#racist #unfit #impeach #sad

Friday was a big night for racism, intolerance and sheer stupidity. President Donald Trump showed up in Alabama ostensively to support senatorial candidate Luther Strange but managed to fire up the assembled crowd around nearly everything but the Alabama Senate contest.

The Trump highlight reel included floating the concept that NFL owners, 100% of whom are white, should fire any player, 66% of whom are black, that takes a knee during the national anthem. It was a not so veiled reference to the protest around racial inequality started by former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick who Trump didn't mention by name. Instead the presidential dotard referred to any player expressing their 1st amendment right as a "son of a bitch." In contrast to his characterization of Nazis exercising their same rights as "very fine people", the statements pretty well define this President's stance on race. To put it in terms he can understand, #racist #unfit #sad

Trump then continued on a rant lamenting penalties for excessive hits in football and advocated for a harder hitting game. Trump was oblivious to the mounting evidence of the game's impact (pun intended) on brain disease, and specifically, this week's report that former New England Patriot Aaron Hernandez suffered from severe C.T.E. (chronic traumatic encephalopathy) at the time of his death at age twenty seven. #sad

Demonstrating further obliviousness, Trump warned that North Korea could explode a "massive weapon" over the Pacific Ocean, resulting in "tremendous, tremendous calamity where the plume goes." Then he told everyone not to worry about that but offered no plan as to how he would diffuse the escalating situation or prevent Kim Jong-un from detonating such a device. Since Friday, Trump continued to tweet insults toward North Korea's leader recklessly provoking a situation that has nuclear consequences. #unfit

Also since Friday, Trump has pursued his war of words with the NFL sending out a series of tweets attacking players and owners supportive of the right to protest during the anthem. It's an embarrassing exchange of rhetoric that puts the man with a sworn oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution on the side of curtailing the the very rights that document guarantees. A violation of the Presidential oath is grounds for removal from office. #unfit #impeach

Trump's ire unleashed on Twitter and at his showboating rallies (some which cost taxpayers nearly half a million dollars) is not only set against the backdrop of a potential North Korean nuclear confrontation but also a humanitarian tragedy unfolding in the wake of hurricane Maria on the island of Puerto Rico. U.S. citizens are at risk of death on the island territory as Puerto Rico remains without power and is running low on food and water. Trump's last tweet directed toward those in jeopardy was four days ago. The administration did approve a disaster declaration earlier this week but the President is noticeably absent from expressing support or concern for Puerto Rico's predominantly hispanic population. #racist #sad

The expectation of the 2016 election was that the United States chose it's new leader. Agree or disagree with the partisan politics of the chosen candidate, competent leadership during the President's tenure is a bi-partisan expectation. Donald Trump is not competent. He is a President, ill equipped to lead, uncomfortable with acting Presidential, and incapable of empathy or inclusion. He is merely a C-list celebrity occupying the White House, a man at home in front of a pandering crowd of deplorables, delivering grandiose, inflammatory, and mostly false statements to make himself look "big" in their eyes. # unfit # impeach #sad

Trump has failed to show the mettle of a leader with any challenge his presidency has faced from racial unrest to natural disasters. Nothing to date has been able to draw his attention away from the trivial.  A mushroom cloud is too high a price to pay.  #racist #unfit #impeach #sad

Race, Public Trust, and Hannity's Angels

It seems impossible to skip addressing this week's faux outrage from the conservatives over the latest private citizen to call President Trump a white supremacist.  Yes, ESPN's Jemele Hill is a public figure but she's a sports TV personality. She's has no responsibility to an electorate, purview over public safety, and did not make the statement as part of a journalistic expose. She made the comments on Twitter, the same platform where other TV personalities have also assailed the President as racist - like this TV reality host did:

Obama's '07 speech which @DailyCaller just released not only shows that Obama is a racist but also how the press always covers for him.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 3, 2012

Conservative backlash over the comment was an exercise in surreal humor.  Fox's Sean Hannity had a  this diverse panel on to discuss the issue:

White House Press Secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders called Hill's comments a "fireable offense" during Wednesday's press briefing. That's rich when measured against the Mooch Scale Of Statements It Takes To Get Fired from the Trump administration itself.

