Tuesday, May 23, 2023

Rightwingers have purposefully undermined your ability to properly detect threats often so Republicans can abuse children and women

A huge report on the decades long, multi-layered criminal conspiracy of Catholic Priest in Illinois preying upon and abusing children was released today.

One of the things Republicans have done in their Quest to destroy the United States of America is confuse people.  Chaos and confusion serves Republican interests.

Thus,
  • Chickenhawk draft dodging warmongers get to brand themselves Uber-Patriots
  • Criminal domestic terrorists literally attacking Police and attempting to subvert the US Government and Constitution can declare they Back the Blue, stand for Law&Order, and love America.
  • And Republicans have been able to shield their stable of child predators by shifting blame onto the Queer community and those who don't conform to their rigid White Surpemacist Patriarchy.
For instance, Long Hair on men used to make you an immediate target for harassment, bullying, and open violence.  Remember when draft dodging Mitt R-Money and his school chums held a boy down and forcibly cut his hair?  “He can’t look like that. That’s wrong. Just look at him!” an incensed Romney told Matthew Friedemann.  Republicans long ago declared they are the arbiters of Society and they get to make you conform.

Understand all Republicans are rapists in mind and often in deed.  You only recall the most egregious Republican predators; Donald Trump, Dennis Hastert for instance.  There are literally thousands of Republican men preying upon women and children.  Republicans do not abide by consent or consider themselves bound to respect women's choices.  

This is the essence of the Republican war on Women, the LGBTQ+ community, and "Wokeism".  The so-called Culture Wars are naught but a rebranding of the White Patriarchy which Republicans are pushing to re-establish in America. 

But they've done a fantastic job at propaganda and convinced Normie society that the outliers, the weirdoes, the boys with long hair & the girls with blue hair, are the threats to them and their children, instead of properly identifying the people who prey upon them, abuse them, and murder them:  Republicans. 

The American society Republicans seek to create and are forcing through in State Houses and through podunk bigoted Judges is a society with clearly delineated lines of Predator & Prey.  And right now the Prey are LGBTQ+ persons and Teachers but, as Fascists always do that list of prey will expand until it encircles you. 

Monday, May 22, 2023

Fox News and the entire Republican Party treat Veterans like Toilet Paper

I became aware of this lie while watching the channel of Brian Tyler Cohen and he sums up the Republican perfidy succinctly.

Who cares if it's not true!
It's what conservatives want to hear!

I don't think I've ever seen a more casually despicable and off-handedly shameless piece of agitprop in a long time.  This isn't just a lie, it was an outright fraud, an outright conspiracy in which Republican agent provocateurs appear to have picked homeless men off the street and instructed them to pretend to be Veterans and then concocted a tale of them being kicked out of hotel to make room for Joe Biden's Illegal Immigrants.

I think I'm not being clear enough.  Republicans in New York pulled a George Santos knowing this MASSIVE FRAUD would be picked up Nationally, rebroadcast and generate a lot of Rightwing Outrage and engagement.

MediaMatters as usual has an extensive summation of the hundreds of lies Republicans and Faux News perpetrated because they know, THEY ABSOLUTELY KNOW, conservatives will believe this story no matter how many times in is debunked.  Homeless Veterans kicked out for Illegal Immigrants stimulates the Fear&Anger response conservatives crave.

Republicans breathlessly rushed to get in their condemnations of this, they dusted off their oratory skills to pretend to be Mark Anthony in Shakespeare's Julius Caeser to denounce this shocking mistreatment of America's Heroes while giving those people, those Non-Citizens, those criminals, those Illegals preferential treatment.  Of course, of fucking course, Faux News ran despicable segment after segment after segment of how America's Heroes, Our Best & Brightest, Those to Whom We Owe so so much, were mistreated by Joe while also lighting up the pleasure centers of the rightwing brain by pumping the Border Crisis lie and Racism against anyone from Mexico, Central America, and South America.

This made up story is the Pure Dope to the rightwing Wurlitzer of lies and propaganda.  This is beyond low.  This is beyond deplorable.  I am beyond incensed.  

We've always known that Republicans treat Veterans and Service members like dog shit and little Risk tokens, flinging us about and using us to advance the mean rightwing agenda of oppression and intolerance.

Republicans don't give a shit about the unhoused community.  Republicans don't give a rat's hind tit about homeless people.  Republicans especially don't fucking care about Homeless Veterans.  Republicans use people and Republicans shit all over the Nation, the Flag, the American people.

ThankYouForYourService

Rightwingers have lived for decades on the lie that they are the Party of Veterans, that they are the Party of Law & Order.  And it's absolute bullshit.  Republicans haven't been the Party of the Military for 40 fucking years.  Most of the enlisted who served during the Phony GWoT, that Republican warmongering adventure, pushed by Faux News and the entire Republican media apparatus are liberal or left in viewpoint.  This was demonstrated conclusively by the 2020 election in which the Military (writ large) voted for Joe Biden conclusively over Traitor Trump.

