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

Miscellaneous Musings and Random Raciocinations

I. Once Again, Fox Admits It Lies

Fox is being sued by WASHLITE (Washington League for Increased Transparency and Ethics), which is claiming that Fox's coverage of the Coronavirus/Covid-19 pandemic is violating the state’s Consumer Protection Act by “falsely and deceptively disseminating ‘news’ via cable news contracts that the coronavirus was a ‘hoax’ and that it was otherwise not a danger to public health and safety," and specifically names host Sean insHannity and former host Trish Regan. Fox, in response, claims that the First Amendment protects "false" and "outrageous" speech, which is, unfortunately, true.

“It’s Constitutional Law 101: the First Amendment protects our right to speak openly and freely on matters of public concern,” Fox News Media general counsel Lily Fu Claffee [emphasis on F.U.] said in a statement. “If WASHLITE doesn’t like what we said, it can criticize us, but it can’t silence us with a lawsuit.”

Again, even accepting the Complaint’s characterization of the speech at issue, the Fox commentators were expressing their view on the scientific question of how dangerous the Coronavirus is and how society should respond to it — including what type of governmental action should be taken.” [emphasis added]

A number of years back, in a Canadian court, Fox also admitted it lied, and claimed not to be a news agency, but an "entertainment" outlet, and, as such, was not bound by the truth.


II. Nazis and Klukkers in Michigan 

The far-right, pro-gun, pro-militia, anti-government, pro-trump Nazis and Klukkers were out in force in Michigan, carrying an assortment of Confederate flags, nooses, and swastikas. The "very fine people," as preznit called them a few years back, were protesting the states "stay at home" and masks orders promulgated by the governor. A large number of them, carrying AR-15s, tried -- unsuccessfully -- to get into the legislative chambers.

As home to the Michigan Militia, and several active Klaverns, the state has an unfortunate expertise at dealing with these goobers, many of whom seem to believe they're just one step removed from Navy SEALS, but most of them couldn't fight their way out a pack of rampaging Brownies, even WITH the multiple firearms they all carry. Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols were both involved in the Michigan Milita, which shows you where the group's sympathies are.


III. "God Wouldn't Wear a Mask, So I'm Not Going To, Either"

Ohio State Representative Nino Vitale (GOP, of course, since he's an idiot) says he's refusing to wear a mask in public, claiming, “This is the greatest nation on earth founded on Judeo-Christian Principles. One of those principles is that we are all created in the image and likeness of God. That image is seen the most by our face. I will not wear a mask.”

Vitale, who has that typical dull, vacant, deer-in-the-headlights look so common among goopers, says, “This is not based on logic, this is based on fear and propaganda and every statistical, data driven study done in the last 2 weeks says death counts are low, the models were wrong, and this is more like the flu," indicating that not only is he a blithering idiot, but that he's also slurped down a few gallons of trumpian Kool-Aid. Other than the Spanish Flu of 100 years ago, I can't think of any flu outbreak that has killed in excess of 60,000 people in two months.

The good people of Ohio need to retire this Bible-thumpin', hooker-humpin' sister-marryin', rifle-rack-in-the-pickmup, duck f***in', toothless, chinless, mouth breathin', meth-cookin’, NASCAR-lovin’, redneck, slack-jawed, drooling-idiot, racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, inbred moran. Although to be fair, I must point out that he does, in fact, have a chin.


IV. The Oath Keepers. Again.

The Oath Keepers, a far-right, anti-government extremist group, identifued as a hate group by both the Anti-Defamation League and the Southern Poverty Law Center, which claims to be comprised of active and former law enforcement officers and military (and which claims to be the final arbiter on the Constitution), is now threatening American police officers, saying, "Police in the U.S. need to realize they stand at the precipice of losing the trust, support, and protection of millions of American patriots. They must reverse course and refuse unlawful orders, or risk being declared domestic enemies of the Constitution." Of course, what they deem unlawful are the executive orders issued by various governors, designed to keep the citizens safe and healthy. And while the cops may lose the trust, etc., of the Oath Keepers, they will continue to enjoy the respect of the 299,000,000 or so who aren't far-right-wing loons.

The Oath Keepers, by the way, are closely aligned with the various militia movements, the Sovereign Citizens, Christian Identity, the Klukkers, Aryan Nation/Aryan Brotherhood, and the various pro-Nazi parties. These people are NOT good Americans, no matter what they may claim. They're thugs, killers, and terrorists.


V. The Preznit Is Unraveling

In case there was any doubt, the past dozen days have proved we’re at the point in his presidency where Donald Trump has become his own caricature, a figure impossible to parody, a man whose words and actions are indistinguishable from an Alec Baldwin skit on Saturday Night Live.