Questioning whether or not Hill exercised good judgement considering her public persona is fair game. Facts matter and so do words. Checking the former and being selective about the latter are important. For instance, this blog entry was going to originally be entitled Michigan Republican Gubernatorial Candidate Thanks Bigot for Endorsement. Yet, there were some facts to check around the following post before that story could move forward:

Thank you @realDonaldTrump for your strong support. Working together, Michigan will start winning again with more jobs, growth & paychecks. https://t.co/c2XdyVZi6C

— A.G. Bill Schuette (@SchuetteOnDuty) September 17, 2017

There is certainly some "very fine" evidence to support Hill's opinion about Trump. That said, organizations like ESPN are entitled to set rules around employee public conduct particularly when that conduct can negatively impact the organization or impugn the ability for the employee to effectively do their job. Hill's comments are not going devastate the public confidence in her reporting on week 3 in the NFL but it's understandable ESPN likely doesn't want to get involved in politics. In a perfect world, it probably shouldn't.

However, the world today is far from perfect and there are certainly social media comments that can undermine public confidence in a way Hill's did not. Take those of Ohio firefighter Tyler Roysdon who, on Facebook, lamented he'd rather save the life of a single dog in a fire over that of that of a million black people.

The difference between Hill's comments and those of Roysdon are clear. The former is an expression of opinion citing behavior in another that is discriminatory. The latter is an expression of intent to do harm to others based on opinion rooted in discrimination. Given Roysdon is charged with upholding public safety that truly is a fireable offense. Both Hill and Roysdon are equally protected in their right to state an opinion. Neither are protected from the consequences of their words.

ESPN and Hill will come to terms on the matter as employer to employee. Whether or not those terms are perceived fair by Hannity's Angels or the public at large is also a matter of opinion but since watching ESPN isn't mandatory there are options for expressing sentiment on any given outcome.

With Roysdon there are no options. This deplorable has violated the public trust and lost the right to make a living off that trust. He's stated race as a basis he may use to choose who to save from a burning building. Any decision short of permanently removing his cancer from the Franklin Township Ohio Fire Department endangers the public.

There can be no difference of opinion on that one.

Science Fiction

Hurricane Irma is moving across Florida leaving a path of destruction in its wake. The storm may have lost some of its punch after making landfall but Irma is still very dangerous and the safety of first responders and residents in harms way remains paramount.

Despite the seriousness of the storm it seems that even hurricanes can spark political folly these days. While Irma was still out in the Atlantic the massive size of the storm prompted speculation around how climate change has impacted hurricanes formation. The scientific answer is: yes, climate change does make for wetter and more powerful storms. The political answer is: now isn't the time to talk about climate change. At least that is the position of US Environmental Protection Agency Secretary, Scott Pruitt. During an interview with CNN, Pruitt stated exactly that, adding that asking the question was insensitive to the people of Florida.

If there's one thing Scott Pruitt knows about that's insensitivity. He's not been shy about hiding the fact he wants to make it easier on polluters. Since he was elected Oklahoma's attorney general in 2010, Pruitt has been insensitive to people everywhere through litigation designed to undermine regulation that protect air and water across the country.

For Pruitt and, more broadly, the Trump administration, the time to talk about the impact of climate change is never. Pruitt has denied climate change and Trump famously tweeted it was a hoax. The reality is that now is exactly the time to hear from climate scientists since now is the time we are dealing with the impact and aftermath of the storm.

Science should dictate how we spend the billions of dollars necessary for rebuilding and future proofing against the next Irma or Harvey. Yet science isn't a priority for Trump or the Republicans. In fact, the GOP is downright hostile to science, knowledge, and learning. A recent Pew Research Center survey found that 58% of self-identified Republicans and Republican-leaning independents believe that colleges and universities have a negative effect on "the way things are going in the country."

