Blue Horseshoe

AP Celebrates Independence Day By Explaining Why The Word ‘Patriot’ Is Problematic .....The Associated Press kicked off the Independence Day celebrations on Tuesday with an article explaining why the word “patriot” has become problematic in recent years....In the article, the outlet argued that the word had been overtly political and taken up by extremist groups, used in ways that made it less about love for the country and more about hatred for certain minority groups.....“The term ‘patriot’ in America has become infused in political rhetoric and school curriculums, with varying meanings, while also being appropriated by white nationalist groups,” the outlet tweeted along with a link to the full piece...... ....“Today, the word and its variants have morphed beyond the original meaning. It has become infused in political rhetoric and school curriculums, with varying definitions, while being appropriated by white nationalist groups,” the article alleged, using data from the far-left Southern Poverty Law Center to support the idea that radical right-wing extremists had coopted the word. “Trying to define what a patriot is depends on who is being asked.....” https://www.dailywire.com/news/ap-celebrates-independence-day-by-explaining-why-the-word-patriot-is-problematic

https://www.fftodayforums.com/forum/topic/517236-war-in-israel/?page=11&tab=comments#comment-7365447 Posted by @The Real timschochet 10/09/23 at 10:14 AM "Hey guys much as I would love to continue to discuss this subject, I find this CDub guy’s comments so distasteful that I really don’t want to participate. If that was his goal, mission accomplished. I’ll bow out so long as he keeps posting his hate...." ******** https://www.fftodayforums.com/forum/topic/517236-war-in-israel/?page=46&tab=comments#comment-7370981 Posted by @The Real timschochet 10/18/23 at 7:04 AM "You’re really into the name calling this morning aren’t you? One reason why I stopped posting in this thread was because I was called an antisemite for criticizing Israel, while the true antisemites in this thread (such as @cdub0619 who denied the Holocaust and wrote that our government is controlled by international Jewry) were ignored by people like you. I think not posting here was the right decision. Bye." ********* https://www.fftodayforums.com/forum/topic/517236-war-in-israel/?page=54&tab=comments#comment-7372870 Posted by @The Real timschochet 10/20/23 at 3:37 PM "Did the anti-Jewish bigots and anti-Muslim bigots leave this thread yet? Or are they still here polluting the discussion? " ********* Just a shade over 25 hours the first time that Tim took his football and ran home to Mommy. This time was shy of two and a half days.

Donald Trump McCarthy was an early supporter of Trump in the 2016 Republican presidential primaries, saying that Trump's "intensity" could help the Republicans win House seats....After the 2018 midterm elections, in which Democrats won a majority in the House, McCarthy said that Democrats should not investigate Trump. He described investigations of Trump as a "small agenda" and that "America's too great of a nation to have such a small agenda." He said that Trump had already been investigated "for a long period of time". McCarthy and other House Republicans investigated Hillary Clinton for years over the 2012 Benghazi attack.[11] In 2015, McCarthy said that the investigation, which found no evidence of wrongdoing on Clinton's part, had hurt poll numbers.[12][13][14] In 2019, McCarthy defended government officials spending money at resorts Trump owned. He said there was no difference between government officials spending money at hotels Trump owned and other hotels.[15] In October 2019, McCarthy said "there's nothing that the president did wrong" in regard to Trump requesting that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy investigate 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden.[16] McCarthy added: "The president wasn't investigating a campaign rival. The president was trying to get to the bottom, just as every American would want to know, why did we have this Russia hoax that actually started within Ukraine."[16] That same month, when Trump said "China should start an investigation into the Bidens", McCarthy shortly thereafter went on Fox & Friends to say, "You watch what the president said—he's not saying China should investigate."[17] Capitol riot and reaction In 2021, of the attack on the United States Capitol on January 6, McCarthy said that "as a nation", "we all have some responsibility" for the event.[18] McCarthy had been among those Republicans who in the weeks before the attack on the Capitol had spread false claims about the validity of the presidential election.[18] On January 13, McCarthy said that Trump "bears responsibility for Wednesday's attack on Congress by mob rioters. He should have immediately denounced the mob when he saw what was unfolding." McCarthy did not vote to impeach Trump for a second time, instead calling for a censure resolution against Trump for his role in the attack.[19][20][21] On January 21, McCarthy said he did not think that Trump "provoked" the attack.[18] Two days later, McCarthy said that Trump "had some responsibility when it came to the response", and then stressed his original position that all Americans have "some responsibility".[18] Republicans have criticized McCarthy for inconsistent statements about Trump after the attack.[22] Despite the condemnation, McCarthy visited Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort to discuss the future of the Republican Party. McCarthy released a statement that read in part, "Today, President Trump committed to helping elect Republicans in the House and Senate in 2022".[23] On May 19, 2021, McCarthy and all the other Republican House leaders in the 117th Congress voted against establishing the January 6 commission. Thirty-five Republican House members and all 217 Democrats present voted to establish such a commission. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_positions_of_Kevin_McCarthy

