Angry White Con-servatives And BLM

Oh, no. 

Back Lives Matter got in trouble again. Did they kill someone? No. Did they cripple someone? No. They protested a trigger-happy cop. 

Ah, that’s the problem.

Whatever did that good police officer do? For one thing, he shot a fleeing black man in the back. But that’s ok, right? Anyone can make a mistake. Even trigger-happy cops.

Turns out this cop proved it’s really ok, and even did it again. Yes, he shot two fleeing black men in the back. One is dead and the other will spend his life in a wheelchair.

Black Lives Matter protested that police officer named Officer Ryan Pownall. This annoyed angry white con-servative, and Philadelphia Fraternal Order of Police President, John McNesby, who called them "a pack of rabid animals" and said, “These are not activists, they are racist hate groups determined to instigate violence.”

Got the message? It serves those protesters right. Let’s dehumanize BLM and have more cops thinking it’s fine to shoot black men in the back. It doesn’t bother birther Trump, why should it bother all the other angry white con-servatives? After all, those black men are the real racists for protesting good white cops shooting Blacks in the back.

This is the ugly racist core of con-servativism, folks. They hate BLM. They hate anyone who marched with BLM. They hate anyone who invoked the BLM name. They hate anyone who was even associated, or not associated, with the members of the organization. 

Angry white con-servatives refuse to see the difference between real hate groups such as the Klan and white supremacists and BLM with its multi-racial support. The former groups are united by hate, espouse hate, and direct hate at minorities. Their speech is hate speech. BLM exercises free speech as the founders intended. As covered under the First Amendment, BLM protests government policy and the legal system’s tolerance of police unaccountably for killing Blacks. In other words they demand equal treatment from law enforcement and under justice. That is the core of their message. 


Go to the BLM organization’s website and see if you find anything resembling the hate of the racist, angry, white con-servative organizations. There is no comparison.

Doesn't matter. All angry white con-servatives choose to see are roving gangs of black thugs. 

BLM and those sympathetic with the organization or anyone marching with them are all a “racist hate group” to angry white con-servatives. I’m sure the Klan and Nazis whole-heartedly agree.

It turns out, not even Nazis are as bad as BLM. At least McNesby never demonized white racists as “a pack of rabid animals” like he did BLM protesters.

When it was brought to the attention of McNesby that one of his officers named Ian Hans Lichtermann displayed a tattoo showing an eagle in the style of a Nazi emblem, it didn’t bother him.  Not even with “Fatherland” inked out in Germanic lettering over it. As you know, “Fatherland” was the Nazi’s term for Germany.

Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney called the tattoo “incredibly offensive”.

But there was nothing offensive to the angry white con-servative McNesby. “It’s an Eagle. Not a big deal”.

All he saw was the Eagle. Yup, one of those proud American Eagles... under the Germanic banner of “Fatherland”.

So just who is the racist hate group?  Not the angry white conservatives, obviously.

After all, they’re just dedicating their work to dehumanizing and shooting minorities in the back for the “Fatherland”. When was that ever done by a racist hate group?

How to Win the War on Drugs

About that war on drugs.

Trump and Sessions want to double down on authoritarian, senseless and failed policies. They are wrong.

We know the war on drugs is a costly, brutal, unjust and deadly failure.

Drugs and drug abuse are public health issues. 

Treating drugs and their abuse as a medical, rather than law enforcement problem, is really the bottom line. Treatment is always a better solution over incarceration. It is ineffective, costlier, and more destructive to families to punish users as criminals.

The best way to win the "war on drugs" is to end the war on drug users.

Dangerous street drugs are a public health issue, so we need the DEA, but for countering illegal sales and manufacture of lethal and addictive drugs like heroin, cocaine and methamphetamines. We also need to enforce against importation of such street drugs.

Since cannabis and psychedelic substances are not as toxic as aspirin or alcohol, and they are incorporated into religious traditions, they should not be included in that class of dangerous drugs. Their possession and use must be decriminalized.

Drug gangs depend on their products being illegal to be in business. Street sales, not possession, should remain criminalized. If an addict had cheaper access to a legal prescription, with treatment as an option, that would take a lot of crime out of the equation. The costs of treatment and even legal maintenance doses is far cheaper than crime and incarceration.

