Oh, and Fuck Facebook Too.

Jim Wright (Facebook).

Jim Wright (Facebook).

Retired Navy officer Jim Wright of the liberal blog Stonekettle Station said this week that he was banned by Facebook for speaking out against supporters of the Nazi Party.

In a blog post on Wednesday, Wright explained that Facebook had notified him that his account had been suspended for “violation of community standards.”

“The community standard I violated is apparently the one where you’re not allowed to criticize actual, no fooling, Nazis,” he wrote. “That’s right, I was banned for criticizing an actual Nazi.”

[…]

Wright told Raw Story on Wednesday afternoon that his Facebook account was still locked.

“I know they are aware of the situation,” he said. “But I’ve received no response from Facebook either formally or via informal channels.”

Wright has promised that he will not back down if and when Facebook reinstates his account — even if it means he is banned again.

“Those who know me, know that I am a veteran who fought under the flag of the United States of America for more than 20 years, can probably guess which way I’ll go,” he wrote. “Given America’s new acceptance of fascism, I suspect platforms like Facebook and Twitter will either have to become more accommodating of actual fascist ideology and less tolerant of people like me, or risk going to the wall themselves – especially given that our new president has made it very clear that he intends to directly control how the media, including social media, reports on his administration.”

Via Raw Story.

James Means, Shot to Death, 15 years Old.

kingmeans24n-2-web

On this past Monday evening, outside of a Dollar General Store in Charleston, West Virginia, 15-year-old James Means, was shot and killed by William Ronald Pulliam, 62, police said.

Means, like Emmett Till and Jordan Davis and Trayvon Martin before him, did nothing to ever even warrant a confrontation from Pulliam. Witnesses claim that what set Pulliam off was that Means accidentally bumped into him while entering the store.

After Pulliam left the store, the two exchanged words a second time, and Pulliam shot the teen twice in the abdomen, leaving him to die, then proceeded to go home, eat dinner, then go hang out at a friend’s house, according to a criminal complaint.

[…]

After Pulliam’s arrest on Tuesday morning, police said that he expressed no remorse whatsoever for killing the teen, but simply said, “The way I look at it, that’s another piece of trash off the street.”

Seems to me that Mr. Pulliam is more than a bit backwards about just who constitutes trash. I just don’t have any more grief right now, I can’t afford it. I am fucking furious. I am fucking tired. I am so fucking heartsick, I wish I had no heart. What little of it is left, goes out to the family, friends, and all loved ones of James’s. This is a terrible loss, there are no words, and there is no justice.

Shaun King has the full story.

How Many Law Enforcement Agencies Does It Take to Subdue a Peaceful Protest?

45

Earlier this month, the Morton County Sheriff’s Department briefed the public via Facebook on the scope of law enforcement presence that was helping confront protesters of the Dakota Access Pipeline at Standing Rock.

The help was made possible by a bill signed into law by President Bill Clinton about 20 years ago, which created an interstate agreement for emergency management. The agreement helped bring law enforcement agents to North Dakota to the site of protests by the Standing Rock Sioux against the Dakota Access Pipeline. The protests at Standing Rock, and the Black Lives Matter protests in Baltimore after the death of Freddie Gray, represent some of the only times the compact has been invoked outside of a natural disaster.

The ACLU assembled the names of law enforcement agencies below from the Morton County Sheriff’s Department and from media accounts. The Morton County Sheriff’s Department confirmed the cities and counties in North Dakota that sent officers as well as the 10 states that contributed, and where there was a news story about a particular force, we included a hyperlink. Where there was mention of the number of officers deployed, we noted that as a minimum — though more may have been deployed later.

[Read more…]

Scenes from Standing Rock: Nov. 20th.

Full story here. Donate to Standing Rock. Help veterans get to Standing Rock. Sacred Stone Camp Supply List.

Donate to Standing Rock. Help veterans get to Standing Rock. Sacred Stone Camp Supply List.

A Comment.

If you know who should be credited, please let me know.

If you know who should be credited, please let me know.

I wrote a comment on another blog yesterday, because I just could not take one more supposedly reasonable person making excuses for those poor, misunderstood people who voted for Trump. It’s making me queasy sick, and possibly leading to a genuine head ‘splosion. I know what the fuck is wrong with all those Trumpoids, but those busy doing nothing but bleating excuses? I’d like an answer, what in the fuck is wrong with you? If you are making excuses, you need to shut the fuck up, stat. Or, you know, you could grow a fucking spine and stand up to all your Trumpoid families and friends. Go ahead, be brave. I’ll wait.  Anyroad, here’s the comment:

The bottom line is that people, for whatever reasons, who perceive they were being done wrong, were promised they would have that metaphorical dog to kick to pieces: “you’ll be able to kick those brown people in the teeth! You’ll be able to knock immigrants on their ass!”

