Sunday Facepalm.

facepalm_estatua

In the really bad news department, evangelicals have found themselves in government heaven. Last month, Right Wing Watch reported on the Pendejo-elect’s transition team giving religious right activists, specifically, the members of his evangelical advisory board unprecedented (sb. unpresidented?) input in shaping the new administration. A member of that board, Richard Land, was busy boasting in gleeful surprise about this recently.

Earlier this week, one of the members of that board, Richard Land of the Southern Evangelical Seminary, appeared on the “Point of View” radio program, where he told host Kerby Anderson that he has been shocked by how much influence he and other Religious Right activists have had over the make-up of Trump’s administration.

“Some of my conservative friends and I, we have been pinching ourselves, are we hallucinating or is this actually happening?” Land said. “I know a good number of people on the transition team and I can tell you right now, about half of them, Kerby, think I’m liberal. I mean, these are very conservative people.”

Indeed. Nazis and fascists in general are “ultra-conservative” by typical standards. One could phrase it more precisely as rigidly evil.

Land, a longtime activist and former Southern Baptist Convention official, said that he has “been solicited five times for personnel recommendations” by the Trump administration, which is something that never happened under any previous Republican president. As such, Land said, “this administration is going to have more conservative Christians, Catholic and evangelical, in it than any administration that I’ve been associated with or had contact with, and I’ve been doing this since Reagan.”

For those of us who eschew willful delusions, this is very bad news indeed. “When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.” I would say they would soon be eyeing suitable candidates for kindling, to set that cross ablaze, but there’s no soon about it. Already happening.

Via Right Wing Watch.

Conservative Outrage Over A Coin.

American Liberty 225th Anniversary gold coin (US Mint).

American Liberty 225th Anniversary gold coin (US Mint).

Oh my, the mint has decided to be inclusive looking on some gold coins that most people won’t ever see. Well, I guess it’s the thought that counts, but that thought has brought out all the conservative anger. Messing with Lady Liberty, oh noes! Lady Liberty is not black, she’s white! I confess to never having seen the statue in person, but she’s always looked rather green to me.

The U.S. Mint is unveiling a commemorative $100 gold coin that depicts Liberty as a black woman — and conservatives are predictably freaking out.

The 2017 American Liberty 225th Anniversary Gold Coin, which will be released April 6, shows the year of the mint’s founding, 1792, and the woman’s head in profile, reported the Associated Press.

The mint said the coins were intended to reflect “the cultural and ethnic diversity of the United States,” and others in a series of 24-karat gold coins will feature designs representing Asian-Americans, Hispanic-Americans and Indian-Americans.

Not only were unthinking cons upset about it, but it was an excuse for them to spew bigotry.

DeplorableTony Armas @Tarmas55

@AP The discrimination of white people by the @obama administration continues

The discrimination of white people? I don’t think that means what you think it means. Nope.

Chad Groves @ChadGroves10

@AP doubt lady liberty talks at top volume in movie theatres

Been a long time since I’ve been in a movie theatre, but I’d rather put up with a person of colour who is a talker, than a short tempered white person who decides to open fire with a gun. Aren’t stereotypes fun?

WALLTOWN NEWS @DennisKeithRic2

@AP I’m surprised that it’s not a MUSLIM.

How do you know if the person on the coin isn’t a Muslim person? We haven’t reached the point where belief shows up in fluorescent ink on our skin, y’know.

David S Handler @davidradiowntp

@AP this administration doing everything to change history,including changing Lady Liberty from what the French sent us. Pathetic racism!

You mean the mint has made duplicate Lady of Liberty statues to reflect diversity, and will be switching them out at intervals? Wow!

Drg @drg9766

@AP i wouldnt pay a dime for it. This proves that the Obama’s are racist.

The grammar, painful it is. No, no, this doesn’t prove racism on the part of Barak and Michele Obama. It does heavily point to racism on your part, though.

William Moore @williamfytylga

@AP take a close look at the Statue of Liberty. Obviously lady liberty is a white European. This is ridiculous!

There have been a great many observations made about the Statue of Liberty over the years. This is a remarkably stupid one. Obviously Lady Liberty is a green French woman.

Via Raw Story.

“Clovergender”

CG

While I’ve been dozing under my rock, yet another type of insidious bigotry is drenching the ‘net, based on the time immemorial pastime of linking LGBT peoples with pedophilia.