Decriminalization of simple possession and employing treatment over arrest and incarceration are the sane, compassionate, and most effective solutions.

Spain and Portugal are now showing this to be reality, not theory.

Con-servative Moral Grounding

This much is clear. 

They don't want to admit it, but the Republican/conservative health care solution has always been, "Let them die".  That phrase drew cheers at a Republican presidential debate.

If the poor are too "morally weak" to buy health insurance, they don't deserve what is a right to millions in civilized countries. Yes, many cons see unemployment as a moral failure. 

To them wealth is not only a virtue, but also an entitlement to rule. Those who fail to submit to rule by wealth are targets of lies, hate and resentment. Serves them damn socialists right, I tell ya. 

In fact, to them, con-servatism itself is a virtue. It is their morality. 

So what is the moral grounding of the Right? Christianity? Please...unless we mean the teachings of White Nationalist Hedge Fund Jesus. 

Hint: Trump is president. 

This is what they want. 

Small government. (Meaning removing safety nets and public service programs and privatizing the commons, not so much military aggression, brutal law enforcement, and police state warrantless surveillance.) 

Taking food stamps from poor children, militarizing law enforcement in a "justice system" rigged against the poor and minorities, and stripping voter rights and poll access for minorities are their values. 

These truths are self-evident.

Also clear is con-servatism is rooted in, and guided by, elitist authoritarianism. Wealth is revered. Corporations and the wealthy are endowed as super persons entitled to more rights than average individuals.  Even in our House and Senate the minority of conservatives have greater representation than the majority.  

But who whines louder? "We want our country back! Waaahh!"

Cutting taxes for the rich has always been their top priority along with gutting pollution and Wall Street regulations. Not to mention denying the Black President his Constitutional duty to replace a Supreme Court justice. That is their idea of the "business of the people".  

Authoritarian con-servatism always bends to tyranny, racism, and scorn for the poor. They are the servants, and the epitome, of the elites. Screw the "takers" and anyone else who can't afford health care. It is who they are. 

As the Right breaks the rules, or makes up their own, to subvert democracy, and to facilitate less equality and more human suffering, they are the ones demonizing and admonishing liberals for not being concerned for our country. They believe their lies that liberals hate freedom, hate America, and desire a communist dictatorship. And this demonization never ends.

It is their belief system and their true "moral grounding". 

Bad Apples

“We’re going to support you like you’ve never been supported before.”

We get it. Our Dear Leader was boosting the morale of law enforcement officers in a speech on Long Island. 

“For years and years, [laws have] been made to protect the criminal,” Trump said. “Totally protect the criminal, not the officers. You do something wrong, you’re in more jeopardy than they are. These laws are stacked against you. We’re changing those laws.”

Yeah, ask the growing list of victims of poorly trained cops about who the laws and courts are stacked against.

But his message went much darker. He practically advocated police brutality when he ranted: “When you see these towns and when you see these thugs being thrown into the back of a paddy wagon, you just see them thrown in, rough, and I said, ‘Please don’t be too nice,’”.

“Like when you guys put somebody in the car and you’re protecting their head, you know, the way you put their hand over, like, don’t hit their head and they’ve just killed somebody, don’t hit their head, I said, ‘You can take the hand away, OK?’” he added.

Many officers grinned and enthusiastically applauded.

There’s your “few bad apples”, heartily embracing the “Law and Order President” casually endorsing the idea of brutalizing suspects in custody.

What happens when cops become the thugs?

Nothing good can come of it. Nothing resembling justice. 

Citizens are killed and injured. Families then sue the city that employs the thugs in uniform. Respect for police diminishes. Then someone decides to take further revenge against random officers that are the epitome of professionalism, and more cops die.

Is that really worth this stupid “Please don’t be too nice” tough guy talk?

Time will tell. It isn’t hard to picture the day when some thug cop capriciously kills or maims someone, and we see his grinning face and clapping hands in the video of that speech.

Trump is an ignorant, thuggish, stupid asshole. Cops who get a tingle up their leg at Trump’s tough talk are also stupid thuggish assholes. We don’t need them in uniform. But there they were, basking in the vile ignorance of our president. 