That’s what white people, who are always looking to blame someone else, wanted, and that’s what Trump promised them. It’s all ism: racism and sexism. White people are getting bolder by the second, proclaiming their need to preserve their race, by which they mean, “we need to be on top of the people pile again, with everything in it’s right and natural order, white is right!”*

Trump also promised white Christians the path to what they want the most: the ability to stomp on people, grind them to dust and blood, to offer up to their psychopathic god. “No more queers!” “No more abortion!” “No more contraception!” If you haven’t already read about all the legislation on these matters, paint yourself as a willfully ignorant dumbfuck. It’s happening, and it’s happening because that is what these people wanted. No way out of that.

It doesn’t make a damn bit of difference if you don’t think your relatives are horrible bigots, or your friend who voted for Trump really isn’t a bad sort, or whatthefuck ever excuse you have cooked up. Unless you’re going to argue they are brain damaged, and couldn’t really understand all the blatantly bigoted shit which spewed from Trump’s mouth non-stop, there are no excuses. NONE.

By attempting to excuse people, you’re just another witless cog in the normalisation machine, helping to normalise fascism and unspeakable crimes against people, all people. STOP DOING THAT.

WAKE THE FUCK UP.

P.S. Fuck every single one of you whiny, mealy-mouthed fuckers who just can’t stop whinging about how hard their “thanksgiving” is going to be: fuck your squeamish privilege, your entitlement, and your godsdamned arrogance.

Caveat: I am not talking about those who have already gone 100 rounds with family or friends; nor am I talking about those who are dependent on family, and have to make the tactical decision to be quiet in order to stay alive. I am talking about all the assholes who must defend all Trump voters because their family members or friends voted for him; I am talking about all the fucking assholes who have been whinging and wringing their hands over how awful their holiday is going to be, sitting at a table over laden with food, and having the unbearable task of stuffing their fucking faces and watching television.

We will be spending thankstealing at Standing Rock, with the other protectors, against an army of vicious thugs. A friend will celebrate unthanksgiving on Alcatraz. I know other people who will be busy helping others, the homeless, or refugees. If your only fucking problem is having to refrain from noisily sighing whilst dining with family, shut up and stop defending the indefensible.

* Why yes, I do know that Trump voters were not %100 percent white. Don’t even think of using that as an excuse. Don’t. The majority voters were white, and they drove that vote.

PLEASE: Help Veterans Get to Standing Rock.

 Police confront protesters with a rubber bullet gun during a protest against plans to pass the Dakota Access pipeline near the Standing Rock Indian Reservation, near Cannon Ball, North Dakota, U.S. November 20, 2016. Stephanie Keith/REUTERS

Police confront protesters with a rubber bullet gun during a protest against plans to pass the Dakota Access pipeline near the Standing Rock Indian Reservation, near Cannon Ball, North Dakota, U.S. November 20, 2016. Stephanie Keith/REUTERS.

The cops out at Standing Rock have now managed to blow apart most of a young woman’s arm. That’s just the grisliest of the very high list of injuries. Naturally, cops are denying responsibility, which won’t surprise anyone at all. They are doing what all cops do – lie.

Our veterans want to help, and to do that, they need some help from all of you. If you can help, please, do so. If you are unable to donate, please spread the word. What is happening here is damn wrong. It’s fucking wrong, and everyone knows that, and still, there’s nothing but silence. Please help. Lila wopila.

https://www.gofundme.com/veterans-for-standing-rock-nodapl

Worse. It Keeps Getting Worse.

Credit: Shutterstock.

Credit: Shutterstock.

It looks like we can indeed kiss net neutrality goodbye. I posted about this earlier, but there’s more confirmation now. It’s been a long fight, and yes, mostly won, but no more.

President-elect Donald Trump has selected two anti-net neutrality advisers to shape the future administration’s telecom policy strategy at the Federal Communications Commission, Recode reported.

[…]

Trump has previously favored deregulation and criticized the FCC’s net neutrality rules, calling them a “Fairness Doctrine” and an “attack on the internet” that will “target conservative media.”

