Racism is alive and well, Thanks Trump and his supporters!

[Northwest]

Joan, stop trolling Lois. Don't make me take my belt off, girl.

[Lois]

Democrats of old are today's Republicans.  There was a huge realignment in the late 1960's and early 1970's. That is when the GOP courted the racists and let them corrupt their party. I know I've told this to Joan before, but her poor brain just can't comprehend.  And now she's defending a corrupt and unhinged president.  I feel so sorry for her.

[Katiebee]

Today's Republican Party is NOT the party of Lincoln.

[_priapism]

Today's Republican Party is NOT the party of Lincoln.

As explained by that fake news site Wikipedia.

The Southern Strategy

[Lois]

Sadly, Joan is too brain damaged to understand.  Poor, poor, Joanie.

[joan1984]

Democrats have found it so difficult to erase their past. Racists have always had a Democrat bent, with the KKK being a predecessor for today's Antifa, and  like Black Lives Matter, like the Black Panthers, the militant arm of Democrats.

All those statues you want destroyed now, to help 'erase' your history, are of no matter.  Nixon was not seeking racists, but seeking American voters, and Republicans were no haven for racist Dems from Southern States, who were so busy trying to vote down the Civil Right Act, including AlGore's dad, and lots of other racially challenged Democrats.

You all know your history, and trying to duck it, or smear others with your bile is not a pretty look for any of you.

White Nationals are not something Republicans endorse or seek out. You know that, but a compliant media writes your headlines, and  you have comfort in the effort to slime your opponents, and lacking any plan other than Russia, Russia, Russia (10 days out of the headlines as of today), you are going back to the tried and true: Racist Racist Racist claims, and bottom feeding media will follow the Democrat playbook out the window for you, until you change it again, or actually find some useful approach.

We shall see in 2018, whether America still has some work to do, draining the swamp, and becoming responsive to it's Citizens and taxpayers, and when it is found that American is not yet Great Again, then you will suffer at the polls again, unless something drastic happens and Democrats get a grip.

Today's Republican Party is NOT the party of Lincoln.

As explained by that fake news site Wikipedia.

The Southern Strategy

[Athos_131]

I guess this makes Barack Obama a Republican President.

#Resist

[Athos_131]

White Supremacists Celebrate President Trump's Rally in Phoenix

#Resist

[Athos_131]

U.N. Panel Condemns Trump’s Response to Charlottesville Violence

#Resist

[Athos_131]

Rabbis Protest Trump’s Comments by Boycotting Conference Call

#Resist

[Athos_131]

Trump’s most recent shout to white supremacists: I’m with you

#Resist

[Athos_131]

Here's the Daily Show Segment on Ferguson You've Been Waiting For

"Race is there, and it is a constant. You're tired of hearing about it? Imagine how fucking exhausting it is living it."

#Resist

[Katiebee]

Democrats have found it so difficult to erase their past. Racists have always had a Democrat bent, with the KKK being a predecessor for today's Antifa, and  like Black Lives Matter, like the Black Panthers, the militant arm of Democrats.

All those statues you want destroyed now, to help 'erase' your history, are of no matter.  Nixon was not seeking racists, but seeking American voters, and Republicans were no haven for racist Dems from Southern States, who were so busy trying to vote down the Civil Right Act, including AlGore's dad, and lots of other racially challenged Democrats.

You all know your history, and trying to duck it, or smear others with your bile is not a pretty look for any of you.

White Nationals are not something Republicans endorse or seek out. You know that, but a compliant media writes your headlines, and  you have comfort in the effort to slime your opponents, and lacking any plan other than Russia, Russia, Russia (10 days out of the headlines as of today), you are going back to the tried and true: Racist Racist Racist claims, and bottom feeding media will follow the Democrat playbook out the window for you, until you change it again, or actually find some useful approach.

We shall see in 2018, whether America still has some work to do, draining the swamp, and becoming responsive to it's Citizens and taxpayers, and when it is found that American is not yet Great Again, then you will suffer at the polls again, unless something drastic happens and Democrats get a grip.

Today's Republican Party is NOT the party of Lincoln.

As explained by that fake news site Wikipedia.

The Southern Strategy

Really? Then why is Trump supporting and apologizing for them? Why does the KKK, Neo-Nazis think he's supporting their views?

If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and flies like a duck, it's a duck.