That is a stunning indictment of science and education and a snapshot of the devolution of conservatism in America. Conservatives used to favor established institutions and gradual change. Those institutions used to include universities and the value they provide in educating the next generation of CEO's, doctors, lawyers, scientists, and engineers. Today conservatives favor closed mindedness and infer the inflammatory rhetoric of pundits and entertainers to be true.

Alternative facts are fiction. Climate change is real. Until science can find a cure for stupid, the low information conservative base that supports Trump and the Republicans will continue to embrace the science fiction they are fed. Not even a hurricane (or three) may be strong enough to change their minds.

American Horror Story

Today we live in an America capable of tremendous acts of humanity and terrible acts of cruelty. Over the last week we've seen Americans helping one and other in sometimes heroic and sometimes simple ways. From dramatic boat rescues to passing out blankets at shelters, these acts of humanity may well give the American horror story that is the hurricane Harvey aftermath a less than tragic ending.

At the same time, amidst these selfless acts of humanity lives a fear. Swayed by the government crackdown on illegal immigrants, some undocumented persons in the hurricane Harvey flood zone chose to leave themselves in harms way versus trust they would not be imprisoned and deported by seeking help. The depth of this fear prompted Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner to say, "If someone comes and they require help and then for some reason [someone] tries to deport them, I will represent them myself."

It's unimaginable that inside the United States borders there exists an atmosphere where people refuse to seek help during a natural disaster of epic scale out of fear of the state. Even the idea sounds like the storyline from a Robert Ludlum book written 40 years ago and set behind the Iron Curtain. Yet, this story is non-fiction and is the present day result of President Trump's divisive policy on immigration.

As the flood waters in Houston recede, Trump's ugly politics around race and immigration has begun to seep back onto the national stage. Trump has bookended the storm with acts of cruelty metaphorically as damaging to America as Harvey was physically. Hours before the storm hit, Trump issued a presidential pardon to former Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio, a man he called a patriot. The list of atrocities for which Arpaio is responsible would likely make him a war criminal anywhere outside the United States. Hardly a patriot.

Now, post Harvey, Trump is likely to end the Obama era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA program that shields children of undocumented immigrants from deportation. Ending the so called "Dreamers" program has serious economic consequences that could cost hundreds of thousands of jobs. On a human scale, the damage doesn't have a price tag. Many Dreamers came here as small children. The United States is the only country they've ever known. Now that country wants to take away their livelihood and deport them to completely foreign land.

The cruelty embodied in Trump immigration policies is near unimaginable. Ending DACA solves nothing. The move is punitive and is about as effective as the ridiculous idea of a border wall in addressing illegal immigration. It's little more than a nod to Trump's base of very fine people that seem to support a misguided, unattainable, and undesirable quest to bleach America white.

It is a true American horror story.

All In The Family

Family and politics rarely make a good combination but social media offers the opportunity to mix the two sometimes deliberately and sometimes inadvertently. 

In the wake of Charlottesville, I saw a Facebook post from two of my own that made me wonder, if the gap is so big between us, how can we hope to engage with people we don't have a deep affection for to try and mend the divide that separates us? Disagreements between family typically become personal quickly due to the emotional ties. Maybe it is easier with strangers but then again, without the emotional ties, people are easier to dismiss.

Social media has certainly made it easier to find and align with like minded people. It can bring together people with shared interest and experience from points near and far.  That's good but it's also bad in that it self sorts out diversity. The video shared in the post referenced above features a woman sharing a perspective on race based on what she says is her own experience. 

Looking through the comments, those that like the video lack both racial diversity or difference in insight on why it resonates with them. That in of itself should be a flag for anyone that hit the "like" button. Any take on racism that only a bunch of white people like does nothing to advance the conversation around racism. In fact, race isn't even the point of this video, the message is to promote the mainstream media as purveyors of fake news. It actually shoves aside, devaluing, the conversation around racism to make that claim about the media. No wonder a bunch of conservative white people like it, mainstream media bashing is an issue they really care about.

