trump just made it fashionable again!” Steve Nash, another basketball great said...

• “To defend white supremacists and then slang his [crappy] a— grape juice pretty much sums the man up.” Nash was referring to Trump’s remark that he knows “a lot about Charlottesville” because he owns “one of the largest wineries in the United States,” located there.

Seth Meyers on Trump Charlottesville news conference...

Even the Jews were included in Charlottesville protest

Charlottesville "Unite the Right" rally was universal in its appeal with anti-Semitic lines like “Jews will not replace us”? Also heard, “This city is run by Jewish communists and criminal niggers,” one demonstrator told Vice News’ Elspeth Reeve during their march. The Atlantic reported, "As Jews prayed at a local synagogue, Congregation Beth Israel, men dressed in fatigues carrying semi-automatic rifles stood across the street." There was more, "In the minds of white supremacists like David Duke, there is a straight line from anti-blackness to anti-Judaism." I learned from the deep South, when you learn to hate like these people do, there are no bounds.

T-rump again reverts to bad taste

Donald Trump created an analogy between his re-tweet that was eventually pulled, where the Trump train collides with a person from CNN News (logo across face) obviously killing them. He did this just three days after the white nationalist drove into the Charlottesville woman killing her. Trump literally sanctions violence; remember when he wanted to punch the Black Lives Matter protester in the face? He also recently told a group of Long Island police that they shouldn't be too nice with criminal suspects. That drew fire from people all across the country, including police departments. There is no end to the Oval Office lunatic's lunacy.

Why are people still racist? A terrifying answer

The Washington Post recently asked, "Why are people still racist?" They go on to answer using a scientific point of view. The answer...

• “In some ways, it’s super simple. People learn to be whatever their society and culture teaches them. We often assume that it takes parents actively teaching their kids, for them to be racist. The truth is that unless parents actively teach kids not to be racists, they will be."

That is scary as hell, especially when you consider the fact that Donald Trump is President of the United States, espousing his rhetoric of bigotry.

Arizona mock Gov. Jan Brewer takes racism back to pre-1964

It was July 2, 1964, when President Lyndon Johnson signed into law the Civil Rights Act that outlawed major forms of discrimination against African Americans and women, including racial segregation. 



AZ Gov. Jan Brewer



It was bad enough that a troubled, less-than-capable head of state Jan Brewer greeted the President of the United States to Arizona with a finger-wagging in his face in an attempt to dominate him.  That was more than adequate to prompt charges of bigotry against the leader of a state known for its racists and an intolerant conservative legislature that, along with much of the state’s population, also hates Hispanics.

Now Brewer is not the greenest saguaro in the desert but Politico thinks she has ignited a “firestorm” around the potential of race becoming an issue in the 2012 election.  And there is no state better than Arizona to coddle this movement with known racist, bigot and recalled state Senator Russell Pearce and his buddy J.T. Ready, another racist and also a neo-Nazi, to fan the flames.  However, jaundiced Jan didn’t stop with her finger in the face of Barack Obama.

Following the incident and on Fox News and various other media outlets, she offered up several versions of the incident.  She accused Obama of being “thin skinned,” and said that she felt threatened by his attitude.  Harry Shelton, Sr. VP for the NAACP commented: “What were you afraid he would do, steal your purse?”  Although there are those who support her in Arizona, she and other state politicians like her continue to bring unbridled ridicule to the state.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson pointed out that we are celebrating the 150^th anniversary of the Civil War but are seeing an awakening of the States’ Rights movement of the 1940s, that fought the federal government because of its opposition to federally mandated racial desegregation.  I grew up during that movement and experienced several Dixiecrat Party political rallies in Tennessee that opposed integration.  The party was formed in 1948 and dissolved in 1948.    

PoliticusUSA says the fact that we have a black President doesn’t indicate any progress toward race equality.  Further, “The racism in America is not limited to hatred of African-Americans, and the past year’s negative rhetoric against immigrants, the poor, and Muslims has been a display of white supremacy that has permeated the general population and many of our politicians.” 

In other words, the feeling of superiority over others knows no bounds when they are different than we are.

