Return of the Hall of Shame

 Every once in a while, I feel obliged to update and re-post this list of Republican sex offenders, since the GQP crowd keeps demanding the right to be our moral arbiters.

1. Republican aide Alan David Berlin was arrested on charges that he wanted to engage in sex acts with a 15-year-old boy while dressed in a panda costume.
2. Republican news producer Aaron Bruns was arrested on charges of possessing child pornography.
3. Republican activist and former presidential campaign chairman Jeffrey Claude Bartleson was arrested on charges of sexually molesting a 5-year old boy.
4. Republican activist and former chairman of the Christian County Republicans Royce Fessenden pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree child molestation and one count of second-degree statutory sodomy.
5. Republican parole board officer and former legislator George C. (Chris) Ortloff pleaded guilty to attempting to lure 11- and 12-year-old girls to have sex with him.
6. Republican legislative aide Robert R. Groezinger was arrested for possessing child pornography.
7. Republican legislator Robert A. McKee pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography.
8. Republican legislator Scott Muschany was charged with molesting a 14-year old girl.
9. Republican chief of staff Eric Feltner pleaded guilty to showing pornography to a 13-year old girl.
10. Republican presidential campaign official Matthew Joseph Elliott was convicted of sexual exploitation of a child.
11. Republican Party Chairman Donald Fleischman was charged with two counts of child enticement, two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a child and a single charge of exposing himself to a child.
12. Republican prosecutor John David Roy Atchison was arrested for soliciting sex from a 5-year old girl, then killed himself three weeks later. At the time of his arrest, Atchison was an "assistant U.S. attorney" appointed by President Bush's attorney general.
13. Republican city councilman John Bryan killed himself after police began investigating allegations that he had molested three girls, including two of his adopted daughters, ages 12 and 15.
14. Republican legislator Ted Klaudt was charged with raping girls under the age of 16.
15. Republican city councilman Joseph Monteleone Jr. was found guilty of fondling underage girls.
16. Republican congressional aide Jeffrey Nielsen was arrested for having sex with a 14-year old boy.
17. Republican County Commissioner Patrick Lee McGuire surrendered to police after allegedly molesting girls between the ages of 8 and 13.
18. Republican prosecutor Larry Corrigan was arrested for soliciting sex from 13-year old girls.
19. Republican Mayor Jeffrey Kyle Randall was sentenced to 275 days in jail for molesting two boys -- ages ten and 12 -- during a six-year period.
20. Republican County Board Candidate Brent Schepp was charged with molesting a 14-year old girl and killed himself three days later.
21. Republican Congressman Mark Foley abruptly resigned from Congress after "sexually explicit" emails surfaced showing him flirting with a 16-year old boy.
22. Republican executive Randall Casseday of the conservative Washington Times newspaper pleaded guilty to soliciting sex from a 13-year old girl on the internet.
23. Republican chairman of the Oregon Christian Coalition Lou Beres confessed to molesting a 13-year old girl.
24. Republican County Constable Larry Dale Floyd pleaded guilty to charges of soliciting sex from an 8-year old girl. Floyd has repeatedly won elections for Denton County, Texas, constable.
25. Republican judge Mark Pazuhanich pleaded no contest to fondling a 10-year old girl and was sentenced to 10 years probation.
26. Republican Party leader Bobby Stumbo was arrested for having sex with a 5-year old boy.
27. Republican petition drive manager Tom Randall pleaded guilty to molesting two girls under the age of 14, one of them the daughter of an associate in the petition business.
28. Republican County Chairman Armando Tebano pleaded guilty to fondling a 14-year-old girl.
29. Republican teacher and former city councilman John Collins pleaded guilty to sexually molesting 13 and 14 year old girls.
30. Republican campaign worker Mark Seidensticker is a convicted child molester.
31. Republican Mayor Philip Giordano is serving a 37-year sentence in federal prison for sexually abusing 8- and 10-year old girls.
32. Republican Mayor Tom Adams was arrested for distributing child pornography over the internet.