Sure, there are some that will miss that seemingly blunt overtone and infer a black woman said they are not racists. That's too is not absolution.

When things matter - and fighting racism matters - we need to question, validate, and hold each other accountable. Those that "liked" this video didn't do that. The host opens with some selective facts about race violence, then throws out a number about active hate group members that is not based in fact, and finally delivers her intended message that racism is a fabrication of the media.

I could fact check the farcical argument and take apart this video sentence by sentence but that isn't the point. It's unlikely by doing so I'm going to convince anyone that liked the video the message it contained is wrong. What I'm asking for is those that liked this video to be open to doing that work themselves. I'm asking them to willingly challenge their beliefs, validate them with fact, see if they stand up, and hold themselves accountable. I am not asking they do something I'm unwilling to do.

Agreeing with an opinion doesn't make that opinion fact. Disagreeing with a news story doesn't make that story fake news. Somewhere on Facebook, Twitter, and family rooms around the country those truths have become lost. Let's find them as a first step in bridging the divide.

What is Wrong with White People?

One of the saddest parts of American history is that racism is as old as the Constitution. Actively, the white supremacist movement embodied by the Ku Klux Klan has existed for more than a century. It's an ugly side of American culture damaging to the spirit of the country. Many assume it operates on the fringe. That's simply not true for anyone that is a target of the hate the movement dispenses. Yesterday, that hate became visible to all, thriving, not on the fringe, but on American streets. Most worrisome, this hate is feeding off the mainstream through complicit politicians and angry white voters. 

Charlottesville is a tragedy and the white supremacist movement is domestic terrorism. Thirty two year old Heather Heyer was murdered standing up to hate. Two police officers died in a helicopter crash while en route the scene and dozens were injured in protests sparked over the city's desire to remove a statue of a racist. Robert E. Lee, the man depicted in the statue, may have been a lot of things, including a brilliant general, but fundamentally he was a racist. 

Some have declared the statue's removal an attempt to erase parts of history. Lee should not be erased from history but his legacy is fighting to preserve an institution condoning ownership of human beings. While there is some poetic justice in Lee's likeness being covered in pigeon droppings it's unimaginable a statue of the general is appropriate outside a museum surrounded by appropriate historical context. The monument in Emancipation Park was erected decades after the civil war, without context, arguably in an attempt to resurrect symbols of the confederacy.

Despite a terrorist attack taking place in an American city yesterday, President Donald Trump demonstrated shocking indifference to the tragedy in Virginia. He has yet to condemn white supremacy by name saying, "We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides, on many sides." 

On many sides? No sir, there was hatred, bigotry, and violence on one side. And that side has been on the wrong side of history for over 100 years. That side murdered Heather Heyer. That side also endorsed you, Mr. President, as the agent of change for hate.  

Former KKK leader David Duke said the following, "This represents a turning point for the people of this country. We are determined to take our country back, we're going to fulfill the promises of Donald Trump, and that's what we believed in, that's why we voted for Donald Trump, because he said he's going to take our country back and that's what we gotta do."

Despite that statement, the President cannot bring himself to condemn white supremacy. It's a pattern. Trump would not condemn Duke or the KKK during the campaign despite being pressed on national television. That doesn't leave a lot of room for conclusions other than Trump is complicit with racism, if not an out right racist. Yet Trump continues to enjoy support from a largely white, GOP base.

This brings us to a fundamental question. What is wrong with white people? In what world do they think they are oppressed? Why are they so angry? White people make up the majority of American government. In fact, they make up seventy eight percent of the U.S. House and ninety percent of the Senate. The overwhelming majority of state legislatures are also white.

The answer is they've voted for the wrong white people. They keep returning people to government that consistently act against their own interests. Maybe white people should try non-white people in government at all levels. Then things might change. Those who have been truly oppressed might use that experience to empathetically focus on the real issues dividing the classes.