These words, from an article in The Atlantic, paint a grim picture of the cascading failures of our Idiot-in-Chief. From his asinine comments about Nazis and Klukkers being "very fine people," and Mexicans being "drug dealers and rapists, but some very good people too" to his more recent moronic pronouncements about shining "just very powerful light" up your ass and "injecting disinfectant as a way to combat the effects of the virus “because you see it gets in the lungs and does a tremendous number on them, so it’d be interesting to check that[,]” it is becoming more and more obvious that not only is he completely and totally unfit for any job requiring intelligent thought, but that he is also rapidly losing what little grasp he may have had of reality.

He even lit into GWB, after Bush contributed a video to "The Call To Unite," going into a typical trumpian twittertantrum, which made -- if this is even possible -- Bush actually seem Presidential, intelligent, and decent.

He then went on to claim that he was being treated "worse" than Prsident Lincoln, who, if memory serves me correctly, WAS FREAKING ASSASSINATED. This, of course, was a warmed-over reprise of a previous complaint, that he was being treated worse than Jesus, who, if memory serves me correctly, WAS FREAKING CRUCIFIED.

What scares me is that his paranoia and megalomania (and his understandable desire to stay out of the clutched of the Southern District of New York and a few other United States Attorneys) is the growing possibility that he will whip up some sort of bogus "national emergency" that "I, alone" can solve, "requiring" him to "postpone" the election until the emergency is over... in other words, until the statute of limitations has run on all his crimes. But given his life-long proclivities, he will continue to commit as many crimes as he can, so the limitation statutes will just keep piling up.

This is what happens when you elect an insane, paranoid, megalomaniacal, egotistical, liar to high political office.


VI. We Can Declare Victory and Go Home

The Federal Coronavirus/Covid-19 task force will be wound down at the end of the month, allowing trump to claim -- falsely -- that "I, alone" defeated the virus, and it's now safe for everyone to go back to work, making money for the millionaires.

The second senior administration official told CNN that the White House is shifting its focus toward reopening the economy "and putting Americans back to work." That shift will take place over the next few weeks and doctors such as Dr. Deborah Birx and Dr. Anthony Fauci, who have been prominent figures in the President's task force briefings with reporters, will still play "an important advisory role" in the process, the second senior administration official said.

Fauci, and to a lesser extent, Birx, would both be shuffled back off to their labs and insulated from the media, so they couldn't contradict trumps calims that everything is now hunky-dory. The article adds that one driver behind the wind-down is that Mikey pence wants to get out and travel and can't, partially because he's "leading" the task force, and partially because ISN'T FREAKING SAFE TO GO GALLIVANTING AROUND IN PUBLIC YET, even if Mikey does have "The Power of the Mythical Sky God" and the Sweet Baby Jesus on his side (just ask all the Evangelicals who have died from this damned virus).

Only in America...

... where the religious right-wing whackjobs are getting closer and closer to absolute power...

... would we have a moronic game show...

... based on the Holy Bible...

... and hosted by Jeff "I'm Dumber Than a 5-Year-Old" Foxworthy.

F**k A Bunch of Duck Dynasties*

What Digby says:

Conservatives normally insist that the private sector can do anything it chooses, even hiring and firing on the basis of an owner's throwback religious or racist beliefs. But that's only as long as it doesn't "infringe" on the right of conservatives to be assholes. That's a sacred liberty which is derived directly from the Bible, Atlas Shrugged and the Declaration of Independence. (You can look it up!)

And a little more from Robertson (via CNN):

"I never, with my eyes, saw the mistreatment of any black person. Not once," he told GQ. "Where we lived was all farmers. The blacks worked for the farmers. I hoed cotton with them. I'm with the blacks, because we're white trash. We're going across the field. ... They're singing and happy. I never heard one of them, one black person, say, 'I tell you what: These doggone white people' -- not a word!

 

"Pre-entitlement, pre-welfare, you say: Were they happy? They were godly; they were happy; no one was singing the blues," GQ quoted Robertson as saying.

 

"Yup," he did not continue, "them nigras sure had it easy under slavery."

Some RWNJs started an on-line petition demanding Robertson's return:

 

"Homosexuals have their convictions and Christians respect them," the organizer of the petition wrote. "There is a difference between respecting someone rights to exercise free will and imposing on others what we believe. Phil has done nothing more than state what he believes in. Just because homosexuals do not agree, does not mean Mr. Robertson needs to be suspended."

 

This, of course, is pure horseshit. The fundies do NOT respect homosexuals - rather, they demonize the LGBT crowd, and demand the right to discriminate against them. Some, like Westboro Baptist, demand the right to kill gays and lesbians. Robertson -- Mr Understanding-All-God's-Chilluns himself -- condemns them to purgatory, and compares homosexuality to bestiality. That ain't exactly respecting their views.

Bible Spice, obviously, had to throw in her three cents (via Crooks & Liars):

Free speech is an endangered species. Those “intolerants” hatin’ and taking on the Duck Dynasty patriarch for voicing his personal opinion are taking on all of us.

As Amato points out, Palin only came out in favor of free speech when it was a RWNJ being criticized; muzzling a DFH librul is still okay, apparently.

