Tag: Bigotry

Monthly “Assie” Award–March 2017

It is the last Sunday of the month and time to announce the monthly winner of the IST Asshat “Assie” Award.

March was a tough month for it was full of morons rattling off the most anal statements I have heard in awhile.  But after much deliberation we have chosen the winner.

(Drum roll….trumpets flair…..and the peasants dance)

IN SANER TOUGHT

ASSHAT “ASSIE” AWARD FOR THE MONTH OF MARCH 2017

US REPRESENTATIVE STEVE KING (R-IA)
His history of the spoken word says that he intended to say just what he said and it meant just what it means……it can be spun any way one desires but the fact is he is a typical racist bigot from the heartland.

He just could not hold his tongue…he opened that mouth and out fell a load of manure.

Rep. Steve King (R-IA) has long been a friend to the European far right.

King embraced language that is incendiary even by his corroded standards. In a tweet once again supporting Wilders — who is in the final days of his latest bid to become prime minister of the Netherlands — King said: “Wilders understands that culture and demographics are our destiny. We can’t restore our civilization with somebody else’s babies.”

It wasn’t immediately clear who King meant by “somebody else’s babies,” but white nationalists have used similar language to suggest that America needs more white people of European descent, and fewer Muslim and Latino immigrants.

Congrats Rep. King for your award….an email of this post will be sent to his office in Washington.

Keep in mind that there will be 11 monthly winners and in December I will ask my readers to pick the annual winner….hopefully all will join in the fun.

Remember if you see or read something that would fit into this award please let me know and I will give my reader credit for its discovery.  I would like this to be an IST readers award….please help out if you can.

Thanx everyone for your participation and hope to see you guys next week…..please have a great Sunday and enjoy your day.

Will Racism End When Old Bigots Die?

Today of all days is a good day to address racism and bigotry….(more along this line in another post)…..today we celebrate the life of Martin Luther King, Jr…..

Angry old white guys….my late father who died at age of 93 was a huge bigot.  He and I would argue at length whenever he opened his mouth…..and many of his “friends” that were part of the coffee clutch at a local mall were pretty much in line with his thinking….

When I saw the title of this piece I thought of my father and his constant bitching about those “people”……

Do people still believe the age-old notion that the next generation will deliver us from racism? Code Switch asked young and old(er). They rarely agreed on the answer.

Shelly Fields is a 46-year-old white woman living in Richton Park, a racially diverse Chicago suburb. She says she’s raised her four daughters, who are biracial, to see people of all races as equal, just as her parents raised her. Fields doesn’t think that racism will ever disappear completely, but she’s hopeful that it lessens with each passing generation.

“The more biracial children there are, the more equality we see,” Fields said. “The more people of color we see in positions of power – it will help to change the way people see race.”

Source: Will Racism End When Old Bigots Die? : Code Switch : NPR

This piece asked a good question….and from my observations the answer is NO…..bigotry is passed down to off-spring…..(it is learned trait not inherited)…..not all buy into the stereotyping but then again many do….especially here in the South (there is NOTHING New about today’s South…they try and hide their bigotry).

Read my post about the incident in Biloxi, Mississippi(coming soon)….believe it or not…except in Mississippi….it is the 21st century.

Old habits die really hard in the Deep South….even in the New South.

How do you become “white” in America?

Mr. Trump’s recent speech on immigration got me thinking…..his statements seem to say that everyone in the US has got to be “white”….I am not talking about race or skin color….nope I am talking about everyone has to act in a prescribed manner.

Think about this the Civil Rights Act….was it truly about some sort of equality or was it more that maybe the blacks will see the benefits of living and acting “white”?

Personally I think his statement in his speech……”So who can come to the US? “It’s our right as a sovereign nation to choose immigrants who are the likeliest to thrive, and flourish and love us.”  That statement smells like a “white” moment to me.

While surfing I found an article that is written along the lines of my thinking……The Correspondent”  written by Sarah Kendzior…..

Trump has retweeted white supremacist groups and has the backing of the Ku Klux Klan. He uses whiteness as a weapon, and his candidacy on a major party ticket threatens to put the country back some 200 years. What does Trump’s vision of whiteness mean for a diverse country like the U.S.?