Martin Shkreli has given the LGBT community another reason to despise him.

The pharmaceutical executive, who rose to infamy by hiking the price of a drug used for an AIDS-related condition by more than 5,000 percent, is now promoting “clovergender,” an identity concocted by trolls to mock LGBT people.

Before his Twitter account was suspended for harassing a Teen Vogue writer, Shkreli urged his followers January 4 to “please spread clovergender awareness.” The term, which has sprung up on several social media accounts early this year, appeared to be used by adult individuals claiming to be “a child trapped in a man’s body who is attracted to other children.”

However, “clovergender” is a hoax. Snopes debunked it, tracing the birth of “clovergender” and this definition, which ridicules the identity of transgender and gender-nonbinary people, to a 4chan thread from December 31.

“We’re creating a new gender to trolls SJWs with,” posted an anonymous user, in a reference to “social justice warriors.” They then coined “clovergender” and ascribed fake preferred pronouns like “cl / clir /climself.”

“We will be trolling on Tumblr and Facebook,” the user stated. Another replied, “I see potential in this.”

Just what this sociopathic asshole has to gain from this, I don’t know, and it really doesn’t matter. I guess it’s just his way of getting his kicks. The potential for damage is overwhelming though, and it’s not like people in general don’t already have a whole lot of hatred for LGBT peoples anyway. They do, and those who are always looking for any reason to fire up that hate will grab this garbage and run with it. We have one state after another attempting to legislate bigotry and hate, and I imagine there will legislators who will seize on this as well, in order to shore up their always faulty reasoning.

After gaining momentum on the message boards of 4chan and Reddit, the term did indeed find its way to broader social media. A new Facebook page claimed to be created in response to “the horrible pain and backlash somee [sic] Clovergender people receive. We are against that. We think a kid should do what he wants.”

[…]

Several Twitter accounts, which follow and retweet LGBT outlets and influencers, are also attempting to intertwine the fake cause with the real-life movement. At least one has attributed Shkreli’s Twitter ban to clovergender discrimination.

The ruse duped some folks on social media, who reacted with disgust to the “clovergender” community.

The myth of the sexual predator has dogged the LGBT community since time immemorial. The call for “bathroom bills,” which prohibit transgender people from using restrooms that correspond with their gender identity, is the most recent example of how conservatives are painting queer people as perverts. “Clovergender,” if it perpetuates, will only continue to stoke these mistruths and biases.

So. We find ourselves back at the beginning again, folks, having to fight this blatant lie again, over and over. Be aware of this, spread the word, get the truth out there, we all know the drill.

Full story at The Advocate.

The Alabama Privacy Act.

gender-neutral-bathroom

Like many other states, legislators are rushing in all their transphobic policies, attempting to turn bigotry and hate into law. Alabama’s attempt is a bit different, seeing as it demands lavatory attendants. The purpose of said attendants isn’t entirely clear.

While several conservative states are preparing “bathroom bills” for the upcoming legislative session, Alabama’s anti-LGBT bill is changing the game by requiring costly bathroom attendants.

The bill, prefiled by Alabama Sen. Phil Williams, is called the “Alabama Privacy Act.” If passed, the bill would require public places with bathrooms or changing rooms to have single-person rooms, rooms for multiple people of the same gender, or rooms for people “irrespective of their gender” staffed by a bathroom attendant.

If a public place fails to provide these options, a fine of $2,000 will be imposed for the first violation, increased to $3,500 for each violation afterward.

The bill’s language is odd for several reasons. First, the bill does nothing to define what “gender” means—something that other conservative legislatures have taken great pains to do in opposition of the transgender community. Second, it’s not entirely clear what purpose a bathroom attendant would serve in gender-neutral bathrooms. The bill says they would “monitor the use of the restroom and answer any questions or concerns posed by users.”

Answer any questions? Really. Umm, I’d think people who had no problem with a unisex type lav wouldn’t have any particular questions. Just what are they expecting here, someone to rush in with an urgent need to piss, and must know, right now, should they stand or sit? I’m pretty sure all the homophobic and transphobic bigots out there don’t want to be going into a all gender lav. Or maybe they do, what do I know?

Full story at Out.

The Painting Hated by the GOP.

David Pulphus's painting in response to the Ferguson unrest, "Untitled #1", won first place in Missouri's 1st Congressional District in the 2016 United States Congressional Art Competition.

