America Isn't More Racist. It's Just Shouting it Instead of Whispering — Thanks to Fox News and People Like Donald Trump

It’s not hard to read between the lines to see how this frustration is based not in response to how Obama threatens to privilege black people or Muslims, but on the idea that the supremacy of this almost entirely white group of supporters is being challenged. It is not a lack of racial divisions they want, just a lack of divisions that do not benefit them.

By Hari Ziyad
Much ado has been made about how America appears to be stuck in a new era of politics marked by a shockingly ugly racial climate. It’s generally thought to have begun in the Obama years, reflected by the Tea Party surge into Congress in 2010 and represented now by Donald Trump’s wild popularity.

Racism, the story goes, has gone from something kept in the dark margins of society and generally frowned upon to something regularly shouted from rooftops with pride. But racial disparities have existed in healthcare, education, poverty rates and on almost every other structural level for as long as this country has existed. Since when is saying something racist more of a problem than maintaining racist structures? Is a climate only “shockingly ugly” if it puts words to shockingly ugly realities that are already here?

[...]

It’s not hard to read between the lines to see how this frustration is based not in response to how Obama threatens to privilege black people or Muslims, but on the idea that the supremacy of this almost entirely white group of supporters is being challenged. It is not a lack of racial divisions they want, just a lack of divisions that do not benefit them. And that sentiment was already present.

Yes, it’s true that more attention has been drawn to blatant displays of racism, but attention is necessarily skewed by whatever is popular in the moment.

According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, hate crimes stayed fairly stagnant from 2004 to 2012, and the number of hate groups have actually fallen in recent years, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center. Though relatively higher now, black unemployment rates have almost always been twice that of white rates.

All this stayed constant through this “new era”, which also saw interracial relationships and their supporters continually increase and a black president reelected with substantial white support. The question, then, is not whether there has been an exacerbation of racial tensions, but rather: why are so many only paying attention now, and are they really paying attention to the things that matter?

[...]

Neither Trump nor his supporters’ nasty rhetoric exemplify the most obvious way racism is currently expressed in America. This era’s dominant form of racism is still best epitomized in the disregard – or (feigned) surprise – that it remains. It is in only 16% of white Americans agreeing with the statement that a lot of racism still exists. It is in 63% of white football fans believing that a black player is not a victim of racism when called a thug for celebrating similarly to how his white peers do without being defamed.

It is in how, right now, we frame the conversation about racism in American politics as represented by Trump as “shocking”, “new” or somehow vastly different than any previous iteration, when it is merely a different color lipstick for the same ugly pig.

The truth is white America’s silence around racism is no longer working. Organizations like Black Lives Matter and the Movement for Black Lives refuse to let it, shining light on all of the issues it would prefer to ignore. In its place, a resistance to that challenge to pay attention gains traction. It is reminiscent of the blatantly racist political response to Reconstruction after the civil war, but it is only more of the same.

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Marco Rubio Is the Fakest of the Bunch: Attacks Obama for Reaching Out To American Muslims

The Chameleon
Adapted by Ronald David Jackson from Carlo Allegri.

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Rubio’s Foul Response to Obama’s Mosque Speech: Straining to Find “Division” in a Call for Unity

By Simon Maloy
President Obama visited the Islamic Society of Baltimore yesterday and gave an interesting speech about Muslims in America, religious freedom, and tolerance in an age of terror-related panic. The core of Obama’s message was that Muslim Americans are no less American than anyone else, and the recent spike in anti-Muslim discrimination is anathema to a society that values religious freedom. “It’s a challenge to our values — and that means we have much work to do,” Obama said. “We’ve got to tackle this head on. We have to be honest and clear about it. And we have to speak out. This is a moment when, as Americans, we have to truly listen to each other and learn from each other.”

This is actually the second time in recent months that Obama has made a big speech about the dangers of discrimination against Muslims in America. Back in December, in an address from the Oval Office, Obama said “it is the responsibility of all Americans – of every faith – to reject discrimination. It is our responsibility to reject religious tests on who we admit into this country. It’s our responsibility to reject proposals that Muslim Americans should somehow be treated differently. Because when we travel down that road, we lose.”

Messages and tolerance and inclusion have been a key part of the White House’s response to rising concern over Islamic State-linked terrorist attacks, and he’s used them as an appeal to national unity in a time of unease and fear. “None of us can be silent,” he said yesterday in Baltimore. “We can’t be bystanders to bigotry. And together, we’ve got to show that America truly protects all faiths.”

It’s tough to find something to disagree with here, but Marco Rubio somehow found a way, responding to the president’s Baltimore speech with one of the ugliest and most nonsensical attacks I’ve ever seen from a supposedly mainstream presidential candidate. Here’s what Rubio said:


“I’m tired of being divided against each other for political reasons like this president’s done,” Rubio said. “Always pitting people against each other. Always.”

“Look at today – he gave a speech at a mosque,” Rubio continued. “Oh, you know, basically implying that America is discriminating against Muslims. Of course there’s going to be discrimination in America of every kind. But the bigger issue is radical Islam. And by the way, radical Islam poses a threat to Muslims themselves.”