Tens of thousands rally around the world in solidarity with Palestine Thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters gathered in the US capital on Saturday, marching past the White House to chants of “Free Palestine” as the death toll continued to climb in the conflict between Israel and Hamas. Across the country, Americans have held pro-Palestinian protests with crowds gathering in Los Angeles, New York and Dearborn, Michigan – home to one of the largest populations of Arabs and Arab diaspora in the United States. In the United Kingdom, rallies took place in Manchester in northern England, Edinburgh and Glasgow in Scotland, and London, amid police warnings that anyone showing support for the armed group Hamas could face arrest. Protesters marching through the heart of the British capital were shadowed by a heavy police presence of more than 1,000 officers. Demonstrations in support of Palestine also took place in Switzerland’s capital Geneva, in Turin – northwestern Italy, and in the Irish capital, Dublin. In Morocco’s Rabat, thousands marched in solidarity with the Palestinian people. https://www.aljazeera.com/gallery/2023/10/15/palestinian-support-demonstrations-around-the-world

Climate activists rally outside Schumer’s home, demand ‘clean’ budget deal .....Hundreds of environmental activists gathered outside Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s home in Park Slope on Tuesday evening to protest the pol’s link to fossil fuel donors, and to oppose the inclusion of a controversial natural gas pipeline in the legislature’s hotly-debated budget deal.....As part of the months-long negotiations over the bill, the Republican-controlled House agreed to a deal with the President and the Democratic-controlled Senate that will green-light a massive fossil fuel project, called the Mountain Valley Pipeline that runs through Virginia and West Virginia. Sen. Joe Manchin, a conservative Democrat from West Virginia, who has pushed in favor of the project, reportedly secured the approval, as his vote is key in the upper legislative chamber, where Democrats hold the majority by a slim margin. ....Environmentalists say the provision would speed up the construction of the $6.6 billion pipeline, which is planned to carry two billion cubic feet of fracked gas per day, mostly for export.....“Any deal that holds the economy and climate hostage for the profit of dirty energy donors is a betrayal,” said Food & Water Watch Senior New York Organizer Eric Weltman. “Senator Schumer must pass a clean debt bill without fossil fuel giveaways.” The 300-mile pipeline would run over nearly 1,000 streams and wetlands and would lead to annual emissions of over 89 million metric tons of carbon dioxide, equivalent to 26 coal plants or 19 million cars, according to Oil Change International, a research and data-managing advocacy organization that is pro-transition to clean energy.....The bill orders federal agencies to issue permits for the project and says courts can’t review them. ....According to The New Republic, Schumer is the single largest recipient of funds from NextEra Energy, one of the companies that owns the pipeline. NextEra has been Schumer’s second-largest donor this year and has donated more than $280,000 to the senator so far. “The inclusion of the Mountain Valley Pipeline, a private commercial venture, at the behest of a single wealthy Senator reek of corruption....Not only are pipeline permits irrelevant to the issue of the debt ceiling but putting this specific pipeline outside the jurisdiction of the courts is a scandal. And Chuck Schumer is complicit.” ....Manchin, the pipeline’s biggest supporter, has also benefited from dealing with fossil fuel companies and energy giants. In the 2022 cycle, NextEra’s employees and political action committees gave $60,350 to Manchin, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. https://www.brooklynpaper.com/climate-activists-chuck-schumer-budget-deal/