You will also note that unlike any other president, Trump has not enacted ANY of his major legislative agenda. And he has not drained the swamp, he only stocked it with more of his moneyed friends, the same ones who made the swamp.

As for the Russia scandal, if it does turn out that his campaign colluded with the Russians, then at the very least he will need to resign in disgrace. That is if he has plausible deniability. But he is so very proud of being in control, that deniability is going to be very hard to come by. So he is facing the possibility of not only impeachment, but of charges of Treason.

Hey look! He could claim being the first and greatest traitor in the office of POTUS. 

[Northwest]

Democrats have found it so difficult to erase their past. Racists have always had a Democrat bent, with the KKK being a predecessor for today's Antifa, and  like Black Lives Matter, like the Black Panthers, the militant arm of Democrats.

All those statues you want destroyed now, to help 'erase' your history, are of no matter.  Nixon was not seeking racists, but seeking American voters, and Republicans were no haven for racist Dems from Southern States, who were so busy trying to vote down the Civil Right Act, including AlGore's dad, and lots of other racially challenged Democrats.

You all know your history, and trying to duck it, or smear others with your bile is not a pretty look for any of you.

White Nationals are not something Republicans endorse or seek out. You know that, but a compliant media writes your headlines, and  you have comfort in the effort to slime your opponents, and lacking any plan other than Russia, Russia, Russia (10 days out of the headlines as of today), you are going back to the tried and true: Racist Racist Racist claims, and bottom feeding media will follow the Democrat playbook out the window for you, until you change it again, or actually find some useful approach.

We shall see in 2018, whether America still has some work to do, draining the swamp, and becoming responsive to it's Citizens and taxpayers, and when it is found that American is not yet Great Again, then you will suffer at the polls again, unless something drastic happens and Democrats get a grip.

Today's Republican Party is NOT the party of Lincoln.

As explained by that fake news site Wikipedia.

The Southern Strategy

This is delusional and incoherent nonsense. I hope for your sake, Joan, that this is simply your attempt at trolling folks here. If you actually believe this crap then you have honest to god serious mental health issues.

No joke.

Who cares that the party morphed over the course of a century and a half? The titles of Democrat and Republican, especially in their archaic usage. are insignificant to the discussion. What you fail to acknowledge is that if this were 1860, Lois -- and people like her and me with similar values -- would vote Republican, and YOU, and the other conservatives of today, would vote Democrat. It isn't about labels; it's about principals and values. You're playing games with labels while you distort the real meaning of what we're discussing.

The argument isn't about whether you should call yourself a Republican or a Democrat (and you well know this). It's about disagreements over principals, like whether you support human rights over property rights, or visa versa.

What's more, to pretend that the modern day Republican party has not openly and intentionally made a home for racists in order to garner their votes is a flat out lie, and a simple refusal to face reality.

[Lois]

Either stupid or a Russian Troll.

[MissBarbara]

Most Confederate statues were erected in support of Jim Crowe laws in the 1920's.  Another wave of them went up during the Civil Rights movement.  They were made very cheaply and can hardly be considered works of art.

The reason these statues need to be removed is because they were erected in support of continued racism.  

Of all the tens of thousands of things written about the incidents in Charlottesville, this, in my opinion, is the most important point of all.

Lois is correct: The statues were not erected as memorials, nor were they erected as history. They were erected as a deliberate and planned campaign to keep Blacks "in their place."

Almost all of them were erected during two time periods:

First, in the late 1910s and early 1920s, coinciding with a renewed effort among Southerners to reverse any rights Blacks might have gained, including the enactment of Jim Crow Laws, a renewed lynching campaign, and the re-birth of the Ku Klux Klan. In fact, the most egregious of these false monuments is Stone Mountain, which features 75-foot high carvings of Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, and Stonewall Jackson. The figures were carved in the precise place where the second version of the Ku Klux Klan was founded in 1915.

A second wave of statues went up in the late 1950s and early 1960s, perfectly coinciding with the growth of the Civil Rights movement, and serving as planned resistance to Federal Laws and Supreme Court Decisions defending the rights of Blacks. And, of course, with the arising of the third iteration of the Ku Klux Klan.

These facts demolish most of the arguments offered by those who support the continued existence of statues and monuments to Confederate leaders standing on public property. It's not expunging or changing history, since the statues are not history. It's not changing history, since the statues absence will not change the way the Civil War, including its causes and its consequences, is taught and remembered. And it's certainly not censorship.