“But again, it’s this constant pitting people against each other — that I can’t stand that. It’s hurting our country badly,” Rubio said.

So, according to the rising favorite of the Republican Party establishment, the very act of giving a speech in a mosque – not the content of the speech, not its tone, but the thing itself – is an act of division. Why? Because the president, by setting foot in a Muslim house of worship, is “basically implying that America is discriminating against Muslims.” So the “division” here, per Rubio, is between people who acknowledge the observable reality that Muslims face discrimination, and people who choose to deny that such discrimination exists. Rubio himself is one of those people – after Obama’s Oval Office speech in December, Rubio attacked Obama as “cynical” for addressing Islamophobia, asking: “Where is there widespread evidence that we have a problem in America with discrimination against Muslims?” (The evidence is literally everywhere.)


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Sarah Palin’s Abusive Kid Never Saw A Day Of Combat: He Has No 'PTSD' — Maybe Just Delusions Inherited From His Mom

"Using PTSD as a pity card is so wrong. Domestic violence and PTSD are heavy-duty issues, and they deserve the respect Palin says Obama denied her son."—Gloria Christie

Donald Trump Backer Sarah Palin: She lies so much she can't separate her delusions from reality.
She went on national TV and blamed President Obama for her drunken son’s attack on his girlfriend.

By Gloria Christie
When the half-term Alaska governor, Sarah Palin (R) blamed President Obama for her drunken son’s attack on his girlfriend, I thought that she was over the edge, but what else is new? Now, if Track Palin, 26, has PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), it originated with her mothering, not the military. Why? Palin’s woman-beating son may never have seen combat duty in Iraq.

Sarah Palin Blames President Obama for How Veterans are Treated

Track is just an a**hole who still lives with mommy. He was busted on domestic abuse charges, when his girlfriend told police that he punched her in the eye, kicked her in the knee, and then held an AR-15 assault rifle near his head.

According to the police report, Track was:

‘Holding onto a gun, yelling ‘do you think I’m a pu**y?’ and ‘do you think I won’t do it.’

The unidentified woman said he “cocked the gun” and was holding it near his face. Police found the rifle was empty of ammunition.

Using PTSD as a pity card is so wrong. Domestic violence and PTSD are heavy-duty issues, and they deserve the respect Palin says Obama denied her son. Between 10 and 20 percent of Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom vets have PTSD in a given year:

In her Tulsa, Oklahoma Trump rally last week, the reality star mom lied out of both sides of her mouth about her son’s lone year in Iraq:

‘My son, a combat veteran … was fighting for you all, America, in the war zone. My son, like so many others, came back a bit different, they come back hardened.’

‘So when my own son is going through what he goes through coming back, I can certainly relate with other families who kind of feel these ramifications of some PTSD and some of the woundedness that our soldiers do return with.’

Hold on, Mama Grizzly. People have been questioning Track’s service record ever since he returned from the military. A rumor that dogs him is the courts gave him the choice of the military or jail, after he allegedly cut the brakes on a school bus. Given the choice, he enlisted in 2007.

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Ted Cruz's Campaign Chairman is a FAKE 'War Hero' — Resume Contained Pack of Lies About Military Service

The Republican Party is thoroughly saturated with shameless con men like State Rep. Graham Hunt. (Facebook Photo)

By Travis Gettys
Republican lawmaker who’s serving as chairman of Sen. Ted Cruz’s campaign in Washington state is either unwilling or unable to verify that he is a decorated combat veteran.

State Rep. Graham Hunt (R-Orting), who was elected in 2014 to the legislative seat to which he was appointed the year before, listed three medals on his official and campaign biographies that a military personnel center has no record of him receiving, reported The Seattle Times.

A military spokeswoman pointed out to the newspaper that the personnel center’s records are sometimes incomplete — but Hunt has been quietly deleting some details about his service record from online biographies since reporters have begun to press him for more information.

Hunt, who traveled out of state earlier this month to meet with armed militants who are occupying an Oregon wildlife refuge, says he was “wounded in combat” but has offered only vague details about what happened.

The lawmaker said he was knocked down by explosions but can’t remember where, and he also claims he cannot remember which units he deployed with to Afghanistan and Iraq.

Hunt deleted a Facebook post in 2015 that showed a dramatic photo of a U.S. soldier consoling another that, according to a caption, showed the lawmaker after a 2005 mortar attack, with additional text claiming he “KNOWS THE SACRIFICE” and “STILL FIGHTING FOR OUR COUNTRY.”

“I think combat camera captured the moment pretty well,” the post said. “I surely have not forgotten that moment.”

The image, however, was an Associated Press photo from 2003 that showed two Ohio soldiers — but one of their U.S. Army insignias had been replaced with an Air Force staff sergeant patch.

Hunt later removed the post and said a campaign volunteer had posted it, but the lawmaker says he accepts “full responsibility” for the social media post.

The lawmaker deleted references last month to the Air Force Commendation Medal, the Iraq Campaign Medal and the Afghanistan Campaign Medal after the newspaper questioned him about the awards — which military officials say do not appear on his service record.