David Pulphus’s painting in response to the Ferguson unrest, “Untitled #1”, won first place in Missouri’s 1st Congressional District in the 2016 United States Congressional Art Competition.

Each year since 1982, the Congressional Institute has sponsored a high school art competition whereby students submit artwork to their congressional representative’s office, which in turn selects a winner. The 435 winning artworks are then exhibited in Washington, DC, hung salon style in a hallway between the Capitol Building and Longworth House Office Building for a year. The office of Representative William Lacy Clay, a Democrat from St. Louis, Missouri, selected a painting by Cardinal Ritter College Prep High School senior David Pulphus in early May 2016. Early this month, the untitled painting was hung in the Capitol. A few days later, the Independent Journal Review, a right-wing website with a mixed record on factual reporting, published an article titled, “Painting of Cops as Pigs Hung Proudly in US Capitol.” A cycle of outrage began. Fox News picked up the story. In a ginned up moment, Representative Duncan Hunter, Republican from San Diego, California unscrewed the painting from the wall, delivered it to Representative Clay’s office, and went to Fox News to brag about it. Today, Representative Clay and members of the Congressional Black Caucus rehung the painting. Shortly thereafter Representative Doug Lamborn, a Republican from Colorado, removed it again, only to have Representative Clay rehang it again. Congressional Republicans are discussing how to remove it permanently.

The full story is at Hyperallergic. For people who almost never shut up about being persecuted or censored (or criticized), conservatives are always the first ones to try and censor anything they don’t like.

The Red Wave.

Creatas Images / Getty Images.

Creatas Images / Getty Images.

Another journalist has gone running to the nazi side, in this case, the co-founder of Politico, Mike Allen, who is described as one of the most powerful journalists in D.C. Allen has apparently decided to do everything in his power to normalise the fascist state we now find ourselves in, to the point of praising Breitbart’s journalism to the skies. Why yes, made up bullshit is just great journalism, didn’t you know? Just this tiny snippet, because the whole damn things sickens me.

Describing how he approached a speaking engagement in front of a Trump-friendly audience in Wyoming shortly after the election, Allen said he decided to “shut up” so he could “listen to you about what you liked about Trump, how you came to your decision, what your inputs were.”

“A lot of it is also psychic and sociological and social. The anti-PC thing I think is a huge part of it,” he said, before going on to recount a conversation he had with a Trump-supporting friend on a train shortly after the election.

“People in America [were] just living their lives as they always have, and things were just changing too fast. ‘I’m living my life the way I always have and all of the sudden I’m the bigot, I’m a bad guy,’ and I think that was a huge part of this red wave.”

All of a sudden you’re the bigot, the bad guy. Well, if you are a bigot, yes, that makes you a bad guy. Right here in the open is why people voted for Trump – they want to be able to stay on top of the people pile, being bigoted assholes with the ability to make other people miserable. It’s disgusting. Repulsive. Sickening. Bad guy isn’t enough. Evil asshole, perhaps.

Full story at Think Progress.

Whitesplaining Apologies.

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Lawrence Ware at Fusion addresses the massive facepalming wrong of whitesplaining apologies by people caught doing things which are racist as hell. Mr. Ware lists the 5 worst whitesplaining strategies, which also apply to other types of notpologies.

1. “I apologize to anyone who may have been offended.”

This is the classic non-apology. To say that these words have meaning at all is pushing it. The person in the wrong isn’t expressing remorse over what they’ve said or done; they’re merely acknowledging the response of the offended. This statement is but a logical step away from saying, “Y’all just need to stop being so damn sensitive.”

2. “I have black friends.”

Somehow a white person caught doing something racially problematic thinks having a black person as a favorite in their iPhone absolves them of racism. Someone should tell them it just doesn’t work that way. Put succinctly, we don’t give a damn if a white racist has a black friend.

3. “I know MLK quotes.”
Some white people have a tendency to take MLK’s words out of context. When King wrote in Where Do We Go From Here, “Whites, it must frankly be said, are not putting in a similar mass effort to reeducate themselves out of their racial ignorance. It is an aspect of their sense of superiority that the white people of America believe they have so little to learn,” he was probably talking about the same white folks who are misusing his words, like Seattle Mariners backup catcher Steve Clevenger, who apologized for his offensive comments about the Charlotte, North Carolina, protests by harkening back to MLK’s “I Have a Dream” speech: “I am also proud that my inner circle of friends has never been defined by race but by the content of their character.”

