Politics of Hate category archive
Steering towards the Rocks 0
In The Seattle Times, Philip Cushman suggests that most analyses of Republicans’ inability to get anything of substance done in spite of a holding a Congressional majority and the Presidency are missing the primary reason. Among the suggested reasons he’s read are that they have lost the ability to govern, are ideologically fragmented, and hampered by Donald Trump’s political inexperience.
He suggests that there is a much more important reason: Republican strategy has shot the party in both feet (emphasis added):
• One, it has exaggerated and twisted basic conservative concepts until they are out of touch with current political challenges. For instance, 19th-century ideas about the wisdom of the unregulated marketplace cannot begin to address the enormous and complex labor, health-care, tax-code, environmental and infrastructure needs of the 21st.
• Two, they have had to mortgage their integrity to the very richest of Americans, who demand tax cuts and devious welfare-for-the-rich and deregulation deals that make any sort of rational and creative legislative response to difficult 21st century challenges impossible to craft.
• Three, they have had to quietly and under cover of code words and stereotypes make common cause with the worst of American culture: racism and xenophobia.
I disagree with his use of the phrase, “has been forced” in the first sentence in the excerpt.
The Republican Party chose this course; the tactics were not forced on it.
The party walked willingly and purposefully into the pit in pursuit of power.
Follow the link for the rest of his article.
Tales of the Tarheel Potty Police 0
Remember, the “compromise’ has a footnote. It puts “a moratorium on local ordinances regulating public accommodations or private employment practices until Dec. 1, 2020.” In other words, it strips localities from enacting their own anti-discrimination laws, because–oh, hell, I’ll be blunt–discrimination is a Republican Family Value.
What Ailes Fox News? 0
Thom suggests that the sexual harassment charges against Roger Ailes, though headline-grabbing, are hardly the worst thing about Fox News.
History 0
I’m a Southern Boy. I grew up under Jim Crow and went to segregated schools, as I have mentioned from time to time in these electrons. I had ancestors who owned slaves. My degree is in history with a concentration in U. S. Southern.
As I’ve added experience to my studies, I have more and more concluded that race and racism are constant undercurrents (and sometimes overcurrents) in American politics, however energetically white Americans try to pretend otherwise.
A half century ago, Richard Nixon’s odious Southern strategy caused the Republican Party to morph into the party of racism and bigotry.
Nixon thought that he could use Southern bigots and racists to cement his power (that worked out very nicely, did it not?); now, half a century later, his strategy had come full circle and the powers that he invited into his party have consumed it. Bigotry and racism are fundamental elements underlying Republican polices and positions, central elements to their campaign strategies.
This week, the results of Nixon’s decision to open Republican doors wide to racists played out quite publicly in Republicans’ failed attempt to “repeal and replace” the Affordable Care Act, the health care law that Republicans chose to refer to as “Obamacare,” for reasons that Atrios summed up brilliantly yesterday so I don’t have to.
Trumpling Freedom of Religion 0
(Link fixed.)
In The Seattle Times, Rabbi Daniel Weiner reflects on the recent anti-Semitic vandalism of his synagogue, in which the words, “Holocau$t is face hi$tory,” were spray-painted on its wall. He responds to persons who believed that he unfairly blamed Donald Trump for the deed. Here’s an excerpt (emphasis added):
There has been much documented about the intersections between Trump associates and the “alt-right” — a cleansing euphemism for white supremacy. Trump’s actual regard for vulnerable populations, Jews among them, is inconsequential to his intoning of the classic “dog-whistles” of anti-minority tropes. If he is truly aware of the implications of his words, it is troubling. If he plumbs the abyss out of mere political expediency, it is equally dangerous, displaying a reckless disregard for truth and propriety unworthy of the office he currently holds.
When you blow a dog-whistle, don’t be surprised when the dogs respond.
Votes Matter 0
Pandora points out the Trump voters shouldn’t be surprised now that they are getting what they voted for.
Mean for the Sake of Mean 0
Robert Reich discusses Donald Trump’s proposed budget. Some excerpts:
(snip)
. . . unnecessarily cruel.