To help advance his agenda, Trump has brought on Jeff Eisenach, who worked on campaign telecom policy for the Reagan administration, and Mark Jamison, a former Sprint lobbyist.

Eisenach was part of former President Ronald Reagan’s Federal Trade Commission and FCC transition teams. The resulting FCC agency repealed the Fairness Doctrine, which required media to portray contrasting perspectives in news coverage of public issues. Jamison, who also teaches at the University of Florida, has staunchly opposed the FCC’s policies to improve internet access and options in low-income and rural areas.

Low income and rural, that’s me. I have to wonder how all those internet shitlords and proud deplorables are going to take this news, are they going to twist themselves into torturous positions in order to justify this one? Full story at Think Progress.

[Read more…]

Native What Month 2.

thanksgiving-thankstealing-marty-two-bulls

© Marty Two Bulls.

And it continues. If you don’t know about the latest atrocities, learn. All that because fucking white people want their cake and to eat it, too. Yeah, yeah, I know, lotsa good white people out there. I know. Lots of them on the front lines, I know. And it really is appreciated, know that. It’s just that it’s not helping right now, because even all the white people who signed on, who woke up, who joined the fight, you’re in the minority with us, against all the racist, greedy white people who simply do not give a fuck. They’ll be busy with their holiday, and pretending to be thankful for fuck knows what, perhaps the fact that oppressing minorities just got a whole lot easier. I can see them thanking their idiotic, bloodthirsty god for that one.

Every year, the irony of November being named “National American Indian Heritage Month” kills me a bit more (First instituted in 1990, by Bush). This year more than most, with the criminal atrocities being committed at Standing Rock. There was a demented, malign genius to choosing November, what with most people being occupied with that grand holiday, “thanksgiving”, and preoccupied with Xmas. The majority of Americans don’t have the slightest idea of there even being an NDN heritage month, and if they do, there’s a bit of lip service perhaps, but not much more. As for learning, dive into the Standing Rock Syllabus.

High Cost of Human Rights Corrodes DAPL Financing:

Government scientists have just identified the largest deposit of oil in the United States. Newsflash: It is nowhere near the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). On November 15, the U.S. Geological Survey released the largest estimate of continuous (unconventional) oil that USGS has ever assessed in the United States. The site is the Wolfcamp Shale formation in the Permian Basin of West Texas and Eastern New Mexico. USGS estimates the Wolfcamp play at 20 billion barrels.

There are two bits of significance for the fight against DAPL, the Black Snake, rooted in two theories of what the DAPL might be able to move if and when it is finished. The investment banks funding the Black Snake bought into the project based the state of the oil market at the time and expert projections for production over the life of the pipeline.

The oil market has shifted in many ways since the first round of DAPL financing was anticipating rising demand and more expensive supplies.

Hey America, I’m Taking Back Thanksgiving.

Standing Rock: Native What Month?

https://www.facebook.com/john.bravebullbaker/posts/10211164522099066

I don’t have much to say. Too fucking sick at heart. What have we ever done to merit this ongoing treatment from colonial america? In John BraveBull’s account above, he mentions Charlie Plenty Wolf. It was Charlie who welcomed us to the camp our first time there. Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck. FUCK. It’s just a grand Native American Heritage Month, with all the people who just don’t give a shit, the continued efforts at genocide, and everyone else being all chucklefuck happy over thankstealing and good shopping deals!

Elder in Critical Condition after Going into Cardiac Arrest at Scene of DAPL Barricade Clash.

https://www.facebook.com/josuefoto/videos/1395596380452239/

I was privileged to meet Josué at the Oceti Sakowin camp, he gave me my first press pass.

header

Water Cannons Fired at Water Protectors in Freezing Temperatures Injure Hundreds.

#nodapl, Simon-Moya Smith, Ruth Hopkins.

Yes, the cops are yelling “riot!” and claiming the protectors set fires. That is not true. It was another peaceful prayer circle, and some of the protectors went to move one of the burned out vehicles out of the way, when they were hit with gas grenades, batons, and water cannons.

Mainstream Media MIA as DAPL Action Is Met With Water Cannons and Mace.

“They want to kill people for clearing a road,” questioned Tara Houska, referencing police spraying people with water cannons in 26-degree weather. The national campaigns director of Honor the Earth reminded her friends and followers that November is Native American Heritage Month.

“When will our cries be heard?”

 

Standing Rock Syllabus: Learn, Teach.

Credit: C. Ford.

Credit: C. Ford.

