Category: America

Here’s an unsurprising response to the image above, which shows a more-accurate depiction of Jesus on the left, and the barista who works the evening shift at the Starbucks in Swede Hollow, Minnesota on the right:

When you see God as white, and people as being made in God’s image, it’s no surprise that non-whites are seen as a little less human, and it’s how you get ministers like Mike Huckabee.

Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas, political commentator on his own show, and combination Fox News contributor and Southern Baptist minister (which should not come as a surprise), posted the tweet above yesterday.

As the Arkansas Times noted, he chose Christianity’s most important holiday to post a racist gibe. Attacks against Asians are on the rise, and Huckabee’s greatest concern is that people he thinks of as lesser and not American are getting treated like equals and Americans.

Thankfully, a number of people have called him out, including Representative Ted Lieu of California’s 33rd congressional district in this tweet that captures my sentiments perfectly:

The odds that Huckabee will listen to Ted Lieu are pretty low. He did get called out by someone he does listen to — author and evangelist Beth Moore:

His response was to deny he did anything bad, which is the first step of the DARVO tactic — Deny. I expect to see the remaining phases, Attack and Reverse Victim and Offender soon enough:

More context on Huckabee’s tweet:

• USA Today: ‘Antithetical to the Gospel’: Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee’s tweet slammed as racist in MLB backlash
• Esquire: Mike Huckabee’s Outrageous Tweet Is a Perfect Example of Charles Barkley’s Comment about Divisive Politics
• NY Daily News: Mike Huckabee decides to ‘identify as Chinese’ in sarcastic tweet, gets ripped online
• Yahoo! News: Mike Huckabee says he’s going to identify as ‘Chinese’ in a tweet as anti-Asian hate crimes rise
• Business Insider: Mike Huckabee slammed for insulting Asian Americans with offensive tweet
• Huffington Post: Former Gov. Mike Huckabee Grotesquely Mocks Asian Americans In Tweet Amid Racist Violence
• Raw Story: ‘Racist much Mike?’: Huckabee slammed for anti-Asian and anti-Trans tweet amid rise in violent hate crimes
• Mediaite: Mike Huckabee Slammed for Crass Tweet Saying He’ll ‘Identify as Chinese’ Amid Anti-Asian Hate Crimes: ‘Straight Racism, No Chaser’
• The Wrap: Mike Huckabee Roasted for ‘Racist, Transphobic’ Joke About Corporate Critics of Georgia Voting Law

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At a time when anti-Asian attacks are on the rise…

…Huckabee’s statement shows his annoyance at a group of non-whites getting special attention because violence is being directed at them.

Some more context if you need it:

• NBC News: There were 3,800 anti-Asian racist incidents, mostly against women, in past year
• NBC New York: Man Wanted for Yelling Anti-Asian Slurs, Spitting at Mom and 3 Kids on Subway: NYPD
• Seattle KING 5: Rise in attacks on Asian Americans highlights history of tension and solidarity
• UC Berkeley News: The long history and present surge of anti-Asian violence
• The Daily Show: Hate Crimes Against Asian Americans Continue to Rise

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Huckabee’s complaints about Coke, Delta, and Major League Baseball are about their opposition to Georgia’s voting law, which appears to be designed to suppress voter participation, especially among minorities. Even the act of giving water to voters in line is now illegal in that state.

All of this was in response to results from the recent election, when Georgia, for the first time in a very long time, voted Democratic in both the presidential and senate elections. The new law is an attempt to make sure that such a thing never happens again, and thus preserve minority rule — a oligarchy of upper-class white people.

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Back in 2015, a couple of weeks before marrying an American, I wrote:

In less than a fortnight, I’m marrying an American. As the husband of a U.S. citizen, I would be eligible for a green card, and eventually, citizenship. I’m also the direct descendant of a U.S. citizen, but I’m told it’s easier to get it via my wife rather than my great-grandfather, James O’Hara. One option is to stay here in the subtropical climes of Accordion Bay, which may mean that someday, I might apply for citizenship.

I come here bearing goodwill, skills in the areas of technology, writing, and rock and roll accordion, cultural and language skills that surpass those of many of the locals (it’s Florida, man!), and a jacket (pictured) that cannot possible be any more American than it already is. I have what it takes to be American. But the question lingers in my mind: will Americans ever consider me to be one of them?

It would appear that the answer is: “Not yet.”

The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) was signed into law back in 1994. Since then, it’s awarded over $8 billion in grants to state and local governments and organizations so that they could develop initiatives, programs, and services to protect and support women who are undergoing or who have survived sexual assault, domestic violence, and stalking.

The law expired in February 2019, and until then, reauthorizing it was a formality. Then it changed.

H.R. 1585, also known as the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2019, had a provision to close the “Boyfriend Loophole”. Simply put, this loophole limited the ability of people convicted of abusing or stalking a non-spouse partner to get firearms. Previous versions of the Act applied this limit to abusers who’d lived with or had a child with the victim. (Despite what people will tell you, Christianity isn’t the majority religion here in the U.S.; it’s gun worship.)

The Act passed a vote in the House of Representatives (263–158), but got stalled in the Senate. The National Rifle Association (as I said: gun worship) warned Republicans that voting for it would affect their ratings (Yes, in a nightmare version of Yelp, they rate politicians, and provide them with campaign funds. Again, I say: gun worship.) One NRA spokesghoul described it as “a smokescreen for its real goal—banning firearms ownership”. Because of their actions, VAWA hasn’t been reauthorized since 2019 — until now.