(snip)
. . . unnecessarily cruel.
(snip)
. . . unnecessarily cruel.
Follow the link to see why he says that.
American Taliban 0
At the Boston Review, Richard White turns the light of history on the spurious claim that “America was founded as a Christian nation” in considering two recent books on the topic. He points out that those who make such a claim almost always do so in pursuit of a particular political and economic agenda, rather than in pursuit of salvation.
Here’s a bit of his discussion of Steven Green’s Inventing a Christian America: The Myth of the Religious Founding:
The various forms are important; the original myth is not the same as the one currently in fashion. Both see God’s guiding hand behind the nation’s history and regard Christianity as the basis of republican principles. The old myth, however, was optimistic and tried to be inclusive, which was possible in what was still an overwhelmingly Protestant country. It was oriented toward the future and intent on explaining a providential American destiny. The new myth, by contrast, is sectarian and divisive in a country full of Catholics, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, etc., not to mention agnostics, atheists, and the sometimes-inchoate mass who define themselves as spiritual. Rather than look to tomorrow, today’s myth appeals to those who think they have lost an ideal past.
Do read please read the rest. It will help you better understand our home-grown Pharisees.
All That Was Old Is New Again 0
The Booman points out, “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it rhymes.”
Walleyed 0
The Seattle Times reports on one outfit bidding to work on Trump’s stupid wall of hate. A snippet:
The company’s listed principal? That would be Albert Speer, the Nazi war criminal who was Adolf Hitler’s personal architect. Speer, who designed the infamous Nazi party rally grounds in Nuremberg, died in 1981.
Trump Wall Solutions is actually a small group of Canadian pranksters mortified by the Trump administration and the border-wall plan, according to two men involved in the project who spoke with The Seattle Times by phone Friday.
Suffer the Children 0
That’s not a quote from the Bible.
That’s Republican policy.
Grudging a Nurse 0
Petty, stupid, and vicious–the tripod of Trumpery.
(snip)
She (one of the nurses denied entry–ed.) was told advanced practice nurses and nurse anesthetists no longer qualify for the working visas because of policy changes under U.S. President Donald Trump.
“We really question the motives,” said immigration lawyer Marc Topoleski, whose firm is retained by the (Henry Ford–ed.) hospital. “All of the immigration executive orders and all the things being rolled out have been focused on national security first, and this is clearly not an issue of national security whatsoever.”
Follow the link for the full story.
Via Raw Story.
Afterthought:
I wonder whether Canada will register an official diplomatic protest about this. I would not be at all surprised if they do.
Were I the Canadian government, I’d consider this an attack on my citizenry and a deliberate provocation.
A Ruse by Any Other Name . . . . 0
There’s nothing new about new about rebranding–“old wine in new bottles” is a cliche, but cliches become cliches because they express a truth succinctly. “Alt-Right” for “white supremacist” is a rebranding effort. The rebranders hope that you will forget that behind the shiny new label is the hate bottled from the same cesspool they’ve been swimming in for centuries.
At Above the Law, Elie Mystal excoriates another contemporary attempt to rebrand bigotry, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/15/us/politics/trump-travel-ban.html. A snippet:
This might come as a shock to the Witch King of bankruptcy, but “Rebranding” doesn’t work either. Not in front of a judge. You can stick a funnel on a horse and call it a unicorn, Mr. Trump, but you can’t make it s**t rainbows. You’re dealing with educated people now, not just fleecing yokels anymore.
Shunned 0
The Girl Guides (that’s “Girl Scouts” in USAn) of Canada have had enough of Trump and Republican “mean for the sake of mean.”
The ban does not mention the latest Executive Order by President Trump barring travel to “the States” by citizens of six predominantly Muslim countries, and imposing a 120-day moratorium on accepting Syrian refugees.
“While the United States is a frequent destination for Guiding trips, the ability of all our members to equally enter this country is currently uncertain,” GGC executives Sharron Callahan and Holly Thompson said in an advisory Monday afternoon.
More at the link.