The New York Times loses gold verification badge on Elon Musk's X ...The social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, has removed the golden “verified” badge from the account belonging to The New York Times.....The golden badges, introduced earlier this year, distinguish news organizations and brands from individual users.....Musk attacked The New York Times in August, saying “if ever there was a time to cancel that publication, it is now.” The New York Times was also reportedly the subject of a since-removed five-second delay for clicks leading to its website from X. Since the verification removal, traffic to The New York Times’ website has been slashed by 50%, The Washington Post reported, a fraction greater than the reduction in clicks leading to industry competitor Facebook from the site......The move coincides with Musk’s campaign to combat misinformation and free speech violations on the site, which he claims were common under prior ownership. He is responsible for reinstating previously banned accounts for former President Donald Trump and rapper Ye West. Under his ownership, Musk has also championed the independent journalist, bolstering video-sharing capabilities to allow anyone to share information.....Major outlets put off by Musk’s changes to the site have abandoned it all together. In April, NPR briefly left X after it changed the outlet’s label to “government-funded” media. PBS followed suit after receiving the same designation. https://abc6onyourside.com/news/nation-world/the-new-york-times-loses-gold-verification-badge-on-elon-musks-x-twitter

Latinos Can Be White Supremacists ....the suspect was identified as one Mauricio Garcia.....As soon as the suspect’s name was reported, some conservative media figures declared that his name indicated that he could not have been a white supremacist. Twitter’s right-wing billionaire owner, Elon Musk, amplified suggestions on the social network that the reporting about Garcia’s ideological predilections was a “psyop"......This disbelief is naive at best. Racial identity is a social reality, not a biological one, and Hispanic people can be of any racial background. “Latinos are a pan-ethnic group that have very many racial identifications within that grouping. So, you know, we can be Latino by ethnicity, but Latinos are also white, Black, Indigenous, Asian,” Tanya Katerí Hernández, a professor at Fordham Law and the author of Racial Innocence: Unmasking Latino Anti-Black Bias and the Struggle for Equality, told me. “We have white Hispanics, and there are some white Hispanics who hold very white-supremacist views.” Reporters have uncovered a lengthy social-media trail testifying to Garcia’s racist and misogynist beliefs, and Texas authorities have described him as expressing “neo-Nazi ideation.” The initial reports in the aftermath of a mass shooting are often confusing and contradictory, and there’s nothing wrong with treating them with a little healthy skepticism. But the idea of a Hispanic person adhering to white-nationalist ideology is hardly ridiculous. The rest of the world does not conform to domestic American understandings of race, because race is an ideological concept, not a scientific one. Just because people classify you as one thing in America doesn’t mean they see you the same way everywhere else. “Racial identity is not fixed. It’s not natural. It’s not biological. It’s not monolithic.....Racial identity is culturally and politically produced. How people respond to it varies enormously. And that means that some people of whatever color respond to racism by saying, This is immoral and ugly. And other people respond to racism by saying, Yeah, I’m one of the superior races.” Indeed, two of the most prominent Hitler admirers in America are Kanye West and a guy with the surname Fuentes. America is nothing if not a land of opportunity. .....And the question of how Hispanics fit within America’s constructed categories of race has long been contested. Mexican was included as a category on the 1930 census, but Hispanic was not included until 1980. From the 1930s into the ’60s, Haney López told me, many Hispanic advocacy groups pursued the same political strategy as Southern and Eastern European immigrants, seeking to distinguish themselves from African Americans and ultimately be accepted as white.....“With the civil-rights movement,” Haney López said, “you get this rapid, significant shift where a lot of folks in the leadership class and the more politically engaged elements of the community say, No, we’re not white. We’re actually brown, and we always have been brown. And we’ve been brainwashed, brainwashed ourselves into thinking we’re white, but actually, we’re brown, and we’re brown in a way that makes us similar to African Americans.” https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/05/hispanic-american-racism-white-supremacy/674081/