As is often the case, Badtux nails it:

All of which was nowhere, until a reporter helpfully asked him about those beliefs and Phil came out and proved that he is a racist redneck white trash anti-gay bigot. But thing is, he never claimed to be anything else. Hell, A&E *hired* him because of that, so that their metrosexual white urban oh-so-politically-correct viewership could point and laugh at him and his family of inbred white trash.

So now A&E is going to fire his ass for being the person they hired? Man, that’s fucked up. He needed to be sat down and told just how bad his words made gay people and black people feel, and told he needed to apologize. He might even have listened, and decided, yeah, he didn’t understand why they felt bad about what he said, but if they were offended he was in the wrong and the right thing to do was apologize. As far as I can tell Phil Robertson isn’t an evil man, just a profoundly ignorant one. Ignorant can be fixed, evil can’t. But fired? Maybe if there was evidence that he actively discriminated against gay people and black people, maybe. But for being who he is and holding the same views he’s always held? For being exactly the same man that A&E hired? That’s pretty goddamned hypocritical, if you ask me, firing a man for the exact same reason that you hired his ignorant white trash ass.

I suspect, though, that BT may be off a little bit on his explanation of why A&E picked up Duck Dynasty. I think, in addition to the reason Badtux suggests, I suspect it's also a bit of the current redneckization of American culture, as we have so many "reality" shows showcasing the redneck lifestyle: Duck Dynasty, Full Throttle Saloon, Lizard Lick Towing (I'd move outa there in a heartbeat!)... all shows that try to convince us that the redneck lifestyle is a valid one.  Unlike, say, being gay.



* The title is taken from some of John Sandford's Lucas Davenport novels (the Prey series), and is a favorite epithet of Davenport's. Not that Sandford -- or Lucas for that matter -- have approved my appropriating the phrase... I just think it gets my point across perfectly.

Oh, Fercrissakes...

As Chief Curt Varone* says, "You can't make this stuff up"...

Ohio [was] set to execute a convicted child killer after denying the man's last-minute request to donate organs to his ailing mother and sister before he dies.
[Convicted baby-raping murderer Ronald] Phillips has said through his attorneys that the request was not a delay tactic, but rather an attempt to make a final gesture for good.

 This is the latest chapter in the saga of Ronald Phillips, who in January 18, 1993, murdered his girlfriend's daughter, three-year-old Sheila Marie Evans, at her home in Akron. Phillips had been sexually and physically abusing Sheila for some time. Phillips severely beat Sheila in the head, face and abdomen, threw her against the walls, dragged her by her hair and anally raped her.

Phillips probably figured he could donate his organs, and then claim his physical health prohibited execution. Variations on this tactic include, just before one's scheduled execution, half-assed suicide attempts, assaults resulting in hospitalization, and a few other more creative things.

His attorney said:

"He's been very reflective and prayerful over the last several weeks. I think he was very hopeful that he was going to be granted clemency and/or get relief from the court, so this never really had to come to a head," Sweeney said. "The disappointment on those fronts made this obviously more relevant."

That, of course, makes all the difference: "Ah have found Jee-zuss, and He has forgiven me, so now y'all gotta let me outa here. Hey, y'all need a babysitter?"

It's the same crap we get from the "family values" crowd when they get caught with their pants down (literally).

BUT.....

Republican Gov. John Kasich rescheduled 40-year-old Ronald Phillips' lethal injection to July 2, falling for the "I got religion" ploy just like every other Xristian Xrazy.

As a result, the "law and order" party is allowing a baby-raping murderer to escape the punishment decided by a jury of his peers. Just goes to show, moreover, that their "right to life" stance ends at birth.

Be interesting to see what happens in July, whether the BABY-RAPING MURDERER pulls another fast one out of his ass, and manages to avoid the same death sentence he handed to his girlfriend's three-year-old daughter. 

Oh, he was also claiming that lethal injection would have been cruel and unusual punishment because he was "afraid of needles"... just as Sheila was probably afraid of this needle-dicked dink.

Hey, Phillips: DIE. Slowly, painfully, screaming in agony. DIE, you baby-raping murderous maggot.

________________________
* I am NOT implying, in any way, shape, or form, that Chief Varone agrees with any of the opinions expressed in this blog. I am merely quoting one of his tags, which I adopted: "YCMTSU."

I'm Glad I'm Not Jewish.

Not that there's anything wrong with being Jewish, mind you.

Back when I was a kid, I thought it would be great to be Jewish... a whole second set of holidays from school, and their version of Christmas lasted nine days. NINE days of presents!

Then one of my Jewish friends delivered the death blow as far as I was concerned: no bacon, no ham, no sausage, no pork.

The lovely yet talented Mrs618 made a pork roast tonight, with apple stuffing and baby carrots sautéed in butter and brown sugar.

Yeah, for that, I'm glad I gave up the dreidels.