PoliticusUSA also said, “Conservatives’ attacks on ACORN, NAACP, and the Southern Poverty Law Center were not for their activism or defense of civil rights, but an attack on African Americans.”  Their concern is rooted in the fact that blacks, Hispanics and other minorities will eventually organize and use their voting power to oust the conservative bigots and make equal rights mean what the Constitution originally intended.

If you want a demonstration of Arizona racism, you must see the following Russell Pearce and J.T. Ready video:



Politico reports, “An AP-Ipsos poll taken just before the 2008 election showed that Obama’s support would have been as much as 6 percentage points higher had he been white.”  Because of the concerns over the economy, this “racial bias” will be played down in 2012.  Although the racial effects were there in 2008, they didn’t decide the election, according to Tammy Frisby, a research fellow at the conservative Hoover Institution.



Getting along



If you must have your specific illustration of racism against Barack Obama, Politico says it is “visceral,” providing the following example: “That was true in 2008 — when a handful of rabid Obama haters sent out emails that included crude caricatures of Obama as a Muslim, a monkey, Buckwheat or worse.

Mary Frances Berry, former chairwoman of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, thinks we should focus on how the President handled the tarmac finger wagging and ignore Jan Brewer’s motives.  Obama characterized the moment as “no big deal” and moved on from there.  Unfortunately, Arizona, and much of the rest of the nation, isn’t able to do the same.

Donald Trump likes racism for 2020 campaign

July 19, 2019: TODAY'S NEWS BYTES

Donald Trump fears politics of 4 congresswomen 

Donald Trump is a racist

"Donald Trump is scared," says the Guardian, in an article that analyzes the Oval Office lunatic's psyche, concluding this is why he has viciously attacked these women with racist tweets. Continuing, "it appears he knows he is unpopular," and the firing of five of his pollsters who told him so adds to the unknown. Something which T-rump cannot tolerate. The problem...

"The Republicans know this, too. But they also have no substantive policy agenda to present to the American people, only white rage and resentment, racism and xenophobia, all of which have culminated in the Trump administration’s spectacle of wanton cruelty along the southern border."

The Guardian claims the Republicans...

"intend to foment hatred of “the other” among their predominantly white base, to weaponize false accusations of antisemitism against progressive politicians, to pour kerosene on the fires of the culture wars and fight – against women’s rights, LGBT rights, reproductive rights – with renewed vigor."

And the Democrats aren't ready for this, nor are they preparing for it.

Read more...

Independent voters see Trump racist attacks as negative

There is data, according to CNN polling analyst Harry Enten...

"showing that Trump’s racist attacks on the four women are seen negatively by the independent voters whom he needs if he wants to win reelection in 2020."

Independent voters account for 28% of those registered to go to the polls, and political pundits say attention will shift to this group as we head for the 2020 elections. The key here will be for Democrats to focus on issues they favor, one of which is immigration. This would also correlate with their distaste for Trump's racist actions.

Read more... 

Donald Trump sees racism as a winner for 2020

Following the impact of Trump's racist attacks on the four congresswomen, the psychopath has actually decided to build his 2020 campaign strategy around his barrage of bigotry. At the same time, there has been a GOP backlash of select Republicans like...

"The chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) blasted the controversial 'send her back' chant that took place at President Donald Trump’s campaign rally on Wednesday."

CNN says that "Trump views his attacks on the four congresswomen of color as an unbridled political success people familiar with his thinking say, and plans to continue his efforts as he moves into a period of politicking." Is Karl Rove lurking around the White House somewhere? Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois had this to say about Donald Trump's Wednesday rally...

"when the crowd yelled 'send her back' as the President targeted Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota -- 'ugly' and 'wrong' and said it 'would send chills down the spines of our Founding Fathers.'"

Trump is a racist coward, according to Rex Huppke of the Chicago Tribune with his article headline, "There’s no difference between supporting a racist and being one." He was aghast, as most of us were, at the Wednesday rally chants, "Send her back! Send her back! Send her back!” Huppke said...

"It was chilling. An angry mob wanting an American citizen whose views they disagree with run out of the country. It’s the kind of thing that gets out of hand. It’s the kind of thing that gets people killed."

Then he added:  "Trump lit the racist fire that led to those chants." Pathetic!

