Turning your back on heritage?

MoonHowler
Jackson astride Ole Sorrel

Washingtonpost.com:

RICHMOND — The Republican Party of Virginia said Wednesday that Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam, whose ancestors once owned slaves and fought in the Civil War, had “turned his back on his own family’s heritage” by calling for the removal of Confederate monuments.

The accusation drew swift condemnation from Democrats and some Republicans, who said it amounted to calling Northam a “race traitor.”

In a two-part tweet on its official account posted shortly after noon, the state party took aim at Northam, the Democratic nominee for governor, whose great-great-grandfather owned eight slaves in 1860 and nine slaves in 1850 on Virginia’s rural Eastern Shore.

“.@RalphNortham has turned his back on his own family’s heritage in demanding monument removal (1/2),” it read. “Shows @RalphNortham will do anything or say anything to try and be #VAGov – #Pathetic 2/2.”

The blowback was instant.

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Representative government at its worst

MoonHowler

cnn.com:

Workers in Charlottesville, Virginia, placed a large black tarp Wednesday over a monument to Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee that was the site of violent protests earlier this month.
Officials in Charlottesville, Virginia, have found black fabric big enough to shroud two controversial Confederate statues — and the covers could be in place by week’s end, the City Council clerk said.
Hunting down fabric swaths large enough to drape over the monuments of Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson had proven tough, the clerk, Paige Rice, told CNN.
But by Wednesday morning, the shrouds were on their way, she said.
“The drapes have been ordered and may be in place by the end of the week, pending department resources to properly secure them at both statues,” she told CNN.
At a heated meeting Monday, the Charlottesville City Council unanimously voted to cover the two statues in black.
The vote was meant to signal the city mourning the death of Heather Heyer, who was killed August 12 when a car plowed into a crowd of counterprotesters who’d gathered to oppose a rally of white nationalist and other right-wing organizations.
Since when do statues mourn?    The people of Charlottesville simply were not asked.  The only discussion was at a council meeting this week.  No advance notice.  Unilateral decisions were made.

There was never discussion about removing Stonewall Jackson, to my knowledge.

I expect the City Council needs to take a long hard look at the deeds to the land both statues are on.  Can Charlottesville afford the lawsuits?
How long will the shrouds stay?  No one knows.  I supposed shrouded statues might attract an unsavory element just as well as enshrouded statues.
What a shame.

Eclipse !!!!!!!

MoonHowler

Where will you be when the great eclipse of 2017 happens?  Will you go to the path of totality or sit it out here in boring old Prince William  County?  I am probably headed for splash down in my air-conditioned car.  I won’t be taking pictures.

I have my glasses though.  Several batches of them.  I have some I can’t verify.  Grrrrr.  Mind you, I ordered glasses 2 months ago.  So cast your politics aside and enjoy a good eclipse.  Oh, and pray for no rain!

Anyone named Moon-Howler has to love a good eclipse!!!

A word of caution——————————–>

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Chairman Stewart has difficulty with moral equivalence and manners

MoonHowler

CNN.com:

GOP Virginia Senate candidate Corey Stewart defends President Trump’s comments blaming both sides of the protest in Charlottesville for violence.

Corey has humiliated Prince William County with his behavior.  His tough guy persona is simply rude, crude and socially unattractive.     His bad manners on TV are an embarrassment.  His convoluted logic has turned him into a mental midget rather than the chairman of the 2nd most populated county in the State of Virginia.

I am uncomfortable with any politician who is in such denial that even he or she cannot see their own lies.  Apparently Corey missed seeing that torch walk that went on for almost a mile.  Apparently he didn’t hear the aggression used by young men sporting swastika arm bands.  Apparently he didn’t hear the anti-semitic remarks being made and by-standers being called “faggots.” Apparently he didn’t see torch fuel being thrown on college students.  He must not have seen the students circling the statue of Mr. Jefferson being surrounded by Nazis and beaten with torches and clubs.

I saw these things.  Corey, educate yourself.  I will send you the information.  Look outside yourself and what you want to be true for your own political gain.

