Monday, October 29, 2018

Not If. When

"This wicked act of mass murder is pure evil, hard to believe, and , frankly, something that is unimaginable.Our nation and the world are shocked and stunned by the grief,” Trump said. “This was an anti-Semitic act. You wouldn’t think this would be possible in this day and age.”                                                                                                           Feckless Leader, October 27, 2018
What planet is this jackass living on? UNIMAGINABLE?????? Is he flippin' kidding? 

Possible? Horsehockey! PROBABLE is more like it.  And then he went on to say he was holding a planned rally anyway because the NYSE opened the day after 9/11....only it didn't. That was a lie. The NYSE was closed until September 17th.

       A Pittsburgh Police officer walks past the Tree of Life Synagogue 

       and a memorial of flowers and stars in Pittsburgh on Sunday, 

       Oct. 28, 2018 (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

We who attend Jewish communal events for any occasion imagine it every time. 


  • We imagine it when we attend Kol Nidre at Hillel, whether it's at the University of Pennsylvania, University of Minnesota, University of Rhode Island, California, Chicago, Virginia, Maryland, Kansas, Oklahoma, or any place where Jews gather to pray on a campus.
  • We imagine it when we attend an Israel Independence Day event
  • We imagine it when we send our kids to Jewish day school
  • We imagine it at every USY, NCSY, and NIFTY event.
  • We imagine it at early morning minyan
  • We imagine it every single shabbat morning. 
Our imaginations are very active, watching the crowds, one eye always peeled for the oddity, knowing it is not a matter of if, but rather a matter of when.

We may not talk about it, but that doesn't mean the fear isn't there. It is. BIG TIME.

I had planned on writing about how, as a trained theater director and playwright, I watch how people talk and the tones they use. I had planned on talking about how Feckless Leader was lying through his cheesy caps when, in regard to the would-be bomber, he told the singspiel in Wisconsin on Wednesday:
Do you see how nice I'm behaving tonight?
Like he was letting the crowd in on a (wink-wink) secret joke. And then he goes right back to calling the press the "enemy of the People," and bashing other politicians and leaders. This is how he rolls, how he gets all those secret messages out. Only they're not so secret and anyone with half-a-head gets it all.

45's use of apocalyptic language really is a not-so-subtle dog-whistle to his radical base that going after "the enemy" is an end that justifies the means. In a convoluted way, his constant discrediting of the press, his bully-rhetoric, his  belittling of everyone who is not him telegraphs a definite messages to those members of his cult cabal. Those are the messages that sent Cesar Sayoc to Home Depot for supplies. Those are the messages that sent Robert Bowers locked-and-loaded into Tree of Life yelling "All Jews must die!" as he slaughtered people at prayer. And it's the same go-ahead sign that made Gregory Bush try to break into a predominantly Black church, before executing Maurice Stallard and Vickie Jones with shots to the backs of their heads in Kroger's parking lot. 

The radical right is mobilizing as we sit here frozen in place. There are more than enough supporters of this not-so-discreet coup that is taking place that it could go down with not much more than a whimper. 

We are standing by watching the systematic dismantling of the Bill of Rights, one amendment at a time. The First Amendment is already under siege from the like of Kelly Conway and Sarah Huckabee Sanders who spin, embellish, and disseminate the fabrications of their boss without so much as a twitch. Their skills at lying run a close second to 45's. We can revisit this when a news organ is attacked. Oh, wait! That was so last week.

The Second is not exactly free from Twister, either. Remember the phrase "well regulated militia?" Well, it might be time to figure out what that means. Is it a federal militia? Is it a local/state militia? Or is it a vigilante mob with guns and a grudge? Your guess is as valid as mine. I have no idea what it means now.

How about the 4th Amendment? "Secure in their persons,houses, papers, and effects..." unless your skin ain't white and then you are suspect with no rights whatsoever. 

Or the 6th: "the right to a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury" unless you're black or brown in which case that speedy trial includes execution by armed citizens and/or "frightened" cops with guns drawn. [Ziggy would definitely use this as a penis metaphor. Use your imaginations.]

I could go on, but you get the drift. 