33. Republican Mayor John Gosek was arrested on charges of soliciting sex from two 15-year old girls.
34. Republican County Commissioner David Swartz pleaded guilty to molesting two girls under the age of 11 and was sentenced to 8 years in prison.
35. Republican legislator Edison Misla Aldarondo was sentenced to 10 years in prison for raping his daughter between the ages of 9 and 17.
36. Republican Committeeman John R. Curtin was convicted of molesting an underage teenage boy and sentenced to serve six to 18 months in prison.
37. Republican anti-abortion activist Howard Scott Heldreth is a convicted child rapist in Florida.
38. Republican zoning supervisor, Boy Scout leader and Lutheran church president Dennis L. Rader pleaded guilty to performing a sexual act on an 11-year old girl he murdered.
39. Republican anti-abortion activist Nicholas Morency pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography on his computer and offering a bounty to anybody who murders an abortion doctor.
40. Republican campaign consultant Tom Shortridge was sentenced to three years probation for taking nude photographs of a 15-year old girl.
41. Republican racist pedophile and United States Senator Strom Thurmond had sex with a 15-year old black girl which produced a child.
42. Republican pastor Mike Hintz, whom George W. Bush commended during the 2004 presidential campaign, surrendered to police after admitting to a sexual affair with a female juvenile.
43. Republican legislator Peter Dibble pleaded no contest to having an inappropriate relationship with a 13-year-old girl.
44. Republican advertising consultant Carey Lee Cramer was sentenced to six years in prison for molesting two 8-year old girls, one of whom appeared in an anti-Gore television commercial.
45. Republican fundraiser Lawrence E. King, Jr. organized child sex parties at the White House during the 1980s.
46. Republican lobbyist Craig J. Spence organized child sex parties at the White House during the 1980s.
47. Republican Congressman Donald "Buz" Lukens was found guilty of having sex with a female minor and sentenced to one month in jail.
48. Republican fundraiser Richard A. Delgaudio was found guilty of child porn charges and paying two teenage girls to pose for sexual photos.
49. Republican activist Mark A. Grethen convicted on six counts of sex crimes involving children.
50. Republican campaign chairman Randal David Ankeney pleaded guilty to attempted sexual assault on a child and was arrested again five years later on the same charge.
51. Republican Congressman Dan Crane had sex with a female minor working as a congressional page.
52. Republican activist and Christian Coalition leader Beverly Russell admitted to an incestuous relationship with his step daughter.
53. Republican Judge Ronald C. Kline pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography on his home computer.
54. Republican congressman and anti-gay activist Robert Bauman was charged with having sex with a 16-year-old boy he picked up at a gay bar.
55. Republican Committee Chairman Jeffrey Patti was arrested for distributing a video clip of a 5-year-old girl being raped.
56. Republican activist Marty Glickman (a.k.a. "Republican Marty"), was taken into custody by Florida police on four counts of unlawful sexual activity with an underage girl and one count of delivering the drug LSD.
57. Republican legislative aide Howard L. Brooks was charged with molesting a 12-year old boy and possession of child pornography.
58. Republican Senate candidate John Hathaway was accused of having sex with his 12-year old baby sitter and withdrew his candidacy after the allegations were reported in the media.
59. Republican preacher Stephen White, who demanded a return to traditional values, was sentenced prison after offering $20 to a 14-year-old boy for permission to perform oral sex on him.
60. Republican talk show host Jon Matthews pleaded guilty to exposing his genitals to an 11 year old girl.
61. Republican anti-gay activist Earl "Butch" Kimmerling was sentenced to 40 years in prison for molesting an 8-year old girl after he attempted to stop a gay couple from adopting her.
62. Republican Party leader Paul Ingram pleaded guilty to six counts of raping his daughters and served 14 years in federal prison.
63. Republican election board official Kevin Coan was sentenced to two years probation for soliciting sex over the internet from a 14-year old girl.
64. Republican politician Andrew Buhr was charged with two counts of first degree sodomy with a 13-year old boy.