Corey has 2 fine young sons who are rapidly growing up.  I feel almost positive he would be horrified if his sons joined any white nationalist group.  I was horrified to see how young the boys/men were in the torch procession.

Yes, there are violent groups out there who are not White Nationalists, Nazis, or KKK.  There are militia groups and Antifa.  Here is the difference, Corey:  Redneck Revolt, Antifa and BLM have not killed millions of people, or even thousands.  The Nazis and KKK have.  That fact alone ends the discussion.

His behavior with Chris Cuamo was no better:

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Wrong Trump! Wrong Corey!

MoonHowler

There is no Alt-Left movement. Alt-Right was self naming.

The rally was organized by Jason Kessler and called “Unite the Right.”  The deplorable were invited.

The antifa people showed up in response to a gathering of white supremacists.

NBCNews.com:

What is antifa?

Antifa is short for “anti-fascist.” It is a loosely organized coalition of protesters, left-wing activists, and self-described anarchists who vow to physically confront “fascists” — meaning anyone who espouses bigoted or totalitarian views.

Dana R. Fisher, a sociologist who has studied protest movements in the United States for decades, said she’s come to view Antifa protesters as a militant response to the rise in visibility of white nationalist organizations since Trump’s election.

“Violence begets violence,” she said. “One of these groups is coming out with this violent message of hate, and the other has responded with a violent, reactive message.”

President Trump and Corey Stewart both need to be honest about who was there and who started the violence.  I watched 45 minutes of the torch march on Friday night.  There is no doubt in my mind who started tings.  Antifa wasn’t even present Friday night–just a few college students who encircled Mr. Jefferson’s statue.  Some of them had the living hell beaten out of them.  One campus librarian had a stroke because of injuries he sustained.

Trump and Corey, you need to revamp your message and base it on truth.

Opportunistic school board chairman pushes to change name of Stonewall Jackson H.S.

MoonHowler

Potomaclocal.com:

Ryan Sawyers, the county’s At-large School Board Chairman, a Democrat who is now seeking a seat in Congress, issued a rallying cry to supporters calling for the name changes after this past weekend’s violent white nationalist protests in Charlottesville where three people died.

“When we name a school after someone we honor and celebrate that person. These schools were named in a time when Brown v. Board of Education, integration, and the Civil Rights Act were being implemented across our country. Under the false rhetoric of ‘heritage,’ these schools were, in fact, named after a Confederate icon as a “thumb in the eye” to Federal actions ending their continued racial segregation of public schools,” Sawyers stated.

Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson was a Confederate general and is regarded by historians as one of the most gifted military commanders in U.S. history. Jackson fought at the 1st and 2nd battles of Manassas during the Civil War and later died at age 39 after a battle in Chancellorsville outside Fredericksburg.

Stonewall Middle School, located at 10100 Lomond Drive near Manassas opened in 1964 and is home to 1,140 students. Stonewall Jackson Senior High School, located at 8820 Rixlew Lane near Manassas, opened in 1973, is home to 2,400 students, and the county’s International Baccalaureate Program.

Sawyers has no clue why the school was named Stonewall Jackson High School.  He isn’t from around here.  My guess is that the school was named for Stonewall Jackson because Thomas Jonathan Jackson got his nickname, “Stonewall,”  2 miles away at Manassas Battlefield.  To suggest that the school was named to stick a “thumb in the eye”  of federal actions is incorrect and frankly, stupid.

I am going to suggest that Sawyers is opportunistic and using tragedy to satisfy his own greedy political ambitions.  Leave the name alone.  Literally thousands of graduates demand that the name not be changed.

Trump craters his own damage control

MoonHowler

Politico.com:

NEW YORK — It took President Donald Trump two days to explicitly call out the white supremacists and neo-Nazis who engaged in violent protests over the weekend that resulted in the death of a 32-year-old Charlottesville woman.

It took him less than 24 hours to undo the damage control that had been foisted upon him by teleprompter-wielding, crisis-managing aides.