Our Bill of Rights is being hammered like a piece of lightweight sheet metal. Little bends become little tiny breaks; nuances fall off like so many brittle shards. Before you know if, you're left with something that might've looked familiar once, but now, is nothing more than a shadow of what it had been. That's the thing about ideas; they're not concrete. Neither is our Constitution. It's fragile in form and thought. 

So, whatever happened to all those Middle Eastern and Latino terrorists we're supposed to be scared of? So far the only mass murderers since 2016 are all white males. 

Republicans, if you are not totally disgusted by the endless chain of certified, documented, and debunked lies, surely all you small government folks oughta be freaking out at the exploding deficit.

WAKE UP PEOPLE. This is just the beginning. That dog whistle is only gonna get louder and clearer unless we vote out the government we currently have. 

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week
Midterm elections are one week away.
Vote.
Don't forget to get your free sticker.
Worth the wait in line!

11 comments:

  1. Are they the messages that sent Dylann Roof into the AME church in Charlestown in April 2015. Oops. Obama was president. Better make up a better story to cover that one.

    Here's what you said then:
    "The murders in Charleston were heinous. There is nothing one can say, no explanation one can offer, that can explain why Dylann Storm Roof did whatever it was he did."

    Good thing you have someone to blame now. In the words of Rahm Emanuel "You never want a serious crisis to go to waste"

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  2. "So far the only mass murderers we have are all white males."

    I didn't forget the 9/11 attacks carried out by 19 Islamic terrorists, most from Saudi Arabia.
    I didn't forget the 2015 Orlando night club shootings carried out by an self-proclaimed Islamic Soldier of God
    I didn't forget the 2015 San Bernardino attack carried out by a radicalized citizen of Pakistani descent and his Pakistan-born wife
    I didn't forget the 2013 Washington Navy Yard shooting by an African American civilian contractor.
    I didn't forget the 2009 Fort Hood shooting carried out by a radicalized citizen of Palestinian parents.
    I didn't forget the 2007 Virginia Tech shooting carried out by a US resident of South Korean origin

    Not a white male among them.

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    1. I have amended the sentence to read "since 2016," which more accurately describes the events of the last two years.

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  3. You equivalency is absurd. I stand by what I said about Dylan Roof because it was in another time, another place, prior to the last presidential election and the documented rise of hate crimes in this country. In 2017 alone, the ADL reported at 60% increase in antisemitic actions. (https://www.adl.org/resources/reports/computational-propaganda-jewish-americans-and-the-2018-midterms-the-amplification#conclusion)

    Comparing Dylan Roof to Robert Bowers is like comparing German kids beating up Jewish kids in 1924 to Gestapo shooting Jewish kids in the head in 1940. Both are evil and wrong, horrendous in magnitude. The difference is the climate of hate that began
    its rise to prominence with Charlottesville.

    Your comparison is not merely odious, it's ridiculous.

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    1. Just the facts ma'am.
      The Charleston church shooter walked into the predominantly African American Emanuel AME Church and participated in bible study before pulling out a gun and executing nine unarmed congregants. According to survivors, he shot the victims, all the while shouting racial epithets. He later confessed to committing the shooting in the hope of igniting a race war. The shooting targeted one of the United States' oldest black churches, which has long been a site for community organization around civil rights. The shooter espoused racial hatred in both a website manifesto published before the shooting, and a journal written from jail afterwards.

      The Pittsburgh synagogue shooter entered the building during prayer services and shouted, "All Jews must die!" before opening fire and "shooting for about 20 minutes" while executing eleven unarmed congregants. Prior to the attack he had published posts supporting the white genocide theory. He also re-posted content by other anti-Semitic, neo-Nazi, and Holocaust-denying users, and he criticized President Trump for being a "globalist, not a nationalist" and for supposedly being controlled and surrounded by Jews.
      .
      Your analogy of the Charleston church shooter to German kids beating up Jewish kids in 1924 is so misguided I don't know where to begin. Two racists shot and murdered unarmed people in prayer/study at US houses of worship after publicly espousing racial/religious hatred for historically oppressed minorities. It is a similar hate crime.
      The political climate did not cause the murders. Disturbed individuals with irrational hatred caused them.

      Ask someone at the NAACP what they think of your analogy. I am confident they will be as disgusted as I am. While Jews are the most persecuted minority in human history, their persecution in the US pales in comparison with the history of African American persecution. The history of domestic terrorism directed at African American churches in the US is on a different scale than the history of attacks directed at Jews in the US.