But in the here and now it's time to draw the line. We must fight hate and racism inside and outside the White House. The white supremacists have exercised their first amendment rights. They say they stand with Trump. They will be accountable for their words and face the legal consequences of their actions. Those of us that stand against them must stand against Trump for his complicity. 

There is no more room to support Trump and also claim not to support bigotry and hate. Trump himself left you no choice. There are no "many sides" to this one. There are two. Right and and wrong. Trump supporters, you need to choose, not pick and choose when the stakes are so high. Stick with Trump, or not, but stop lying about your true beliefs if you stand with a man that cannot condemn hate.

This Week's Episode

It seems like there must have been an episode of The Office that paralleled the last two weeks in the White House.  If there isn't, that's too bad as this kind of dramedy would play great on a sitcom. Press Secretary Sean Spicer, mad about his new boss, quit in a huff. That new boss, the Mooch (perfect douchebag character name), drunk dialed Ryan Lizza, a reporter for The New Yorker, and unloaded an f-bomb laced assessment of his peers in the White House. Trump's Chief of Staff Reince Priebus "resigned" after that phone call in apparent confirmation of Anthony Scaramucci's take on his effectiveness and was left sitting alone on the tarmac after following his dismissal. To wrap things up, Trump took a few more pot shots at his own Attorney General. Cut to commercial and it's a hilarious episode so far. Of course, it's way less funny since this episode takes place in the real White House where a real, more malevolent version of Michael Scott sits maniacally tweeting within reach of the nuclear football.

The disarray in the administration was the subplot to the main storyline this week which was Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's attempt to cheat the American public out of healthcare. Fortunately, those efforts failed in the eleventh hour when the pure evil being peddled in the so called skinny repeal bill was cut down by three of the Republican's own who simply could not pallate legislative murder.

Arizona Senator John McCain received praise for the "courage" of his no vote. McCain has much to atone for over the last twenty years, most notably inflicting Sarah Palin on the world, but McCain deserves respect for his vote, one of two actions in recent memory on which he's earned it (the other is here). Courage, however, is a word that best applies to Senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski, the other two Republicans that broke ranks with evil. Collins had the courage to stand against the ACHA from the get go. She wasn't moved by threats or pork barrel bribes. Murkowski's courage to vote no could prove more costly for the Senator and her constituents. Trump has already made it known he may punish Murkowski and the residents of her home state of Alaska for the vote by pulling federal support of energy related projects. In typical misogynistic fashion, Trump has yet to level such threats against McCain.

The angry man baby President will likely do anything in his power to exact a toll for the Trumpcare failure and turn a blind eye to the collateral damage. The low brow mouth, breathing level at which Trump operates doesn't allow him to understand compromise or consider opposing points of view. Retaliation is the strategy he uses to get his way. Trump is driven by a binary definition of win/lose. This drive is so misguided it manifests itself at all levels of his life. Trump is so petty that he has to have one more scoop of ice cream than those around him in order to chalk up a win. Deliberately collapsing the insurance exchanges in an effort to sabotage Obamacare is a decision no different, and no less important to him, than a scoop of ice cream.

After a loss, Trump typically retreats to his comfort zone where he seeks adoration in front of a friendly crowd. Friday was no different when he appeared in front of a gathering of law enforcement officers on Long Island. Trump swaggered around like a frat boy senior holding court over the underclassmen. During his remarks he encouraged police not to worry about injuring suspects during arrests. The fact any President would make these remarks is astonishing, let alone at a time when police shootings of suspects and bystanders is at a critical level.

Trump is a disgrace and a deplorable by any measure. Sadly, the fight against the economic disparity and the intolerance he embraces will continue. The healthcare outcome was either a bright spot or bullet dodged depending on one's optimism but the moment will be short lived as Donald Trump stumbles into the next episode of his sad metaphorical sitcom. Unfortunately, we cannot change the channel and have to wait three more years for the show to be cancelled.