Republicans do like the N-word more and more

August 12, 2019: TODAY'S NEWS BYTES on PROGRESSIVE STREET...Where Liberals Walk

Trump and his Republican minions loving N-word more each day  

Trump and cronies espouse the N-word

That headline is racism at its best considering the Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964, and Dr. Martin Luther King died for the cause in April of 1968. Having come from a South of Ku Klux Klan and other assorted racists, and the years in between where we thought we had at least made a little progress, it is tragic to see racism surging ahead in 2019. The Washington Post‘s Michael Tesler says, "Republicans don’t think Trump’s tweets are racist."

El Paso carnage...

Any balanced and fair-minded person knows he is, and the right takes their position to protect an out-of-control maniac that is destroying our country on many fronts. Racism is just one of them. But right now that is important since it fits in with T-rump's white supremacy beliefs that he has verbalized repeatedly, producing three gun violence carnages in a period of just three weeks. The Garlic Festival in California, then El Paso and Dayton one day apart.

Dayton carnage...

You can draw a straight line from these events to the Trump white nationalist tweet rants that began with the 2016 election, condemning Mexicans as rapists and murders just to please his base. The Oval Office lunatic says he's not a racist but white supremacists prove otherwise as they embrace T-rump's and other Republicans' use of the words "nationalist" and "invasion," each of which carries the implication of hate.

Here's an example...

"The Post reports that just one-third (33%) of Trump voters now consider it racist to use the n-word. By comparison, 86% of Hillary Clinton voters believe it is racist to use the n-word."

Here's another...

"Most recently, Trump tweeted that several black and brown members of Congress are “from countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe” and that they should “go back” to those countries. The tweets, aimed at Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI)."

On the campaign trail for Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, Trump was quoted as saying, "I'm a nationalist, OK? I'm a nationalist." Keegan Hankes, a senior research analyst at the Southern Poverty Law Center's Intelligence Project comments...

"When they hear the President say things like, 'I'm not a racist,' they [his supporters] turn around amongst themselves and say, 'He just has to say that for practical reasons,' 'he just has to say that basically to get himself cover, to do the things that we want him to do,'" Hankes says.

The question is, just what is it that these poor lost souls really want him to do?

White Supremacist Evangelical Republican Party loves Donald Trump

August 16, 2019: PROGRESSIVE STREET...News Bytes where Liberals Walk

Paul Krugman is a Nobel Prize-winning economist who muses over how Donald Trump openly and without restraint, spouts his perpetual bigotry...  

Donald Trump in his environment

"how prominent Republicans had failed to link President Donald Trump’s incitements to violence to a rise in hate crimes following the weekend’s mass shooting in El Paso, Texas, that was carried out by a gunman suspected of holding white supremacist views."

He continues...

“So the party remains in lockstep behind a man who has arguably done more to promote racial violence than any American since Nathan Bedford Forrest, who helped found the Ku Klux Klan, a terrorist organization if there ever was one.”

As have other critics of Donald Trump commented, this pretty much puts T-rump on the same level as Adolph Hitler. Harking back to the atrocities of Nazi Germany, and considering the Oval Office lunatic is in charge of the most powerful country in the world--at least currently--just very simply...how can this be? Krugman told us, because of an inept and cowardly Congress. And it is something the American public will have to deal with in 2020.

Trump insider on his racism...

What is even more terrifying is the White (Supremacist) Evangelical Republican Party is solidly behind Donald Trump and will not be swayed by his white nationalism and blatant racism. I left the organized church years ago and this kind of realization makes me understand why. Here's another extremely alarming statement...

"No matter what Donald Trump does or says, most Republicans and white evangelicals are not going to criticize or break from him in 2020. It is also a fantasy that his racist rhetoric and policies will turn off most Republicans and white evangelicals."

And here's the reason from David Schultz of Counterpunch...

"What Trump has achieved is the merger and consolidation of white supremacy, white evangelicalism and Republicanism into a party that simply is about racial identity. This is the new Republican Party."