He also stopped describing himself in the online biographies as a “combat veteran” of Iraq and Afghanistan.

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Birther-ism Comes Home To Roost: Ted Cruz is NOT Eligible To Be President - One Down, Eight More to Go

The Tea Party's Ted Cruz is getting stung by an issue invented by the Tea Party itself for use as a jingoistic and racist attack on Barack Obama: Birther-ism.  Ted Cruz is against "affirmative action" so he can't expect any "special treatment" that will allow him to become president of the United States. It should be noted that Donald Trump has recently refused to provide his own birth certificate and passport records for public scrutiny.

Tea Party bumper sticker with an anti-Obama 'Birther' Message (Photo by  brownpau).  'Birthers' at a pro-gun rally (bottom, right) tell President Obama to go back to Africa. (Photo by Fibonacci Blue)

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Ted Cruz is Not Eligible to be President

By Mary Brigid McManamon
Donald Trump is actually right about something: Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) is not a natural-born citizen and therefore is not eligible to be president or vice president of the United States.

RELATED STORY: Ted Cruz Produces Mother’s Birth Certificate after Both Parents Found on Canadian Voter List

The Constitution provides that “No person except a natural born Citizen . . . shall be eligible to the Office of President.” The concept of “natural born” comes from common law, and it is that law the Supreme Court has said we must turn to for the concept’s definition. On this subject, common law is clear and unambiguous. The 18th-century English jurist William Blackstone, the preeminent authority on it, declared natural-born citizens are “such as are born within the dominions of the crown of England,” while aliens are “such as are born out of it.” The key to this division is the assumption of allegiance to one’s country of birth. The Americans who drafted the Constitution adopted this principle for the United States. James Madison, known as the “father of the Constitution,” stated, “It is an established maxim that birth is a criterion of allegiance. . . . [And] place is the most certain criterion; it is what applies in the United States.”

RELATED STORY: Donald Trump Refuses to Release Birth Certificate and Passport Records

Cruz is, of course, a U.S. citizen. As he was born in Canada, he is not natural-born. His mother, however, is an American, and Congress has provided by statute for the naturalization of children born abroad to citizens. Because of the senator’s parentage, he did not have to follow the lengthy naturalization process that aliens without American parents must undergo. Instead, Cruz was naturalized at birth. This provision has not always been available. For example, there were several decades in the 19th century when children of Americans born abroad were not given automatic naturalization.

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"I believe in karma. As a reward for Cruz’s self-serving and cynical defense of the worst of Donald Trump, the billionaire bully has launched a birther movement to attack the Canadian-born Cruz as he rises at the polls."—Elise Jordan

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Article I of the Constitution grants Congress the power to naturalize an alien — that is, Congress may remove an alien’s legal disabilities, such as not being allowed to vote. But Article II of the Constitution expressly adopts the legal status of the natural-born citizen and requires that a president possess that status. However we feel about allowing naturalized immigrants to reach for the stars, the Constitution must be amended before one of them can attain the office of president. Congress simply does not have the power to convert someone born outside the United States into a natural-born citizen. Let me be clear: I am not a so-called birther. I am a legal historian.

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Racist Donald Trump Supporter Interrupts Bernie Sanders Rally - Holds Up Bigoted Poster (Video)

The heckler held up a sign that read, "Obama is as Christian as Bruce Jenner is a woman." Sanders' supporters chanted "Bernie, Bernie, Bernie" as the protester was escorted out of the rally. Unlike Trump's supporters, none of the Sander supporters yelled "kill him" or "Sieg Heil" or "White Power."

Republicans Joined With Skinheads and Neo-Nazis to Organize Anti-Immigrant Protests in Pennsylvania

"Christian" activist Barbara Metzler Speaking with neo-nazi Ian McCorts standing behind her

By Dylan Sevett
Islamophobia has been on the rise across the country since the Paris attacks on November 13th. Mainstream politicians have endorsed and attended them at a time when 47 democrats voted to close the doors on Syrian refugees, at least 54 percent of Americans want to do the same, and major Republican front-runner Donald Trump supports forcing Muslims to wear ID badges.

In fact, anti-refugee protests are popping up all over the country. In Pennsylvania, Neo-Nazis from Keystone United, Tea Party members, patriot movement members, and Republican committee members are among the organizers of these protests.

Republican Chairwoman Mary Ann Benitez (Lackawanna County) is featured on the front-page banner of a neo-Nazi Facebook page.

“Keystone United” was known as the “Keystone State Skinheads (KSS)” until 2009. They are one of the most active single-state skinhead groups in the US, and the SPLC has categorized them as a “racist skinhead extremist group” and elaborated on their image and actions.

“While its members attempt to project a mediagenic image of being part of a new breed of more sophisticated and less spasmodically violent skins, the truth is that the group’s members have been convicted of a string of remarkably violent attacks dating back to at least 1998, ranging from bar brawls to murder.”

These far right groups are responding to a recent decision by Governor Tom Wolf to support the refugees. Senator Bob Casey also spoke publicly about accepting Syrian refugees in Pennsylvania.

Two anti-refugee rallies were held in Pennsylvania, both of which were attended by Keystone United and other far right groups.