Instead of culling these authoritarian bullies from police departments, we doom ourselves to more unwarranted deaths by cops, and we doom more cops to acts of retaliation.

But since our nation is now under an authoritarian bully of a president, don’t hold much hope for more sanity, professionalism and good judgment from those “few bad apples”.

Trump the "Bad-Apple-in-Chief" just enabled and encouraged those bad apples in uniform into more violence and bloodshed.

That is what authoritarian bullies do. 

==
This is how professionals in law enforcement responded to Trump's thuggish remarks:

Gainesville Police:

The @POTUS made remarks today that endorsed and condoned police brutality. GPD rejects these remarks and continues to serve with respect.

Suffolk County PD: 

The SCPD has strict rules & procedures relating to the handling of prisoners. Violations of those rules are treated extremely seriously.

As a department, we do not and will not tolerate roughing up of prisoners.

International Association of Police Chiefs:

Managing use of force is one of the most difficult challenges faced by law enforcement agencies. The ability of law enforcement officers to enforce the law, protect the public, and guard their own safety, the safety of innocent bystanders, and even those suspected or apprehended for criminal activity is very challenging. For these reasons, law enforcement agencies develop policies and procedures, as well as conduct extensive training, to ensure that any use of force is carefully applied and objectively reasonable considering the situation confronted by the officers.

Law enforcement officers are trained to treat all individuals, whether they are a complainant, suspect, or defendant, with dignity and respect. This is the bedrock principle behind the concepts of procedural justice and police legitimacy.

The Light of the Right Through The Glass Darkly

As I may have mentioned, I've been studying con-servatism for years. I've heard Limbaugh. I've watched FOX News. I have even read many good con-servative bloggers. I learned I'm a real American, and I learned liberals are to blame for everything. Most of all, I learned to believe. I learned to stop thinking and just believe. 

That's how it's done. Ya just gotta believe, especially believe people with lots of money. Trust me. Or better yet, trust the GOP and Trump. 

I now trust the good Christians of the Republican Party. Because I now believe Republicans are God's Own Party. And most of all I believe, and believe in, our president. He's rich AND he's a star! That's proof enough for me that he knows way more than I do.

That was it. My learning is complete. My eyes are opened! My con-servative soul is reborn. 

Thank God that White Nationalist Jesus sent Trump to save America! At last, we are a great country! Unbelievable personal liberty! And so much prosperity for everyone! It’ll make your head spin.

Our con-servative agenda is finally in full swing. Crackdown on the drug war. More asset forfeiture without conviction. Longer prison sentences. Break up those Mexican families. Wooo Hooo! Smell the liberty!

Shut down climate research! No more Global Conspiracy of Evil Climate Scientists. Dear Leader will shut them up for good. Smell the freedom!

Open the floodgates for our job creatin' polluters! Smell that fresh air of prosperity! Drink that “Liberty Lead” in your water, Flint!

Deregulate Wall Street! Let there be big league prosperity for the most worthy and morally superior pillars of capitalism. 

Cut taxes for the rich! They have suffered long enough. Great prosperity will magically trickle down to the rest of us. This time I promise it will. Remember, ya gotta believe.

Time to cut Medicaid for all the sick parasites, and take food stamps from those whiny little poor kids. We’ll show them what good con-servatism will do for them. Let ’em pull themselves up by their bootstraps, just like our Dear Leader did since he was only two years old. 

We were only mocking the Black Guy. Trump is the real messiah, and he will lead the Great Republican Revolution for a new (Mostly White) American Aristocracy!

No wonder us true believin' Republicans and con-servatives are falling in love with Putin. It's ’cause he knows what’s best for America. 

Trump. Yeee Haww!

I bet Putin told him just what they would do in their secret meeting. First, stop supporting them damn Syrian rebels. They annoy Vlad's other little buddy Assad. 

And sanctions, schmanctions. There's deals to be made. We all know our president is a legitimate businessman. You believe that, right?  I know you do.

Trump's playin' it smart, keepin' what's said between him and Putin a secret from us. Kremlin Don knows who to trust, I tell ya. Ya gotta let the genius do what he knows best. 