Coked Out Chickenhawk Coward
speaks for all Veterans
 
The undeniable fact that Veterans and Service Members voted for Joe Biden really makes MAGA mad.  This is why MAGA crafted the large overarching narrative of a rigged and stolen election, they still believe (or affect to believe) that they are the large silent majority and represent the American people and values of the United States.  And they don't.  They... Don't... and this dissonance is leading us to were we are currently and were we are going in the next couple of years.

Fascism is here and the violent death throes of recalcitrant rightwing villains will follow.

Addendum: 

As always HRC was far too kind when she called half of Republicans a basket of deplorable, because every Republican is straight trash.  Unredeemable garbage people.  And that a Party of chickenhawk cowards and warmongering draft dodgers feels absolutely free to bandy about Veterans as though We belong to them is just the cherry on top of the galling shit sundae. 

Thursday, May 18, 2023

Illinois: Land of Abortion

I would enjoy if the official moniker for Illinois was changed from Land of Lincoln to Land of Abortion and if the familiar abstract profile of President Lincoln became something else... But, that would shock and outrage the sensibilities!  This is because for a long, long time Abortion has been treated as a dirty secret, a moral outrage if not outright criminal in nature.  And it isn't.  Abortion is Healthcare.

The "Pro-Life" Movement is going to result in Quiverfulls of dead humans. Everyone knows the Anti-Reproductive rights and freedom movement which adopted the moniker "pro-life" has zero regard for mothers, children, or fetuses.  What they care about is dictating and controlling Women.

The Forced Birther Movement has claimed for years to be the Silent Majority but, when put to the voters by referendum, abortion bans always fail, as they did in Kansas or Michigan.  The American people don't want reproductive rights curtailed.  They don't want the restrictive religious laws imposed on them.  They don't want what Sam Alito is selling.  They don't want the Anti-Choice agenda.  Which is precisely why Republicans are forcing it upon them.

So, Illinois stands out as a state with Reproductive freedom and bulwark against the rapacious zealotry of bigoted Republican slavery.  And now the Illinois legislature has passed measure to stop the deceitful anti-abortion facilities from deceiving people seeking healthcare at a proper clinic.  The bill which passed the Illinois Legislature and will soon be signed by Governor J.B. Pritzker amends the Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act, which currently does not include health care professionals. It would apply the existing language to the abortion industry.

“This is literally giving and clarifying the authority of the attorney general in order to prosecute these cases where people are using misleading and deceptive practices in order to take women away from being able to actually get the abortion care that they are looking for,” State Senator Celina Villanueva.

Because we did not get to this point overnight.  The Republicans agenda of oppression and control of Women has been a long slow slog since 1973 and Roe.  And they never resigned themselves to settled law but chipped at the edges and crafted programs to undermine freedom all along the way.

One of those methods was the Pregnancy Crisis Center (aka "limited practice facilities") and its' workers; who falsely advertise services on websites.  This tactic is now no longer needed in a some states which have simply pushed through draconian anti-Abortion legislation but, in Illinois it's the prime method for curtailing women that rightwingers still possess.

"The attack on sidewalk counseling - actually trying to regulate the speech of people standing on a public sidewalk advocating against abortion - that is unique.  Here you have a real attempt to stop citizens from expressing themselves on a public sidewalk as they see fit."

"Sidewalk Counseling" is a hell of euphemism for shouting burn in hell slut and threatening to murder women who are going to an abortion clinic.  Of course, what these people also do is more nefarious as they often flag people down and pretend to be from the abortion clinic ask for the driver's license, and direct the person seeking care towards the anti-abortion clinic as though this is the real location for their appointment.

"There is nothing in this bill that limits speech, nothing at all,” lead bill sponsor Rep. Terra Costa Howard, D-Glen Ellyn, said while debating the bill. “‘Cause if you’re not lying, what do you have to worry about?”

What Peter Breen of the Thomas More Dead Women Society is arguing in his blinkered disingenuous way, that he and others of his ilk have a 1st Amendment right to lie and defraud people i.e express themselves as they see fit.  Because remember what evangelicals like Breen and so many others believe is their dishonesty is noble, as lying for Jesus washes away all crimes.

Tuesday, May 16, 2023

The Revenge of the Thin Blue Line 38: Cat Convertor: More than meets the Eye

Is Crime Up or Down?  Well... it depends.  

You see, Faux News, rightwing provocateurs and Republican liars have a delicate balance to maintain their conservative drones in a constant state of frothing fury and racist agitation.

That's why the Border Crisis is always a go-to segment.  Far enough away from most Republicans to not make them shoot at their local landscaper but, always visible as a source of Replacement Anxiety. 

Therefore, in order to make crime a continual cudgel to bash the weak on crime liberals but, to make sure conservatives never question why Republicans don't solve crime inside a week as Donald John Trump said he could do, the right adopted a see-saw balance of Fear & Anger.  Because keeping their racist base in constant state of either of those emotions would be untenable but by bouncing them back-and-forth between the two it allows the rightwing lizard brain a reset.

But, what can not be discussed is root causes of crime/disorder nor can the hierarchy of criminality ever be discussed.  That's how Republicans can shamelessly support the strangulation of a homeless person on the New York subway or claim the homeless criminals in San Francisco brutally assaulted a retired Fire Chief Don Carmignani and ignore whatever underlying reason for the man's condition or (forbid) the structural inequalities which lead to homelessness in the United States in general.

So one of the methods of keeping conservatives afraid and angry without directly implicating their own performance and competence is to decry those Liberal (((Soros))) backed District Attorney's and Democrat run Cities and those dastardly liberals who won't take the handcuffs of the Police!

Republicans are explicit Fascists now, but they are following the Leninist Agenda in many regards, accusing their enemies of the crimes they themselves are committing and undermining the traditional society to destroy the current administrative state which they will replace with their NeoConfederate Unequal Rule of a Vicious Minority.

In Chicago, we've been facing an epidemic of catalytic converter thefts for the past few years.

The devices created to help deal with automobile exhaust are easily accessible in the undercarriage of most vehicles by simply lifting the vehicles and cutting the pipes in the underneath muffler/exhaust system.  All the thieves in question need is a car (often stolen) a reciprocating saw and a 2-ton floor jack are all they need.  Of course, since this is America all the criminals have guns.  But, having stolen these 3 foot long, mud, mud, grime, and exhaust coated metal tubes what do the thieves do with them?  
Palladium is so easy to recover even 
a Cave (Iron) Man can do it!

Theories were promoted that the thieves were stealing the catalytic convertors for the precious metals inside the air-cleaning contraption.  As though they were Iron Man, recovering and smelting Palladium and forging them into untraceable ingots to be deposited at the giant Zurich North American Headquarters in Schaumburg, Illinois for the thieves Swiss Bank Accounts.  

But, even worse I read a critical reach from a Cook County Sheriff's Department "source" who told the Deputy that thieves were breaking the ceramic parts out of the catalytic converters, crushing them, and snorting/smoking them.

It was mind-bogging this "intel" was passed along as it's obscenely ludicrous.  I hope the source was just fucking around.  Or perhaps "the source" really did see someone try to crush and smoke the "honeycomb" parts of a catalytic convertor.  But, I think it's more likely the source in question was feeding shit to the CCSPD which they passed along.  The CCSPD has a habit of passing along dubious information from the Intel division as when they told every in the Chicago collar Counties of the 30,000 strong Antifa Army amassing to storm Gettysburg.

I did my own research (amazing how that phrase has turned to shit now that rightwingers have co-opted it) and discovered a story from September 2021 from an Autoblog about smoking catalytic converter ceramics as a "New Drug Craze" in Kinshasa in Africa.  This was picked up and re-reported by the New York Post.

The obvious answer was to sell them to automotive shops in and around Chicago for resell.  The shop pays $300-500 per convertor and pipe, cleans them up and resells them to the public (to replace the stolen one) at $1000.

So, it was no surprise, to me, when Cook County Sheriff Tommy Dart announced an arrest had recovered 600+ catalytic convertors from the back yard of a Tow Truck Company owner.  You see this is America and in the United States we never, ever address root causes of crime but only target and treat symptoms.  Thus, the Police response was to patrol and chase the thieves driving away in stolen cars with a trunk full of cut catalytic converters.  Instead of figuring out to whom the thieves were selling these items. 

Friday, May 12, 2023

The Revenge of the Thin Blue Line 37: A lotta Illinois Policemen are suddenly gonna discover they have "Long Covid"

Police tend to be rightwing.  Police also tend to be incurious and incredulous.  So it's no coincidence you find a large portion of Police Officers were Covid denialists, as well as, Vaccine hesitant, anti-mask and vehemently against other mild Covid mitigation protocols.

But, Cops are also woe-is-me, cynical, lazy bums who literally invented "Quiet Quitting" decades ago under the name "The Blue Flu".  But, if we've seen anything from rightwingers over the years, it's that they don't actually abide by the values, rules, and ethics they supposedly cherish.

