Monday, November 30, 2015
Thursday, November 26, 2015
When Did My Country Become so Chicken S**t?
Today is Thanksgiving so this will be a short rant. There are a lot of things I am NOT thankful for.
After seeing my country come together as a people for most of my life I am now watching us grow more and more divided. This is not an accident. Apparently it is much easier to make disgusting amounts of money through fear and very hard to do it through love.
I do not think racism and xenophobia have anything to do with hatred and everything to do with fear. White racists don't hate blacks...White racists are bone deep scared of blacks. Americans don't hate Syrians...It's just a very vocal group of Americans are deeply afraid of Syrians. It's because of a terrorist rampage in France perpetrated by...Belgians?
America destroyed two sovereign nations, Afghanistan and Iraq, because of the 9-11 attacks...Terrorist rampages committed by...Saudis? 15 out of 19 9-11 attackers were Saudi Arabians. More particularly, they were led by a member of the Bin Laden family who had been close friends and patrons of George W. Bush. So we let Bush make us so very afraid we let him send thousands of good decent Americans to war in two countries that had nothing to do with the attacks.
So now we are too freakin' frightened to give aid and comfort to refugees from Syria. Last year this country issued passports to a lot of people. Here is a list of a few countries and the number of visas for each:
Libya - 4,766
Egypt - 56,456
Nigeria - 141,527
Saudi Arabia - 142,180
Pakistan - 63,948
Afghanistan - 4,421
Bangladesh - 35,025
Syria - 12,671
Lebanon - 28,983
Algeria - 11,676
Iraq - 33,961
That's right! We issued 142,180 visas to the Muslim nation of Saudi Arabia, where the overwhelming majority of 9-11 attackers came from. Why don't you know this already? Did you know that a Saudi investment group owns about 7% of Fox? And Twitter and Citigroup?
So why are you afraid of Syrians again? Why are you, a citizen of the nation with more military weapons than the rest of the world's nations combined, afraid of a few fully vetted refugees from a war torn region which we had the major hand in?
Why are Americans afraid of anything? But mostly, why are Americans so damnably afraid of the WRONG things?
This, by Josh Marshall, should be read and thought about.
After seeing my country come together as a people for most of my life I am now watching us grow more and more divided. This is not an accident. Apparently it is much easier to make disgusting amounts of money through fear and very hard to do it through love.
I do not think racism and xenophobia have anything to do with hatred and everything to do with fear. White racists don't hate blacks...White racists are bone deep scared of blacks. Americans don't hate Syrians...It's just a very vocal group of Americans are deeply afraid of Syrians. It's because of a terrorist rampage in France perpetrated by...Belgians?
America destroyed two sovereign nations, Afghanistan and Iraq, because of the 9-11 attacks...Terrorist rampages committed by...Saudis? 15 out of 19 9-11 attackers were Saudi Arabians. More particularly, they were led by a member of the Bin Laden family who had been close friends and patrons of George W. Bush. So we let Bush make us so very afraid we let him send thousands of good decent Americans to war in two countries that had nothing to do with the attacks.
So now we are too freakin' frightened to give aid and comfort to refugees from Syria. Last year this country issued passports to a lot of people. Here is a list of a few countries and the number of visas for each:
Libya - 4,766
Egypt - 56,456
Nigeria - 141,527
Saudi Arabia - 142,180
Pakistan - 63,948
Afghanistan - 4,421
Bangladesh - 35,025
Syria - 12,671
Lebanon - 28,983
Algeria - 11,676
Iraq - 33,961
That's right! We issued 142,180 visas to the Muslim nation of Saudi Arabia, where the overwhelming majority of 9-11 attackers came from. Why don't you know this already? Did you know that a Saudi investment group owns about 7% of Fox? And Twitter and Citigroup?
So why are you afraid of Syrians again? Why are you, a citizen of the nation with more military weapons than the rest of the world's nations combined, afraid of a few fully vetted refugees from a war torn region which we had the major hand in?
Why are Americans afraid of anything? But mostly, why are Americans so damnably afraid of the WRONG things?
This, by Josh Marshall, should be read and thought about.
Saturday, November 14, 2015
What to do about a Terrorist act...
Look...It is complicated and yet simple. We have been bombing and shooting and droning more and more and more since the Reagan administration. Has terrorism decreased as a result? Hell no! Here is an excerpt from a much longer piece that you should read:
http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2015/11/13/1449789/-In-Jan-after-Charlie-Hebdo-David-Wong-said-this-would-happen-again-And-he-told-us-what-to-do
They do what they do, because they know we're too weak to resist striking back.
Our knee-jerk, bomb-dropping reflex is our weakness. They are trying to exploit it, because retaliation bombings are how they recruit more terrorists to their side. And please note that when I talk about their “side,” I'm not talking about Islam, or even Islamic terrorism. Their “side” is what I'm going to henceforth call Team Violence ... The bully doesn't fight because he wants to win; he fights because he wants a world in which everything is resolved by fighting (note: The bully himself doesn't realize this). It doesn't matter if he loses — the moment you chose to fight, his side already won, and the world becomes more like the world he wants to live in ...
In other words, “We can't beat them, unless we become more like them.” It's like a doctor telling you he's going to get rid of your tumor by growing a bigger, meaner tumor next to it. Even if it works, Team Cancer wins, and you just fell for a scam that has been tripping up humanity for 200,000 years or so.
http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2015/11/13/1449789/-In-Jan-after-Charlie-Hebdo-David-Wong-said-this-would-happen-again-And-he-told-us-what-to-do
Friday, November 13, 2015
2018 TN Governor's Race Names Being Floated...Crockett Buzz for 11-13-15
Tennesseans Broadly Agree On These Two Gun Restrictions
TN forfeiture laws deemed ‘appalling’
Study finds Tennessee, Georgia among top states for murder-suicide
Bill Freeman for governor? He's not ruling it out
Wednesday, November 11, 2015
Corker Stock Trades Draw Scrutiny... Haslam Wants Gas Tax Increase...More from Crockett
Surplus Remains a Roadblock to Gas Tax Increase
Health care providers speak for uninsured
Haslam on domestic violence and human trafficking
Diabetic holds out hope for Insure Tennessee
Watchdog Group Calls For Investigation Of Republican Senator’s Stock Trades
Thursday, November 5, 2015
Corker Stock Trades Under Scrutiny and Other Stuff from Crockett
At the state GOP Caucus' quiet pre-election retreat, the forecast calls for pain — for Tennessee Democrats
Corker griped to Clinton about Holbrooke, emails show
John McCain to speak at Fred Thompson funeral in Nashville
Vote, Dammit!
Sen. Bob Corker Profits on Quick Stock Trades
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