The New York City Stands with Standing Rock Collective then met again and we talked at length about the syllabus and how to curate emergent sections. We want our readers and future teachers to understand that we take Sioux notions of history seriously but came to impasses with certain materials that we wanted to include, but felt inadequate to interpret. So we direct educators and students to the crucial archives of Lakota Winter Counts. One of the founders of the resistance camps at Standing Rock, LaDonna Brave Bull Allard, has devoted her life to the interpretation of these counts and any responsible curriculum will point to them and invite students to think about and with them. Recognizing then, our limitations, we volunteered to work with our strengths and to curate specific sections of the syllabus, to take charge of, so to speak, the content and the form. Matthew Chrisler managed the group and ordered the text with Jaskiran Dhillon, New School Assistant Professor of Global Studies and Anthropology who stepped in at certain points to read over entries. Along with Matthew Chrisler, Sheehan Moore, a doctoral student in anthropology at CUNY, organized all of the PDFs to attach to our website for syllabus readers to view and download. In this way, there were multiple eyes on each section as it took shape. We also asked curators to narrow their selections to book chapters and specific articles to further focus the syllabus and keep it accessible for people who would read and download it in short amounts of time. We wanted people to read the syllabus and teach the material, but also to have access to the readings for themselves and their students and/or community members.

Although a “work in progress,” the current #StandingRockSyllabus places what is happening now in a broader historical, political, economic, and social context going back over 500 years to the first expeditions of Columbus, the founding of the United States on institutionalized slavery, private property, and dispossession, and the rise of global carbon supply and demand. Indigenous peoples around the world have been on the frontlines of conflicts like Standing Rock for centuries. The syllabus foregrounds the work of Indigenous and allied activists and scholars: anthropologists, historians, environmental scientists, and legal scholars, all of whom contribute important insights into the conflicts between Indigenous sovereignty and resource extraction. It can be taught in its entirety, or in sections depending on the pedagogic needs. We hope that it will be used in K-12 school settings, community centers, social justice agencies training organizers, university classrooms, legal defense campaigns, social movement and political education workshops, and in the resistance camps at Standing Rock and other similar standoffs across the globe. As we move forward, we anticipate posting lesson plans on our website that will be derived from individuals and communities using the syllabus in their respective locales.

While our primary goal is to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline, we recognize that Standing Rock is one frontline of many around the world. This syllabus can be a tool to access research usually kept behind paywalls, or a resource package for those unfamiliar with Indigenous histories and politics. Please share, add, and discuss using the hashtag #StandingRockSyllabus on Facebook, Twitter, or other social media. Like those on the frontlines, we are here for as long as it takes.

The #StandingRockSyllabus and accompanying PDFs can be found here.

The full story on the syllabus is here#StandingRockSyllabus. As Peter D’Errico says:

True to the purpose of digging to the roots of events, “#StandingRockSyllabus places what is happening now in a broader historical, political, economic, and social context going back over 500 years to the first expeditions of Columbus, the founding of the United States on institutionalized slavery, private property, and dispossession, and the rise of global carbon supply and demand. Indigenous peoples around the world have been on the frontlines of conflicts like Standing Rock for centuries.”

Importantly, #StandingRockSyllabus aims for audiences beyond the standard academic world: The authors built it for use “in K-12 school settings, community centers, social justice agencies training organizers, university classrooms, legal defense campaigns, social movement and political education workshops, and in the resistance camps at Standing Rock and other similar standoffs across the globe.”

This is an invaluable opportunity for teachers, please take advantage of it. This is also an invaluable resource and opportunity for those who wish to understand. As this is supposedly Native American Heritage Month (more on that later), spreading this everywhere would be be a great gesture. Lila wopila to all who do. (Many Thanks).

The Trump Investigative Fund.

Resist.

Resist.

There are journalists who are determined to report facts and make a constant effort to disclose the truth. That’s very important right now. Think Progress has started a fund, and if you are able to drop a few pennies, this is a good place to do so.

[Read more…]

Double Plus Ungood News.

CREDIT: AP Photo/Alex Brandon.

CREDIT: AP Photo/Alex Brandon.

If you are young, you might not know what “double plus ungood” means. It’s Newspeak, from the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. It means terrible; very bad. I first read Orwell’s novel when I was in my early teens (I think, it’s all a bit fuzzy these days), and by the time the actual 1984 rolled around, I was 26 years old, and everyone was having fun with jokes about Big Brother and all the rest. Magazine covers all did plays on the novel. People were still optimistic then, and relieved, I think, that Orwell’s novel hadn’t come true. It hadn’t come true in 1984, but it rather looks like we’re heading that way in 2016. Today, I’m 59 years old, and the gift I’d like the most is to have that optimism back.