65. Republican legislator Keith Westmoreland was arrested on seven felony counts of lewd and lascivious exhibition to girls under the age of 16 (i.e. exposing himself to children).
66. Republican anti-abortion activist John Allen Burt was found guilty of molesting a 15-year old girl.
67. Republican County Councilman Keola Childs pleaded guilty to molesting a male child.
68. Republican activist John Butler was charged with criminal sexual assault on a teenage girl.
69. Republican candidate Richard Gardner admitted to molesting his two daughters.
70. Republican Councilman and former Marine Jack W. Gardner was convicted of molesting a 13-year old girl.
71. Republican County Commissioner Merrill Robert Barter pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual contact and assault on a teenage boy.
72. Republican City Councilman Fred C. Smeltzer, Jr. pleaded no contest to raping a 15 year-old girl and served 6-months in prison.
73. Republican activist Parker J. Bena pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography on his home computer and was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison and fined $18,000.
74. Republican parole board officer and former Colorado state representative, Larry Jack Schwarz, was fired after child pornography was found in his possession.
75. Republican strategist and Citadel Military College graduate Robin Vanderwall was convicted in Virginia on five counts of soliciting sex from boys and girls over the internet.
76. Republican city councilman Mark Harris, who is described as a "good military man" and "church goer," was convicted of repeatedly having sex with an 11-year-old girl and sentenced to 12 years in prison.
77. Republican businessman Jon Grunseth withdrew his candidacy for Minnesota governor after allegations surfaced that he went swimming in the nude with four underage girls, including his daughter.
78. Republican campaign worker, police officer and self-proclaimed reverend Steve Aiken was convicted of having sex with two underage girls.
79. Republican director of the "Young Republican Federation" Nicholas Elizondo molested his 6-year old daughter and was sentenced to six years in prison.
80. Republican president of the New York City Housing Development Corp. Russell Harding pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography on his computer.
81. Republican benefactor of conservative Christian groups, Richard A. Dasen Sr., was found guilty of raping a 15-year old girl. Dasen, 62, who is married with grown children and several grandchildren, has allegedly told police that over the past decade he paid more than $1 million to have sex with a large number of young women.
82. Republican Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld authorized the rape of children in Iraqi prisons in order to humiliate their parents into providing information about the anti-American insurgency. See excerpt of one prisoner's report here and his full report here.
83. Ed Schrock, Representative (Republican-Virginia) — Announced he would terminate his 2004 attempt for a third term in Congress after allegedly being caught on tape soliciting sex with men, despite having aggressively opposed various gay-rights issues in Congress, such as same-sex marriage and gays in the military.
84. Steven C. LaTourette, Representative (Republican-Ohio) — was elected in 1994, and had voted to impeach Bill Clinton for the Lewinsky scandal. He himself had a long-term affair with his chief of staff, Jennifer Laptook, while he was married. He married Laptook after his divorce.
85. Don Sherwood, Representative (Republican-Pennsylvania) — failed to win re-election following revelations of a five-year extramarital affair with Cynthia Ore, who accused him of physically abusing her.
86. Jeff Gannon — A conservative blogger who did not qualify for a legitimate press pass, but was routinely allowed to ask “softball” questions at White House press conferences. Further scrutiny revealed that Gannon had posted naked pictures of himself on multiple male escort websites.
87. Mark Foley, Representative (Republican-Florida) — Resigned his House seat when accused of sending sexually explicit e-mails to teenage male congressional pages. He was replaced by Tim Mahoney.
88. Jim Gibbons, Representative (Republican-Nevada) — was campaigning for Governor when he walked waitress Chrissy Mazzeo to her car. She claimed he threw her against a wall, and threatened to sexually assault her. He claimed she tripped and he caught her. The civil lawsuit was settled with the payment of $50,000 to Mazzeo. Six weeks later, he was elected governor.
