Everyday Erinyes

More incidents which seem to me to call for the efforts of the Greek Furies (Erinyes) to come and deal with. Just as a reminder, though no one really knows how many there were supposed to be, the three names we have are Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone. These roughly translate as "unceasing," "grudging," and "vengeful destruction." Sometimes it's a bit of a challenge to know whose attention to call to what, since evil often overlaps. We can but try.

Alecto, for instance, may want to ask Megaera if she wants to join her in the case of the Marijuana Policy Project.  You know the Marijuana Policy Project?  They are peacefully and through channels striving to get marijuana legalized in all fifty states.  Here's an email I got from them this week:

Dear Joanne,

The Mississippi government is saying that MPP is prohibited from raising money in that state because I'm a convicted felon.

After I was convicted for growing my own marijuana while in college, I co-founded MPP in order to repeal marijuana prohibition in all 50 states — something we can no longer do in Mississippi. This is a circular "double screw."

Worse yet, we're not even allowed to raise money in Mississippi to challenge the state’s stupid fundraising law.

Because I'm not allowed to send this email to MPP's subscribers in Mississippi, I'm hereby asking you to donate to MPP today so that we can challenge Mississippi's bad fundraising law and continue our work to change some of the nation's worst marijuana laws.

This isn’t the first time MPP has been discriminated against.

For example, (1) MPP almost lost our employees' retirement plan until a member of Congress intervened, (2) the bank where we've been doing business for 20 years won't give us a line of credit because they don't like our "mission," (3) we had trouble opening a brokerage account, (4) we had trouble getting credit card processing for our five ballot initiative committees, (5) numerous landlords wouldn't lease office space to us or our campaigns, and (6) the IRS has audited us twice.

And now we can't raise any money in the entire state of Mississippi because of a marijuana conviction 26 years ago?

Good grief.  I thought this qualified as "unceasing."  But there is also an element of "grudging" here.  And it seems to involve Mississippi's two legislative houses, its executive branch, and its judicial branch as well.  Lot of work there.  Maybe you should call up a contingent of harpies.  Because I am going to need Megaera for anoother project.

So here's the nutshell on the – um – young blonde white woman who seems to grudge everyone but herself having any feelings or experience that are not her feelings or experience:

"Fox News contributor Katie Pavlich told host Bill O’Reilly on Tuesday that it was 'racist' to claim 'white privilege' existed, and that she confronted her whiteness by 'going to the tanning salon.'"

This isn't long, and I really can't improve on it:

On Tuesday’s (12/1/2015) edition of The O’Reilly Factor, O’Reilly complained to Pavlich and Fox Business host Kennedy Montgomery that the University of Vermont had offered a three day retreat to help students understand the concept of “white privilege.”

“You didn’t give me a trigger warning before you asked me about my whiteness!” Montgomery snarked. “I don’t even know what it means to confront one’s whiteness.”

“I have never cashed in on my white privilege,” she added.

Pavlich chimed in: “To me, especially in the Northeast, confronting my white privilege is going to the tanning salon.”

“Look, we’re talking about this white privilege issue, and yes, it’s funny and it’s easy to laugh at,” she continued, “but I actually think it’s quite racist, and I think we have to talk about it in those terms.”

“You’re being prejudiced towards people based on the color of their skin, and I reject this idea that only white people can be racist when white students on these university campuses are now being ostracized for the color of their skin.”

“It’s anti-American, we’re not allowed to have free speech on these college campuses. Or pitting students against each other based on race. It really is quite alarming.”

White Privilege 101 is way too advanced, and would just go over her head.  But I'll bet Megaera can come up with a really good remedial course.  OMG, I hope so.  This – young woman – is pretty dense.

There is a great deal of vengeful destruction going around these days for numerous reasons, in imagined vengeance for actions, of which some are real, some are imaginary – but which the people who are being vengefully destroyed had absolutely nothing to do with.

Take for example the Muslim store owner in Queens who was attacked and beaten by a man who simply said, "I kill Muslims."

Apparently this – individual – once he started punching, just kept punching until a Latino customer, who knew the owner, intervened. 

Well, at least they have a suspect, and are investigating it as a hate crime.

There have, of course, been many attacks similar to this.  Increasingly since Republican Presidential candidates and other agitators have begun pushing Islamophobia after the terrorist plot in Paris and the probably-not-a-terrorist-plot-but-so-easy-to-politicize in San Bernardino.  Practically all you have to do is turn around, and there's another one.  Happy hunting, Tisiphone.

Oh, and Tisiphone – KUDOS on the bang-up job you did in Oklahoma City!    He really thought he was going to get away with it!  I realize you still need to follow up to make sure the judge accepts or exceeds the recommended sentences – but you have already accomplished so much.  KUDOS!  In fact, as many KUDOI as you can handle!