Source: How do you become “white” in America?

But as usual….the voter will hear only what they want to hear…..that is how these toads get votes and win elections……dog whistle slogans…..

CRAP! A New Label!

American politics has boiled down to labels that we attach to different things…..like political correct or apologist or bleeding heart or ……..yada……

Well 2016 is NO different……

Some have described the liberal policies as being “race traitor”….but that is not the best…..the newest label that someone has attached to the white people that are angry with the “establishment” as a philosophy of “alt-Right”…..and it is all the rage in the media….

Suddenly, “alt-right” is the political phrase of the moment. Hillary Clinton on Thursday called out Donald Trump for being linked to what she calls a racist, “paranoid fringe” movement, while Trump denied even knowing what the phrase means. Coverage:

  • What Clinton said, per Gothamist: “These are race-baiting ideas, anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant ideas, anti-woman—all key tenets making up an emerging racist ideology known as the ‘alt-right.’… The names may have changed. Racists now call themselves ‘racialists.’ White supremacists now call themselves ‘white nationalists.’ The paranoid fringe now calls itself ‘alt-right.’ But the hate burns just as bright.”
  • What Trump said, per the Hill, on CNN: “Nobody even knows what it is, and she didn’t know what it was. There’s no alt-right or alt-left. All that I’m embracing is common sense.”
  • Trump campaign CEO Steve Bannon, formerly of Breitbart Media, told Mother Jones last week that Breitbart is the “platform for the alt-right.” Read the interview here. (Asked about it on CNN, Trump responded, “I don’t know what Steve said. I can only speak for myself.”)
  • CNN’s Brian Stelter has an explainer video on the movement here.
  • The Washington Post‘s Dave Weigel has a primer here.
  • At Breitbart, editor Milo Yiannopoulos says Clinton herself is responsible for the rise of the alt-right. Earlier this year, he wrote “An Establishment Conservative’s Guide to the Alt-Right.” Read it here.
  • A USA Today columnist offers a definition: “It’s an online movement of white people—young white guys, mostly—including white supremacists, nationalists, nativists and plain ol’ racists. They’re anxious. They’re afraid. They worry whites are losing power and influence in America, and so they generally oppose immigration and multiculturalism.”
  • This video blogger and alt-right supporter says the movement is “about us having a home, a place where we can be with people like ourselves.”
  • When Clinton called out the alt-right movement, the alt-right loved it. See tweets rounded up by Slate.

I am sorry but I do not appreciate labels…no matter who they are attached to…..and I truly despise dog whistle slogans that are solely for the applause they generate….

I believe that any campaign or political program should be driven by dialog and not these labels and slogans….this is why our political system has become a huge joke….there is NO substance any longer to political campaigns…..(there are so few of us idealists left)

We on the Left have been living with labels of a century…I guess it is only fair that the wealth get spread…..

In closing a few words about fanaticism…….

“Fanaticism obliterates the feelings of humanity”

“Fanaticism comes from any form of chosen blindness accompanying the pursuit of a single dogma.”

“The tendency to claim God as an ally for our partisan value and ends is the source of all religious fanaticism.”

“Fanaticism consists of redoubling your effort when you have forgotten your aim.”

Time to move on……and that’s the name of that tune!

Apartheid Makes A Comeback

Apartheid was the system of government and segregation used by the government of South Africa for decades……once the system was eliminated the world thought that it would never make a comeback…..they were WRONG!

Israel is turning into an apartheid state with its handling of the Palestinian question and the West Bank……I pointed this out in an op-ed that I wrote for Ace News Room……..

Source: Apartheid: Then And Now ! | In Saner Thought

After it was published I found another person that sees the inevitability of the situation……

Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert criticized incumbent leader Benjamin Netanyahu’s foreign policy on Friday in an interview with Al Jazeera English, saying that Israel is at risk of becoming an apartheid state.

The television interview, which Al Jazeera described as Olmert’s first international interview since he was sentenced for eight months in jail for fraud and breach of trust this past May, aired on Friday evening.