89. David Vitter, Senator (Republican-Louisiana) — Took over the House seat of former Congressman Robert Livingston, who resigned in 1999, following revelations of an extramarital affair. At the time, Vitter stated, “I think Livingston's stepping down makes a very powerful argument that (Bill) Clinton should resign as well....” Vitter's name was then discovered in the address book of Deborah Jeane Palfrey (the "D.C. Madam").
90. Randall L. Tobias (Republican), Deputy Secretary of State and former "AIDS Czar" appointed by George W. Bush — Stated that U.S. funds should be denied to countries that permitted prostitution. He resigned on April 27, 2007, after confirming that he had been a customer of Deborah Jeane Palfrey (the "D.C. Madam").
91. Larry Craig (Republican-Idaho), a U.S. Senator for 18 years — was arrested on June 11, 2007, and charged with lewd conduct arising from his behavior in a men's restroom at the Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport.
92. Vito Fossella, Representative (Republican-New York) — was arrested for drunken driving. Under questioning, the married Congressman and father of three admitted to an affair with Laura Fay that produced a daughter.
93. John Ensign, Senator (Republican-Nevada) — Resigned his position as chairman of the Senate Republican Policy Committee on June 16, 2009, after admitting he had an affair with the wife of a close friend, both of whom were working on his campaign.  Under investigation, he then resigned his Senate seat 20 months early in 2011. In 1998, Senator Ensign had called for President Bill Clinton (Democrat) to resign after admitting to sexual acts with Monica Lewinsky.
94. Chip Pickering, Representative (Republican-Mississippi) — On July 16, 2009, it was announced that his wife had filed an alienation of affection lawsuit against a woman with whom Chip allegedly had an affair. The lawsuit claimed the adulterous relationship ruined the Pickerings' marriage and his political career.
95. Mark Sanford, Governor (Republican-South Carolina) — In June 2009, after having disappeared from the state for nearly a week, Sanford publicly revealed that he had engaged in an extramarital affair. Sanford had led his staff to believe that he was going hiking on the Appalachian Trail, but actually went to visit his mistress, Maria Belén Chapur, in Argentina. While the scandal made national headlines, led to his censure by the South Carolina General Assembly, and led to his resignation as chair of the Republican Governors Association, Sanford did complete his second term as governor.
96. Jack Tarpley Camp Jr., (R) Judge of the U.S. District Court for the North District of Georgia — Pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting a felon's possession of a controlled substance, and to two misdemeanors: illegally giving a stripper his government-issued laptop, and possession of illegal drugs. He was sentenced to 30 days in jail, 400 hours of community service, and resignation from the bench.
97. Mark Souder, Representative (Republican-Indiana) — A staunch advocate of abstinence and family values,[146][147] Souder resigned to avoid an ethics investigation into his admitted extramarital affair with a female staffer.
98. Chris Lee, Representative (Republican-New York) — Resigned hours after a news report stated that he had sent a shirtless picture of himself flexing his muscles to a woman via Craigslist, along with flirtatious e-mails. He did not rely on a pseudonym or a false e-mail address, but used his official Congressional e-mail for all communication.
99. Scott DesJarlais, Representative (Republican-Tennessee) — Admitted under oath to at least six affairs, including two affairs with his patients and staffers while he was a physician at Grandview Medical Center in Jasper, TN. Additionally, while running on a declared "pro-life" (anti-abortion) platform, DesJarlais coerced his ex-wife into having two abortions, and tried to persuade a mistress, who was his patient, into an abortion as well.
100. Vance McAllister, Representative (Republican-Louisiana) — Although married and the father of five, was caught on surveillance camera deeply kissing a married staffer. Several prominent Republicans asked McAllister to resign.