Republican Chairwoman Mary Ann Benitez (Lackawanna
County) and Neo-Nazi Steve Smith in 2014 at the same overpass
where they recently organized an anti-immigrant rally.

In Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, 40 or so people protested at the State Capitol on November 2oth. Some of their signs and banners read “Terrorist Invasion, No Refugees” and “Aiding a Foreign Invasion is Treason.”

The main organizer for the Harrisburg rally was Christian activist Barbara Metzler. She spoke at the event and without any sources claimed that “91% of Muslims are on welfare or food stamps.”

Dan Gray, a speaker and writer with the Patriot Militia Movement in PA went a step further and said, “Islam is based on Mohammad, and he was a murderer,” he said. “Call me a bigot or racist, I don’t care.”

John Rentschler, who is a Republican committeeman and Civil War reenactor from Berks County, PA, shared Gray’s sentiments and said he “imagined the chorus of voices who would denounce him as a racist, as xenophobic, Islamophobic, as a bigot.” He followed up by saying, “What matters to me is MY family, MY home, MY people, MY state, MY country,” as the crowd said “Amen” after each declaration he made. He went on to claim that “our nation is being crushed by multiculturalism, political correctness, and race-guilting.”

“Steve Smith has been active in an extraordinary array of white nationalist, skinhead, and neo-Nazi groups, including American Third Position, KSS, and the Council of Conservative Citizens. He is a former Aryan Nations member and former leader of the Philadelphia chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of White People, which was created by former Klan leader David Duke but is no longer associated with him.” – SPLC

[...]

In Scranton, PA, a highway overpass protest was organized and attended by Keystone United members on November 21st. About 11 people joined them, and the co-founder of the Keystone State Skinheads, current director of the of the European American Action Coalition (EAAC), and committee member for the Luzerne County GOP since 2012 stood front and center.

This is not the only connection between the GOP and neo-nazis in Pennsylvania.

Republican Chairwoman (Lackawanna County) Mary Ann Benitez was also present at the overpass protest. Benitez is pictured in the NEPA Patriots Facebook page’s cover photo, and regularly attends anti-immigrant protests.

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THIS is the Republican Party: House Republicans Say They Won't Fund Climate Deal — Before A Deal is Even Done

Photo by Takver

By AP
U.S. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy says the House will not go along if President Barack Obama tries to commit taxpayer money to support a climate accord reached in Paris.

He says Congress has the authority to decide how to spend U.S. taxpayer dollars, "and I don't think that's the best use of our money."

McCarthy suggested that a must-pass year-end spending bill currently in the works could become the vehicle for language blocking any such expenditure.

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"Many of Them Are Stupid" Says Ben Carson of Americans - Proof: GOP Voters Like Him, Don't They?

Illustration by DonkeyHotey.

By David Corn
When retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, the current GOP 2016 front-runner, campaigns, he routinely pitches "common sense solutions from We the People." But it seems the candidate who celebrates a cheerful and straightforward populism has a fair bit of disdain for many of his fellow citizens, for at a videotaped event last year, while discussing the American people, he declared, "Many of them are stupid."

Carson made this observation while speaking at the Richard Nixon library on October 19, 2014, as part of a book tour. After a fifteen-minute talk—prior to a book-signing—Carson was asked if he might run for president as an independent. He vowed not to do so, noting this would fracture the Republican vote. He then pivoted to another topic: unnamed political foes—presumably liberals, progressives, secularists, Marxists, or whatever—penetrating key elements of American society to gain control of the nation:


They can twist and turn things as much as they want. But what they don't understand—and they miscalculated. They were doing a great job in terms of fundamentally changing this nation. In terms of infiltrating the school systems. In terms of infiltrating the media. All of this—they've done a great job. Everything was perfect. Except they underestimated the intelligence of the American people. The people are not as stupid as they think they are. Many of them are stupid. Okay. But I'm talking about overall.

The crowd laughed when Carson made that crack about dumb Americans, and Carson let out a loud guffaw.

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John McCain Destroyed The Republican Party — Mainstreaming Crackpots Like Sarah Palin Was the Beginning of the End

Wondering where today's crazy GOP clown-show started?

"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross" --Sinclair Lewis

Former White House Chief of Staff: Sarah Palin Marked the Moment the GOP Went Off the Rails

By Janet Allon
Wondering where the insanity that is today's GOP started? Look no further than nonsense-spewer Sarah Palin. This is the view espoused by WIlliam M. Daley, former White House Chief of Staff under President Obama from 2011-2012 in Monday's Washington Post.

He makes a pretty good case, first for the fact that the party has descended into utter chaos. "When The Post’s front page declares: 'Republicans are on the verge of ceasing to function as a national party,' it’s time to ask: How did this come to pass?" he opens. How did we get to the side-to-side clown shows of the GOP presidential contest, and the total breakdown of a functioning party in Congress?

