August, 2017 archive
Freedom of Screech 0
In The Seattle Times, Angela Uherbelau discusses how fascists, white supremacists, and their dupes, symps, and fellow travelers would use the freedoms guaranteed in the United States Constitution to undermine this very fragile experiment in democracy.
White supremacists — whether they’re marching in the streets or drafting memos in the White House — cloak themselves in the mantle of free speech because they know that term strikes a deep chord, a patriotic chord, in countless Americans. They aim to twist one of our country’s most sacred rights into a weapon to destroy our fragile web of civility and common decency.
Afterthought:
The Constitution protects freedom of speech. It does not promise freedom from consequences.
How Stuff Works, Sense of Supremacy Dept. 0
In The Roanoke Times, mental health professional Maurice Fisher offers a clinical profile of a white supremacist, stressing in the beginning that it is a theoretical exercise and not a case study of any particular individual.
Here’s one item; follow the link for the rest (emphasis in the original):
Aside:
Sound like anyone who is constantly in the news?
Tongue-Tied 0
In The Roanoke Times, Dan Casey imagines Donald Trump’s inner struggle to denounce racists. A snippet:
THERAPIST: Sir, do you mean you’re morally incapable of fingering the forces promoting racism, bigotry and hate?
TRUMP: Not exactly. A lot of those marchers in Charlottesville admire Hitler, and it’s easy for me to denounce him. But I can’t seem to condemn them. It’s no coincidence that 100 percent of ’em voted for me. My mouth won’t work when I try to denounce my own supporters. My tongue gets tied.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
He can’t handle his politeness.
Through their investigation, officers determined that the man had been handling a weapon at his Oxnard home when it accidentally discharged causing a wound to his leg. The wound was not life threatening, officials said.
None Dare Call It Treason . . . 0
. . . but it was.
QOTD 0
Rex Stout:
He is a public-relations counselor–one of the various modern activities that are an insult to the dignity of man.
Stout, Rex, The Father Hunt (New York: Bantam Books, June 1969), p. 132
Push Comes to Shove 0
Here is the slightly edited text of an email I sent to my brother tonight. The subject line was “Trump” and it referred to his press conference and the coverage thereof today.
Jesus Christ. You couldn’t make this stuff up.
He’s even lost that [less than desirable person} Krauthammer. Either he’s going down in flames or we are, but there is no pretense left.
It will be amusing in a depressing way watching all the [south end of a northbound horse] pundits who’ve supported him run for cover, because their cover is blown and they know it.
Nixon’s Southern Strategy has come home to roost, and the roostees don’t like it. Their camouflage is gone.
At this point, news junkie that I am (I think I got that from Daddy), I can’t even deal. I’m going to read a Nero Wolfe mystery and pretend that America is sane.
Words fail me.
Translating Trumpery 0
Dick Polman tries to make sense of the language of Trumpery.
No excerpt or summary can do his article justice. Just read it.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
There’s a strange alchemy that seems to work only in the presence of copper.
Newton Fire/EMS confirmed treatment of a gunshot wound that night. The gun went off, inflicting a gunshot wound on one of the children.
Add lead, and “children” become “juveniles.”
Denial Is Not Just a River in Egypt 0
At Philly dot com, Professor David Livingstone Smith reminds us that Faulkner was correct when he said, “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.”
Silence Speaks 0
In related news, Josh Marshall points out that
The Shafts and the Spears 0
Elie Mystal explains the dangers of the enablers of evil, those self-styled “intellectuals” and pundits who provide the rationales for hatred and bigotry. A snippet:
The law can confiscate and incarcerate all the spear points in the world, but it’s powerless to do anything about the shafts. The shafts are protected, not by the Second Amendment, but by the First. And the white supremacists hiding in plain sight know that and celebrate that and dare you to challenge them. When you do, they slither up their Free Speech crosses and claim the “high ground.”
Ugly Americans 0
Drunk as a skunk, stupid as a rock:
The 41-year-old American, who was lightly injured in the attack, is now under investigation for violating the law against the use of symbols from banned organisations, Dresden police said in a statement.
(snip)
Public displays of Nazi symbols like the swastika or gestures like the “Heil Hitler” salute have been banned in Germany since the end of World War II.
The polizei are looking for the assailant, who faces assault charges.