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Happy Independence Day

Trump in the White House seems to be blunting people’s enthusiasm for Independence Day this year. I think now more than ever, we should celebrate our country’s strengths.

The ideals of our founding documents are still strong, and our institutions still represent them. The U.S. was critical in popularizing the modern idea of democracy based upon enlightenment ideals of freedom, equality, justice, and rights.

Despite the current waves of racism and xenophobia, we are a moderately diverse country in culture, ethnicity, and religion; and we have a strong and long-standing tradition of integrating immigrants into our culture. While we are seldom among the first countries to adopt new rights – from women’s suffrage to civil rights to gay marriage – we are also not among the many countries that hold out for generations (with the ugly exception of slavery). Despite waves of religious hysteria, we help popularize the idea of religious freedom.

We remain a nation of innovation and opportunity. We have found our way back from other times of hatred and division, and we can now too. Believing in the ideals that made this country great while help us get there. We can admit our country’s flaws and still love its strengths. That, not flag waving, is patriotism. Happy Independence Day.

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The NRA, the GOP, and the Militarization of the Right

The NRA’s recent ad, “The Violence of Lies” has gotten a lot of attention for its divisive fear mongering. It sounds very much like a call to violence, and the ad is disgusting, but what really needs to get more press is that this ad is not an outlier, it is part of a pattern of militarizing and inciting right-wing extremists. What we are seeing is the normalization of violent conservatives intimidating, threatening, and killing people.

I am not saying this is a conspiracy. It is less than a conspiracy, but it is also more than a coincidence. It is a convergence of overlapping trends and manipulations – from disenfranchised white men, to the NRA fearmongering to sell guns, to Republicans pandering to hate and racism, to the rise of the neo-Nazi alt-right, to fear of protesters.

Besides the obvious breakdown in society, the civil unrest, the increasing violence at protests, and the voice it gives to hate groups, people should also take note that having paramilitary thugs defend political rallies and threaten political opponents is a hallmark of totalitarianism. The rise of the Nazi party was aided by the Sturmabteilung (also known as “the Brownshirts”), who both defended party events and interfered with opponents’ gatherings.

Militant right-wing groups such as the Oath Keepers and the Three Percenters are appearing at more events and protests, and the GOP is considering formally enlisting them as private security. These are not patriotic groups defending conservative values. These are hate groups that have spent years promoting anti-government conspiracy theories and violence. They do not “just defend free speech”, they intimidate and threaten.

Violence, threats, and vandalism targeting people by race and religion has increased significantly since Trump’s victory, and yet the Trump administration is redirecting terrorism efforts to focus only on Muslims while freezing grants and shrinking budgets for combating domestic terrorism.

Trump himself has promoted violence against protesters at rallies, and he Tweeted a wrestling video edited to show him “beating up CNN”. Beyond his own reactions to adversaries, Trump is beholden to wave of racism and hate that put him in office. That is why he took months to make a weak statement against the increased violence against Jews and Muslims that followed him into office. It is why Sean Spicer would not use the words “concentration camp”, and why there was no mention of Jews being killed on Holocaust Remembrance Day.

In the Trump era, Republicans who support racism and violence can let their true colors fly. Republicans who disagree go along with little objection, because they are afraid to go against the rest of the party and the conservative media. And thus, the political party that is in control of our country pandering to violent extremists.

The NRA is supposedly a lobby group for gun owners. In truth, it is more of a lobby for gun manufacturers, but that does not mean it should or naturally would become a group promoting violence against liberals and protesters, or become a racist group that stands up for white gun rights but is silent when a black gun owner like Philando Castile is executed for having a licensed gun. But is has, because latching on to the wave of hatred in the Trump era gives them influence.

The segment of internet troll culture that supported Trump plays into the culture of violence, both through online rage and through the cultural violence of public defamation, threats, hacking, and doxing.

All of this is ultimately supported, justified, and amplified through the echo chamber of right wing talk shows and web sites, and eventually mainstreamed by Fox News.

We risk hate groups privately employed as conservative thugs, intimidation and violence at peaceful protests. These actions may be institutionally supported as a sort of “Republican Brown Shirts”, taking us another step toward totalitarianism. We already have increasing violence towards minority and religious groups.

The political forces that should be addressing these issues are taking no action, or supporting the hate and violence. Public outrage is blunted by a steady stream of rationalization by conservative media. Session’s Department of Justice will not do anything about this. The Republicans in power are not going to act until things get much worse (if ever).

What can be done:

  • The mainstreaming of hate and violence is largely supported by the rise alt-right. The alt-right is a neo-Nazi organization. That isn’t an opinion. It is the stated goal of its founder. The myth that the alt-right is anything but a fascist group needs to be attacked on every front.
  • Similarly, the idea of supporting vigilantism by anti-government hate groups to “protect conservative gatherings” needs to be called out and protested.
  • Most importantly, we must not be intimidated. Intimidation of liberals and minorities is their goal. If we are not brave enough to stand up now, we will be forced to later, under much uglier circumstances.
  • And we need to get the crazy, corrupt, and complacent out of political power. Support activist groups. Get involved politically. Protest. Write. Speak. And do whatever you can to support your local Democratic party fielding candidates who can win an election and govern effectively. If you don’t like the Democrats, consider your current alternative: the continued moves towards hatred, violence, and totalitarianism by the Republicans, while continue to profiteer and mismanage the country.
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Challenge the Use of SJW as an Insult

Conservatives use social justice warrior/SJW as an insult for people who speak up for equality and human rights. A surprising number of socially conscious liberals and moderates also use the word in a negative way. That only helps conservatives perpetuate the idea that fighting for social justice is trivial, in a time when increasing hate and discrimination is making protecting people’s rights even more important.