Bridling at the term “alt-right,” Trump attempted to redirect blame for the violence at the rally onto the other side.

“What about the alt-left that came charging at the, as you say, the alt right? Do they have any semblance of guilt?” he said at an unplanned news conference in the lobby of Trump Tower, referring to the “alt-right” protesters who gathered to protest the removal of a Robert E. Lee statue from a park.

Trump also said he has yet to speak to the family of the woman killed, Heather Heyer, but promised that he would be “reaching out” and applauded her mother’s “beautiful statement,” in which she praised Trump.

With no teleprompter to keep him on a message crafted for him by his top aides, like chief of staff John Kelly, Trump reverted to the “many sides” language he ad-libbed on Saturday — remarks that earned him criticism from Republicans and Democrats alike, and even pushback from his own top aides.

“You had a group on one side and you had a group on the other,” Trump explained Tuesday, “and they came at each other with clubs and it was vicious and it was horrible, and it was a horrible thing to watch.”

He added: “I think there’s blame on both sides.”

What was he thinking?  Why can’t this man keep his mouth shut?    He simply cannot defend the KKK, the white supremacists, the neo-Nazis, and other anti-American groups.  These groups have long been on various hate-group lists.  He is President of the United States.  He cannot defend their ideals.  Period.

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Bone-chilling White supremacy

MoonHowler

 

This video speaks for itself. Perhaps Elle should get an emmy for her bravery to associate with people who think and act like these folks do.

I am still in shock by the evil that has been displayed here.

Watch at your own peril. You won’t be able to un-hear or un-see the content.

Alt right, Nazis and white supremacists–go home!

MoonHowler

Washingtonpost.com:

CHARLOTTESVILLE — Chaos and violence turned to tragedy Saturday as hundreds of white nationalists, neo-Nazis and Ku Klux Klan members — planning to stage what they described as their largest rally in decades to “take America back” — clashed with counterprotesters in the streets and a car plowed into crowds, leaving one person dead and 19 others injured.

Hours later, two state police officers died when their helicopter crashed at the outskirts of town. Officials would not confirm their identities nor whether the crash was related to Saturday’s protests.

Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D), who had declared a state of emergency in the morning, said at an evening news conference that he had a message for “all the white supremacists and the Nazis who came into Charlottesville today: Go home. You are not wanted in this great commonwealth.”

Maurice Jones, Charlottesville’s African American city manager, looked stricken as he spoke: “Hate came to our town today in a way that we had feared but we had never really let ourselves imagine would.”

Charlottesville is my home town.  I was born there, raised there and I married there.  My parents met there.  My family has been there for 8 generations, at least.  This violence and chaos breaks my heart.

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Immigration debate raises its ugly head, again

MoonHowler

Washingtonpost.com:

President Trump on Wednesday endorsed a new bill in the Senate aimed at slashing legal immigration levels in half over a decade, a potentially profound change to policies that have been in place for more than half a century.

Trump appeared with Republican Sens. Tom Cotton (Ark.) and David Perdue (Ga.) at the White House to unveil a modified version of a billthe senators first introduced in February to create a “merit-based” immigration system that would put a greater emphasis on the job skills of foreigners over their ties to family in the United States.

The legislation seeks to reduce the annual distribution of green cards awarding permanent legal residence to just over 500,000 from more than 1 million. Trump promised on the campaign trail to take a harder line on immigration, arguing that the growth in new arrivals had harmed job opportunities for American workers.

“Among those who have been hit hardest in recent years are immigrants and minority workers competing for jobs against brand-new arrivals,” said Trump, flanked by the senators in the Roosevelt Room. “It has not been fair to our people, our citizens and our workers.”

 

I wish I had a nickel for every time I head people say they weren’t against immigration, just illegal immigration.  The recently proposed bill regarding immigration shows that simply is not true.

One of the most draconian aspects of the bill is that  it limits the number of legal immigrants.  If people cannot immigrate legally they will do so illegally.

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