The Civil War Was About Free Speech.

Sid Miller. CREDIT: AP Photo/Eric Gay.

Sid Miller. CREDIT: AP Photo/Eric Gay.

For bigots, the Civil War was never, ever about slavery, oh my no. It was about everything and anything under the sun, but not slavery. Sid “Jesus Juice” Miller is pushing the “it was about freedom of speech!” button.

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is planning to the restrict the display of Confederate flags by “amend[ing] our policy to make clear that Confederate flags will not be displayed from any permanently fixed flagpole in a national cemetery at any time.”

As expressed in a letter written by Roger Walters, interim undersecretary for memorial affairs, “We are aware of the concerns of those who wish to see Confederate flags removed from public venues because they are perceived by many as a symbol of racial intolerance.”

But a recent vote indicated a majority of House Republicans oppose the VA’s attempt to restrict where and when the Stars and Bars can be displayed. So does Sid Miller, the Texas Agriculture Commissioner who was recently tapped to be Donald Trump’s national co-chairman of his agriculture advisory team.

In a Facebook post published Thursday, Miller suggests the Civil War was first and foremost about protecting free speech — not slavery. He also strikes a skeptical note about whether Confederates who fought against the United States behaved treasonously.

Responding to a Washington Post column supportive of the VA’s move, Miller writes that the piece “makes my blood boil” and says the Post isn’t “entitled to… attempt to read the minds of my long-dead Confederate ancestors and determine that their actions and motivations during that awful war were treasonous.”
He also denounces “politically correct bureaucrats” pushing for the Stars and Bars to be banned.

“With all that is going on around our world and the serious threats that exist to our country and our constitiional [sic] freedoms by those who carry black flags with Arabic writing upon them, I would think that those in our national government would simply leave alone the flags marking the burial grounds of our Confederate dead,” Miller writes. “Unfortunately, I fear that is just wishful thinking on my part and highlights why the outcome of the upcoming election is so very, very important.”

https://www.facebook.com/MillerForTexas/posts/1884355138453315

Full story at Think Progress.

Sunday Facepalm: God Can’t Read the Clinton Emails!

Trey Gowdy. Mark Wilson/Getty Images.

Trey Gowdy. Mark Wilson/Getty Images.

Hillary Clinton’s legal team took such painstaking efforts to delete the former secretary of state’s emails that “even God can’t read them,” according to Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), chairman of the House Select Committee on Benghazi.

Gowdy argued the use of BleachBit, a software whose website says it can “prevent recovery” of files, further bolsters accusations that Clinton, the Democratic nominee for president, had something to hide in deleting all the personal files from her time at the State Department.

According to Clinton, the emails she deleted were all of a personal nature, most of which pertained to yoga and her daughter’s wedding. Gowdy, though, isn’t so sure and wants to know if the presidential hopeful considered emails about the Clinton Foundation personal.

“She and her lawyers had those emails deleted. And they didn’t just push the delete button; they had them deleted where even God can’t read them,” the lawmaker said during an appearance on Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom” Thursday. “They were using something called BleachBit. You don’t use BleachBit for yoga emails or bridemaids emails. When you’re using BleachBit, it is something you really do not want the world to see.”

You really can’t mock these people sufficiently, they do such a good job of mocking themselves. “Where even God can’t read them.” No god is specified here, but I will assume Mr. Gowdy is referencing good ol’ Jehovah. A god which Christians insist is all powerful and all seeing. Can’t hide from God, oh no! God sees everything, every dirty thought, and where you put your naughty hands! Unfortunately, it seems software has breached that all powerful thing god had going. Tsk.

Via The Blaze, so take along a truck full of salt if you click over.

Breaking Up Boredom.