4. “You misunderstood.”

This is insulting. The statement implies that what the offended party heard was not actually what the offensive person said. A slightly more authentic, yet just as problematic, approach is the “that’s not what I meant” defense. In that case, one owns that what they said might have been distasteful, but insists that they didn’t intend for it to offend. It’s similar to a 5-year-old who accidentally hits their sibling, but thinks screaming “I didn’t mean to do it” will sufficiently solve the problem. Just because a person didn’t mean for something to be racist, doesn’t mean that they didn’t do something hella racist. Just ask the folks who believe that the Confederate flag is all about heritage. Yeah, white folks who say this sound about as dumb as them.

5. “I don’t see race.”
Aside from the fact that it is nearly impossible, this is a statement centered in white privilege. In Racism Without Racists, Edwardo Bonilla-Silva argues that pretending that race doesn’t exist only perpetuates white privilege because it doesn’t force us to address the systemic nature of oppression. Racism is not just interpersonal—it’s also institutional.

A few words of advice to white folks caught being racist: Just own it. It’s not cool, but admit it and learn from your mistake. Your attempts to whitesplain your way out of having said something racist is coming off about as ridiculous as Shaggy’s attempts to prove his fidelity in “It Wasn’t Me.”

Full article at Fusion.

ALEC: We Can Do Whatever We Want.

Scott Walker, ALEC marionette. Credit: Donkey

Scott Walker, ALEC marionette. Credit: DonkeyHotey.

The American Legislative Exchange Council — a nonprofit better known as ALEC — briefed its members and allied groups on the bright future for its agenda now that Republicans will effectively control 68 of the nation’s 99 state legislative bodies, as well as 33 governor’s mansions. Among other things, group members said they would push bills to reduce corporate taxes, weaken unions, privatize schooling and influence the ideological debate on college campuses.

“We can pretty much do whatever we want to right now,” said Rep. Jim DeCesare, a Republican state legislator in Kentucky, where the party gained the state House for the first time in nearly a century.

DeCesare, who had been minority whip, described plans for “a pretty intense agenda” including a so-called right-to-work law allowing employees who are covered by collective bargaining agreements to opt out of joining labor unions. Another, he said, would be repealing rules that require government contractors to pay employees more than the minimum wage. Neighboring states competing for new businesses, he said, had already gutted such regulations.

“We’ve got some catching up to do, but we plan to make up a lot of ground in a very short time,” DeCesare said. “This is our time to shine.”

[…]

Inez Feltscher, director of ALEC’s education task force, outlined plans to advocate for legislation giving money to parents who take their children out of public schools — stipends they could use for private schooling or other educational expenses. Critics of these “education savings accounts” say they’re a drain on public-school funding, while proponents argue they give parents a chance to pick the best situation for their kids.

Feltscher acknowledged another motivation: “To break the monopoly on one of the most important institutions in America.” Conservatives have long been at odds with teachers unions over the structure and curriculum of public schools. “We’ve let the left take over almost all of the cultural institutions of this country,” she said.

Another ALEC target, Feltscher said, would be the state of “free debate on American universities,” which conservatives say are largely dominated by left-leaning faculty, courses and speakers. For example, she said, lawmakers could use a range of tactics to press administrators to include multiple ideologies during on-campus public policy talks, such as demanding an annual count of campus events that included more than one perspective. Simply requiring measurement and public reporting would apply pressure, she said, but legislators could also take it to “the nuclear level” and threaten to pull funding from schools that are perceived to be limiting discourse.

“There’s going to be a lot more aggression on this,” Feltscher said.

Corporate rule. Oh, joy. They’ll get all the money and cozy breaks, friendly legislation, and all the people working? Screwed. And no more education, we prefer ignorant dumbfucks!  Oh, we are beyond fucked.

ProPublica has the full story.

The Trump Wall: Taxpayer Funded.

© Richard Misrach. Border Cantos.

© Richard Misrach. Border Cantos.

It seems that Trump is still determined to waste an insane amount of money on a wall, but as Mexico has rightly refused the offer to foot the bill, eyes are looking elsewhere, to the American taxpayer, specifically. I can’t speak for anyone else, but I do not want one cent of my earnings to go for this gargantuan stupidity. This whole idea is bad, all the way around, and on top of all the bad, makes me feel very claustrophobic, like I might not be able to get out.