Don and Vlad, they ain't a gonna be fooled by no fake news on CNN, or them dumb-ass USintelligence agencies. These two tough, smart leaders know what's best for America and the world. Just ask 'em.

Prosperity and power for those who have it! (Especially for Don and Vlad.)

Health care for those who can afford it! Free speech for the rich! A Federal government in shambles! This is what makes America great!

And what about them what got a problem with that? Punishment, exclusion, and silence for them Muslims, Blacks, Mexicans, liberals and other losers.

In other words, more WINS for Don and Vlad.Woo Hooo! USA! USA! KGB! KGB!

God bless real Americans and the Real America! To Hell with loony liberals and their commie agenda! Putin’s Puppet is in charge.

Thank you, Jesus! We knew you loved America best. You can hold off on the Rapture as long as Trump is our Dear Leader, for Heaven has descended upon our humble, and once again great, Christian nation

Con-servative "Value$"

What’s this in the news? Did I just see Trump lied and lashed out in hate again? Imagine that.

Con-servative Trumpists are fanatical members of the Cult of Rightwing Authoritarian Personalities. They don't care how much their Dear Leader lies and hates. The Republican Party shows its utter lack of values, decency and honesty by defending their leader, and explaining his vile behavior away. You see, they are busy joining Trump in rubbing their hands over the prospect of stripping health care from millions while cutting taxes for the rich. 

In other words, con-servative "Value$". 

And greed isn’t their only “value”. Along with sheer avarice, they show relentless rapacity in privatizing public services like schools and Social Security, taking from the commons, and appropriating natural resources that should belong to the unfortunate people who survive, or are born after, our New Dark Ages. They are the true “takers”. Make no mistake. They will take it all, if allowed. 

They will back Trump to the bitter end, whatever form that takes. Why? Because of the common enemy. And that enemy is not Russia. It is not Putin. In fact, con-servatives have openly thanked Putin and Russia! That's how whacked out their cult is.  

Note that Putin and Russia are NEVER demonized by the American Right. 

This tells us who they see as the real enemy. 

Liberals are the enemy. Those who sanely question and oppose the party of authoritarians are the enemy. 

Putin is their ally. Any mention of Russian interference in the election is shouted down by con-servatives.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the close election counts in swing states were rigged by their cult loyalists. We may never know, especially while the Great American Tragedy is unfolding. We do know Putin was a key player in their coup over our democracy. 

Maybe when evidence is uncovered that Trump owes Russia money, or had them launder funds for Trump businesses, a few Republicans may see the need to do something. Not out of a sense for justice, mind you, but selfish political ends.

Maybe. Maybe not. 

The other primary reason the cult unites behind Trump is because he hates, or is perceived to hate, the same people con-servatives hate. Cons have hated, accused, blamed, demonized, and attacked liberals since before the Soviet Union existed. It is what they do. Religious and racial minorities have always been the targets of their resentments. Their large contingent of racist con-servatives have roots that go back to the times when they were pro-slavery, pro-Jim Crow, the Klan, and up to today’s vote suppression for minorities. 

And their “value$” will never change. Taking food stamps from the poor, cutting people off Medicaid, deregulating Wall Street, removing environmental regulations, gutting worker safety rules, crushing unions, suppressing living wages, wars of aggression, torture, and brutal law enforcement all spring from the same source: Con-servatism. 

It is who they are. Authoritarians will not change, and they will not recognize facts or accept reason. We know this is true because they prove it all the time. Their god is Greed. Unlimited power and wealth are their goals. 

Anyone who supports Constitutional taxation, regulation of commerce, and provision for the general welfare will be viciously attacked. They are at the core, an anti-American aristocracy of elites, with their duped authoritarian follower foot soldiers blaming, accusing, and demonizing all those who oppose their masters' agenda.

This is the Cult of Rightwing Authoritarian Personalities that has taken over the nation by hook and by crook.

It’s time for the people to wake up and cut the C.R.A.P. out of our government, or they will most certainly be the ones dumped upon when the C.R.A.P. hits the fan.

Billboard Mentality

The billboard rented in Texas by a guy named Kyle reminds us of the level of emotional drama found in the break-up of a long term romance. After all, the man was passionate enough to pay money to get his urgent message out.