A day after the Atlanta spa shootings (which I’ll write about later), the House of Representatives voted 244-172 to pass VAWA. That’s right, this time even more Republicans — 172 in total — voted to oppose the Violence Against Women Act.

Remember that.

Recommended reading

• The Independent — Outrage as 172 Republicans vote to oppose Violence Against Women Act
• GQ — Why Can’t the Senate Pass the Violence Against Women Act?
• Jezebel — The NRA Is Fighting Like Hell to Keep Stalkers and Abusers Armed

 

 

 

 

At the 2021 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) that recently took place in Orlando, Majorie Taylor Greene, a.k.a. “the QAnon Congresswoman”, had this to say about foreign aid:

“We believe our hard-earned tax dollars should just go for America, not for what? China, Russia, Middle East, Guam, whatever, wherever.”

Here’s the thing: Guam is part of the U.S..

Let me repeat that, in case it’s news to you. Guam is part of the U.S..

Here’s a video that should give you an idea of what it’s like in Guam:

Since 1898 and with only one interruption — about three years during World War II, when it was occupied by Japan — the U.S. has been in control of Guam. It’s a U.S. territory, with status similr to that of Puerto Rico.

You’d think that someone who ran as a MAGA candidate might remember that time in 2017 when North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un threatened to attack Guam and Trump famously called Guam’s governor to reassure him:

(While the call was meant to provide peace of mind, we would all learn much later how very much the opposite is true when Trump says “We’re going to do a great job, don’t worry about a thing.”)

In fact, Guam is home to one of the biggest U.S. weapons stockpiles, which supplies U.S. forces operating in the Eastern Hemisphere. As Politico put it, there was a reason for Kim to put Guam in his sights:

If Kim can credibly threaten Guam, he threatens the United States’ ability to fight all but a short war on the Korean Peninsula—not to mention the U.S.’s ability to fight another major war elsewhere. As threats go, this one is surprisingly precise, credible and strategic.

What else does the Kooky QAnon Congresswoman think or believe?

 

If you think that Marjorie Taylor Greene’s ignorance about Guam is cause for concern, you might not be ready for what she believes, thinks, or says:

• The American government is a cabal of Satan-worshiping pedophiles that can only be defeated by conspiracy nuts like Greene.^[1]
• Wildfires are caused by secret space lasers that are operated by DA JOOZ!^[5] That’s right, she’s “Jewish Space Lasers” wacko!/li>
• George Soros, whose Jewish family was hunted by Nazis, is secretly a Nazi.^[1]
• Black Lives Matter are also Nazis, somehow.^[6]
• Children that manage to survive school shootings aren’t just Nazis. They are literally Hitler himself.^[6]
• Greene says that if she were black, she would be proud of monuments to slave-owning war criminals.^[1]
• She believes that Barack Obama commands Latino gangs as his personal death-squads.^[7]
• She says Muslim people should be barred from holding public office, in spite of the fact that this would be exactly the sort of anti-religious conspiracy that Greene fantasizes she herself is the victim of. (And it would be illegal.)^[7]
• It is “oppressive” that congress-people like her have to wear masks. Oh, won’t someone please think of the poor, oppressed congresspeople!?!??
• She thinks that transgender people aren’t real, and are also, somehow, an abomination that threatens children. For some reason she films herself yelling loudly about this topic in a public library^[6]. She also had harassed her office neighbor, Marie Newman (IL-D), because she put up a trans pride flag in support of her daughter ^[8]. Rude.
• An anonymous online troll called “Q” is the only person who can save America from all the above made-up problems.
• She believes that the Parkland mass shooting was a false flag.^[9]
• Greene’s Facebook feed included several endorsements of violence against Democrats, including against Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.^[10]
• Greene promoted an anti-refugee and anti-Semitic propaganda video that demonised Africans and Muslims, promoted the “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory and promoted anti-Semitic conspiracy theories blaming Jews for muslim immigration to Europe.^[11]
• Greene liked comments that suggested execution of FBI agents who are part of the “deep state“.^[10]
• Claims that there was no evidence that an airplane hit the Pentagon on 9/11^[12]
• Claims that Obama is secretly a Muslim^[12]
• Claims that the Clintons killed JFK Jr.^[12]

Territories of the U.S.: A refresher course

The United States has five territories with permanent populations, and they’re all in the tropics:

• American Samoa
• Guam
• Northern Mariana Islands
• Puerto Rico
• U.S. Virgin Islands

In what seems to be an attempt to justify the Norwegians’ use of “Texas” as a slang expression for “crazy”, Texas’ governor, Greg Abbott, has lifted the state’s mask mandate and will allow businesses to open their doors at 100% capacity starting March 10th, in spite of health experts’ warnings.

There’s a point in a lot of dystopian science fiction where the interests of business take precedence over the interests of people’s safety, and well, Texas is just about there. Florida’s governor, Ron “DipShantis” DeSantis is likely watching and working on plans to follow suit, based on his recent statements. Welcome to late stage capitalism!

It’s going to get dumber, folks.

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By the bye, if you’re wondering where the image above comes from, it’s from this classic scene from the 1979 film Alien: