And so it begins...

[Scooter]

Emboldened by Trump victory, man storms into LGBTQ affirming church to spew hate

A man stormed into an LGBTQ affirming church in Tempe, Ariz., and proceeded to go on an antigay tirade, which included threats to spread lies about the congregation.

Police say the man saw the rainbow flag hanging outside the Community Christian Church and since Donald Trump is our soon-to-be president felt empowered to make his message of hatred and intimdation known.

After telling a church employee what he thought about gay people, he threatened to pay people to protest outside the church and to spread lies about the church with charges of pedophilia.

“He said that if Hillary would have won he would have driven right on by the church without stopping, but because Trump won he felt he had permission to say and act the way he wanted to expressing the hate that he had for this particular group of people,” Pastor Doug Bland told KPHO.

“I think it’s a challenge to us to make sure we respond with love and with grace instead of responding hate for hate,” he added.

Instead of backing down in the face of hatred, the church hung a second flag next to the pride flag, with words reading “Lovers in a Dangerous Time,” in reference to the 1984 Bruce Cockburn song.

The man has not been charged since detectives say the man didn’t commit a crime. If he returns he may be arrested for tresspassing.

Pastor Bland posted about the incident on Facebook, calling for prayers. It has since gone viral.

[Big RR]

He said that if Hillary would have won he would have driven right on by the church without stopping, but because Trump won he felt he had permission to say and act the way he wanted to expressing the hate that he had for this particular group of people

While I have no doubt some people feel this way, I think it pretty surprising someone would say that (and especially concede he would not have said anything if Hillary won). There are all types of people in the world, so who knows? But I find it a strange thing to say.

That being said, I am not surprised someone would act this way and go in the church and try and start something; but I think he might well have done it whoever won the presidency. In my church we have had anti-gay graffiti scrawled on the front of the church because of the rainbow flag ()presumably) as well; and this in one of the most highly educated (98 % of the kids go on to college) and highest income communities in NJ. Personally I think its high school kids rather than any sort of anti-gay group, but the thought of well educated kids doing this is almost as disturbing.

[Bicycle Bill]

I do have to admit to drawing swastikas (along with other kids) on things back when I was in school in the 1960s, but that wasn't because we were such huge fans of Hitler or the Nazis; hell, we didn't know shit about Germans or Nazism other than what we saw on TV on shows like 'Combat!' or in comic books like 'Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos'.  We just knew that it would piss off the grown-ups.

-"BB"-

[Big RR]

That's often the motivation for many an act of vandalism, But it usually ends when you learn about why some might not find it funny, but hateful. And that's what I find surprising here; some of the high school kids get pissed because the janitor chases them away when skateboarding on the stairs (it ruins them), but to use anti-gay slogans in response is surprising as these kids know (or should know) better. -

[Bicycle Bill]

This isn't 'alt-right'; this is just plain wrong.

Neo-Nazis publish photos, contact info of Jewish residents of Montana town, urge 'action'

A white supremacist website, The Daily Stormer, has issued a "call to action" against Jewish residents of Whitefish, Montana, accusing the "vicious, evil race" of harming the Whitefish business of the mother of Richard Spencer, the white nationalist who popularized the term alt-right, the Missoulian reports.  "So then, let's hit em up," The Stormer article urges.  "Are y'all ready for an old fashioned Troll Storm?"  The article also posted the names, email addresses, phone numbers, and Twitter handles of Whitefish residents it claims are harassing Spencer's mother.  More disturbingly, write Keila Szpaller and Gwen Florio of the Missoulian:

The Stormer posted pictures of several Whitefish residents, including a child, with a yellow Star of David with the word "Jude" — German for Jew — added to each photo. During World War II, Jews in Germany and Nazi-occupied territories were forced to wear such stars on their clothing. (from the Missoulian)

The article includes a disclaimer that The Daily Stormer, which has a "Jewish Problem" section, opposes violence.  Earlier this month, Whitefish Mayor John Muhlfeld issued a proclamation repudiating "the ideas and ideology of the white nationalist and so called alt-right as a direct affront to our community's core values and principles."

-"BB"-

[Bicycle Bill]

House Republicans Propose Fines for Congressional Live-Streams
$500 for the first offense, $2500 for each subsequent infraction.

We will tell you what we want you to know.......
another article, a little more detailed, from Variety
...and the text of the proposed resolution dealing with the House rules.  The part we're concerned with is section 2.
And just curious ... would the House rules even apply if the House were in recess (as was the case when Ryan blacked-out the C-Span cameras back in June)?

Whaddya mean we're trying to hide something?  We're your government; you can trust us.