      I still can't believe you wrote:
      "Comparing Dylan Roof to Robert Bowers is like comparing German kids beating up Jewish kids in 1924 to Gestapo shooting Jewish kids in the head in 1940"

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    2. Then you missed the point of the comparison. It was not about the shooters, it was about the _climate_ surrounding the shooters. Perhaps that was not clear enough.

      When Dylan Roof walked into that church, it was without the backing of what we now call the alt-right. It was before Charlottesville, and before we had a president that was dog-whistling for violence.

      What Dylan Roof did was no different from what George Bowers did. Both are heinous, vile, and horrendous. Hate is hate is hate, and I would guess that Dylan Roof found his cadre on-line where stuff like this lives. But he acted, to the best anyone has been able to determine, alone. George Bowers, on the other hand, was at home in a social network of hate that supported and encouraged his actions. He found commonality that encouraged him to "damn the optics" and go in. Therein lies the difference. Organization. Group Support. Knowing that George Bowers was participating in a greater network. The execution of Stallard and Jones at Krogers supports that contrast.

      The analogy was between individual action and organized support. I think that analogy is accurate.

      This stuff is happening with greater frequency across this country directed at minority groups of all shapes, sizes, beliefs, and associations with greater ferocity. It is not happening in a vacuum; it's happening because at the highest levels of government there is a mouthpiece that supports that violence.

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  4. I am so sickened by everything this horrific president does. He has not one drop of decency in him.

    The only way to rein in my stress about the last two years is to work hard to "get out the vote" in this election. I have personally written and mailed over 1,200 postcards and letters - hand written - to registered Democrats in swing districts across the country urging them to vote democratic and laying out my reasons. I know that many, many millions of such cards and letters have been sent. I feel that people are waking up to what is going on and are repulsed and angry with the direction trump and the republicans are taking us. I am hoping that personal letters might make a bigger impact than all the slick, professional flyers that come in the mail. We shall see...

    Let us hope voter turnout can turn our country around. I don't even recognize the country we are at present.

    Really, I am just in despair these days.

    Thank you for your blog. I always appreciate your voice in these matters. And thank you for your reply to "anonymous"!

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  5. Brava Susan. Such a heartbreak and thank you for speaking the TRUTH. Do these fools really think that idiot trump is not responsible. The rhetoric is heinous. The lack of understanding for a tragic situation is mind boggling, so that the fool insists that he go to Pittsburgh today. WHY? Let the families bury their dead in some sort of peace, if there is such a thing. Let the city of Pittsburgh mourn and care for those and for all of the city without having to worry about this jerk coming to do what?

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    1. Unknown, I completely agree with your reply. trump has no empathy or decency in him. He is unable to act like a caring person as he cannot think in terms other than himself - his need to be idolized. This tragedy in Pittsburgh is so horrible and disturbing and we know that his insistence on going there will multiply the pain and grief that community and all decent, caring people in this country are feeling. There is no end to trump other than to decrease his power by praying the democrats gain back at least the House so that they can begin to keep him in check. Am praying that Mueller will come out with a bombshell that will put trump away for good. Short of that, everyone of decent morals and values in this country will continue to need to rise up and work to get out the vote in this and every election. We now know how fragile and tenuous our democracy is. I have never felt so worried and saddened for our country.

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  6. I have written about 40 cards? Some for Tom Steyer and some for MoveOn I think. Honestly the last weeks or months or how ever long have been so just plain awful I can't tell you everything or anything about much. I go to work I fix dinners I manage the house I try and read the NYT every day. We voted on Saturday and stood in line for an hour with over a hundred people. I hope to whatever goodness there is that those people were voting for Democrats. I think I have to move away from here though - too many people that have been empowered here to be racists IMHO.

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    1. So sad...so many people are feeling this way. trump has empowered the worst in our society. It just blows my mind that our country has come to this. Like you, I hope that whatever goodness is out there is enough to combat this pure evil that seems to be permeating every corner of our country. Hang in there...there are like minded people that still believe in fairness and kindness and actually have empathy and concern about our populace and our planet. I have to believe that...

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