101. Blake Farenthold, Representative (Republican-Texas) — was reported to have paid $84,000 of taxpayer money, via the House of Representatives Office of Compliance, to settle a sexual harassment complaint from a former staffer. Farenthold's former communications director, Lauren Greene, sued the congressman in December 2014, and a settlement was reached in 2015. The identity of Farenthold with respect to taxpayer involvement was made public in 2017. This was the first documented case of taxpayer funds being used to settle sexual harassment complaints against a member of Congress.
102. Dennis Hastert, former Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (Republican-Illinois) —Hastert admitted that he had sexually abused boys while he worked as a high school wrestling coach decades earlier. [Shades of Gym Jordan]
103. Donald Trump (Republican), the 45th President of the United States — was accused of sexual assault by 25 women during the 2016 election, and he denied the allegations.
104. Tim Murphy, Representative (Republican-Pennsylvania) — Had an extramarital affair with Shannon Edwards, a 32-year-old forensic psychologist. The self-identified "pro-life" (anti-abortion) Murphy asked Edwards to have an abortion after she became pregnant. The information was revealed as part of Edwards's divorce proceedings, and published by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette after it fought in Pennsylvania state court to have the documents unsealed. Murphy resigned his seat in Congress.
105. Joe Barton, Representative (Republican-Texas) — Acknowledged he took and emailed nude photos of himself in 2015, following leaks of the photos in November 2017.
106. Trent Franks, Representative (Republican-Arizona) — was investigated by the House Ethics Commission about allegations of improper conduct. Before the study concluded, Franks abruptly resigned.
107. Pat Meehan, Representative (Republican-Pennsylvania) — In January, 2018, it was revealed that US Representative Pat Meehan used taxpayer funds to settle a sexual harassment claim levied by a female staffer. He was removed from the House Ethics Committee, but remained in office until he resigned on April 27, 2018.
108. Jim Jordan, Representative (Republican-Ohio) — was accused of covering up and failing to report sexual abuse of minors by former members of the Ohio State University wrestling team by the team physician. There were multiple victims during the period when Jordan was Assistant Coach of the team from 1987 to 1995. On February 12, 2020, allegations surfaced from one of those former members that Jordan (was) "repeatedly crying and begging him not to corroborate accounts of sexual abuse against the university’s wrestling team doctor that occurred when Jordan was a coach."
109. Roy S. Moore, Republican candidate for the US Senate — was accused by nine women of sexual contact and assault in the 1980s, when the women were teenaged girls. Though Moore denied the allegations, he lost the election.
110. Alex Kozinski (R) US Judge in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals appointed by Republican Ronald Reagan, retired following allegations of sexual misconduct from several women, including former clerks.
111. Madison Cawthorn, Representative (Republican-North Carolina) — In August 2020, during Cawthorn's campaign for Congress, several women accused him of sexually aggressive behavior, sexual misconduct, and sexual assault. These allegations arose once more in February 2021 after a BuzzFeed News investigation found 20 people who said that Cawthorn had harassed his female classmates during college. On May 4, 2022, a sex tape of Cawthorn began circulating online. The video shows a naked Cawthorn, in bed with another man, thrusting his genitals in the man's face. Cawthorn acknowledged the film's veracity.
112. Matt Gaetz, Representative (Republican-Florida) — In March 2021, reports surfaced of a federal investigation into allegations that Gaetz had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl in 2019.
113. Tom Reed, Representative (Republican-New York), was accused of sexual harassment on March 19, 2021, by a lobbyist for an incident at a bar. In a statement made on March 21, 2021, he apologized to her and said he would not seek re-election in 2022. On May 10, 2022, he announced his resignation on the House floor effective immediately.
114. Van Taylor, Representative (Republican-Texas) — In February 2022, days before the primary election in Texas, counter-extremism activist Tania Joya claimed that she and Taylor had an extramarital sexual affair in 2020 and 2021. Her allegations were circulated by the media. Taylor won a plurality but not a majority in the primary, and faced a runoff election, but suspended his campaign.[214] He formally withdrew from the runoff days later.