The turning point came in 2008, when the party put then Alaska-Governor Sarah Palin a heartbeat away from the presidency, despite her utter lack of competency. That is when the party effectively embraced the lack of competence and experience as a virtue. From that flows Ben Carson and Donald Trump as frontrunners for the nomination and a variety of other ills. Daley writes:

Palin’s blatant lack of competence and preparedness needs no belaboring. What’s critical is that substantive, serious Republican leaders either wouldn’t or couldn’t declare, before or after the election: “This is not what our party stands for. We can and must do better.”

By the campaign’s end, GOP operatives were shielding Palin from even the simplest questions. (She had flunked “what newspapers do you read?”). Barack Obama cruised to victory.

Fox snapped up Palin. All bombast, no reason, no compromise ever became both the party's and the network's daily bread. And let's not forget that it was one of the "party's more thoughtful and substantive veterans," a.k.a. John McCain, who ushered in the new era of substanceless sizzle, writes Daley.

Once McCain put Palin on the ticket, Republican “grown-ups,” who presumably knew better, had to bite their tongues. But after the election, when they were free to speak their minds, they either remained quiet or abetted the dumbing-down of the party. They stood by as Donald Trump and others noisily pushed claims that Obama was born in Kenya. And they gladly rode the tea party tiger to sweeping victories in 2010 and 2014.

Now that tiger is devouring the GOP establishment. Party elders had hoped new presidential debate rules would give them greater control. But they are watching helplessly as Trump leads the pack and House Republicans engage in fratricide.

It’s hard to feel much sympathy. The Republican establishment’s 2008 embrace of Palin set an irresponsibly low bar. Coincidence or not, a batch of nonsense-spewing, hard-right candidates quickly followed, often to disastrous effect.

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Confederate 'Slave Flag' Rejection Generating Backlash From Racists Who Claim They're Not Racist

Supporters of the flag that was designed to symbolize white supremacy claim the flag "doesn't represent hate" but instead represents "respect for Southern soldiers who died in the American Civil War" fighting to maintain the system of slavery.

Kid Rock With the Confederate Flag on His Helmet: He became famous performing with rap stars but lately has decided that bigotry is where the money is. He was recently quoted saying anti-Confederate flag protesters should, "Kiss my ass." He's part of the backlash against taking down the slave flag. (Photo screen captured from YouTube video)

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‘Backlash is Beginning': Miles-long convoy of Confederate flag supporters rally in Florida

By Reuters
An eight-mile convoy of pickups, motorcycles and cars wound through a central Florida town on Sunday in a show of support for the Confederate flag, as a backlash against its banishment from public landmarks across the South picks up steam.

RELATED STORY: A White Supremacist Designed the Confederate Flag Symbol — Racist Fanatic Considered Flag an Emblem of 'White Superiority'

Horns blared and hundreds of the rebel flags fluttered as more than 1,500 vehicles and some 4,500 people turned out for the “Florida Southern Pride Ride” in Ocala, according to police estimates. Vehicles from states across the South and as far away as California participated.

“That flag has a lot of different meanings to a lot of different people,” said David Stone, 38, who organized the event. “It doesn’t symbolize hate unless you think it’s hate — and that’s your problem, not mine.”

RELATED STORY: Confederate Flag Finally Being Delegitimized: WalMart, Apple, eBay, Amazon, Sears, Even NASCAR Want It GONE

Organizers announced the event as the South embarked on an emotional debate over the flag’s symbolism in the aftermath of the massacre of nine blacks by a white gunman in a Charleston church last month. The suspect in the church shootings had posed with the flag in photos posted on a website.

In South Carolina, lawmakers moved quickly to take the flag down from the statehouse grounds in Columbia, a longstanding demand of those who see it as a divisive symbol of the South’s pro-slavery legacy.

Alabama and scores of municipalities have take similar steps since the June 17 massacre.

But the national push to pull the controversial icon from stores and public displays is being met with determined resistance in some corners of the United States.

RELATED STORY: WARNING - Displaying or Waving the Confederate 'Slave' Flag Around Blacks Could Be Hazardous to Your Health (Video)

Supporters such as those who drove through Ocala on Sunday insist the flag is a honorable symbol of regional pride, a mark of respect for Southern soldiers who died in the American Civil War.

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'White Supremacist, Hispanic Surname' — Ted Cruz Courts the Bigot Vote: And Won't Criticize Donald Trump

Everything Ted Cruz said about Donald Trump and immigration this weekend was hot, flaming garbage

Illustration by DonkeyHotey.

By Simon Maloy
Last week I expressed my bemusement at the fact that none of the 2016 Republican presidential candidates had forcefully denounced billionaire racist and shriveled apricot Donald Trump for calling Mexican immigrants criminals, drug dealers, and “rapists.” For a party looking to boost its pathetically low share of the Latino vote in presidential years, it seemed like a layup – disagree with the frizz-topped bigot and demonstrate that, at a minimum, not all Republican presidential candidates view undocumented immigrants as dangerous criminals.

A number of those candidates apparently came to the same conclusion, and over the last few days they’ve attacked Trump and gone to great pains to say that he doesn’t represent the mainstream of the party. Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, Rick Perry, and Mike Huckabee all hit back at The Donald’s grossly insulting remarks. Even George Pataki got in on the action.