So, the news that Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker signed The Act-of-Duty Law (HB3162), which modifies the Illinois Police Pension code to address disability from Covid and post-Covid complications, will place these Officers in a ethical quandary,

(e) For the purposes of this Section only, any policeman 
who becomes disabled as a result of exposure to and 
contraction of COVID-19, as evidenced by either a confirmed 
positive laboratory test for COVID-19 or COVID-19 antibodies 
or a confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19 from a licensed medical 
professional, shall:
        (1) be rebuttably presumed to have contracted COVID-19 
    while in the performance of an act or acts of duty;
        (2) be rebuttably presumed to have been injured while 
    in the performance of an act or acts of duty; and
        (3) be entitled to receive a duty disability benefit 
    during any period of such disability for which the 
    policeman does not have a right to receive salary, in an 
    amount equal to 75% of the policeman's salary, as salary 
    is defined in this Article, at the time the disability is 
    allowed, in accordance with subsection (a).
    The presumption shall apply to any policeman who was 
exposed to and contracted COVID-19 on or after March 9, 2020 
and on or before June 30, 2021; except that the presumption 
shall not apply if the policeman was on a leave of absence from 
his or her employment or otherwise not required to report for 
duty for a period of 14 or more consecutive days immediately 
prior to the date of contraction of COVID-19.

Ha ha ha!  Who am I kidding?  There will be no quandary!  What we're going to find is a bunch of Cops who previously dismissed, denied, or outright proclaimed Coronavirus to be a Hoax (despite Covid being the leading cause of Officer deaths for the last 3 straight years) will suddenly find they, in fact, had caught it between March 2020 and June 2021.  And these deniers will no doubt discover that their Long Covid is so severe will inhibit their performance of their duty as much as it impacted former Chicago Blackhawk player Jonathan Toews.

Now, of course, Cops are also miserly and petulant so even though Governor Pritzker has looked out for Law Enforcement he's a Democrat! and that's the worst thing ever, so expect all these jabroni's to collect their disability while grousing about Pritzker's toilets.

Wednesday, May 10, 2023

Shall Not Be Infringed 9: Stand Your Ground, the motto of the RWDS

“Do you think we’re going to hurt you? We would never hurt you. I would use my firearm to defend you. Just to be clear,” Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.). argues she is not a threat.   Just.. to... be... clear... 

Anna P. Luna is a psychotic liar whose only redeeming feature is there happen to be even more psychotic Republican Liars such as Major Traitor Greene, "George Santos" and Dick Exposer L. Boebert in Congress.

The nice reporters at NPR had a story about Stand Your Ground Laws.  They interviewed researchers.  Presented facts.  Complied data.  And presented it in that low gentle soft voice NPR is known for.

They still don't understand.
 No reasoned argument will ever convince the Republican Gun Nuts to pull back.  NPR and so many others still want to believe the proper mix of facts and speech is the magic this one-weird trick which will reveal the truth to Republicans but, they don't realize that Republicans no longer cynically endorse guns and the Firearms Industry to get votes.  Republicans have been stewing in rightwing Moron Labe Tyranny for so long this is who they are now;  Fascists.

Guns are Power.  Gun Fetishization is Power.  Gun usage is Power.  Republicans love Guns.  
Rightwing Lone Wolves
are Domestic Terrorists to Us
and Heroes to Republicans

Not, to put a bummer on this gorgeous Spring Day but, Republicans are already engaged in a low-level Civil War against Us.

By flooding the Nation with 400,000,000 firearms and undercutting local, State, and Federal Gun laws and restrictions the Gun Humping Maniacs, Republicans, the NRA, and firearms manufacturing industry have turned the Nation and 2nd Amendment into a Murder-Suicide Pact.  But, that's not the end goal.  

The end goal is an armed Coup begun by tip of the spear Rightwing Paramilitary domestic terrorists and then 
slowly but inexorably pulling in sympathetic Law Enforcement and Military to enforcing their Putsch.  Always remember rightwingers don't expect to defeat the military or National Guard in open conflict, they expect them to coalesce around them and help them neutralize or eliminate those military members of law enforcement personnel who don't.

Republicans have normalized the talk of overthrowing the government and unfitted access to all manner of weaponry to make Americans comfortable with it because on their next Jan6th (which Just to be Clear the Republican Party has come to defend and endorse) they plan to use guns early and often. 

This was always the point of the so-called "Stand Your Ground" Laws.  Coupled with this has been to enshrine subjective fear for my life court rulings.  Thus, everyone can claim to be "afraid for their lives" and ipso facto claim self-defense.  Obviously, this doesn't always work in every court case but, it's a starting point and make prosecution of these murders difficult.  As we saw Kenosha Killer Kyle Rittenhouse specifically went to Wisconsin to carry a gun and shoot people and then he did just that.  But, during his ridiculous hearing he was allowed to blubber on stand about his fears despite inserting himself into the situation with an AR-15.