President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team is working on making his proposed U.S.-Mexico border wall, the cornerstone of his 2016 presidential campaign, a reality. However, there is a slight change in plans.

The team told GOP officials the real estate mogul had signaled that the building of the wall be funded by American tax dollars and not by Mexico, as he had previously claimed, CNN reported Thursday citing House Republicans. Officials are looking to fund the construction using the appropriations process as early as April.

[…]

The 2006 law allowed the construction of a “physical barrier” running for 700 miles on the country’s southern border, Politico reported earlier Thursday. The law was never fully implemented and did not include a sunset provision allowing Trump to continue where Bush left off using the funds Congress would allocate for the project.

“It was not done in the Obama administration, so by funding the authorization that’s already happened a decade ago, we could start the process of meeting Mr. Trump’s campaign pledge to secure the border,” Indiana Rep. Luke Messer told CNN on Thursday.

[…]

Republicans would have to add millions to the spending bill — which needs to pass by the end of April — to keep the government open, should Mexico refuse to pay for the wall. But the move could irk House Democrats who might threaten the GOP with a government shutdown.

Louisiana Rep. Steve Scalise, a senior GOP leader in the House, did not say if Congress will pay for the construction of the wall.

“We want President Trump to have all the tools he needs to build the wall,” Scalise reportedly said. “We’re in talks with him on the details of it as they’re still putting together their team. We still got a few months before there’s another funding bill that’s going to move. We’re going to work with him to make sure we can get it done. We want to build a wall. He wants to build a wall.”

The GOP lawmaker said the project would involve “big dollars, but it’s a question of priorities,” citing Homeland Security Chairman Mike McCaul’s $10 billion border security bill that he proposed last year.

“Democrats may well find themselves in the position to shut down all of government to stop the buildout of a wall, or of a barrier, or of a fence,” Messer added.

America: excels in stupid, like building a gigantic wall; never builds bridges.

Via Raw Story.

Phobie of the Year: Pat McCrory.

00_pat-mccrory_phobie-treatement

The competition for Phobie of the Year was devilish in 2016, but one man out-hated all the rest. Pat McCrory, the outgoing governor of North Carolina, even outdid Vice President-elect Mike Pence.

At least in Indiana, where Pence was governor, he backed down when business representing millions of dollars threatened to leave the state over its Religious Freedom Restoration Act — also known as a “license to discriminate.” Pence signed a fix to the law so discriminating against LGBT people wasn’t allowed under the RFRA’s protections. In North Carolina, though, even as jobs left the state and performers canceled concerts and millions piled up in lost revenue, McCrory and Republicans refused to rethink what they passed in House Bill 2.

Lawmakers hadn’t approved a RFRA exactly. Instead, they passed a law banning any locality from including LGBT people in antidiscrimination ordinances. In other words, they wanted to ensure that discrimination against LGBT people remains legal no matter where you go in North Carolina. They also barred transgender people from using the bathroom that matches their gender identity in any government building, without citing a single incident caused in North Carolina by letting transgender people use the bathroom of their choice.

There’s much more at The Advocate, including the Phobie Finalists:

[Read more…]

Aw Hell.

bookdates

I have months worth of release dates for books in one of my calendars, and now I find out that Simon & Schuster have made a $250,000 book deal with Milo Yiannopoulos. I won’t punish an author (or myself) by refusing to buy a book I had planned to purchase if published by them, but that will also have to be an end to any more books put out by them. I hope that authors flee them in droves for doing this. Not only is Yiannopoulos a person singularly without talent, he’s a known hack and plagiarist, which are yet more black marks against Simon & Schuster.

Not only is Yiannopoulos a well-known member of white supremacist circles, but he’s also a renowned plagiarist. As the Houston Press reported last year, his 2007 self-published book of poetry is actually composed of plagiarized Tori Amos lyrics. Earlier this year, BuzzFeed reported that most of Yiannopoulos’ work is written by interns. While denying the accusations, Yiannopoulos confirmed with BuzzFeed that he had 44 interns helping him with writing and research.

If Yiannopoulos wants to pretend to write a book, he could always peddle it to Sad Puppy Beale, who started his own publishing house. I rather doubt the money would be quite so staggering though.

The full story, along with a host of reactions, is at Think Progress.

Racists Here, Racists There, Racists Everywhere.

