Thanks, boys. I think the armed forces or the National Guard can take it from here.
I Venture In The Loony Bin So You Don’t Have To
This Jade Helm thing that I wrote about a couple of months ago is still going strong. For those of you still unfamiliar with “Jade Helm 15”, it is the name of a US military operation, or a series of operations actually, that is taking place throughout the Southwest, and a little bit of the South. Nothing new about that … Read More
RIP Confederate Flag (In South Carolina)
After a contentious and often emotional debate in the SC House, with a lot of political wrangling (and attachments of bill-killing amendments, all of which failed), Governor Nikki Haley signed the bill yesterday, and the flag came down today Well, that only took 5+ decades. Here in North Carolina, they took down the Confederate flag from inside the state capitol building … Read More
Roof’s Sister Asks For Donations
From a Charlotte TV station: The sister of the suspected Charleston church shooter, Dylann Roof, is asking the public for donations — but not for her brother. In a “Go Fund Me” post, Amber Roof is asking for $5,000 to pay for her and her fiance’s wedding, which was originally scheduled for June 21. They canceled the wedding after her … Read More
Who Is Burning Black Churches?
If you could give out an award for under-reported stories these past few weeks, this is it. Granted, it has been a very busy series of news cycles, with gay marriage and confederate flags and mass murder and a million GOP candidates, but this is more important than, say, shark attacks. And to be sure, if ISIS so much as … Read More
Charlestown Shooter Was A Product Of The Left Wing: Fox News
Wow, this spin is laughable. Fox News guest Kevin Jackson said today that Dylann Roof — who was photographed sporting white supremacist flags and badges and whose alleged manifesto cited the white nationalist group the Council of Conservative Citizens before killing nine black parishioners in a Charleston, South Carolina church — was clearly “a product of the left” and that his killing spree “absolutely … Read More
The REAL Guilty Party Is Located In Charleston Church Massacre
Charles Cotton is a member of the NRA’s board, and he knows who killed those people. No, not Dylann Storm Roof, the alleged gunman who has since confessed, silly! It was Rev. Clementa Pinckney, state senator and pastor at Emanuel AME Church, according to Cotton. How did Pinckney manage that? By voting against a bill that would have allowed people to … Read More
The Prescient NYT Column
Excerpts from “The Growing Right-Wing Terror Threat”, in the New York Times, written June 16, 2015, one day before the Charleston church shooting: … But headlines can mislead. The main terrorist threat in the United States is not from violent Muslim extremists, but from right-wing extremists. Just ask the police. In a survey we conducted with the Police Executive Research Forum … Read More
Deadly History of Attacks on Progressive Houses of Worship
Last night, in a horrific act of hateful violence, a white gunman shot and killed at least nine people at the historically black Emanuel A.M.E. Church in Charleston, South Carolina. The incident, which is being investigated as a hate crime, immediately sparked outrage, with many wondering aloud how someone could commit such an act — especially in a church, were … Read More
Mass Murder Hate Crime Leaves 9 Dead In Charleston Church
I may have been one of the first 1000 people to know what happened in Charleston last night. I was at rehearsal for a play I am in (barely), and backstage, I checked my phone. Nothing on the Breaking News app, nothing big on Twitter. I opened Periscope, and there was a guy working in some Charlotte newsroom who was … Read More
Short Takes
Yeah, I’m playing catch-up. Been very busy since last week. I have a little to say about a lot of things, so now comes a slam of quick posts. (1) As for the clash in Phoenix between Islamophobes and would-be terrorists, the Islamophobes went home disappointed. No violence. No anything, really: Protesters at Friday’s “Freedom of Speech” rally outside a … Read More
Religious Bigots Use First Amendment Protections To Spew Hate…. Again
Another crazed anti-Muslim right winger — this one in Phoenix — is planning to hold a ‘Draw Muhammad’ Contest right in front of the Islamic Community Center. The organizer of the event, Jon Ritzheimer, has held two protests in Phoenix since the Texas shootings. The chants and slogans at the protests are brash and hateful. Some supporters wear t-shirts that … Read More
Geller: Blaming Me For Texas Shooting Is Like Blaming A Woman For Her Own Rape
Bill O’Reilly says he would have done it “another way”. But that’s not the worst of it. Greta Van Susteren — also on Fox — editorialized against Geller: Van Susteren said that while the group has the right to exercise free speech, they should not have knowingly endangered police officers by doing do. “It is one thing for someone to stand … Read More
How Abhorrent Is Pam Geller?
Want a good measurement of the toxicity level of Pamela Geller, whose American Freedom Defense Initiative worked so hard for so long to attract the sort of violence that struck its Muhammad Art Exhibit and Cartoon Contest in Texas on Sunday? Two survivors of theCharlie Hebdo murders went on Charlie Rose’s show to make it clear they want nothing to … Read More
Extremists Attack Extremists
So this happened yesterday evening: A cartoon contest featuring controversial images of the Muslim Prophet Mohammed turned deadly Sunday night when two men pulled up in a car and opened fire. Police returned fire, killing both men after one wounded a security guard. None of the approximately 200 people attending the event were hurt. A federal law enforcement source told … Read More