There was one 2016 Republican contender, however, who pointedly refused to criticize Trump and even celebrated him for what he said – Ted Cruz. He appeared on “Meet the Press” this weekend and stood by Trump’s remarks, arguing that they’d had the beneficial effect of focusing people on immigration issues.

CRUZ: When it comes to Donald Trump, I like Donald Trump. He’s bold, he’s brash, and I get that it seems the favorite sport of the Washington media is to encourage some Republicans to attack other Republicans. I ain’t going to do it. I’m not interested in Republican on Republican violence.

CHUCK TODD: But rhetoric matters? Doesn’t rhetoric matter?

CRUZ: I salute Donald Trump for focusing on the need to address illegal immigration. The Washington cartel doesn’t want to address that. The Washington cartel doesn’t believe we need to secure the borders. The Washington cartel supports amnesty, and I think amnesty is wrong and I salute Donald Trump for focusing on it. He has a colorful way of speaking. It is not the way I speak. But I’m not going to engage in the media’s game of throwing rocks and attacking other Republicans. I’m just not going to do it.

Every syllable of every sentence of that response is hot, flaming garbage.

First of all, Cruz is joining in on what is apparently the new, fun game for prominent conservatives – credit Trump for saying things he didn’t actually say. Nothing about Trump’s comments bring any focus or clarity to the immigration debate. He called undocumented immigrants rapists. Trying to argue that he did anything else is making excuses for bigotry.

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Ted Cruz's 'Presidential Run' is a Total Fraud: His Campaign Is Just a Crazy Right-Winger's Attention Whoring

The next Republican presidential primary clown show has just begun

Illustration by DonkeyHotey.

By TBogg
Let us state for the record, on this day and at this time, that Texas Senator Ted Cruz will never ever ever EVER be President of These Here United States of ‘Murica.

In a field that will surely be chock full o’nuts, he may be the least appealing nut in the bowl. With the possible exceptions of escaped circus clown Donald Trump and ex-HP CEO turned feral mean girl Carly Fiorina, there will be no more absurd presidential campaign in 2016, or possibly until the end of life on Earth as we know it.

According to a recent CBS poll, only 23 percent of Republicans expressed interest in Cruz as president. In fact, the only person who polled lower was the worst thing to hit Louisiana since Katrina, Gov. Bobby Jindal, who has somehow managed to become a worse governor than Sarah Palin.

How is that even possible? (Hint: she quit and saved the state. Credit where credit is due, I always say.)

Cruz called the NRA-approved “shotgun” and jumped into the front seat of the 2016 GOP clown car on Monday, skipping the traditional exploratory committee phase which probably would have told him, “Forget it, Jake. It’s Chinatown — and you’re a Canadian.”

All signs seem to indicate that, while Cruz is running, he’s not really “running,” so much as playing “don’t you forget about me” [throws fist in the air as he walks across football field].

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Republicans Will Be Running Racist Trash for President — Again: ‘I don’t know’ if Obama is Christia'n Says Wisconsin Governor

Translation: I'm a racist white Republican who has to say racist things like this to get votes from other racist white Republicans.

Scott Walker - Governor of Wisconsin. (Illustration by DonkeyHotey)

By Adam Howard
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, a potential contender for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, told the Washington Post on Saturday: “I don’t know” if President Barack Obama is a Christian.

Walker who is currently in Washington attending the winter meeting of the National Governors Association, told the Post, “I’ve actually never talked about it or I haven’t read about that,” and added, “I’ve never asked him that.”

Despite frequent reiterations from the White House and the president himself that he is a practicing Christian, raising questions about his faith has become a routine talking point on the right.

Since he first ran for president in 2007, some conservatives have suggested the president is a Muslim, the religion of his father’s birth. Many have argued that attempts to express ambiguity or ambivalence about the president’s religious background is part of a thinly veiled racial attack on Obama’s character.

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When These Two White Supremacist Ambushed and Killed Two Cops In Los Vegas Earlier This Year — The Police Unions, Fox News and Other Bigots Were Silent

Jerad Miller and Amanda Miller were white supremacists and cop haters: They ambushed and killed two police officers.

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Illustration by Ronald David Jackson.

By Chauncey DeVega
What shall we do with the white people... again?

I ask that question when white men commit mass shootings. I ask that question when Right-wing domestic terrorists kill innocent people. It is unfortunate, that in the aftermath of Sunday morning's murder spree by two white supremacists in Las Vegas, I am forced, once more, to ask said question.

Mass shootings by white men, as well as Right-wing domestic terrorism, have become events akin to those in the classic comedy Groundhog Day.

Unfortunately, there is nothing humorous or funny about how white Right-wing domestic terrorists have shot up Jewish community centers, planted bombs, seen a spike in their numbers since the election of Barack Obama, are coddled and encouraged by the Fox News echo chamber and the Republican Party, and now--with Tea Party regalia, Nazi bonafides, yelling "this is a revolution!"--they kill three people during a brazen daylight attack on Sunday in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Sean Hannity (left)  hosts Fox New's highest rated show. He spends
much of his airtime telling whites it's okay to be racist. Early in his
career Hannity was close to notorious neo-Nazi Hal Turner (right).
(Left Photo - YouTube; Right Photo - CT State Capitol Police)

The Las Vegas shooters were so contemptible that even the racist welfare king Cliven Bundy, and his band of anti-Obama brigands, apparently felt that they were too "radical" for their low tastes.

