Secessionists are Alive and Well

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When Bannon and Trump began their rise to power, I thought that it was a bit of a bad joke. After all, what intelligent nation could fall for the alt-right fake news spewing from Breitbart and the ravings of a delusional megalomaniac who wanted to be King.

I was so wrong. It turns out there were enough disenfranchised, and/or ignorant, and/or unemployed, and/or alt-right white Americans and a dysfunctional Electoral College to elect a President who is now starring in the best rated comedy/drama/tragedy show on cable television. As one late night pundit observed, this is the first time in history we don’t have to write anything to get a laugh – we just show the video and play the audio and print out the tweets.

It would be laughable except for one thing. The white nationalist, white supremacist, alt-right agenda of this sad new truly White House is not Union but Secession. The enablers of this agenda included at one time or another Steve Bannon, Milo Yiannopoulos, Sebastian Gorka, Alex Jones, Dan Scaravino, Julie Kirchner, and of course Donald  Trump Jr. and Sr.

Milo Yiannopoulos from Breitbart News didn’t last long into Trump’s presidency, his extremism being too difficult to ignore. But Bannon, the true architect of Breitbart’s alt-right agenda continued to contaminate the national agenda until the horror in Charlottesville, Virginia revealed his true intentions: the revival and ascendency of white political supremacy – in other words, a new Civil War.

The mob of well-organized Nazis, KKK clansmen, and alt-right ideologues that marched to defend the glorification of defeated Confederate icons were not marching to support the United States of America. They were marching to advance white nationalism. The White House support for that cause was clarified by the president’s attempt to bring moral equivalency to the Nazis and those opposing the Nazis. Remember World War 2 when the Allies were the good guys?

When it became obvious that the tide of public opinion and political support from business and industry were turning, Steve Bannon was fired as a Trump advisor. Now a wiser man might have bowed out quietly to give thoughtful time to his next moves. But an unchained Bannon proved to be a megalomaniac equal to the president: he declared he was free to use his weapons (fake news hate speech from Breitbart), declared “the Trump presidency over” (actually that is going to take Impeachment and prosecution, or resignation), and promised to “crush the opposition”.  Make America Hate Again.

Now at this point it is hard to tell if Breitbart News, which I have renamed Reichbarf News, is going to attack just the Trump White House, or all those moderates who seek to protect the United States of America, and/or try to incite another secessionist civil war to promote white political supremacy. Or maybe, just maybe, it may just disappear in an ever decreasing spiral of negativity chasing its own hateful tail.

Never forget, the purpose of the secessionists of the Civil War was to preserve slavery, promote the independence of States over Union, and ensure political liberty for whites. When a Confederate statue stands, it celebrates those goals. When a Confederate statue is removed and stored in a history museum, it celebrates freedom, social justice, and political equality for all.

Be very, very careful America. The secessionists are alive and well, and more dangerous than ever now that they are wounded.

***

Skid Crease, Caledon

p.s. Breitbart roughly translated from the German means: to spread fake news

The Ignorance of the Elders, Part 3

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Well, I thought they would have all been down in Virginia defending their statues, but no. As I walked into a local coffee shop this morning, I was accosted by a balding older man who started to shout insults and obscenities at me. When I tried to get a closer look, he challenged me for even looking at him. Now, since my stroke and heart failure last summer, my memory recall on faces and events is a little foggy at times, so I genuinely didn’t remember this angy old white man, until I came out of the restaurant.

As I left the coffee shop he challenged me with more epithets, including the news that he had checked me out, that I must think I was pretty “special” and that I had given oral pleasures, to put it in the Pulp Fiction vernacular, to our current Prime Minister.  Then he made the mistake of saying, “There’s a group of guys waiting for you at McDonald’s (Bolton) – they’re going to get you.”

His verbal threat clicked my memory bank all back in place. One of the basket of deplorables right here in Caledon.Then I recognized him – one of the “ignorant elders” gang I had written about back in the spring of this year. TThis was the collective who adores Donald Trump, wants to put our Premier and Prime Minister in their “crosshairs”, and gets all their fake news from outlets like Fox, Breitbart, and the Drudge Report.