Having a large area to fill can get very tedious and boring. You can always go the distraction route, by putting a movie on or playing an audio book. Audio books don’t work for me, I find them annoying. Movies are fine, but they either need to be ones you have seen 5,000 times and pretty much know by heart, or a bad movie that won’t engage your attention much. A good movie you don’t know or know well will slow you way down. If I do movies, I do the Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes movies. They basically provide background distraction, and are a good way to time yourself, as each movie is around 80 minutes. There are other little things you can do, even if you are working to a pattern. If there’s a large area, break it up with various shapes. By the time you’re done, you’ll have a nice, subtle pattern, which is especially nice in large areas done in one colour. You can also take a couple of seconds to randomly doodle, which gives you a goal (one doodle covered, two doodles covered, etc.) and can make the stitching area seem less formidable.

Current Hours: 1,029. Skeins Used: 149. Click for full size.

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© C. Ford, all rights reserved.

“You Shoot the Enemy.” Guess Who the Enemy Is?

CREDIT: AP/MICHAEL DYWER.

CREDIT: AP/MICHAEL DYWER.

Maine Governor Paul LePage (R) has been mouthing off, a lot. He has frothed about every group he doesn’t like, and it seems if you aren’t a hetero christian white man, you’re in one of the hated groups. Mr. LePage has a particular hatred of anyone who is not verifiably pasty white, and he doesn’t seem to care who knows it, either. He is an ardent Trump fan, which I’m sure is no surprise. In his latest screed, Mr. LePage identifies the enemy: People of Colour, and what you do to the enemy: you shoot them.

In a Friday press conference following his homophobic remarks about a state lawmaker, Maine Governor Paul LePage (R) called people of color and people of Hispanic origin “the enemy” and implied they should be shot.

“A bad guy is a bad guy. I don’t care what color he is. When you go to war, if you know the enemy, the enemy dresses in red and you dress in blue, you shoot at red,” he said. “You shoot the enemy. You try to identify the enemy. And the enemy right now, the overwhelming majority of people coming in are people of color or people of Hispanic origin.”

The governor has offered a veritable potpourri of racist and homophobic remarks over the years. In his voicemail to state Rep. Drew Gattine (D) on Thursday, in an apparent attempt to convince people that he is not a racist, he said, “I want to talk to you. I want you to prove that I’m a racist. I’ve spent my life helping black people and you little son-of-a-bitch, socialist cocksucker.”

Oh, yes, helping black people, but you just can’t stand having them in your pristine state of Maine. I’d be willing to bet your idea of help is not the same as mine.

On Wednesday, he called Khizr Khan, the father of a fallen Muslim soldier, a “con artist.” During a town hall on that same day, he said nearly all of Maine’s drug dealers are black or Hispanic. “I don’t ask them to come to Maine (to) sell their poison, but they come,” he said. “And I will tell you, that 90 percent-plus of those pictures in my book — and it’s a three-ring binder — are black and Hispanic people from Waterbury, Connecticut, the Bronx and Brooklyn.”

LePage grabbed national headlines earlier this year when he said men named “Smoothie, D-Money, and Shifty” were dealing drugs in Maine. He added, “Incidentally, half the time they impregnate a young, white girl before they leave, which is a real sad thing because then we have another issue that we’ve got to deal with down the road. We’re going to make them very severe penalties.”

Among his other comments, he told the NAACP to “kiss my butt,” accused asylum seekers of bringing the “ziki fly,” and told the president to “go to hell.” LePage is an enthusiastic supporter of the Republican nominee for president, Donald Trump.

It’s not just the presidential vote that’s important. It’s equally important to usher these asses who run on bigotry and stereotypes out of office, too.

Via Think Progress.

Post-Racist. Right.

Colin Kaepernick -- via Facebook.

Colin Kaepernick — via Facebook.

I keep running into people who insist that Amerikka is post-sexist and post-racist. I have no idea how they keep this delusional illusion in their heads, because every day, we are drowning in evidence that’s not so. Rapists continue to receive slaps on the wrist, and racists continue to shout their bigotry to the skies. The latest example is the reaction to Colin Kaepernick’s refusal to stand during the anthem.