The right-wing echo chamber helped to spawn the mass shooters named "Jared" and "Amanda".

Birtherism, an embrace of the neo-confederacy, a worshipful attitude towards the Confederate flag (i.e. "the American Swastika") and the CSA, along with an open embrace of anti-black affect and white racial resentment in a concerted effort to delegitimate the United States' first black president, are the "polite" face of American white supremacy in the first decades of the 21st century.

The Republican Party is a white identity organization.

Complementing this claim, social scientists have highlighted how the Tea Party, a herrenvolk organization motivated by white racism under the guise of "taking our country back"--which begs the question "from who?"--creates a sense of white racialized self-interest among its members. Moreover, Tea Party organizations are a way for "old school" white supremacists to recruit new members from the angry white men (and women) who constitute the more extreme elements in the Republican Party.

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Senator Ted Cruz — The Republicans' Modern Day Joe McCarthy — Calls Net Neutrality 'Obamacare for the Internet’

Ted Cruz's tweets suggests he doesn't have the slightest idea of what net neutrality is.

Joe McCarthy (left): McCarthy is the thoroughly discredited senator who terrorized
America with his "communists are everywhere" delusions. Ted Cruz: He not only
looks like McCarthy, but acts as strange and uninformed as McCarthy. (Adapted by
DonkeyHotey from Wikimedia/Gage Skidmore)

By Jane C. Timm
President Obama on Monday came out with a full-throated defense of so-called net neutrality, advocating for new rules that would keep the Internet free from the influence of broadband companies seeking to control customers’ speed and access. But not everyone is a fan of Obama’s stand.

“ ‘Net Neutrality’ is Obamacare for the Internet,” Sen. Ted Cruz tweeted Monday in response to the president’s announcement. “The Internet should not operate at the speed of government.”

The Texas Republican’s tweeted criticism seems to betray an inherent misunderstanding of what net neutrality is. ”He’s searching desperately for a talking point,” says Free Press spokesman Timothy Karr. “He swung and he missed.”

Net neutrality advocates, meanwhile, were thrilled that Obama finally found his voice on an issue he has long pledged to support. ”The president who promised to take a back seat to no one on Net Neutrality has finally gotten in the driver’s seat. And he may have saved the Internet at the moment it was in the greatest jeopardy,” said Craig Aaron, president and CEO of the pro-net neutrality advocacy group Free Press, in a statement.

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The Criminal Enterprise That Is The Republican Party — May Have Just Suppressed 500,000 Texas Voters In This November's Elections

The Republican's Clown Prince: Rick Perry - The governor and his
Texas Republicans are like criminals on steroids. (Photo by Ed
Schipul)

By Brad Friedman
This is not unexpected, though its still disturbing to those concerned about voting rights — and the possibility that more than half a million legally registered voters in Texas may not be allowed to vote in this November’s election.

A three judge panel on the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals has, for now, blocked the U.S. District Court’s ruling last week in Texas, issued after a full trial on the merits of the law, which had struck down state Republicans’ polling place Photo ID voting restriction after finding it deliberately discriminatory and a violation of the U.S. Constitution and federal Voting Rights Act.

Following Tuesday’s order by the 5th Circuit [PDF] reversing the lower court ruling, for now, the plaintiffs challenging the state statute said, almost immediately, that they plan to file an emergency appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court to put the law back on hold before the November elections.

Voting rights proponents worry that, if the Court holds true to its recent rulings in voting rights cases in NC, in OH and, most recently, in WI, they are likely to allow Texas’ discriminatory law to stay in place this November, pending a full hearing on the merits at a later date.

There is, however, some important differences in the Texas case than in those other three, which we’ll explain in a moment.

Texas had appealed the initial 147-page ruling [PDF] by U.S. District Court Judge Nelva Gonazles Ramos, issued last week, which found that the Texas Photo ID voting statue, SB 14, “creates an unconstitutional burden on the right to vote, has an impermissible discriminatory effect against Hispanics and African-Americans, and was imposed with an unconstitutional discriminatory purpose.” She also determined that the state requirement that voters produce one of a few very specific types of state-issued Photo ID when voting at the polling place amounted to an “unconstitutional poll tax”, since all such ID requires at least some payment by voters…


On Tuesday, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals panel (two Republican appointees and one Democratic appointee) issued their order to stay the lower court’s ruling, effectively putting the law back into effect for the November election. Early voting in Texas begins on October 20th.

“Essentially, all the marbles of this 5th Circuit order come down to ‘it’s too close to the election to stop the law from going into effect, because pollworkers will be confused,”explains election law expert Justin Levitt of the NYU Brennan Center for Justice.

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Christopher Columbus Reinvented as an 'Anti-Muslim Crusader' by Reich-Wingers — In Attempt To Excuse His Atrocities

Christopher Columbus arrived to the "New World" with a
sword in his hand and terror and thievery in his heart.