Law Enforcement and Racism

Much has been said over the years about how racism is endemic in the law enforcement world. As a former cop myself, I can tell you that probably 90% of the roughly one million police officers in this country have some extent of racial prejudice in them. This included myself.

Police spend the vast majority of their working days dealing with people whose lives are less than ideal. Many of the people we deal with have nothing, never had anything and probably never will have anything, except through crime. There is a myriad of causes:

• Public schools in minority areas receive far less funding than those in affluent areas (partly based on property tax evaluations)
• Lack of employment opportunities, especially meaningful employment
• Insufficient infrastructure in cities (for example, no public transportation, making it impossible to get to work without a car, which many urban dwellers cannot afford

Unfortunately, close to 95% of police officers are extremely conservative, and support TFG and his odious beliefs. And it isn't going to change until American society recognizes the extent of the rot in the police culture, and roots it out.

"Defunding" the police will solve nothing. What we need to do is INCREASE funding: more money for background checks, more money to attract appropriate recruits, more money for training and education, more money for Internal Affairs to get rid of the the trouble kids, more money to investigate, prosecute, and incarcerate the corrupt and venal cops.

If your police department has 100 officers, 95 of whom are crooked, you have a crooked police department. If your police department has 100 officers, and only five are crooked, but nobody does anything because: "thin blue line," you still have a crooked department.

"Blue lives matter"... so do black, brown, red, yellow, white, and purple with pink polka dots. But black America has been the target of so much hatred and violence that is it seems their lives DON'T matter. We can, ands MUST, change that mindset.

I Am A Moron

 

Apparently, I am a moron. I posted yesterday on Facebook about the fatal shooting at a high school graduation on Virginia. Seven people were shot, two of whom died. I said this:

Another mass shooting in one of the slave states. Those fothermucking mouth-breathers love guns more than anything else, including their own children.

I was called a moron for saying that.

As you can see, the majority of these incidents occur in Southern states. The "slave states."

In the past, I have used the term “slave states” to refer to those states in the Southern US that seceded and formed the Confederate States of America. Those states – South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina – seceded primarily due to slavery. Several states specifically mention slavery (which they also referred to as their “peculiar institution”) in their Articles of Secession:

Mississippi: “Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery-- the greatest material interest of the world.”[1]

Texas: “We hold as undeniable truths that the governments of the various States, and of the confederacy itself, were established exclusively by the white race, for themselves and their posterity; that the African race had no agency in their establishment; that they were rightfully held and regarded as an inferior and dependent race, and in that condition only could their existence in this country be rendered beneficial or tolerable.”[2]

Virginia: “[T]he Federal Government, having perverted said powers, not only to the injury of the people of Virginia, but to the oppression of the Southern Slaveholding States.”[3]

The Confederacy was, in large part, based on slavery and racism. Confederate Vice President Alexander Stephens proclaimed as much in his “Cornerstone Speech,” saying:

“its foundations are laid, its corner-stone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery subordination to the superior race is his natural and normal condition. This, our new government, is the first, in the history of the world, based upon this great physical, philosophical, and moral truth.”[4]

Even now, 158 years later, many Southerners refuse to acknowledge that the South was soundly trounced, claiming that General Lee surrendered “because he was a gentleman.”

Today, in the Deep South[5], little has changed. Racism is still rampant, and the “N-word” is still in daily use, still as a pejorative. Opportunities, educational and occupational, are still severely limited for persons of color.

 

But it’s not just racism. The South, especially the Deep South, educational opportunities are limited, not just for blacks, but for all. There is not the emphasis on education that is seen here in the North. Renaissance man Isaac Asimov said, “Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.'”[6]  Couple this with the deeply ingrained belief in the Bible, and the recent growing influence of fundamentalist Christianity, and one has a culture reveling in ignorance.

Many fundamentalists use their faith as a cudgel, a tool to oppress and suppress those with whom they disagree.

 

They further claim the absolute authority to determine what is “right” for the rest of society.

This perversion of Christianity is quite similar to the perversion of Islam practiced by fundamentalist Muslims like the Taliban, al Qaeda, and the government of Iran. Both promote religious law over secular law; both severely limit the rights afforded to women and minorities; both hold anything other than heterosexual orientation to be an abomination; both believe that heresy is worthy of death.

The Deep South also has an unholy infatuation with guns, granting inanimate firearms more rights, and broader-reaching rights, than are extended to people, especially children. Today, June 7, is the 158th day of 2023, yet according to gunviolencearchive.org, there have been 279 mass shootings (defined as four or more victims, excluding the shooter), with 118 children killed and 282 injured, and 660 teens killed and 1717 injured.

Despite this bloodshed, the NFRA and its bought-and-paid-for Congress refuses to enact even the most basic gun safety legislation, even when a majority of Americans support such laws as waiting periods and "red flag" laws. Political writer and military veteran Jim Wright has a long essay on gun violence and a series he calls the "Bang Bang" series, a collection of essays on America's almost sexual fetish with firearms, and the repeated failure of Congress to do something -- ANYTHING -- to stop the carnage.