In a post-game interview on the NFL Network, Kaepernick explained that he was taking a different kind of stand, referencing Black Lives Matter in a roundabout way.

“I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color,” Kaepernick told reporters. “To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder.”

Criticism on Twitter ran from attacks on Kaepernick by questioning his patriotism in light of the millions he earns as an NFL star, to extensive use of the “N-word” from racists who are a source of many of the problems African Americans face in the U.S,.

Some of the tweets are below the fold, because they are explicit and vile.

[Read more…]

Lummi Totem Pole To Be at Sacred Stone Camp.

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The Lummi Nation of Washington held a blessing and send-off ceremony on Thursday for the 2016 Totem Pole Journey.

Master carver Jewell James created a 22-foot tall pole that will travel 5,000 miles to raise awareness of the impacts of fossil fuel development in Indian Country. One of the first stops will be the Camp of the Sacred Stones near Cannon Ball, North Dakota.

“We need to be heard as many people and one voice,” James of the House of Tears Carvers said in a press release announcing this year’s journey. “We need to let them know they cannot in the name of profits do this to the people, the water, the land, and to the future generations. We will never give up. They must not pass!”

The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe established the Camp of the Sacred Stones to protest the $3.8 billion Dakota Access Pipeline, which comes within a half-mile of the reservation. The pole is expected to arrive at the site on Tuesday, August 30, before departing on Friday, September 1. This year marks the fourth Totem Pole Journey It comes after the Lummi Nation successfully defeated a coal export terminal on its treaty territory in Washington.

You can read more at Indianz.com, and the Journey’s route is here. Support Sacred Stone Camp. Legal Fund Help. Support Native YouthSign the Petition. Sign urgent petition.

New Stories: Dakota Access: Stars From Hollywood to Washington Support Water Protectors.

Important Message from Keeper of Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe.

When Man Changes the Land, It Is Changed Forever.

A Tale of Two T-Shirts.

lesbian-farmers-t-shirt-750

Rush Limbaugh’s rant that the Obama administration intends to flood conservative rural areas with lesbian farmers has inspired not only a musical tribute but an “America Needs Lesbian Farmers” T-shirt.

T-shirt maker Raygun unveiled the shirt on its Facebook page Thursday. It’s bright green with gold lettering and sells for $21.

News of the Department of Agriculture’s outreach program to rural LGBT people, designed to increase awareness of helpful government nonprofit programs, had Limbaugh warning that the federal government was attacking conservative values and conspiring to fill rural enclaves with LGBT liberals.

Full story here. This is a good idea, and I hope to see people wearing these Tees all over the place. On the other hand, there’s…

lgbtq-for-trump-tshirt-x750

A new “LGBTQ for Trump” shirt will set you back $30 — and set your rights back even further.

LGBTQ for Trump? That’s what the Republican presidential candidate is selling on his website, even if his stances on equality leave you feeling more “LGBTQ against Trump.”

Trump has been aggressively suggesting he’s the better candidate for LGBT people. After the horrific attack in Orlando that left 49 people dead and 53 others injured at a gay nightclub on June 12, the Republican candidate spoke out against the attack. “Ask yourself, who is really the friend of women and the LGBT community. Donald Trump with his actions, or Hillary Clinton with her words?” said Trump. A simple fact-check would answer that question.

Full story here. I shouldn’t even have to mention what a terrible idea this is, and I can’t help but speculate how much Trump has spent on this utter isht.

Raturday.

Another edition of Rats Past. Agnes, Amelia’s sister, was firmly in the Wicked Smart McSmartypants category. There wasn’t anything she couldn’t figure out, and it never took her very long to figure anything out, either. Agnes was also a generally happy, affectionate girl too. She would raise the ire and jealousy of all the others every Ratmas though, because she was the only one who figured out the easy way to get the mineral chews – you just cut the thread!

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© C. Ford, all rights reserved.