The earliest uses of “social justice warrior” were complimentary, meaning “a hero or crusader for equality and justice”, and date back to at least the 1990s. Between 2009 and 2011, the term began to appear in blogs and on Twitter as an insult. The insult implies an ill-informed individual without deep convictions, who is attempting to appear virtuous, cool, caring, or be politically correct.

Those implications are why many liberals use the term. They use it to describe people who they think are reactionary, uncommitted, phony, or spouting views just “to be hip”. Regardless of whether those are valid complaints, we need to stop using the term “social justice warrior” for such people.

Why? Because one of the most insidious, subtle, yet dangerous things the right does is redefine constructive and noble ideals to sound dumb, petty, shallow, selfish, phony or dangerous. “Progressive”, “liberal”, “intellectual”, and “feminist” have all become political slurs.

When we use such conservative rhetoric, we are helping to publicly degrade our causes and ideals. In this case, we are helping popularize the idea that social justice is something silly and petty. Generally, when conservatives call someone an SWJ, they are implying the person’s views can be written off. Socially conscious people need to stop passively spreading this idea.

Some will say that words such as the N-word, “bitch”, or “fag” have been reclaimed by the people who they were used to insult, and that can be done as a form of empowerment. But liberals are not using SJW as a form of empowerment; we are using it in the same way that Rush Limbaugh would, just on a smaller group of people.

Many of us have bought into the “social justice warrior is bad” rhetoric so much that we apologize for ourselves, like, “yeah, I am a bit of an SJW”. Stop! Standing up for equality and justice is not something to be ashamed of. If anything, people who are complacent about social justice should be ashamed.

Personally, I hope to do enough to call myself a “social justice warrior”, but either way, I am happy to say to anyone, “Yes, I stand for equality, rights, and justice; and I am proud of it. Why don’t you?”

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Republican Oligarchy

Republicans Want an Oligarchy

It seems like the Republican answer to the flaws in our two-party system is to try to turn it into a one-party system.

I used to think the years of obstruction during the Obama administration was just extreme party politics. I figured they didn’t like Obama’s agenda, and they wanted to stop Obama from getting any “wins” to prevent his reelection (Mitch McConnel said as much).

I no longer think it’s that simple.

Republicans are in power now, and the issues they have refused to deal with for the previous eight years need to be addressed. Yet, they do not seem to have any agenda besides tax cuts for the rich, deregulation, attacking immigrants, and further solidifying their control.

Healthcare? They had seven years to come up with a workable conservative alternative, but they had nothing prepared. The economy and the continued loss of blue collar jobs? No solutions besides tax cuts to the rich – which history has proven to be ineffective. Syria? No plan. North Korea? No plan. Russia? Their only action is obstructing the investigation into legitimate concerns about Russia’s actions. Education? Real improvements are needed but their only concern is finally getting vouchers approved – which charter schools demonstrate will likely damage education overall unless implemented cautiously.

At the same time, they seem obsessed with removing anything Obama did, even if they don’t have an equal-or-better solution. While our country is being torn apart over police violence against minorities, they are removing the Justice Department programs Obama created to help with the situation. While extreme-right and white supremacist violence is on the increase, they remove these groups from hate group watch lists. And of course, in healthcare, they only seem to care about eliminating Obamacare, not providing a viable alternative.

This isn’t how Washington used to work. As broken as our politics have been, both sides used to compromise and fight through solutions together, and both sides would get on board for necessary legislation even if it was not perfectly aligned with their ideals.

Watching all this, the excessive gerrymandering, the increasing attempts at voter suppression, the “liberals are not people” rhetoric, the attacks on fundamentals of democracy (such as the courts and the free press), and the stocking of the cabinet with billionaires who are completely unqualified for their office; I’ve come to realize:

Republicans do not want to govern, they just want to be in control. This is not about winning in a democracy, it is about effectively ending democracy.

They want to have absolute power to cram through laws that help the rich or appeal to their supporters, but they have no interest in solving our country’s problems or making us more competitive. They are exactly like the Russian oligarch’s. They are only there for control and to exploit the country financially.

It is no wonder Republicans have suddenly and suspiciously become pro-Russia. They want to be like Russia. They want uncompromised power. They want to attack the press if it speaks out against them. They want to profiteer for themselves and their associates. And in the process, they want to make Putin even richer and more powerful by working with their fellow oligarchs in Russia to profit from Russia’s oil reserves.