According to excerpts released before the interview aired, Olmert rejected Netanyahu’s claim at the UN that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas isn’t interested in negotiations with Israel. “[Abbas] certainly is a partner for peace. There is no other,” Olmert was quoted as saying. “He is the president of the Palestinian Authority and he, time and again, proved that he’s against terror and that he is ready to spell it out in the strongest possible terms.”

The West was a major mover on the apartheid thing for South Africa……it needs to once again get on the horse and ride to the aid of a people oppressed by a government that wants world recognition.

But in case you still cannot see it……..in their own words……

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With the “Wall” in place it has become an apartheid state…..no matter how you try to spin it….the truth is the truth!

More News You Will Not Hear

I do enjoy finding news that is sadly overlooked and then post it and see where it goes…..and that is an exercise in futility.

You see people have made their minds up, something I would not expect from a society that prides itself on its free thought declaration, and NO amount of stats or news or anything will change that little mind…..once they get a thought then it is set in stone…..

But what the Hell….no one ever said that I was worried about anything I post…..so here it goes……

This is from Yahoo News……

Despite what Donald Trump and many other politicians have told you, the major threat to America isn’t Muslim extremism. In fact, statistics show that the real danger lies with domestic extremists who aren’t of the Muslim faith.

The New York Timesreported back in June that since Sept. 11, 2001, almost twice as many people have died at the hands of white supremacists and other non-Muslim extremists than by radical Muslims. Using data compiled by New America, a Washington Research center, a study found that 48 people have been killed by extremists who are not Muslim—including the mass killings in Charleston, S.C.—compared to the 26 by self-proclaimed jihadists.  However, this does not factor in yesterday’s tragic shooting or less publicized incidents like the Las Vegas couple who murdered two police officers and left a Swastika on one of the bodies.

These stats reveal a vast difference between public perception and the number of actual cases in which Muslim extremists have claimed American lives. So why aren’t more people outraged about domestic terrorists? Because then we’d have to admit that white supremacy is still a problem.

While the public hasn’t quite caught on yet, scholars say that the issue needs to be addressed. “There’s an acceptance now of the idea that the threat from jihadi terrorism in the United States has been overblown,” Dr. John G. Horgan, who studies terrorism at the University of Massachusetts said. “And there’s a belief that the threat of right-wing, antigovernment violence has been underestimated.”

I know….none of this can be true for they are after all…..Muslims, right?

You will not hear stories like this one….why?  It does not feed the paradigm that the media wants……and that plays into the hands of lying scum.

Leave Poor Ben Alone!

Before I go on about Ben let me post this about something another GOP d/bag has had to say…..

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), who is part of Boehner’s close-knit circle, attempted to turn the tables on members of the conservative Freedom Caucus, denouncing them as “right-wing Marxists” who have empowered House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) by undermining Boehner.

“The right-wing Marxists have teamed up with Pelosi. They’re the ones who always team up with Pelosi. They are the Pelosi Republicans,” an infuriated Nunes said in an interview. “The Freedom Caucus is an arm of Pelosi.”

A Right-wing Marxist?  Maybe this idiot should not be on a committee called the “intelligence” committee.

Onward march the Christian soldier, Ben……..

It appears that Carson has out “Donald” the “Donald”!

I have been told this by a couple of people that are on-board with the radical Rights bullshit positions.

It seems Carson is catching flak and some are upset with that attention….saying stuff like…”he is only saying what all Americans are thinking”…..first of all……I do not think all Americans are that bigoted…..only people that prefer slogans to issues and solutions.

Ben is striking back at all his detractors…….

Ben Carson today blamed “PC culture” for the political fallout over his statement against electing a Muslim president. Carson told reporters in Ohio that his view is that anyone wanting to be president must embrace the Constitution and American principles. He added that he would oppose a Christian for president who wanted to establish a theocracy. Asked how his campaign can recover from the controversy, the retired neurosurgeon replied: “The only way we fix that is fix the PC culture in our country,” referring to political correctness. “We fix America, and we get people who actually start listening … and stop trying to fit everything into a PC model,” he said.