A convenience store in New Mexico has posted a sign telling Obama and 'other Muslims' that they are not welcome (Screen cap via KOB 4).

A convenience store in New Mexico has posted a sign telling Obama and ‘other Muslims’ that they are not welcome (Screen cap via KOB 4).

Local news station KOB 4 reports that a convenience store in Mayhill, New Mexico, has angered local residents after displaying signs that read “Obama and other Muslims not welcome here” and “Colin Kaeper-dick, you overpaid half-breed: Take your millions and go back to Africa.”

[…]

a former coworker tells KOB 4 that the owner is actually very intolerant of anyone who says anything that offends him.

“If you go in there and you offend him, you can’t go in there no more,” Marlon McWilliams, who used to work at the store, tells the station. “He turns lots of people away.”

McWilliams says he tries to avoid going into the store, but says for many people who live in the rural area have difficulty avoiding it because it’s “the only place you can go to get milk and bread.”

The convenience store’s Facebook page has been bombed with negative reviews from locals who simply do not want to be exposed to racism when they go to buy a snack.

“Disgusting disgusting disgusting,” wrote one person. “I cant think of another way to describe this.”

“Sick, demented and racist,” wrote another. “Saw the signs and refuse to even step any closer. Don’t use religion to spew hate!”

According to KOB 4, the racist has the store up for sale, but at a very inflated price. The locals would be overjoyed if someone did buy it, just to say good riddance to the the idiot who owns it. I really feel for people who find themselves having to buy from there now and then, sometimes rural life can truly suck.

Via Raw Story.

In a bit of good news, a couple of racists had their arses handed to them. First up, Trent Bennett, whose resignation has been accepted (this is couched in such a way that you know there wasn’t much choice involved).

“I acknowledge that (these comments) were disrespectful and offensive,” Bennett wrote. “I am aware of the impact this has had, and though I negate that I have ever conducted myself in a less than professional manner in regard to my students, I have resigned my teaching position at Malvern High School.”

The former teacher said he had deleted his social media profiles, and he asked reporters and the public to respect the privacy of his family, friends and colleagues.

Bigots always insist their views never ever cause harm, or make them behave in an unfair manner. I don’t know if they are actually incapable of self examination, but they certainly shun it. It’s simply not possible for such beliefs and attitudes to stay all hermetically sealed up. They leak. They ooze. They come out in expected and unexpected ways, and that bias does come out in actions. It’s always a head-shake too, the routine requests for respect, which they not only expect, but truly feel they should be accorded, when they cannot be bothered to pay that respect to those they denigrate and target.

Via Raw Story.

Then there’s the never-delightful Carl Paladino, first featured here with his nasty fantasies, and again with the notpology of the year, who has been given his walking papers:

Carl Paladino was ousted Thursday by the Buffalo, New York School Board following a racist tirade on Michelle Obama. But during the hearing, School Board President Barbara Seals Nevergold didn’t hold back in her criticism of the Donald Trump campaign co-chair.

“Words matter, Mr. Paladino,” she said during the meeting, which Paladino did not attend. “Our president, the Commander in Chief of this nation for the last eight years, Mrs. Obama, our First Lady, and Mrs. Valerie Jarrett, special presidential council are all African-Americans. Among other things, they are accomplished, intelligent, beautiful people and that’s not just my opinion.”

But under Paladino, Nevergold said that they were reduced to criminals, frauds or gorillas.

“The impact on children of color, especially African-American children is incalculable,” she continued. “How do we encourage them to use their God-given talents to soar, to reach for the stars, when a sitting board member responsible for their education demonstrates such contempt of their role models?”

She went on to say that Paladino’s contempt for the First family and their aides has fallen to a level of “unmitigated and hateful, racist and misogynist, rhetoric” that can’t be disassociated from the race and culture of the students in the district. Paladino has established a record and a pattern of behavior that the board believed violated his oath of office as well as the ethics as a board member.

Nevergold said that she has heard from people all over the state, indeed the country, who were shocked that Paladino would “demonstrate such a lack of responsible leadership.”

“They would like me to tell you, ‘You’re fired,’” Nevergold continued, as the audience applauded. She asked that he do the right thing and resign.

Paladino has 24 hours to tender his resignation; if he refuses, the lawyers come out. According to the articles, the room burst into applause as Ms. Nevergold concluded her firing of Paladino. I’ll add my virtual applause. Oh, that was quick: Paladino refuses to resign.