Anxious to emulate, Kenosha Killer Kyle, in Texas Daniel Kelly posted multiple times on multiple social media platforms his desire to shoot and murder protesters.  After his trial and guilty conviction based on overwhelming evidence, rightwing propagandists revved up their Wurlitzers of lies to claim Perry's murder of Garrett Foster was "justified self-defense".  Fvcker Carlson did multiple segments on it and Texas Governor Greg Abbott swiftly declared his plan to get a pardon for convicted killer Perry.

“Texas has one of the strongest ‘Stand Your Ground’ laws of self-defense that cannot be nullified by a jury or a progressive District Attorney.  I look forward to approving the Board’s pardon recommendation as soon as it hits my desk.” 

Always remember the unequal application of laws is a key component of Fascism.  Fortunately, Texas constrains its' governors so Abbott can not unilaterally override the murder conviction.

Meanwhile, rightwing terrorists in Texas continue to exact a toll on the populace.  Mauricio Garcia, the "RWDS" Killer in Allen, Texas was regular on message boards posting the Republican message of Stochastic Terrorism, i.e. low level violence and "random" massacre which are nearly impossible to specifically predict but, an absolute certainty to happen somewhere in the United States.

But, a key component is to make all the white people deathly afraid of the blacks, this is why Faux News and Rightwing media are constantly harping on "Knock-Out Games" or "Black-on-Black" crime and spreading videos of young blacks "wilding".  

David Doyle, heard a noise and saw shadows outside his home so...blam blam blam, he started blasting hitting her in the head, though she apparently survived.

The Subway Strangler Daniel Penny who executed a homeless black man is a Hero and being lauded on-line and on regular Fox News programs.

The more Republicans hear about the Discord leaker Jack Teixeira the more they love him, as it turns out Teixeira fantasized about a mass shooting at his school, was overheard by multiple classmates speaking about Molotov cocktails and which rifle was best to use from the back of a pickup.  Teixeira's background was so egregious, the local PD requested the State deny him a firearms owners card.  Major Traitor Greene's darling Teixeira had an arsenal at his home as well.

I think besides NPR, many people in this country don't want to acknowledge what's happening.  I don't blame them.  It's hard to reconcile what we want to believe to what is actually happening.  The Republican Party is a fully fascist organization which does not believe any elected Democrat is legitimate, that the media, education, woke corporations and others are unlawfully restricting their "Natural Rights", stealing elections, stabbing them in the back, and ramming Tyranny down their throats.

All this adds up to the questions more and more conservatives are asking openly, "When do we get to use the guns?"  And as we are seeing more and more conservatives are answering that question with "Right Now."

Monday, May 8, 2023

The Revenge of the Thin Blue Line 36: Kim Foxx not gonna Run so instead Let's Go Brandon

Kim Foxx announced she will not seek reelection in 2024 after serving two terms as Cook County state's attorney.

“At the conclusion of my term, November of 2024, I will be stepping down as State’s Attorney. I will not be on next year’s ballot, by my choice,” Foxx told the room. “I became State’s Attorney to deliver safety, justice and equity. I feel that I have made my mark, so I’m ready to let new leadership step forward,” Foxx said in a written statement following today’s speech. “Over the next year and half, my office will continue to work diligently for the people of Cook County and uphold the values of a fair and just legal system.” 

If there was one thing that pissed Police off in Chicago and Cook County it was Kim Foxx.  Because Kim Foxx is guilty;  Guilty of the crime of being a black person of America.  This is the most unforgivable offense in the United States; past, present, and future.  As State's Attorney Kim Foxx instituted reforms to cash bail, expunged cannabis arrests (which of course, overwhelmingly targeted minorities), and helped overturn numerous wrongful convictions, resulting from Police misconduct.

Now, if you ask Police why they hate her the responses will no doubt include the ridiculous Jussie Smolett incident and Foxx's unforced error in intervening in the investigation.  But, overall the claim will be that Foxx did not allow the Police (and Cook County ASA's) to do their job; which is arresting and incarcerating minorities.  Standard refrains from Officers when asked about Chicago crime revolved around, 'What do you expect? It's Cook County!' and 'Kim Foxx won't do anything about this or that crime' and it's 'Kim Foxx is stopping us from charging criminals'.  Much of this was a thin veneer to cover for slipshod police work.  But, always remember Police don't arrest innocent people...

Now, remember what we are running into is not the Thin Blue Line but, the wall of Whiteness.  White people are inculcated from an early age to love Police but, also fear them.  This is most often seen when a white parents chastise their very young child's behavior by saying, 'Now!  Little Aiden don't do that or the Policeman will come take you away!'

The reason you do this is so white people learn to understand as long as they toe-the-line and support police they will be protected good standing members of the Congregation.  But, those congregants who transgress earn the sobriquet "Mopes".