-"BB"-

[rubato]

First they kill the voting rights act and strip the vote from mostly poorer more rural and non-white communities. Now they deprive the country of any knowdge of what they are doing.

What will those stout defenders of democracy known as the Republicans do next?


Yes,
Rubato

[Burning Petard]

These are the people who railed against the oppressive elitist Democrats. It is all the communication programs of '1984' and 'Brave New World'. As others have said, "you can't make this stuff up."

snailgate

[Scooter]

Ben Carson, the retired neurosurgeon and failed presidential candidate known for his anti-LGBT views, let his prejudice show today during the confirmation hearing on his nomination for secretary of Housing and Urban Development, saying he opposes “extra rights” for LGBT people.

In the hearing before the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio said to Carson, “You have in the past raised questions about whether LGBTQ people should enjoy the same rights as everyone else. Do you believe that HUD has a duty to take actions that promote equal access to housing opportunities for LGBTQ people?”

Carson responded, “Of course I would enforce all the laws of the land, and I believe that all Americans, regardless of any of the things you mentioned, should be protected by the law. What I have mentioned in the past is that no one gets extra rights. Extra rights means you get to redefine everything for everybody else.”

Brown replied that wasn’t what he was asking about, but he was glad to hear Carson say he would uphold the law going forward.

Carson has made many similar statements in the past, such as saying transgender people are “abnormal” and don’t deserve “extra rights,” such as being allowed to use the public restrooms that correspond with their gender identity. He has also characterized same-sex couples’ right to marry as an “extra right.”

“When we start trying to impose the extra rights based on a few people who perhaps are abnormal, where does that lead?” he said in a January 2016 interview.

Carson has contended that the president has the right to ignore Supreme Court rulings, such as the marriage equality ruling, and has also said businesses and even government employees should have the legal right to refuse service to people who offend their religious beliefs. And he once infamously said that same-sex couples shouldn’t try to force a disapproving baker to make their wedding cake, as the baker might poison it. He subsequently claimed that was a joke.

Carson and Donald Trump often clashed during the Republican presidential primary season, but after Carson dropped out of the race, he endorsed Trump, and after Trump won the presidency, he nominated Carson to head HUD, despite the retired doctor’s lack of experience in this area and stated opposition to public housing programs.

Although there is not yet a federal law banning anti-LGBT discrimination, HUD does have a rule mandating equal access to all of its programs regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity, and Carson will be responsible for enforcing that. (fat chance)

[Econoline]

Happy birthday, Dr. King, from pResident tRump.

John Lewis: "All talk, talk, talk - no action or results."

[Guinevere]

I. Just. Can't.

The small-brained, small-handed, small-dicked Trumpanzee is doing what he does best, "retaliating" because Congressman Lewis called him an illegitimate President and isn't attending the Coron, um, I mean Inauguration.

He's so fucking stupid.

ETA: What John Lewis said, precisely: "I believe in forgiveness. I believe in trying to work with people. It will be hard. It's going to be very difficult. I don't see this president-elect as a legitimate president.”

[Guinevere]

Bob Reich said it beautifully:

All talk? John Lewis is one of America’s most courageous and forceful leaders – not only for Atlanta but also for the nation and the world. In the 1960s he was frequently arrested and beaten by police officers at protests, including “Bloody Sunday” in Selma, Alabama in 1965. He was an organizer of Martin Luther King Jr’s march on Washington. He ran the Vista program under Jimmy Carter. He served on the Atlanta City Council. He's been reelected to Congress 14 times -- leading Congress and the nation in support of gay rights and national health insurance; and against Clinton’s welfare plan, Bush’s Iraq War, and NSA wiretaps without warrants. His activism includes protests against genocide in Darfur (which got him arrested twice outside the Sudan embassy); a sit-in at the Capitol building advocating immigration reform, which got him arrested again; and he led a protest by Democrats demanding action on gun control in the wake of the Orlando nightclub shooting.

John Lewis is the conscience of America. Donald Trump doesn’t have the moral stature to kiss John Lewis’s feet.

[Bicycle Bill]

Can't help but notice the time stamps on the tweets — 6:50 and 7:07 AM, respectively.

Anybody got any idea why it took Drumpf 17 minutes to complete his sentence?  And please don't say it's because he was choosing his words carefully; it hurts when I laugh that hard.

-"BB"-

[rubato]

He had sex with his wife and then took a 15-minute shower.

yrs,
rubato

[Lord Jim]

My guess is that immediately after he sent the first part, somebody from his staff (whoever's shift it was to monitor his tweets) was either on the phone or banging on his door to try to intervene over how he would complete that sentence, and they spent the next 15 minutes hashing that out...