I don't have a problem with a person erecting a statue -- or flying the Confederate flag -- on his private property, and I would condemn any effort, legislation, or Court decision attempting to abridge that right. But the statues on public property should be removed. If they truly are "history," then place them in a museum where they can be viewed and understood in context. Otherwise, remove them, now.

And start with the removal of the Stone Mountain carvings. The plain and most basic fact is this: The U.S. Civil War was fought, by the Confederates' own assertions, to protect the right to keep slavery legal and extend it elsewhere in the country. Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee were the civilian and military leaders of an armed insurrection against the government that resulted in the deaths of over 700,000 of their fellow citizens, fought -- again -- to protect the institution of slavery. We should remember that as history, but we should obliterate any instance were this is celebrated. Starting with Stone Mountain.

[Lois]

I find it telling that those that protest the removal of these monuments based on "history" seem to know very little about it, and even claim ignorance of the Southern Strategy and the realignment of the political parties.

Good to have you back MissB.

[Athos_131]

Most Confederate statues were erected in support of Jim Crowe laws in the 1920's.  Another wave of them went up during the Civil Rights movement.  They were made very cheaply and can hardly be considered works of art.

The reason these statues need to be removed is because they were erected in support of continued racism. 

Of all the tens of thousands of things written about the incidents in Charlottesville, this, in my opinion, is the most important point of all.

Lois is correct: The statues were not erected as memorials, nor were they erected as history. They were erected as a deliberate and planned campaign to keep Blacks "in their place."

Almost all of them were erected during two time periods:

First, in the late 1910s and early 1920s, coinciding with a renewed effort among Southerners to keep reverse any rights Blacks might have gained, including the enactment of Jim Crow Laws, a renewed lynching campaign, and the re-birth of the Ku Klux Klan. In fact, the most egregious of these false monuments is Stone Mountain, which features 75-foot high carvings of Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, and Stonewall Jackson. The figures were carved in the precise place where the second version of the Ku Klux Klan was founded in 1915.

A second wave of statues went up in the late 1950s and early 1960s, perfectly coinciding with the growth of the Civil Rights movement, and serving as planned resistance to Federal Laws and Supreme Court Decisions defending the rights of Blacks. And, of course, with the arising of the third iteration of the Ku Klux Klan.

These facts demolish most of the arguments offered by those who support the continued existence of statues and monuments to Confederate leaders standing on public property. It's not expunging or changing history, since the statues are not history. It's not changing history, since the statues absence will not change the way the Civil War, including its causes and its consequences, is taught and remembered. And it's certainly not censorship.

I don't have a problem with a person erecting a statue -- or flying the Confederate flag -- on his private property, and I would condemn any effort, legislation, or Court decision attempting to abridge that right. But the statues on public property should be removed. If they truly are "history," then place them in a museum where they can be viewed and understood in context. Otherwise, remove them, now.

And start with the removal of the Stone Mountain carvings. The plain and most basic fact is this: The U.S. Civil War was fought, by the Confederates' own assertions, to protect the right to keep slavery legal and extend it elsewhere in the country. Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee were the civilian and military leaders of an armed insurrection against the government that resulted in the deaths of over 700,000 of their fellow citizens, fought -- again -- to protect the institution of slavery. We should remember that as history, but we should obliterate any instance were this is celebrated. Starting with Stone Mountain.

#Resist

[MissBarbara]

I find it telling that those that protest the removal of these monuments based on "history" seem to know very little about it, and even claim ignorance of the Southern Strategy and the realignment of the political parties.

Exactly.

Yet, I almost never use the words "racist" or "racism" when describing incidents like this (and many others). Those words refer to things in those people's minds and hearts (or alleged to be in their minds and hearts), and, as such, they're woefully insufficient, and they don't accurately describe what is going on.

To refer to the participants in Charlottesville incident as "racists," or even "facists" -- or to refer to the President who seems to support them with the same words -- misses the point. It's not thoughts and sentiments, it's actions. They murdered a young woman, and injured dozens of others.

Good to have you back MissB.

Thanks! I had a wonderful extended vacation, and I've returned refreshed and renewed and ready to jump back into everything, including work, and KB!

[Lois]

Today is a very sad day for the LBGTQ community.  Trump has signed the ban on transgendered persons in the military.  So much for Ivanka being able to control his bigotry.