As Nicole Gonzalez Van Cleve noted in her book, Crook County: Racism and Injustice in America's Largest Criminal Court,

In the vernacular of court culture, defendants are identified by vulgarities: "scum," "piece of shit," "bad guys" - even "banana suits" (which refers to the jail jumper that defendants in custody must wear in court).  One term predominates among these epithets.  That term is "mopes," used mostly to refer to defendants but sometimes used to describe professionals as well.  The meaning inscribed in this term is central to the moral rubric applied to defendants by courtroom professionals.

Work ethic, competency, and motivation are central elements of court culture.  Efficiency and speed of disposition provide daily evidence of the court professional's work ethic.  Not surprisingly, plea bargains rather than trials define this proverbial machine of efficient justice, and judges and prosecutors pride themselves on efficiency. 

"Mope" is shorthand for a person who violates these values.  Professionals find it difficult to regard a defendant as anything but a mope.  

As we see with the Sinister Six Injustices in the Supremacist Court, the Law, Officials, and Courts in America has morphed into a quasi-religion, the new Priesthood, and Church of America.  For decades now, we've been treated to numerous TV shows which demonstrate the sublime perfection of the Mystic Legal Religion, as Cops always get there, Judges are humble, impartial arbiters of immutable Holy Script, and the Prosecutors follow the god-given tenets of law to achieve absolute truth.  While defendants attempt to wiggle free.  In many courtrooms across the land certain people are rushed through the system and incarcerated whilst others enjoy the long, slow process, multiple appeals, delays, motions, and extended mysteries of the courtroom.   

The role of Police is to be the first line enforcing this Mystical Legal Religion (which has all the hallmarks of White Supremacy); now every Officer I know would (and has) immediately balked and become defensive or dismissive of this when I point it out for a variety of personal reasons or unexamined assumptions but, this is often because they can not or will not see the systematic Institutional Racism which undergirds American society.

Because Police Officers are terrible lawyers and should not be trusted when it comes to their opinion on the charging of crimes.  So Cook County makes Officers call Assistant State's Attorney's for background and approval when charging felonies.  But, I've never met an Officer who didn't think every single arrest he made was a lock solid certainty and the defendant 100% guilty.  Now, I never made an arrest when I did not believe I had probable cause, but I've never gotten mad at not "winning" in the Courtroom.

In this system, blacks and Hispanics are always a priori considered "mopes" until proved otherwise and white people are presumed to have been raised in the spirit of holy Justice to uphold the white supremacist ideals that the Court enforces.  But, by interfering in the fast disposition of defendants, Kim Foxx became Queen Mope to Officers working in Chicago and Cook County, who took to routinely blaming Foxx for all the woes and all crime in the City and Cook County.  Of course, this is total nonsense.

Incidentally, this is why every Republican, every rightwing tv station and every internet propagandist is mad about the revelations of extreme corruption, cartoonish criminality, and highly unethical behavior of the Ettins of the Supreme Court; Clarence and Ginni, John Roberts and his wife Jane Sullivan, Sammy di puzzi Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Boofer O'Kavanugh, and Amy Coathanger Barrett.  Since they are the High Mullahs of America their whims are infallible and their dictates (much like those of Kacsmaryk or the podunk goober Judges in down state Illinois) are received from on-high and are actually the transmittals of the Idealized Pure Law and thus unimpeachable.  Also, conservatives will be apoplectic if Dick Durbin gets off his ass and abolishes the outmoded and fascist friendly blue-slip Senate rules because conservatives have stolen the Judiciary fair and square!

However, now that Kim Foxx is gone, rightwingers and asshole Reactionary Cops have lost their satan whom they could blame for any of their lazy fuck-ups in building a case, sloppy detective work, and for all crime everywhere in Cook County.  But, thankfully white supremacy in Chicago is saved because in April Brandon Johnson won the Chicago Mayoral Election against Paul Vallas and before the final vote was even tabulated rightwingers had a downtown incident which was 100% Brandon Johnson's fault and which 100% showed what the rightwing wurlitzer will do going forward. 

Sunday, May 7, 2023

Shall Not Be Infringed 8: Republicans love when children are shot to pieces and if you survive a mass shooting Republicans will enjoy enslaving you

More Guns is always the Answer.

The questions don't even matter anymore. 

The facts have never mattered.

The truth the Ultimate Truth is Republicans love when people are shot to death.

You know what they will say: Mental illness! Black-on-Black crime! Chicago! Good Guys with Guns!

And you know what they'll do: Nothing.

Thoughts & Prayers. Empty & Hollow. Republicans offer them up because they are substanceless.

Vanessa Brito and many others have pointed out Ted Cruz, when he isn't plotting to overthrow the United States government or plotting his latest Cancun vacation while his constituents languish, will Ctrl+C Ctrl+V his same Heidi and I are praying... tweet he always tweets after every Mass Shooting. 

And to,all the people who immediately rush to their phones to tweet, 

Big Red X This is Fake

it's not the gotcha you think it is.

