Month: March 2017

Wave of anti-Semitic violence

From the Southern Poverty Law Center:  a sudden rise in anti-Semitic violence is occurring.

Another Jewish cemetery in the United States has been vandalized, the third such attack in a dozen days in what many see as a noticeable and frightening rise in anti-Semitism and intolerance.

The vandalism at Jewish cemeteries comes at the same time as a huge spike in the number of bomb threats called in to Jewish Community Centers and schools.

Since the first of the year, there have been more than 100 threats to 73 Jewish institutions in 30 states.

Anti-union bill passes Iowa legislature

A bill that will reduce wages for public sector workers and limit the rights of unions has passed the Iowa legislature.

Under the legislation, most public-sector union contract negotiations will be limited only to base wages. Unions will be banned from negotiating with their employers over issues such as health insurance, evaluation procedures, staff reduction and leaves of absence for political purposes. However, public safety workers such as police and firefighters will have a broader list of issues to be considered in contract talks. All unions will be barred from having union dues deducted from public employees’ paychecks and unions would need to be recertified prior to every contract negotiation.

The legislation also changes the arbitration process when contract talks reach an impasse. Currently, the union and management would make their best offers and an independent arbitrator would be required to choose the most reasonable of the two. The legislation requires an arbitrator to consider the employer’s ability to finance any wage increase. It also puts a cap on how much an arbitrator can raise wages. The wage increase could not exceed whichever is lower: 3 percent, or a percent equal to the cost of living increase outlined in the consumer price index.

Jason Schulz, who represents Harrison County, was floor manager of the bill in the Iowa Senate.

Beware of men who try to scare you

They are usually selling something you wouldn’t want to buy, unless you were scared out of your wits.  Here’s another example from Donald Trump:

And we must support the victims of crime. I have ordered the Department of Homeland Security to create an office to serve American victims. The office is called VOICE, Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement.

We are providing a voice to those who have been ignored by our media and silenced by special interests. Joining us are four very brave Americans whose government failed them. Their names are Jamiel Shaw, Susan Oliver, Jenna Oliver, and Jessica Davis. Jamiel’s 17-year-old son was viciously murdered by an illegal immigrant gang member, who had just been released from prison.

And so on, and so on.  As the late great Molly Ivins might have said, it sounded a lot better in the original German.  (Thanks to Jamelle Bouie.)

 

They love Jeff Sessions

The people cheering the loudest for Attorney General Jeff Sessions are Klansmen and Nazis.  Actual no-kidding members of the KKK and actual Hitler-loving Nazis.

Daily Stormer: Sessions’ Confirmation Means “We Are One Step Closer To Solidifying Trump’s Authoritarian Dictatorship.” Andrew Anglin, who runs neo-Nazi website Daily Stormer, celebrated Sessions’ confirmation and contrasted him to African-American former attorneys general Loretta Lynch and Eric Holder by writing, “They were constantly standing up to Barack like, ‘Barack, m8, u b n too hard on dem wites’”…

David Duke: “Thank God After 8 Horrible Years Of Black Radical Marxists We Finally Have An AG Who Will Defend Decent American People – Rather Than Thugs.” Notorious anti-Semite and white nationalist David Duke, who is a former Klu Klux Klan leader, was ecstatic over Sessions’ confirmation, sending a series of tweets praising Sessions and attacking his African-American predecessors…

Paul Ray Ramsey: “Great News! Hopefully, He Can Start Targeting Domestic Terrorist Groups Such As #BlackLivesMatter.”…

VDare: “Fight Of Jeff Sessions To Turn GOP Into A National Conservative Party Has Been Going On A Long Time. Now, Victory.” VDare, a racist anti-immigrant website named for Virginia Dare, the first white settler in America, declared “victory” on Twitter and wrote that a “new era” had begun…

Daily Stormer Applauded Sessions As “An Aggressive Anti-Black Racist” And Predicted That “We’re Going To Get Absolutely Everything We Wanted.” From a Daily Stormer article with the headline “It’s Like Christmas: Sessions for AG, Gen Flynn as National Security Advisor”:

Honestly, I didn’t even expect this to all come together so beautifully. It’s like we’re going to get absolutely everything we wanted…

Of course, I was thinking of Sessions for either Secretary of State or Defense, but I think Trump is making a point by putting an aggressive anti-Black racist in as AG. It’s a corrective measure, after Obama turned the Justice Department into the Black Panthers. [The Daily Stormer, 11/18/16]

The Republican agenda is the Trump agenda

Don’t take my word for it, that’s what Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had to say.

“I think for virtually all Republicans, the chance to actually do things we felt would move the country in the right direction and have the President sign them into law is a pretty exciting prospect, so we’re looking forward to a positive, upbeat presentation tomorrow night,” McConnell said, “and then proceeding with our agenda, which is exactly the same as the Trump agenda.”

Someday the Republican Party will try to claim Trump was an aberration, that we can’t blame the Republican Party for the worst crimes of Trump.  It will be a lie.  They are in lockstep with Trump on every issue that matters.

Our new web site is up.

This is our shiny new web page and blog.  It will be getting a lot more interesting as time goes on.  This is a place to find official announcements, the date of the next meeting or social gathering, and discuss issues as they come up.  We also have a presence on Facebook if you like Facebook.

I plan to post lots of links to information you can use to be a full participant in the Democratic Party, and an activist.  If your crazy uncle forwards one of those emails to you, I hope you can come here for information that will debunk it.

We have a lot of work to do.  Let’s get to it.