That's about as scary as it gets, at the very least when you consider the Ten Commandments. People of God are supposed to be giving and forgiving, not raging racists who hate anyone who doesn't look like them. "Recent Pew Research Centerpolls puts Trump’s approval among evangelicals at 69%, although down from a high of 78%, but still overwhelming." Schultz adds...

"The Republican Party today of Donald Trump is the product of three political movements that have consolidated to a core set of principles that focus mostly on race, but also on guns, abortion, and gay rights."

This is chilling.

Evangelicals still support Donald Trump, regardless...

Here's advice from Trump's evangelical adviser Robert Jeffress : "Make kids scared of Jesus again and stop teaching evolution to end mass shootings." This article goes on to discuss the part religion plays in ending gun violence. Matthew Chapman of Raw Story comments, "Trump is the end result of 40 years of right-wing radio hate-mongering," as Chapman quotes CNN’s Michael Smerconish...

“That’s the day [August 1, 1980] that Rush Limbaugh takes to the radio,” said journalism expert Brian Rosenwald. “And people tune in, what they hear every day is calls for action. It doesn’t make for good radio to say, hey, nuance, compromise, that stuff is boring. But fighting, that’s good radio. And Donald Trump captured that.”

Agreed, white supremacy, racism and particularly hate, could not be discussed without mentioning Russ Limbaugh, perhaps one of Donald Trump's biggest mentors. 

Glad I'm 89

 

Growing up in a religious and racist South did not prepare me for White Christianity Nationalism

John Blake of CNN calls White Christianity Nationalism an "imposter Christianity" and exclaims it "is threatening American democracy." I grew up in a racist Tennessee but in the late forties and fifties it was simply the way things were. After witnessing my first lynching of a black man, I determined this was not something I could live with and thereafter made it clear I was anti racism. didn't sit well with many of my friends and I would eventually move out of the South for good.

The words racist and racism weren't even a topic of conversation, at least in that part of the country, in those days; just accepted cause that's the way it had always been. And, it still is, after tons of legislation to prevent it, but as the saying goes, 'you can't legislate morality." And racism is by no means restricted to the South, as Blake points out...

"The insurrection marked the first time many Americans realized the US is facing a burgeoning White Christian nationalist movement. This movement uses Christian language to cloak sexism and hostility to Black people and non-White immigrants in its quest to create a White Christian America."

There's more...

"A report from a team of clergy, scholars and advocates — sponsored by two groups that advocate for the separation of church and state — concluded that this ideology was used to "bolster, justify and intensify" the attack on the US Capitol."

There is a picture of a group at the Jan. 6 insurrection gathered around a large

wooden cross with one man hugging it. A caption says, "Demonstrators pray outside the US Capitol in Washington on January 6, 2021." But I say these moronic traitors are offering themselves up to their false idol, Donald Trump. You have to be Godless to do what this insurrectionist gang did at the U.S. Capitol. Now, define White Christianity Nationalism...

Paul Gorski says..."it is an ideology based on a story about America that’s developed over three centuries. It reveres the myth that the country was founded as a Christian nation by white Christians and that its laws and institutions are based on Protestant Christianity. White Christian nationalists believe that the country is divinely favored and has been given the mission to spread religion, freedom, and civilization. They see this mission and the values they cherish as under threat from the growing presence of non-whites, non-Christians, and immigrants in the United States."

He adds...

"This is one point at which white Christian nationalism overlaps with the Make America Great American narrative. It’s the view that somebody has corrupted the country or is trying to take it away. White Christian nationalists want to take it back."

 This is what it means to be a 'White Christian nationalist'

These days, it seems that anything bad has a connection to Donald Trump and his MAGA movement. But speaking of Paul Gorski, he and Samuel L. Perry have a new book, The Flag and the Cross, where they closely "scrutinize" white Christian nationalists. Gorski and Perry believe that these people "share a set of common anti-democratic beliefs and principles."With T-rump as their leader, this makes complete sense while at the same time is terrifying.

Perry says there is a wide distinction between whites and people of color. I have a vivid picture of that from an experience from the state of Mississippi. My aunt and uncle had two 500-acre plantations and the caretaker was a black man named Man. In addition, he managed and was the butcher at my uncle's grocery store in the tiny town of Como, Mississippi. Man called me Mr. Jack and on several occasions we had long conversations; at the time I was only seven or eight.