It's akin to the NRA gun humpers and Republican gun lobbyists who dismiss every nuanced 10,000 word article about gun violence and the mass proliferation of firearms in America by stating you mislabeled a pistol grip with a regular stock your post is Invalid.

Stop giving bad faith arguments credence. Stop allowing the firearms industry the framing of gun violence in America. Stop letting worthless   Thoughts & Prayers from treasonous scumbuckets like Ted Cruz or Marge Greene or whomever be the narrative. 

The Truth is Republicans love gun violence in America.   They love when people are shot to pieces.  They won't do anything to minimize this, let alone stop it.  Gun Violence is how Republicans plan to topple the United States and create a Neo-Confederate white supremacist Nation.

Eta:

Texas Republican Keith Self, who represents the NRA in Allen, Texas was asked about this latest mass shooting:

"Now, you know, congressman, that is a common refrain after these incidents, after mass shootings, but many people argue that prayers aren't cutting it, prayers are not preventing the next mass shooting. What is your response to that criticism?" Paula Reid asked.

Keith Self, expressed, his desire to see more people shot to pieces for Christ's holey message,

"Well, those are people that don't believe in an almighty God who, who has, who is absolutely in control of our lives..."

Meanwhile, Megyn White Santa Kelly's twitter is a cesspool of conservatives yearning, begging to get the go ahead to use all their guns they've stockpiled to murder the libs.

Also if you read White Power Megyn's screed the argument isn't that gun control wouldn't solve these mass shootings; its instead two-fold, 1) there are 400,000,000 guns cats outta the bag suck on this libtards and 2) we won the bureaucratic battle of stacking the Courts with psychos who rule our way. 

Additionally,

We have to stop using the euphemisms the right has adopted vis-a-vis guns, i.e. stopping tyranny, self-defense. Rightwingers want and have steadily won the Legal "Right" and Supremacist Court Imprimatur to murder whomever they wish.  And as The Right steadily loses elections and cultural issues they see that Legal Right extending towards Civil War and the "Right" to overthrow the US government. 

Saturday, May 6, 2023

On this Cinco de Mayo weekend, let's acknowledge your Lawn & your Takeout are responsible for the Migrant "Crisis"

“So we went to the company and we said, look, you can’t have any illegals working on our property,” said Romney. “I’m running for office, for Pete’s sake, I can’t have illegals. It turns out that once, they hired someone who had falsified their documents, had documents, and therefore we fired them.”  If you believe these absurd lies from Vulture Capitalist Mitt R-Money... well Bain Capital will gladly manage steal your pension too.
Whenever, I'm home this time of year, it doesn't matter the day of the week or the time of day, and go out into my yard to weed or pick up branches or rake up yard detritus my fanatical neighbor cranks up his two lawn mowers (ones a riding) and mows his lawn to prove to me that his Surburbanite bonafides are superior to mine.  Often I give up and go inside because I do "yard work" as a mental reset, a time to turn of my brain, and enjoy physical labor in an almost meditative state. 

But, when I'm at work driving around Millon Dollar Suburban homes this time of year, I see trailer after trailer of lawn mowing equipment being towed by half-ton and three-quarter ton diesels, belching out fumes.  And the various pieces of equipment are, of course, also gas-powered so besides noise they also belch forth petroleum fumes.

All to maintain a lawn as though your yard and home are a Ducal Estate.  Lawns were always a "status symbol" of the elite, as having a large, non-food based "crop" across your land indicated you were not a farmer and could afford the luxury of having large tracts of monoculture vegetation.

Of course, the cutting and mowing also requires ridiculous watering (often done automatically even during rain storms) and gobs of pesticide/herbicide applications.  And let's not forget the attached "Carriage House" for your Auto-Mobiles.

Now, who does all this "lawn care"?  Why the very people oft demonized by the owners of these million dollar homes and yards;  Hispanic Immigrants.

Additionally, your favorite restaurant whether it be McDonald's or The Chicago Double Eagle Steak House employs large number of immigrants, and while they might not be the Sommelier, they might be cooking, they definitely will be busing table sand washing the dishes but, regardless of their role migrants will be there.  So, your lifestyle of lounging in the yard and eating your favorite takeout is thanks in large part to Hispanic Immigrants.

What we know the Republicans are never serious about "solving" the border crisis because they don't target those responsible.  The Corporations and businesses which rely upon and entice people to come here.  As John Fugelsang points out there is a Huge HELP WANTED sign at the border.  Republicans will never chastise companies which employ migrants because using migrant labor lubricates the US economy in numerous ways.

But, migrants help Republicans undercut US Labor and remain a useful cudgel to bash Democrats and liberals about the head with the term "Illegals" while whipping up their racist base and keeping rightwingers in a permanent frothing fury.