I told him exactly what I thought of his threats as he followed me to my car. After asking him to get out of my space, I took a deep breathe to relieve the stress, and drove home. Cortisol surge is not good for heart patients., so I regarded his verbal assault as a potentially life-threatening situation.

Well. Dear readers, a verbal threat of assault is worth reporting. So once again, a call to the Ontario Provincial Police to record the time (8:00am), location (Tim Horton’s south, Bolton), and description of the elder offender (older white male, slim, grey hair comb back, 5’8”ish.) Hopefully, I won’t get the “right to free speech” lecture I got last time.

Now it is out of my hands and into the legal process. Report called in and registered.  I’m looking forward to a coffee next week. Sure wish the PM could be there.

***

Skid Crease, Caledon

On Losing the Moral Authority to Govern

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It happened to Britain and Prime Minister David Lloyd George  on April 13, 1919, when Indian troops under the command of Brigadier General Reginald ‘‘Rex’’ Dyer fired on demonstrators in a walled garden in the city of Amritsar in the Punjab. 379 people were killed and more than 1,000 wounded in the Amritsar Massacre.

It happened to the United States of America and President Donald John Trump on August 12, 2017 when Trump failed to name the white supremacists, white nationalists, KKK, Nazis, and Alt-Right racists in his response to the violence that erupted that day in Charlottesville, Virginia. Instead, Trump tried to place the blame “on many sides” rather than offend these deplorables who form the most despicable of his base.

Let’s name them, Donald:

Jason Kessler, American hate speech author who organized this “Unite the Alt-Right Rally”

David Duke, KKK, who said yesterday, “We are going to fulfill the promises of Donald Trump. That’s what we believed in. That’s why we voted for Donald Trump.”

Richard Spencer, president of the white nationalist alt-right National Policy Institute, best known for leading followers in Nazi salutes while chanting, “Hail Trump.”

Matthew Heimback, white nationalist and neo-Nazi who started the Youth for Western Civilization and White Student Union while at university in Maryland.

Mike “Enoch” Peinovich, alt-right, anti-Semitic podcaster and blogger.

Tim “Baked Alaska” Gionet, rapper – maybe only half-baked … enough said.

All should be charged with treason and as accomplices to murder, not have their hateful actions dismissed with a morally indefensible “on many sides” Presidential Pardon of their well-orchestrated violent march in Virginia. Your true colours are on display now for all to see, Donald. If you defend the bullies, you are the bully.

My father was a Hurricane fighter pilot in WW2. While defending our freedom over the skies of Europe he got shot down and spent nearly 4 years under the heel of the Nazi jackboot in Stalug Luft III prisoner of war camp, digging tunnels for the Great Escape.

You don’t get a pass on this one. So, Donald, either get out and push for our freedoms, or get out!

***

Skid Crease, Caledon

 

 

Jon Snow, You Know Everything

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This was the summer of our great cross-Canada camping trip through the National Parks for Canada’s 150th (Travelogue coming in the next posting). The only drawback was … missing the opening of Season 7 of Game of Thrones. So, as soon as we got home at the beginning of August and cleaned up our gear, I caught up on the first two episodes, and then got the third as it was released – the long awaited meeting of Fire and Ice.

Now, for those who are not followers, I apologize, but for a storyteller this series is superb. The lessons for those watching today’s real  and fake news stories unfolding daily on the Trump Show are cautionary tales indeed. But, as a practicing environmental science educator, the lessons from the last episode were particularly pertinent. Jon Snow is trying to explain the deadly dangers coming from the North now that Winter is Here, and the chaos that will ensue if we are not ready. He asks the same question that every scientist studying accelerating climate change around the world has been asking since 1988: “How do I convince people who don’t know me that an enemy they don’t believe in is coming to kill them all?

We are going to need a lot of dragonglass, Jon Snow.

****

Skid Crease, Caledon

 

p.s. On a more humorous note, when I returned I heard that the Twit Who Cannot Be Named had fabricated a story about getting supportive calls from the Mexican Boy Scouts. I have the Mexican Boys Scouts response here as verified by Truthful Hyperbole International: “Presidente Trump, ¡Eres un loco!