Via Raw Story, one, two.

NYC EMT Steven Sampson falsely claimed he was attacked by 'thugs' on Christmas (Screen capture).

NYC EMT Steven Sampson falsely claimed he was attacked by ‘thugs’ on Christmas (Screen capture).

A white New York City emergency medical technician was reportedly lying when he said he was the victim of a racially-motivated attack on Christmas in the Bronx.

Mediaite.com reported Thursday that 41-year-old Steven Sampson’s headline-grabbing story about getting stabbed and robbed of $2,600 worth of Christmas gifts by a “menacing group of thugs” has turned out to be full of holes.

[…]

Anonymous sources within the police department who spoke to the New York Post said that it quickly became clear to police that Sampson wasn’t telling the truth.

“He gave so many different accounts of what happened, he’s no longer credible,” they said.

[…]

In recent years, the word “thug” has been appropriated by white conservatives as shorthand for young black men of whom they do not approve. Writer Charles F. Coleman Jr. said in Ebony magazine that “thug” is the new “N-word.”

“The racial epithets of yesterday are no longer commonly acceptable but have been deftly replaced with terms that are racially neutral on their face, but the usage of which is almost exclusively reserved for Black and Latino people,” Coleman wrote. “The result, is that through the persistent use of such language, folks are able to draw — consciously and subconsciously — associations between certain words and ethnic groups.”

“‘Thug’ is the latest, and perhaps the most dangerous example of racism’s new lexicon,” he said.

It’s a mystery to me why people do such a thing. All I can figure is that the hate eventually boils over.

Via Raw Story.

And finally, the racist-elect is rather desperate to appoint a Latino person to the department of agriculture, in an attempt to show their “diversity”. Apparently, it has not dawned on them that one somewhat brown person in a sea of white isn’t diversity.

Politico reports that Trump and his team are making a last-minute scramble to add some Latino to his cabinet to make it slightly more diverse than the mostly white cabinet that he’s set up so far.

“They’re desperate to find a Latino for [The Department of Agriculture],” one Trump donor anonymously told the publication, although Politico notes that the agricultural industry has been resistant to endorse Trump’s prospective candidates because he and his team “have reached out to candidates who are part-Latino and have no experience in agriculture.”

Via Raw Story.

A Desperate Need for New Material.

Trent Bennett (Malvern Hig School).

Trent Bennett (Malvern Hig School).

Facebook, Oh Facebook XIV. A Science teacher in Arkansas has been saying nasty things about President Obama and the First Lady. You won’t need three whole guesses to figure out the nature of the remarks. Parents aren’t terribly pleased with Mr. Bennett.

Parents want an Arkansas teacher out of the classroom after he compared Michelle Obama to a chimpanzee — and then called the president a “spider monkey.”

Trent Bennett, a science teacher at Malvern High School, apparently made the comments on his personal Facebook page, reported KARK-TV.

One post refers to “Michelle Obummer … America’s First Chimp,” and the teacher then doubled down on his racist comments when a Facebook friend questioned him.

Bennett described the First Lady as a “nasty chimp,” and he called President Barack Obama a “spider monkey.”

He also complained about “monkeys” rioting after the police shootings of black Americans, and said protests during the American Revolution era were more valid because they were over taxation.

Chimps. Monkeys. You’d think a science teacher would have at least gone with ape, but I have a sneaking suspicion that perhaps Mr. Bennett doesn’t believe humans are apes. Anyroad, this comparison is as old as the hills and beyond tiresome. All you bigoted asswipes, you are in desperate need of new material. Good luck finding any, I have noted over the years that bigots aren’t terribly creative. Too much brain atrophy.

School officials have launched an investigation into Bennett’s social media activity, which they described as “inappropriate” and “insensitive.”

Parents and civil rights activists say Bennett should quit or be removed from his job over his comments.

“Someone like Mr. Bennett that has his mindset and believes this, has no business molding the minds of children that will lead us into the future,” said Rizelle Aaron, president of the Arkansas State Conference of the NAACP. “If the allegations are true, he needs to resign, if he doesn’t, then the NAACP will do everything we have legally to make sure he is terminated.”

Here’s hoping this creep does get kicked out. He has absolutely no business around children, with that amount of poison leaking out of him all over the place.

Via Raw Story.