ETA: 
Axios has a good article about the No Mow and other anti-lawn pushbacks against obsessed Suburbanite Lawn Nazis and the inevitable Reactionary pushback and use of the legal system to punish no mowers.

Thursday, May 4, 2023

Being Homeless in America means facing derision, demonization, and death

America is a Pauper Nation.  And it's very costly to be poor or unhoused.  From New York to San Francisco social media and cell phone cameras are letting America see some of the abuse the less fortunate face in America.  We don't have a housing or a border or a migrant crisis we have a crisis of compassion.  The United States of America, the supposed richest nation on the Earth, has a paucity of humanity.

In early April, Faux News, Corporate Media, and rightwing on-line agitators hyped and highlighted the brutal attack by a homeless man on an honorable retired Don Carmignani!

Would you buy a used car from a fucking guy
who poses for this kind of picture?
Carmignani's friend Joe Alioto-Veronese did a media junket bemoaning the attack and highlighting how San Francisco bleeding heart liberals are allowing criminals free reign over good people!  Rightwing media tried to tie this attack into the murder of CashApp creator Bobby Lee and conservatives constantly use the tried-and-true method of repetition repetition repetition to make people absorb and uncritically regurgitate conservative lies about crime and grant people the ability to unconsciously know that liberals are [n]-word lovers and criminal coddlers.  Thus, the implicit bias (as well as explicit bias) becomes the default position and reinforces the lie that Republicans are for Law & Order. 

Carmignani wrote, without a sense of shame or irony, “I firmly believe that the city needs to promote the safety of its law-abiding citizens over those who chose to do drugs and commit violent acts in our streets. I am hopeful that this unfortunate incident will lead to policy changes to better protect the interests of San Francisco residents.”

Except it turns out that Carmignani is far from law-abiding and has, since November 2021, been walking around San Francisco committing violent acts in the street by assaulting homeless people throughout the city.  There have been 8 documented attacks in the last year and a half where a fat criminal matching Don Carmignani's appearance used "bear spray" on random unhoused persons.  How many people did the violent criminal Carmignani assault who didn't report it?

So, a month ago when Carmignani pepper-sprayed his latest victims, a trio of homeless people, one of them grabbed a pipe and fought back.  That man Garrett A. Doty was initially arrested and charged with several felonies.  But, fortunately, 

Prosecutors have alerted former San Francisco Fire Commissioner Don Carmignani they will be moving to dismiss charges in a brutal beating he suffered outside his mother's home in the city's Marina District earlier this month, according to his attorney.

Carmignani's attorney said the assistant district attorney said the office now considers the incident self-defense and indicated other evidence of attacks on homeless people believed to have been committed by Carmignani has led to the decision to dismiss the case.
 
Doty's public defender, Kleigh Hathaway, told reporters Wednesday that in the last 24 hours, her office had received new information about what appears to be a pattern of incidents allegedly involving Carmignani, all within a four-block radius of the Marina District home. 
"The district attorney and the police have now reason to believe that Mr. Carmignani was involved in eight - eight - separate acts of violence," said Hathaway. "These eight separate acts of violence were perpetrated against people who are homeless. The district attorney and the police gave us, the defense, yesterday, these police reports because they believe these acts are related to Mr. Carmignani."
So, as always a rightwing asshole went out to attack people and then when they fought back he claimed to be the victim and used the legal system to go after his victims.  I guess Doty and the multiple other victims, Carmignani terrorized are lucky he didn't just shoot them because then Carmignani would have the Rittenhouse Defense of dead men telling no tales.  

Meanwhile on the New York City Subway, a mentally ill, unhoused man was choked to death by a a big bad Marine Veteran. The god-awful New York Post framed this is the most rightwing way ever highlighting the homeless man's previous arrests for disorderly conduct and fare-jumping and using the passive voice of a man on subway lost consciousness and could not be revived, as though an unseen force of nature were responsible for his death.

The white dude, cheered on and helped by other callous villains, decided to use deadly force on a mentally ill person because; why not? If Tucker Carlson hadn't been fired for a level of vile bigotry, grotesque sexual harassment, and racist white supremacist rhetoric, (which proved even too much for Fox News!), he would be lionizing the 24 year old's actions.  And too the eternal shame of New York Governor Kathy Hochul she seemed to justify this killing.

What we are witnessing is Fascism in Action;  certain peoples are never afforded protection from the state.  Migrants, the homeless community, LGBTQ are unpersons and don't count to the rightwing mind.  And in every Republican controlled state, legislation has advanced to look the other way when people do violence on them or even justify it.  But, never forget that once rightwingers destroy one group of people, their bloodlust is not satiated, Republicans will look for a new group to demonize, deride and destroy.

Prepare yourself because Rightwing death squads and Republican run death camps are certainly in the air and one disastrous election in 2024 away...