When Man would come to my Uncle's house, he would always go through the side yard and come through the back door. I asked him once why he didn't just come through the front door. He answered me, 'Mr. Jack, I know it seems strange to you but that's the way it is here. It just makes it easier on everybody if I use the back door.' I didn't fully understand then but as I got older it became clear, blacks did not have the same rights as the white folk. It became repulsive and has never changed.

You won't be disappointed if you read both of these articles, unless...you are a White Christian Nationalist.

At the age of 89, one has a very different perspective on the above. It's not hopeless, it's really a contentment.

 

 

SOUTH RISES AGAIN...WITH MORE RACISM

Not just the old South anymore

Jim Crow days are back again...in Memphis, Tennessee. I spent several years there going to college and working in television, in fact, the very TV station that reported this story, WREG-TV. I left the South as fast as I could because in those days, the 1960s, racism was rampant all over that part of the country. I know that because I traveled six southeastern states with a publishing company. And one of my neighbors was a member of the Ku Klux Klan, something I found out after leaving Memphis. By reading and through friends still there who share my views on racism, the stigma has never left the South; it just became somewhat subdued.

But not like the supervisor at the Memphis cotton company who told a black employee, you can't drink from the "white" water fountain and if you do we'll hang you. He was fired but the damage was already done. You just wonder how much more of this is going on in the South, or the North, or the Midwest, or the Southwest, or the West or the Northwest.

Saturday news catch-up...

Racism dominated the end of the New Hampshire debates last evening, initiated by a statement from presidential candidate, Tom Steyer, to the effect that no one had talked about racism. Then everyone did. Here's something to think about, from UK's Guardian, "How to fight racism using science," claiming, "prejudice that has a longstanding relationship with science."   READ MORE...

And then the Guardian reports again of the "Montana Republican rebuked for saying socialists should be 'jailed or shot.'" Being a Democratic Socialist, and having personally experienced this exact kind of behavior here in Arizona from another Republican, it is easy to see how the GOP is going down the tube with its supporters with it.   READ MORE...

RawStory exclaims, "Why Fox News viewers are so ignorant," because they listen to and believe the garbage spewed out by hosts like Sean Hannity. This idiot was still defending Trump after the impeachment by "accusing Democrats of supporting 'abortion after birth.'” There is no such thing as any non-conservative and sane individual knows.   READ MORE...

Still feeling sorry for Rush Limbaugh and his medical problems? Here are 9 things this maniac said about women in the article, "." Rush Limbaugh’s 9 most appalling comments about women." Here's an example...

"Rush imagining that women secretly want to be sexually harassed. 'The sexual harassment crowd. They’re out there protesting what they actually wish would happen to them.'”

This gives you an idea of the mentality of the listeners this fanatical bigot appeals to.   READ MORE... 

I've heard numerous comments in the media, and actually following last night's debate, of how Donald Trump hopes he is up against Bernie Sanders in the November election, since he will be so easy to beat. The Bern raised $25 million in the month of January alone. With an average $18.80 contribution, that is 1.4 million loyal voters as a solid base. Once he wins the Primary, he is certain to garner most of Elizabeth Warren's voters.

And I did a blog post recently, "Looks like millennials could put Bernie Sanders over the top," pointing out the 71 million millennial voters out there, of which 26 million voted in 2018, and my expectancy that this figure will increase significantly in November.   READ MORE...

Here's a grabber, "Trump’s acquittal is invalid because he was not mentally competent to stand trial," a RawStory headline prompted by a letter sent by the World Mental Health Coalition, urging Congress to "invalidate President Donald Trump’s acquittal in the Senate until his mental competency to stand trial is evaluated." I have done several posts on the Oval Office lunatic's mentality you can see here.   READ MORE...

Donald Trump has reinvigorated racism and hate

I recently did a post on Donald Trump's use of racism to fuel the many racists out there looking for a new leader.They found him and, unfortunately, he will be leading the most powerful country in the world in less than two months. In that post, The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) reports that over "300 incidents of harassment or intimidation have been reported following Donald Trump's election Tuesday [Nov. 8] night."