Otherwise, Trump would probably have attacked Lewis on his record as a civil rights activist, (calling it something like "exaggerated" or "overrated" ) rather than just his record as a congressman...

[Guinevere]

He doubles down on stupidity and tweets ignorance about Comgressman Lewis again. I'm not linking the image, I refuse.

LJ - you sound like you're defending the Trumpanzee. W. T. F.

[Lord Jim]

you sound like you're defending the Trumpanzee.

That seems like an odd conclusion...

I agree with Econo that the 17 minute gap between those posts (in mid-sentence) is strange, and all I was doing is giving what I think is the most logical explanation (that somebody intervened after the first tweet) to explain it.

And then I went on to speculate that if that hadn't happened, left to his own devices, Trump's second tweet would have been much worse...

I don't see how that constitutes a "defense"...

[BoSoxGal]

He's clearly composing the tweets as notes and cutting/pasting them as fragments to fit the 140 character limit. I don't think anything happened between these two Tweets other than he was distracted by a squirrel - most likely wiping his ass after the bowel movement during which he wrote the note/tweet. A bit later someone on the staff calls/texts and says, pardon me Mr P-E . . .

[BoSoxGal]

I was born in 1970 and growing up in the 70s on the south coast, the busing in Boston and race riots (especially when I was first old enough to be paying attention to the nightly news content @ 74-76) was a story that shaped my perspective. Obviously at that time a mere 40 years ago, there was plenty of racism alive and well right here in the liberal bastion.

Then as a middle and high schooler, I lived through the MLK Jr Day controversy, residing at that time in Arizona. There was plenty of racism alive and well out there, too.

Then Eyes on the Prize came out to critical acclaim and I first heard of John Lewis, when I was 17.

For a while when I was in college (10 years, the best 'while' of my life - though I was a nerd, not a partier) I was lulled into the false sense that things were different, because I was surrounded by like-minded people in academia and my personal bubble - and 'our view' was predominantly reflected by media.

And somebody was finally convicted for the murder of Medgar Evers.

But then we elected a perfectly competent mixed race man to the White House, and all hell broke loose again, with rabid racism stoked and more 'polite' (wtf?!) racism more commonly expressed among the people - like federal judges emailing jokes that the President's mother was a dog-fucker, et al.

And now I don't believe that racism has done anything other than fester the past 40 years - which makes sense considering it's a special sickness that most often spreads from parent to child. And from authority figures who are racist, the politely racist masses will gain strength and again flex their individual and collective muscle.

I laud John Lewis for his bravery, yet again. My stomach clenches at the certainty that millions in this country have no respect for him whatsoever.

[Econoline]

• The front page of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution Sunday blasts President-elect Donald Trump with the headline "Atlanta to Trump: Wrong."
  
  The accompanying front-page article reacts to Trump’s criticism of Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), after the incoming president said Saturday the longtime congressman does nothing for his district, which Trump said is in "horrible shape and falling apart (not to mention crime infested)."
  
  “The district that Trump described as in ‘horrible shape’ includes Emory University and Morehouse College, as well as Spelman College and Georgia Tech. The Coca-Cola headquarters is just one of that district’s many, high-profile corporate residents,” the AJC article declares.
  
  “Lewis represents Midtown’s shiny residential high-rises and the pricey Intown neighborhoods filled with renovated homes, the Beltline and Ponce City Market.”
  
  The newspaper quoted several local politicians, including Kasim Reed, Atlanta’s mayor, in a rejection of Trump’s comments.
  
  “That PEOTUS Trump would attack Congressman Lewis on MLK Day weekend for ‘all talk ... no action’ when he bled to actually ‘Make America Great’ is why far less than half the country supports him at the dawn of his presidency,” Reed told the paper.
  
  The article also cited crime statistics that show Atlanta ranked 14th in crime among cities in the United States.
  
  Trump slammed Lewis in a pair of tweets on Saturday morning, after Lewis told NBC’s “Meet the Press” he didn't think Trump was a "legitimate president."
  
  “Congressman John Lewis should spend more time on fixing and helping his district, which is in horrible shape and falling apart (not to mention crime infested) rather than falsely complaining about the election results. All talk, talk, talk - no action or results. Sad!” Trump said in several tweets.
  
  A number of lawmakers rushed to Lewis’s defense after the criticism from Trump, painting the civil rights icon as a devoted activist and politician.
  
  Lewis had announced that he would not attend Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20, joining at least a dozen other Democrats in boycotting the event.

http://thehill.com/homenews/house/31441 ... page-story