By Travis Gettys
As some cities and states phase out Columbus Day in favor of a holiday honoring indigenous people, conservatives are hyping the famed explorer as a Christian warrior who battled Islam.

Recent historical scholarship has focused on the cruelty Christopher Columbus visited upon the indigenous people he encountered during his exploration.

That leaves his reputation ripe for a “politically incorrect” revision.

The Tea Party's Allen West only lasted one term in congress because
of his psychotic rants. (Screen capture from YouTube video)

“It’s time for a little trek through history because Columbus’ achievement is relevant to where we are today,” wrote Allen West, the conservative commentator and former Republican congressman. “To understand his achievement, we need to put the whole episode into context.”

West notes that Columbus set out on his voyage the same year the Moors were finally driven from Spain after nearly 800 years, and about 40 years after the fall of Constantinople into Ottoman hands.

“So the man from Genoa … stepped forward not only to challenge the belief that the world was flat, but to find a westward route by sea to the Indies and China,” West argues. “With the defeat of the Islamic armies, Columbus believed he could find favor with Ferdinand and Isabella, and indeed Isabella took a liking and supported Columbus’ endeavor. So we can thank Islamic conquest for inspiring Columbus to find a new trade route west.”

However, most educated people in Europe and the Muslim world were aware of ancient proof that the world was round, and some scholars claim African and Muslim explorers had reached the New World centuries before Columbus.

His conservative champions don’t exactly dispute that Columbus enslaved the natives he met in the West Indies, but they argue that was more merciful than simply killing them – and besides, they insist, he was doing God’s work.

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Leader of Republican Party Imploding: Rush Limbaugh Loses 4 Radio Stations in 3 Weeks!

Photo Credit: via YouTube

Join: The Fight To Flush Rush

By Leslie Salzillo
Rush Limbaugh can't catch a break. And for the life of me, I can't understand why he doesn't just retire now, so he and his self-proclaimed 'dittoheads' can move forward thinking it was his idea to leave public radio. Instead, he takes hit after hit, as if he actually believes he can survive the onslaught of continuous protest, failures, and condemnation. Four stations this month have now reported flushing rush for something better, and really, anything is better.

The latest radio station to dump Limbaugh is WSJM in St. Joseph, Michigan. AllAccess.comreports:

WSJM-A-F/St. Joseph, MI To Split Simulcast, AM To Go Sports

August 21, 2014 at 4:21 AM (PT)

MID-WEST FAMILY News-Talk WSJM-A-F/ST. JOSEPH, MI will split its simulcast on Monday (August 25, 2014), with the FM remaining News-Talk and the AM flipping to Sports using Fox Sports Radio.

WSJM Sports Dir. and weekend "The Coaches" co-host Phil McDonald said that while the station will air FSR, "there is going to be a ton of local sports content all day long … it's going to be unbelievable how much more attention we can give to local high school sports, Lake Michigan College sports, other Michigan colleges like UofM (University of Michigan), MSU (Michigan State University), Grand Valley…."

Earlier in the week, Limbaugh lost a station in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. On August 7th, Tkirkland/Daily Kos, reported a Pittsburgh radio station flipped the switch on Limbaugh. And finally on August 1st, FlushFools/Daily Kos reported the California radio station, KROP, ditched Rush and switched to country music after '90% of their sponsors' were run off by StopRush/Boycotters.

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Tea Party Senator Rand Paul 'Reaches Out To Blacks' But Continues To Associate With His Racist 'Neo-Confederate' Allies

Illustration by DonkeyHotey.

By Steven Rosenfeld
Rand Paul, the U.S. Senator and 2016 Republican presidential candidate, keeps crossing paths with his notorious political soul mate, Jack Hunter, who ghost-wrote Paul’s 2011 book but resigned from his Senate staff last July after his past as a neo-Confederate blogger who praised Abraham Lincoln’s killer—and called for African-American filmmaker Spike Lee to be whipped—caught up with him.

RELATED STORY: Why is Rand Paul reaching out to black voters?

On Wednesday night, Paul gave the keynote address to the Young Americans For Liberty 2014 convention in Washington. The Libertarian group, which once hired Hunter—who had blogged as “The Southern Avenger” and was known for wearing a Confederate flag facemask—is having him Hunter for a Friday morning talk, entitled, “You Can’t Be A Conservative Without Being A Libertarian.”

As Kentucky civil rights pioneer Georgia David Powers told AlterNet this week, Paul has a long history of voting against the interests of African-Americans, despite recent efforts to recast himself as a racial justice crusader. “A leopard does not change its spots,” Powers said, adding that Paul has surrounded himself with white supremacists for years.

That brings us back to Hunter, who wasn’t just another southerner venting that the wrong side won the Civil War. Thanks to the Internet Archive Wayback Machine, you can read what he wrote in 2005 for the Charleston City Paper, where he relished the persona that he created of a Confederate-flag-masked pundit seeking to offend Yankee sensibilities.

In the piece where Hunter said that he’d be celebrating the birthday of Lincoln assassin, John Wilkes Booth, he also ridiculed the African-American holiday of Kwanzaa.

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