Then on Saturday, The Southern Poverty Law Center counted more than 700 cases of hateful harassment or intimidation in the United States since Election Day on November 8. An additional 400 cases in less than two weeks. Many have accused Trump of fostering xenophobia and particularly Islamophobia, which stems from his earlier statements re. banning Muslims from the U.S., later establishing a "radical Islam commission."

Then, abruptly, the President-elect sobs he is "so saddened" to hear this is going on and tells the public on "60 Minutes" to stop it. I am not a physicist, but what Donald Trump has brought forth in hate and racism during his campaign now appears to have achieved the form of perpetual motion, perhaps unstoppable. Swastikas and the word "Go Trump" were painted on playground equipment at Adam Yauch Park in Brooklyn, according to the New York police

New York City Councilman Brad Lander, who represents that part of Brooklyn, wrote on Twitter: "Yet more hatred & anti-Semitism from Trump supporters." In Denver, a transgender woman's car was spray-painted early Wednesday morning with a swastika and the words 'Trump' and 'die,' among other derogatory terms." "Heil Trump," an anti-gay slur and a swastika was painted on the side of the church, Saint David's Episcopal, in Beanblossom, Indiana.

I think you get the idea. Just in case you don't, all you uneducated rednecks out there have elected someone to the highest office in the land that is capable of starting Charley Manson's Helter Skelter. Trump didn't take his followers to the mountains of California like Charley did, that would be too bizarre for even him--besides, Melania would never camp out--the presidential contender somehow got to them in the corn fields, cotton fields, cattle farms, etc. 

But you did it and we all have to live with it. I'll leave you with this:

"I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear." Martin Luther King, Jr.

North Carolina continues its racist mandate

After growing up in the South I left because I couldn't tolerate the segregation beliefs and policies. What was more perplexing than the act of unabated racism was the fact that these people were sure that they were right. And many of them still are, not just in the South, but all over this country. The state of Arizona has taken a different path in the last few years, their racism directed toward Hispanics. Former disgraced Arizona Sheriff, Joe Arpaio, tried his best to harass all of the Latino's out of the state but failed and now will hopefully go to jail for it.

They say the art of racism is not inherited, it is learned. It is not taught at any school in lower or higher education, as far as I know, but I have to qualify that. Not outwardly but inwardly, not the direct approach but the more covert approach. It is, however, definitely there, as far as the masses and as far as the education. To illustrate, here is a comment from one of my recent blogs, "Lowlife Donald Trump supporter replies to my blog:"

What a joke,the market is breaking records every day since we elected a real President, your buckwheat nigger "president" was and is the biggest failure of all time

This is just one result from the action of more lowlife like the out-going Governor of North Carolina, Pat MCrory, who brought his Republican caucus together to pass bills that severely restrict what the incoming Governor, Democrat Roy Cooper, can do. One thing is the "elevation of a distinguished African American jurist, Mike Morgan, to the state's Supreme Court." CNN says it is to, "reconfigure the state's court system to fend off challenges to legislators' power." In effect, take most of the control away from the executive branch before Cooper comes in.

Morgan's appointment would give the court a Democratic majority but this is all icing on the cake. This state government is exploding in a continued effort to deny the vote to African Americans. A "...federal court overturned the legislature's "racial gerrymander" in 28 districts, requiring new district lines and a special election in 2017; the US Supreme Court is reviewing that case now." There's more...

"This past July, the US Court of Appeals for the 4th District ruled in North Carolina NAACP v. McCrory that the extremists in the General Assembly had "targeted African Americans with almost surgical precision," and overturned the state's 2013 voter suppression bill."

Still think my earlier proposal should be considered: Put all racists in a concentration camp.

Racism! Racism! Racism! Will it ever end?

A Louisiana Sheriff Deputy's son, no less, Holden Matthews, 21, has torched three black churches, and says he was influenced by "black metal" music. The three churches were in the heart of south central Louisiana's Cajun and Creole country and were burned in the span of 10 days. Apparently they don't know this wacko's motive but you might look to his upbringing, especially in this state. It also has a very high rate of gun violence.