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Pride and Black Lives Matter

Black Lives Matter stalled the 2017 Twin Cities Pride parade by inserting themselves in front of the lead car. In response to the verdict in Philando Castile’s killing ten days before the parade, Pride organizers had decided not to have uniformed officers march in the parade. After speaking to police officials, organizers partially reversed and decided to let uniformed officers march but to exclude squad cars. People on both sides of the issue were angry, and some people boycotted the parade.

People are still pissed on both sides of the issue, but this was, in my opinion, a wonderfully Minnesotan result of an ugly situation. Black Lives Matter got to make a statement, and they deserved to. The Minneapolis police were decent enough to keep their distance and let them have their protest. Gay officers still got to march in the parade. Both sides got a lot of support from the crowd. The police managing traffic in my area, despite massive cheers for every Black Lives Matter or Justice for Castile sign, remained friendly and engaged with parade participants.

The situation is more complex than this, but for this day, somehow Pride managed to cover both sides of an ugly divide. I am proud that we could be that together. Even if it was forced, both groups represented.

The valid fears and concerns of people of color should not be ignored, but still, it has to be hard to be a gay cop, and I am grateful; for every police officer that supports the LGBTQ community. Pride, to me, means inclusion and supporting people for who they are. We accidentally got there today. If I ran the parade, I would just plan to do the same thing next year.

That said, I have a bone to pick. I have seen a lot of responses today, generally from white, middle-class, gay men, that basically say, "I have been going to Pride for X years. This is our day! [Black Lives Matter] has no right to intrude."

1) Similar people complained when bisexuals were added to the community, and then again when transgender people were added. Being a white gay man has become somewhat mainstream because these guys rode on the backs of better people – those who cared about all gender and sexual identities. All those people deserve their support now.

2) These "uniformed" people (quotes because I am making myself choose a polite word) need to learn their history. Pride started, a few after the Stonewall riots, to carry on the momentum of the riots created in standing up for GLBTQ rights. The Stonewall riots had jump started the modern GLBTQ activist movement, and were started by gay, lesbian, and trans people rebelling against exploitation by the mob and blatant abuse and harassment by the police. People of color were central to – if not essential to -- these first days of LGBTQ activism. So, yes, it is their day -- as much as it is anyone's.

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Republicans and Russia

Obama, Trump, and Russian Interference

Obama held back information about Russian hacking, fearing it would undermine faith in our democracy. He put country before his political party. The Republicans refuse to do the same. They largely ignore Russia's actions - or reward them.

Philando Castile shooting: Dashcam Video

What's most shocking is how fast it happened. It took just 40 seconds for an ordinary traffic stop to turn deadly -- from a police officer saying, "Hello, sir," to him firing seven shots at Philando Castile.

Black Lives Matter

The Reaction to Black Lives Matter Is a White Lie

Police are being trained in “Killology” a class that describes killing people “a perk of the job”. Innocent people are dying because police are being trained to respond with violence, and because they are actively targeting people of color. Black Lives Matters is a non-violent movement that protests and causes inconvenience, but somehow, they are talked about as if they are violent extremists. It is time for unconcerned white people to ask themselves, “wouldn't you want to at least cause people some inconvenience if you were the target of this violence?”

Facts: Debt and Deficits

"Fiscal Conservative" Republican Presidents have increased the deficit every Presidency since Carter. Democratic Presidents in the same period have reduced the deficit consistently.

The Lessons Jimmy Carter Can Teach Christian Conservatives

This isn’t an attempt to defend Carter’s Presidency. He may be my favorite ex-President, but he was not a good President. Neither is this about the good he has done since he left the Presidency. The lesson is in the misconception of why Carter was a weak President.

'March Against Sharia' Protests Take Place Nationwide

Genius move or stupidity? Obviously, there is no fear of anyone implementing Sharia law in the U.S., but what do you do? Counter-protest their Islamophobia? But no one wants to stand up for Sharia law? Well played, conservative nut jobs. Well played.

Joey Hensley's Family Values: Have an Affair with Your Cousin While Prescribing Her Opiates

Republican is alleged to have had an affair with his nurse and prescribed her opioids. She is also his cousin. Hensley is Christian conservative responsible for anti-gay legislation. His justification for his own sexual choices (and medical ethics violation): “I have thousands of patients. It’s a small town, and I have a lot of family. A lot of family. Cousins, uncles, aunts. … And I don’t treat anyone any different.” Is he saying he'd have an extramarital affair with any of his family members? Values...

Phrases: Drain the Swamp

People keep arguing and complaining about whether Trump has "drained the swamp". If someone wanted to drain a swamp in your area, would you ask "will they really drain it?" or would you ask, "what will be the impact and what are they planning to build there?"

TRUMP'S AMERICA ~ Suspect in Portland Hate Crime Murders is a Known White Supremacist and Trump Supp

The man accused of the brutal hate crime slayings of two people at the Hollywood Transit Center on Friday afternoon is a known local white supremacist. Jeremy Christian, 35, was booked early Saturday morning on two aggravated murder charges, an attempted murder charge, two intimidation (hate crime) charges, and a felon in possession of a restricted weapon charge. The Portland Police Bureau (PPB) reported that the man "was on the MAX train yelling various remarks...