Remember "Joe the Plumber"? After the 2014 Isla Vista killings, he proclaimed, "As harsh as this sounds—your dead kids don't trump my Constitutional rights," a clear, unambiguous statement that gun rights are paramount, even over the right to live.

Overall, the South, and especially the Deep South, has a history steeped in racism, hatred, and violence, compounded by its enthusiastic embrace of Christo-Fascist religious and political beliefs.

If I'm a moron for putting the lives of human beings above the "right" of some redneck asshole to own as many guns as he can afford, and his "right" to kill "those people," so be it.

Perhaps my commenter would prefer that I refer to the South as "the meth states"?

---

[1] https://www.battlefields.org/learn/primary-sources/declaration-causes-seceding-states#South_Carolina

[2] Ibid 

[3] ibid

[4] https://www.battlefields.org/learn/primary-sources/cornerstone-speech

[5] Defined by Dictionary.com as South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana

[6] https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/84250-anti-intellectualism-has-been-a-constant-thread-winding-its-way-through; original emphasis

Why I Can't Stand Drunks

 First, let me clarify: "drunks," to me, are people who relish being intoxicated all day. They don't realize they have a problem, and they see no need to change. "Alcoholics," on the other hand, DO recognize their issues and are attempting to deal with them, either through groups like AA, or on their own. I have no problem with alcoholics, it's drunks I can't stand.

My father and both brothers were raging, nasty, mean, vicious drunks. They loved to get hammered and start fights. 

The youngest, whom I shall refer to as "Dead Bro," got in donnybrooks in just about every bar in the area. He also had substance-abuse issues, and finally punched his own ticket with a fentanyl overdose. He had been fired from several previous jobs for drug use. His last employer paid for him to attend an in-patient rehab program, and left him on full salary for the four months, and he repaid them by going into the lunchroom and shooting up his first day back. He even knew the lunchroom had cameras.

The middle one, "AFKAMB" (or "Asshole Formerly Known As My Brother") was particularly nasty. He was a scrawny, wiry son of a bitch, and usually carried multiple knives (he told me one time that he had eleven on him that day). He was also covered in homemade tatts, and had hair and a beard out of ZZ Top. Like many other weasels, he was able to charm the hell out of the ladies, due to his "bad boy" persona. I heard from a mutual friend that AFKAMB has developed cancer after smoking since he was ten (he's 63 now), cirrhosis from consuming a bottle of vodka and a 30-pack of beer every two days, and both Hep C and HIV from his tatts. He also had a drug problem, but managed to quit that when Dead Bro checked out; now he sticks to marijuana. He was constantly stealing money from the old man by using his debit card for the vodka, beer, weed, and smokes.

The old man was a real winner: sloshed every day -- a half-gallon of bourbon in two days sloshed -- and yelling and throwing things and smashing things. He also demanded that we follow his rules, which changed from day-to-day. He always ate the exact same thing: two slices of toasted Pepperidge Farms Cinnamon Raisin swirl for breakfast, one Underwood's devilled ham sandwich for lunch (and he screamed if we referred to it as anything but "his cat food"), and Stauffer's Creamed Chipped Beef on toast.* He struck the old lady once, and she retaliated by going after him with a knife. He also said that AFKAMB was the "only reliable one," apparently based on his willingness to get drunk and watch football with the old man, even thought for the first five years in Maine, Linda and I were the only employed ones in the house, and we were the primary caregivers -- cooks, butler/maid, chauffeurs, etc. The old man was retired, the old lady hadn't worked for years because it was "beneath her station in life," and Dead Bro and AFKAMB had abysmal employment records. AFKAMB got arrested for going off on his last boss, when the boss fired AFKAMB for an elevated BAC and a hot piss test on his CDL physical after he (AFKAMB) slammed his truck into the back of a stopped car. After Linda became disabled, I was trying to support six people on one very small paycheck.