The Rise of Latino White Supremacy .....At a time of increased racial violence, Latinos are potential perpetrators....In his 2004 book, “Who Are We? The Challenges to America’s National Identity,” the late political scientist Samuel P. Huntington fretted over how Mexican immigration was changing the “Anglo-Protestant mainstream culture” of the United States. He worried that Mexican immigrants weren’t assimilating as earlier European immigrants had done. “The criteria that can be used to gauge assimilation of an individual, a group, or a generation include language, education, occupation and income, citizenship, intermarriage and identity,” he wrote. Huntington believed that the descendants of Mexican immigrants weren’t hitting these markers, but he was wrong. They assimilated like others did. They learned English, intermarried, became loyal Americans, and adopted American politics, including its most extreme and violent forms.... ....But Garcia continued to see himself as Latino, which he never equated with whiteness, and at moments he manifested pride in his nonwhite Latino identity. It is a confusing set of ideas that nevertheless has a long history among Latinos, in part because the category “Latino” itself has been fiercely contested—with some arguing, for example, that it should be classified as a race rather than an ethnicity.... ....Scholars and journalists have described these Latino white supremacists in different ways. Some Latinos, they’ve argued, are also afflicted by “aspirational whiteness,” or the desire to be white in order to fit into the racial and capitalist order of the United States, to avoid the discrimination that Black Americans experience, ..... They ascribe to “multiracial whiteness,” which the political scientist Cristina Beltrán defines as an identity that people from all racial backgrounds can participate in. It is rooted, she writes, “in a discriminatory world view in which feelings of freedom and belonging are produced through the persecution and dehumanization of others.” Such concepts help to explain how, in a country with rising racial violence, Latinos can be .... potential perpetrators..... ....Many Latinos, like other Americans, have responded to their sense of victimhood by buying weapons. ..... As the coronavirus pandemic spread across the country, Latinos reported fears of violent crimes; this was again followed by a spike in gun purchases by Latinos. A survey conducted by the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the trade association for the firearms industry, found that Latinos purchased guns at a forty-nine-per-cent higher rate in 2020 than in 2019. It also found that forty per cent of gun retailers reported an increase in sales to Latinos in 2021..... .... We live in a country where everyone from university deans to corporate executives extolls the virtues of assimilation and diversity, but the growing diversity of gun owners who inflict mass death should cause us to rethink inclusion’s underlying assumptions. So, too, should Latino white-supremacist thinking—another marker of Latino assimilation at a time when white-power ideology is spreading rapidly at home and abroad. Expressing surprise or disbelief at the fact that Latino white-supremacist shooters exist marks them as outsiders, as many Latinos before them have been marked.... https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-rise-of-latino-white-supremacy

Response from the Trump campaign The Trump campaign pushed back hard on this claim.....“This is moronic. In Democrats’ America, Mount Rushmore glorifies white supremacy and the bald eagle with an American flag is a Nazi symbol. They have lost their minds," Tim Murtaugh, Trump 2020 communications director, said in an email to USA TODAY. Murtaugh pointed out a similar situation with former House Speaker Paul Ryan. A BuzzFeed story notes that in January 2017, Twitter was abuzz with the idea that the speaker's logo resembled a similar Nazi eagle and swastika. But it also looks like the eagle-and-globe top of the silver mace of the House, "a symbol of the House's authority," according to the House website. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2020/07/11/fact-check-trump-2020-campaign-shirt-design-similar-nazi-eagle/5414393002/

Matt Taibbi rips Rachel Maddow for defending Russiagate amid Durham probe revelations: 'Shocking new low' ....Substack journalist Matt Taibbi tore into MSNBC star Rachel Maddow for appearing to double down in her Russiagate coverage even as details emerging from the Durham probe continue to undercut the Democrat and media-driven narrative during the Trump administration.....Special Counsel John Durham charged Steele dossier sub-source Igor Danchenko's arrest with five counts of making false statements to the FBI but the indictment also shed light on his ties to Democratic operatives. Maddow, who became the most prominent TV host to push the Russia collusion narrative, addressed the latest developments in the Durham probe- but seemed to dismiss the severity of the new revelations. ....."The indictment in this case tells a story beyond just the charges," Maddow told viewers Thursday night. "It, like the other indictment from John Durham, seems designed to try to further this project of making the Russian investigation itself seem like a scandal.....If the goal here is for this Trump-holdover special prosecutor to try to discredit the whole Russia investigation by arresting various sources for that investigation, to try to discredit the Steele dossier because so many people have been led to think that that's the basis for the whole investigation, to essentially get payback on anyone involved in the Russia investigation no matter how far down the chain, well, what do the actual investigators think about that, the people who actually carried out the Trump Russia investigation itself," Maddow asked. ....On Friday, Taibbi offered a blistering response to Maddow's "shocking new low," writing, "With last night's loony response to the indictment of Igor Danchenko, the MSNBC anchor takes a bold leap off the credibility cliff."....."Whatever the category below 'disgraced journalist' is, she entered it with gusto with last night’s performance," Taibbi wrote....."Every reporter who touched that allegation should be ashamed, and Rachel is at the front of that huge crowd. Among other things, she emphasized the importance of Steele’s "broader assertions," repeating the claim that the 'Russia regime has been cultivating, supporting and assisting Trump for at least five years,' going so far as to praise Steele for keeping his "head down" and listening to his "deep cover sources" like Danchenko," Taibbi wrote. "Rachel not only isn’t upset, she’s expressing pride in having been burned, and is digging in for more." Taibbi later pointed out on Twitter, "As one of my subscribers points out, Dan Rather was forced out of television after one error. Now whole networks openly embrace stories like the Steele Dossier even after they’ve been exposed as fakes." https://www.foxnews.com/media/matt-taibbi-msnbc-rachel-maddow-durham-probe