Friday evening, the Washington Post reported that about 100 foreign diplomats gathered at President-elect Donald Trump’s hotel in Washington, DC to “to sip Trump-branded champagne, dine on sliders and hear a sales pitch about the U.S. president-elect’s newest hotel.” The tour included a look at the hotel’s $20,000 a night “town house” suite. The Post also quoted some of the diplomats saying they intended to stay at the hotel in order to ingratiate themselves to the incoming president.

[…]

The incoming president, in other words, is actively soliciting business from agents of foreign governments. Many of these agents, in turn, said that they will accept the president-elect’s offer to do business because they want to win favor with the new leader of the United States.

In an exclusive exchange with ThinkProgress, Richard Painter, a University of Minnesota law professor who previously served as chief ethics counsel to President George W. Bush, says that Trump’s efforts to do business with these diplomats is at odds with a provision of the Constitution intended to prevent foreign states from effectively buying influence with federal officials.

The Constitution’s “Emoluments Clause,” provides that “no person holding any office of profit or trust under” the United States “shall, without the consent of the Congress, accept of any present, emolument, office, or title, of any kind whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign state.”

The diplomats’ efforts in seek Trump’s favor by staying in his hotel “looks like a gift,” Painter told ThinkProgress in an email, and thus is the very kind of favor the Constitution seeks to prevent.

Emolument. There’s a new one for the vocabulary.

…Assuming that Trump does not divest from his hotel, however, it may prove difficult to enforce the Constitution against him. There are few court cases dealing with the Emoluments Clause. Typically, the country has relied on internal safeguards within the executive branch and fear of political embarrassment to prevent violations by the president. […] There is, however, at least one remedy under the Constitution for such a violation of the public trust by the president: impeachment.

I think we can rule out any fear of political embarrassment on the part of Trump or his appointees. They don’t seem to be capable of such a sense. The possibility of impeachment might get through to one of them, but whether or not it gets through to Trump is a different story, as right now it appears as though he doesn’t understand the slightest thing about politics or government. As I noted in a previous post, It’s becoming increasingly clear that Trump does not plan to work as a president, or to treat the presidency as an actual political office. The full story is at Think Progress, well worth reading. Also see: Government watchdogs demand Trump put business holdings in ‘blind trust’.

[Read more…]

Have Fun, but Don’t Get Lost in Distraction.

1-xbhie71k8cn0qrodgh83dgLike most people, I’ve been having a bit of fun with Trump’s stupidity over Pence’s appearance at Hamilton, but it’s important to not get overwhelmed with this little distraction. It’s becoming increasingly clear that Trump does not plan to work as a president, or to treat the presidency as an actual political office. It would be more to point to change the name of this country to The Corporate Interests of the White One Percent, because that’s what is happening right under our collective nose. He plans to install his relatives into his “team” in spite of nepotism laws; he refuses to deal with his personal assets in the permitted ways; he’s more focused on the shoring up of his failing enterprises than anything else. Trump keeps handing key positions to very frightening people, who are more than willing to commit evil acts. So, sorry for the downer, but it’s important to keep up with what’s happening, rather than allow ourselves to be deluded by the idea that this presidency will just be a silly circus for the next four years. It may well be a silly circus, but it’s going to be a damn dangerous one, too.

Trump has decided on Sessions for Attorney General. Might as well change that to Inquisitor General, it’s much more suitable to Sessions’ inclinations and beliefs, which are frightening as all hells. Back when there was still some sanity in the republican party, they turned Sessions down for a federal judgeship as being too racist and extreme. That happened during the Reagan years. Yep. Starting to get an idea of what life might be like for everyone who is not pasty white? Combine Sessions being AG with Trump’s vow to reinstate stop and frisk. Do your homework on Sessions, because this news is every bit as bad as Bannon being appointed, perhaps worse. Sessions One. Sessions Two. Sessions Three. Sessions thinks anyone who smokes weed should not only be in prison, he thinks they shouldn’t get out. He’s also dead against the commutations of drug sentences President Obama recently signed.

Getting back to the President-elect for a bit, the kissing up is right on schedule, because you just don’t want to offend someone with all that money, right? We’re also marching straight into Kleptocracy, barely got to see Democracy leaving the building.

[Read more…]