The old lady, who had delusions of grandeur, had to have one glass of wine per day, or she became an absolute maniac. Granted, she may have had a psychological addiction, rather than a physical addiction, but it was an addiction nevertheless. She was also a know-it-all, and tried to correct a woman's grammar in a garden center. The other woman argued, and the old lady said, rather snootily, "I majored in English at Smith College." Turned out the other woman was the CHAIR of the English Department at Smith! She also tried to correct doctors on their diagnoses and treatment recommendations, apparently because she had watched some BBC series featuring a doctor back in Queen Victoria's day.

Oh, yeah, and I used to drink myself into a stupor most nights. But I realized what it was doing to me and stopped. Not completely, but I am still working on the 12-pack of beer Linda and I bought when we moved to Waldo County in 2015 (four more bottles, and I'll have to buy more). I know when to say "when," and except in VERY rare circumstances, it's after one round.

All this is to explain why I refused to get involved with a woman who got upset with me when I refused to take her out to get drunk. She said she liked to "get lit" on Fridays and Saturdays, and wanted me to drive because she couldn't afford one more DUI. She said that, I turned and walked away.

To hell with the drunks.

If you're an alcoholic, and you're dealing with your demons, all the more power to you, and I will do anything I can for you. But if you're noting but a goddamned drunk, to hell with you.

* the old man's lawyer tried to report me for elder abuse for feeding him the same thing every day. Fortunately, I had recordings -- both video and audio -- on him screaming what he wanted, and going off on me if I dared serve him something else. The DHHS investigator listened and watched, and closed the case right there, saying that I had his sympathy for dealing with such an asshole.

The Youngest Victims

 We are approaching the 108th anniversary of the Eastland disaster. The Eastland, a Great Lakes steamer, had been chartered as one of four or five vessels to ferry employees of Western Electric's Hawthorne Works plant near Chicago to Michigan City, MI, for an employee picnic (yes, they needed five vessels: that year, the Western Electric picnic would have hosted over 6500 guests). The Eastland rolled over in the Chicago River, just before setting sail for Michigan. 844 passengers -- virtually all party attendees -- died.

As this was the biggest employee function of the year, Western Electric -- which had an enviable reputation for the way they treated their employees -- had told employees to bring not only the immediate family, but extended family and friends as well. As a result, a staggering number of victims were children.  The most iconic image of the disaster is a shot of a Chicago fireman, anguish and horror etched on his face, carrying the body of a drowned child.

In so many disasters, it is the youngest and most innocent victims who often become the eternal memorial of an incident.

December 30, 1903, promised to be a winter day like any other in Chicago (a city which has seen more than its share of disasters). But then a stage light ignited a piece of scenery at the Iroquois Theatre, during a matinee performance of "Mr. Blue Beard," featuring the legendary Eddie Foy. By the time the fire was out, 602 people -- mostly women and children -- were dead, and another 250 were injured. Among the victims was Amy Holst, a seven-year-old whose brother, sister, and mother were also lost. One look at her picture, and you can tell she was a spitfire, and would have been raising pure hell with Chicago's boys in about 10 years.

In December of 1958, a fire ripped through the Our Lady of the Angels School in Chicago, killing 92 school children and three nuns. As that fire occurred in "modern" times, there were plenty of photographs to choose from, to show the horror of the situation. The most iconic is firefighter Richard Scheidt carrying the lifeless body of ten-year-old John Jajkowski. Again, the anguish and horror are plain to see.

The deadliest domestic terrorist attack in the United States was the April 19, 1995, attack on the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, by anti-government extremists Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols. 168 people were killed, and 680 injured, but the image that is seared in our collective memory is Oklahoma City firefighter Chris Fields cradling the body of one-year-old Baylee Almon.

These children, these BABIES, are seared into our memory for eternity, as symbols of the evil that pervades our lives. The image of innocence lost, of lives wasted, drives home the heartache of the scene.

Who knows what these children might have become? Might Amy have become a writer, possibly penning a novel to rival "Gone With The Wind"? Would John have been a doctor who discovered a cure for cancer? Maybe Baylee might have been the first woman President.

We'll never know.

But because of their lost potential, these children -- and probably millions more -- live on in our memories, and as long as one person remembers, they never truly disappear.