And Matthews isn't the brightest, leaving a 2-gallon gas can at the scene and was witnessed leaving the handiwork driving his truck. I guess the man doesn't like Baptists since all three churches were of that denomination. That, of course, plus the fact that he hates blacks. Matthews was active in social media...

"On a Facebook page that appears to belong to Matthews, he was active in black metal and pagan pages. Although both scenes are predominately apolitical, both have large neo-Nazi fanbases. Matthews commented on two memes about Varg Vikernes, a far-right (and self-described former neo-Nazi) metal musician who served 15 years in prison for burning churches in Norway and killing a fellow metal musician."

Which brings up the connection today between so much violence in the world and social media. This country is so engrossed with protecting 1st Amendment rights that one often wonders just where those limits should be set. In other words, is it time to evaluate the 1st Amendment and impose guidelines on when a person has gone too far? Like advocating hate and violence against others. Unfortunately, the current Congress doesn't have the balls to address this. 

South just cannot give up racism

The Citadel is known for its traditions in the South and the South is know for its tradition of racism. And, it hasn't been able to shake off this custom of demeaning African-Americans, in spite of a War plus the Civil Rights Act of  1968. I grew up in the South and experienced all this prejudice before leaving in the 1950s, only returning periodically to visit my family. Now it's fairly obvious that these Citadel cadets knew what the Ku Klux Klan garb meant before donning the dress and, if not, perhaps the level of learning at this institution is not as high as professed.

And don't these goons pay attention to the media? I Googled "Recent incidents of racism" and got 832,000 results. At the very least this school does not teach learning by example. The hierarchy immediately suspended those involved but it remains to be seen what and if there will be any real punishment. The time has come to start prosecuting these crimes for the seriousness they are and the grief and pain they cause the African American community.

GOP tries to “Swift Boat” Obama…again

They tried it in August when a gang of Republicans, including the Tea Party of course, charged the Obama administration with “leaking details of sensitive  national security operations and of using the mission targeting former al Qaeda leader bin Laden for political gain.”  The Hill also reports that Dem. Senator John Kerry of Mass. said this holds a “striking resemblance” to the “Swift Boat” attacks on him in 2004 orchestrated by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth (SBVT).



John Kerry and swift boat crew

They tried it again on Tuesday, the eve of the first Obama/Romney debate held yesterday.  This time they used the “racism” approach claiming that an address given by the then Sen. Barack Obama in 2007 made comparisons between the aid that Katrina victims received and those received from the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorism attacks, implying they were not equal. 

Speaking to a mostly black audience, he said that race relations still had a long way to go in the United States, claiming the divide most severely has an impact on impoverished parts of the country.  The implication here being the squalor in which many blacks lived in the 9^th Ward hard hit by Katrina, which didn’t receive equal attention.

So far it is hard to argue with anything Obama said.  And then it ricocheted around the media with CNN coverage from Lou Dobbs to Paula Zahn.  But four years later CNN Senior Political Analyst and National Journal Editorial Director Ron Brownstein exclaimed it was old news, still in the archives of most news organizations.  Brownstein citied the fact that it was covered by Fox News as well as discussed by conservative Tucker Carlson.  And then dropped.

Must-see video exposing Republican conservatives backing current "Swift Boat" ads:

In Obama’s speech he mentioned the Stafford Act which requires local and state governments to match a certain percentage of federal funds for emergencies.  Obama criticized the feds for not waiving the matching funds in the aftermath of the Katrina catastrophe.  He stated the Stafford Act was waived following 9/11, as well as after Florida’s Hurricane Andrew. 

Obama then commented, "What's happening down in New Orleans? 'Where's your dollar? Where's your Stafford Act money?' Makes no sense. Tells me that somehow, the people down in New Orleans, they don't care about as much!"

9th Ward after Katrina

Still can’t find anything to disagree with.  Following Katrina the government did move to expedite assistance spending $19.1 billion in just Louisiana.  The 9^th Ward of New Orleans suffered the most devastation and took the longest to recover.  Katrina hit The Big Easy in August of 2005 and it wasn’t until 2009 that there was some serious rebuilding going on. 

In March, 2012, however, the New York Times reported that "the neighborhood {9^th Ward} has become a dumping ground for many kinds of unwanted things." and "it no longer resembled an urban, or even suburban environment. Where once there stood orderly rows of single-family homes with driveways and front yards, there was jungle."