“ABC News: I grew up with you. We are through. The Russians didn’t elect Donald Trump. I did.”

(Sorry, Kyle. You didn’t elect Trump. Even the majority of voters didn’t decide. The electoral college did. And sorry, Kyle. ABC News didn’t say Russians elected Trump, even though you believe the “alternative fact” that they did.)

We appreciate Kyle’s eloquent elaboration in his note  to HuffPost. It’s always a treat to hear a Trumpist explaining his loyalty to Trump. As expected, resentments, baseless accusations, falsehoods and Republican talking points (alright, I’m being redundant.) constitute a YOOOOGE portion of his beliefs.

This is what Kyle had to say, including my commentary:

“ABC News was the only channel I watched as a child growing up in Texas but I think they have lost touch with America and forgotten the working man. (He means "Republican America, aka "real America". Hmm. I wonder who really forgot the working man? Not the guy who opposes minimum wage, opposes unions, and opposes worker safety regulations? Not the guy who wants tax cuts for the rich while de-regulating Wall Street? Not that guy, eh? )

They don’t represent our voice anymore. (So this guy thinks the news media was supposed to represent his voice, loaded with the misinformation, lies and memes of far Right positions? Wherever shall he go for his alternative facts?)

Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign was funded by the Clinton Foundation in close coordination with the media, (No, and no. Sounds like someone isn’t listening to any news other than just FOX. You know, because FOX “represents our voices”, meaning the Republican Party.)

..and now we’re seeing them try to fix what they couldn’t fix during the election. They are doing everything they can, night after night, to create narratives and sway people’s direction to impeach Donald Trump. (Darn ABC for reporting those darn non-alternative-facts again. Trump tried to shut down the investigation that began with Trump loyalists getting caught telling lies about contacts with Russians. And then Trump contradicted intelligence agencies who reported Putin actively attempted to aid Trump. I wonder why? “Alternative facts” from FOX and Trump are all he needs.)

Our democracy is at stake when a major political party and the media are in bed together.(And this brilliant doofus isn’t talking about FOX(R), which would make his point quite nicely. What kind of democracy is he talking about? Not the one where the candidate with the most votes wins, obviously. )

I’m not asking anyone to boycott the Democratic Party. (He gets a point here, for not regurgitating the fictitious “Democrat Party. Well done, Kyle!)

I’m not in the brainwashing business, but the liberal media is.” (Right. Except that the term “liberal media” is a far right/Republican/ Trump brainwashing meme intended to get the cult to believe only them. But don’t expect to learn this from the corporatist ratings whores at ABC.)

“This was not an easy decision. For 35 years I have watched how their agenda has changed. (What agenda was that , Kyle? Representing your voice, or reporting the news? Not an easy decision? You bought into the Right's propaganda and agenda long ago, Kyle.)

This didn’t just start with Donald Trump, I watched them systematically destroy George Bush and hand us Barack Obama on a silver platter.” (Kyle seems blissfully ignorant of Bush's bloody and unpopular war based on lies, that ultimately spawned ISIS. This is obviously entirely the fault of the "liberal media". Kyle also seems blissfully unaware of the financial collapse under Ol' Honest George.  Kyle’s been blaming the “liberal media” for a long time, showing us how much he really is a true believer in the C.R.A.P. (Cult of Right-wing Authoritarian Personalities).

“I grew up in America where we were not afraid to say who we are and what we stand for, as witnessed by my billboard,” (That’s right. Especially now in Trump America. Kyle is not afraid to say who he is and what he stands for. He is a low-information, far Right, true believer of C.R.A.P., and he's an ideologue who stands for the most malevolent liar, greatest narcissist, and least informed authoritarian ever to sit in the Oval Office.)

“I’m considering starting a GoFundMe campaign to raise money to buy up vacant billboards for various Trump supporters who otherwise couldn’t afford it to make their voices known,” he told HuffPost by email. (“Trump supporters who otherwise couldn’t afford it” will be even less able to afford it soon enough. They will be the ones losing out on health care and public services so the rich can get tax cuts. But that's OK. You're never too poor to buy the C.R.A.P.)

So apart from these minor details, Kyle has it all figured out.