Carson’s remarks came amid a backlash over his comments last weekend that Muslims shouldn’t serve in the presidency. In an interview with Fox News, Carson then retreated slightly, saying he would be open to a moderate Muslim who denounced radical Islam as a White House candidate. But he also said he stood by his original comments, saying the country cannot elect people “whose faith might interfere with carrying out the duties of the Constitution.” Today, Carson called the Muslim president question “a theoretical issue” that’s distracting from important national and international problems, from US income inequality to the Syrian refugee crisis.

The “political correct” argument are only for those that have no excuse for their words or actions……they do not want to face what they have said or done so they blame everyone else for their fuck up….So political correctness is the perfect excuse.

Finally, GOP faithful are a fickle bunch!  They will jump around to whichever candidate has the most outrageous and bigoted statement….it appears that support depends on that and that alone.

Maybe if we are to ignore what Carson said…then we should ignore all outrageous diatribes by all candidates……and we know that will NOT happen, right?

But did this lift Ben beyond the “Donald”…..probably not….but it will send him higher in the polls…..after all that is what is needed to rise….feed the fear!

Ahmed: One Phobia Deserves Another

See what I miss when I am forced to go outside and watch the world go by……

The big news story of the day yesterday was the one about the kid that got busted for making homemade digital clock…..and since his name sounded Muslim it must be a bomb, right?

Xenophobia…..Islamophobia……ain’t America great?

The original report went something like this……

Ahmed Mohamed says it took him only 20 minutes to build the homemade clock: he wired a circuit board and power supply to a digital display and stuffed the device into a pencil case before bed on Sunday. The next day, the 14-year-old freshman at MacArthur High School in Irving, Texas—a member of his middle school robotics club who makes radios and repairs his own go-kart—showed his creation to his engineering teacher, hoping to impress him, per the Dallas Morning News. “He was like, ‘That’s really nice,'” but said not to show the clock to other teachers, Ahmed says. When it beeped during another lesson, however, Ahmed revealed his invention to a teacher, who told him it looked like a bomb. Soon, Ahmed tells NBC Dallas police officers arrived, questioned him, then cuffed him and led him to police headquarters for fingerprints, mugshots, and an interrogation.

Officers, who took the clock and Ahmed’s tablet, tell USA Today Ahmed was being “passive aggressive” during questioning, and though he maintained the device was a clock, couldn’t provide a “reasonable answer” for why he had it. “I brought something to school that wasn’t a threat to anyone. I didn’t do anything wrong,” Ahmed says, adding he was denied a phone call to his father and his surname was repeatedly mentioned by officers. “I think this wouldn’t even be a question if his name wasn’t Ahmed Mohamed,” says a rep for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which is investigating, per the BBC. “He just wants to invent good things for mankind,” Ahmed’s father adds. “But because his name is Mohamed and because of Sept. 11, I think my son got mistreated.” Ahmed was released to his parents and suspended from school for three days. Police say they may still press charges of making a hoax bomb.

You heard it right sports fans…..he could be charged for making a hoax bomb!

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This is just the icing on the cake these days……but there are a few good things that came out of this situation for young Ahmed and his home-made time piece….

Ahmed Mohamed was getting interrogated at a police station because he brought a homemade clock to school and it was mistaken for a bomb. But soon, the Texas 14-year-old might be hanging out in some much, much better locations. Three of the high-profile responses after his story went viral:

  • “Cool clock, Ahmed,” President Obama tweeted. “Want to bring it to the White House? We should inspire more kids like you to like science. It’s what makes America great.”
  • “Having the skill and ambition to build something cool should lead to applause, not arrest. The future belongs to people like Ahmed,” Mark Zuckerberg wrote on Facebook. “Ahmed, if you ever want to come by Facebook, I’d love to meet you. Keep building.”
  • As Business Insider reports, astronauts have also been reaching out to the teen (Ahmed was wearing a NASA T-shirt when he was arrested). “Hi @IStandWithAhmed,” tweeted ISS Commander Chris Hadfield. “I’d love you to join us for our science show Generator in Toronto on 28 Oct. There’s a ticket waiting for you.”

Here is the problem…..NO one at the school knew what a bomb actually looks like and that includes the police…..and apparently they are not sure what the internal workings of a digital clock looks like either……

Would this young man had been put through this crap if his name was Billy Bubba Smith?  Or if had blonde hair and blue eyes?