Not enough?  The 2012 “Swift Boaters” decided to tie the knot by regurgitating the Rev. Jeremiah Wright issue, resurrecting Obama’s former association with this Chicago pastor which has long since been debunked and laid to rest by the national media.  In both cases, Katrina and Rev. Wright, it is pathetically obvious that the desperation of the Republican Party to get Mitt Romney elected is at the highest possible level.  Karl Rove to the rescue, only it didn’t work this time.



Yes, it can work

All during this 2007 address, “Obama called for more investment and job training in poor communities and minority-owned businesses. His speech was targeted to his audience and tailored with themes of ‘hope’ and ‘overcoming obstacles’ that are traditionally heard in black churches.”  He finished with, "America will survive. Just like black folks will survive. We won't forget where we came from. We won't forget what happened 19 months ago, or 15 years ago, or 300 years ago."

Still, no argument.

Boyce Watkins, founder of yourblackworld.com said, "We have to remember that we live in a country that has for 400 years been poisoned by the psychological disease of racism and it doesn't take much to spark that back up."  Ron Brownstein added "this is an intensely racially polarized country," and that race plays a part in both the election and governing.  But it doesn’t have to turn into racism.

The Agony of Unbelievable News

 

Here's a shocker...

Jon Stewart believes a certain subset of the right has long viewed Putin as “an ideological brother,” noting that “for years, it’s been pretty clear that they would much rather do a deal” with Vladimir Putin than Nancy Pelosi."

He's talking about Donald Trump and Fox News' Tucker Carlson, the name a couple. Stewart calls Carlson a “dishonest propagandist,” which really is an understatement considering the subject.   READ MORE...

Jimmy Kimmel called out two “congressdemons” for their boorish behavior during President Joe Biden’s first State of the Union speech earlier this week. 0They were, of course, Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene who interrupted Biden's address. Kimmel added...

“As irritating as their behavior was, we do have freedom of speech in this country,” Kimmel conceded. “Which means I can remind you that Lauren Boebert is married to a guy who went to jail for showing his penis to a teenager in a bowling alley.”   READ MORE...

White Supremacist propaganda is not only growing, it is becoming

increasingly coordinated, NPR reports...

"The distribution of white supremacist propaganda around the country remained high last year, with nearly 5,000 incidents reported, or an average of 13 per day," the Anti-Defamation League says.

The ADL's Oren Segal, vice president says...

"It's disturbing that white supremacists and anti-Semites can mobilize supporters quickly to target neighborhoods in multiple states."

It is beyond "disturbing" how the United States has just decided to live with its racism dilemma since its supposed settlement with the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and again in 1991. I did a post in my blog recently, "Recollections of U.S Racism" with both a national glimpse of the issue with added commentary from my years living in the South. Believe me, it ain't pretty.   READ MORE,,,

Climate Change is now working its disaster faster that scientists can act. It might already be too late a UN report speculates...

"The dangers of climate change are mounting so rapidly that they could soon overwhelm the ability of both nature and humanity to adapt unless greenhouse gas emissions are quickly reduced, according to a major new scientific report released on Monday."

Here are the ten main greenhouse gases...

• Water vapor (H. 2O)
• Carbon dioxide (CO. ...
• Methane (CH. ...
• Nitrous oxide (N. 2O)
• Ozone (O. ...
• Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs and HCFCs)
• Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs)
• Perfluorocarbons (CF. 4, C. 2F. 6, etc.), SF. 6, and NF.

The New York Times says, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a body

of experts convened by the United Nations, so we are assured of credibility. The report...

"concludes that nations aren’t doing nearly enough to protect cities, farms and coastlines from the hazards that climate change has unleashed so far, such as record droughts and rising seas, let alone from the even greater disasters in store as the planet continues to warm."

I am 89 but am still trying to save the planet for the young people. Maybe it is time for sanctions for those countries who refuse to address climate change. It's working for Biden against Ukraine. Unfortunately, the U.S. will be the first country sanctioned.   READ MORE...

I have done a series of articles on climate change you can see here.

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