San Francisco will pay criminals $300 a month NOT to shoot other people in desperate plan to tackle surging gun crime The effort will select 10 fellows to be rewarded with $300 each month to keep their noses clean and keep free from gun violence incidents....Davis tried to explain that the program isn’t “as cut and dry” as simply giving cash for criminals...It's not as transactional as, 'Here's a few dollars so that you don't do something bad,' but it really is about how you help us improve public safety in the neighborhood," she added....The same participants can also seek to receive an additional $200 per month by attending school or helping to be change agents and mediate potentially violent situations before they erupt...." https://www.the-sun.com/news/3584427/san-francisco-pay-criminals-300-month-shoot-gun-crime/ San Francisco will pay people to not shoot others: 'Cash for criminals' .....San Francisco is rolling out a pilot program that will pay high-risk individuals to not shoot anyone as gun crimes tick up in the city. ....The Dream Keeper Fellowship will pay 10 individuals who are at high risk of being on either end of a shooting $300 each month to not be involved in such crimes..... is funded through the Dream Keeper Initiative, which is San Francisco’s program that works to redirect funding into the Black community. It will launch in October..... Participants are also eligible to receive an additional $200 per month through ways such as, working, going to school or being a mediator in potentially violent situations.... ....Mayor London Breed previously spoke approvingly of the idea as one that could cut down on violence in the city..... "We can’t just put them in a program without making sure that they have money, without making sure that they have something to take care of themselves....." ......Critics of the program have pointed out that similar initiatives haven't been very successful....."It was also tried in Sacramento, where its promoters boast that ‘only’ 44% of participants were subsequently arrested on new charges — well, as long as you don't count about one-third of the participants who dropped out or were arrested in its first six months...Violent criminals need jail. They do not need cash. People who shoot other people need to be walled off in prisons and kept away from the rest of us...." ....The move comes as California also works to become the first state to pay drug addicts a few hundred dollars to stay sober. ...Gov. Gavin Newsom asked the federal government last week for permission to use tax dollars to pay for the program through Medicaid. Meanwhile, a similar proposal is also working through California's Legislature, with the state Senate already passing the bill.... https://www.foxnews.com/us/san-francisco-pay-people-not-shoot-gun-crimes

‘Can’t be real’: Homeless pedophile camped near San Fran school with signs for meth and ‘free fentanyl’ ....A homeless convicted child sex offender has set up camp near a San Francisco Catholic school and public library — along with large signs offering “free fentanyl” for new users and “meth for stolen items.”....Joseph Adam Moore, 46, was imprisoned for six years for sex crimes, having molested a 12-year-old girl — and was accused of having sex with a 15-year-old girl just a month after getting out of prison, according to records obtained by the San Francisco Standard. The sex offender has also been arrested five times since 2007 for failing to notify authorities of his address as a sex offender, according to the outlet.....He is now living in a tent on Ninth Avenue near the Stella Maris Academy and the Richmond District library — with photos showing hand-written signs saying “Meth for stolen items” and “free fentanyl 4 new users.”....“It’s not a joke,” Moore told the San Francisco Chronicle of the drug signs while confirming he was a registered sex offender. “But this is ridiculous. The parents are complaining. The students are seeing this. It’s outrageous.”...Compounding the problem, Moore’s presence has attracted other homeless people who’ve since “since “made the curb their home” — even throwing wild Burning Man-style parties, local resident Nathaniel Weiner complained to the Chronicle. But in recent weeks, the Chronicle reports, Moore has become increasingly confrontational with police officers.....However, a San Francisco police spokesperson told the Standard that they could not find any incident reports for Moore’s campsite, and there were no arrest records for Moore within the last 90 days.....“If you guys want to flush the whole world down the toilet, if you guys want to ignore people like me, it’s at your own peril,” he said. https://nypost.com/2023/10/19/homeless-sex-offender-camped-near-san-fran-school-with-free-fentanyl-sign/