Source: 7 Kids Not Named Mohamed Who Brought Homemade Clocks to School And Didn’t Get Arrested

“Fear is the mind killer”…….Paul Atradies from Caladan……(my moment of geek)

“It’s Heritage Not Hate” (Wink Wink)

How many times have you heard this pile of steaming fecal matter?  Me?  I live in the South, South Mississippi to be exact, and I have heard it a lot in the last 50 years.

Some find it interesting that I rail against this type of lies not because I live in the South but rather because according to family legend I am related to Jefferson Davis through my maternal grandmother (not officially verified)……..people think because I maybe so related that I should be somehow on the side of the heritage thing……..WRONG!  Hatred is hatred no matter how you try to sugar coat it.

I have debated these deniers many times in the past…..not so much these days for being old I have no tolerance for bullshit……..when the heritage thing was pulled out I would say good and take out an old photo of 7 Southern generals and ask the person to identify 3 of them……..so far none have been able to do it…..closest they have come is 2.  For most it is hate not heritage……….

I offer this mini diatribe because of an incident recently……..

Two white men who placed Confederate flags at landmarks linked to Martin Luther King in Atlanta might face serious jail time if caught. Police have surveillance video taken from Ebenezer Baptist Church, and the police chief isn’t ruling out hate-crime charges, reports the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The flags were placed at the church, once led by King, and at the nearby MLK National Historic Site. As it stands, the men could face charges including criminal trespassing and terroristic threats, reports 11 Alive.

“To place Confederate flags on the campus of Ebenezer Baptist Church—after this horrific act in Charleston [and] in the wake of all that’s happening in our country—whatever the message was it clearly was not about heritage,” says the Rev. Raphael Warnock, pastor of Ebenezer . “It was about hate.” A maintenance worker found the flags early this morning and alerted the National Park Service, which operates the King historical facility. “We do have images of two white males placing those flags on the campus,” says police chief George Turner. “We’re trying to identify those folk right now.”

I would wager that the person or persons that did this also use the heritage lie as a cover for their hatred and bigotry.  Whatcha think?

Now tell me again about this “heritage” thing.

With A Broad Brush Of Patriotism

I tire of these mental midgets that paint their idiotic fear and bigotry with the brush of patriotism…….they turn their extreme hatred into something it is not…..Patriotism.

There are too many that use the term to mask their hatred and their ignorance…….these types of people are COWARDS!  You read that correctly…..COWARDS!

The most recent moron to play the patriotism card is some mindless douche in Florida (and that is putting it nicely)………..

The owner of a gun store in Florida who declared his shop to be a “Muslim-free zone” is now the target of a lawsuit. The Council on American-Islamic Relations filed a federal lawsuit calling the policy at Florida Gun Supply discriminatory, reports Reuters. The move comes after owner Andrew Hallinan, 28, posted a video to Facebook announcing his new policy in the wake of the Chattanooga rampage. “I have a moral and legal responsibility to ensure the safety of all patriots in my community,” Hallinan says in the video, as quoted by NBC Miami. “So effective immediately, I’m declaring Florida Gun Supply as a Muslim-free zone. I will not arm and train those who wish to do harm to my fellow patriots.”

But the chief executive of CAIR calls it blatant “Islamophobia” that must be challenged. “Unfortunately, he caved in to a lot of the anti-Muslim pressure and anti-Muslim base that he’s pandering to,” Hassan Shibly tells USA Today. “When he refused to reconsider his position, when he refused to reconsider to be educated, refused to engage this community, refused to respect American law, we had no choice but to bring forward this lawsuit.” Meanwhile, Chris Martin, a US military veteran who converted to Islam, has traveled to Inverness, Florida, from California so he can try to enroll in a training course at the shop to challenge the ban, reports WFTS-TV. Federal agents are reportedly keeping a close eye on the situation.

This a/holes is taking advantage of a situation to try and increase sells by using hatred and bigotry as a marketing tool……and for that reason he is a COWARD!

This dickhead is one of those that fights against gun control and believes that all Americans have the right to buy guns and yet he wants to stop Americans from doing so……..he is either an idiot or……..(thinking)………no that about covers it.