{"id":17740,"date":"2015-12-02T20:22:21","date_gmt":"2015-12-03T04:22:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=17740"},"modified":"2015-12-02T20:22:21","modified_gmt":"2015-12-03T04:22:21","slug":"squatchs-open-thread-02122015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/02\/squatchs-open-thread-02122015\/","title":{"rendered":"Squatch’s Open Thread 02\/12\/2015"},"content":{"rendered":"

Physio is over until Monday!  However, between my knee and my back . . . sitting at the computer is difficult and painful.  It is times like this that I wish I had a lap top so I might be able to work longer.  Oh well, maybe some day.  The stats are . . . (fill in the blank).<\/span><\/p>\n

Puzzle<\/strong> — Today’s took me 2:57 (average 5:31). To do it, <\/span>click here<\/span><\/a>. How did you do?<\/span><\/p>\n

Short Takes<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Alternet<\/span><\/a> <\/span><\/strong>— <\/span>The Republican Party has put down the dogwhistle and picked up a megaphone.<\/p>\n

After two Bostonians allegedly beat up a homeless Hispanic man in August, one told police he was inspired by Donald Trump’s message<\/a> that “all these illegals need to be deported.” In response, Trump explained “that people who are following me are very passionate. They love this country and they want this country to be great again. They are passionate.” Later, he clarified that in no way, of course, does he condone violence. In June, Trump kicked off his campaign by calling Mexican immigrants “rapists” and drug-trafficking criminals. “Some, I assume, are good people,” he added.<\/p>\n

Last Monday, five people were shot<\/a> at a Black Lives Matter protest in Minneapolis. Three white men have been arrested in connection with the incident. It is important to emphasize that the investigation is in its very early stages, and it has not been confirmed who did this, or why.<\/p>\n

It is, however, clear that leading Republicans have engaged in extraordinarily racist and xenophobic rhetoric that incites and legitimates vigilante violence. On Saturday, Trump fans allegedly attacked a Black Lives Matter protester at a Birmingham rally. “Maybe he should have been roughed up,” Trump said<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Click through for the rest.  I wonder how long it will be before the Southern Poverty Law Centre lists the Republican Party on their list of hate groups?<\/span><\/p>\n

The Nation<\/strong><\/span><\/a> — I have come to believe the fears of white Americans are really just reflections of the things that white supremacy and empire have done to others. White America has not been terrorized by people of color; we have terrorized people of color. Black wealth is not based on stealing from white people; white wealth is based on stealing from black people. Instead of confronting the reality of our history and what our country has become for most people, too many Americans would rather kill those mourning their dead and send orphans and widows to a hellscape we created\u200a—\u200aall in order to preserve the myths of whiteness, masculinity, and empire.<\/p>\n

I have to imagine the white men who commit these egregious acts of terror do so out of a silent, personal fear that the myths of whiteness and masculinity engender in themselves. The dehumanization white supremacists perpetrate on others has to be, in part, a projection of the dehumanization they feel themselves. The sad men that hang out on 4chan plotting the destruction of innocent others don’t believe they can be the strong, virile, white male dominators they are prescribed to be. No one who feels good about themselves talks as much as Donald Trump does about how he is a “winner” and other people are “losers.” No one who is confident of their humanity would deny acceptance to a 5-year-old orphan refugee<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Click through for the rest of this interesting article.  I remember back in a high school history class discussing the concept of humans always looking for another to hold in contempt, whether for economic, racial, religious or other reasons.  It was a fear of being at the bottom of the food chain, so to speak.  As the author has said, there is a lot of projection.  I hate myself so I am going to make you seem to be less than me, and then I'll feel better. It is a transitory "fix" that solves nothing in the long run.<\/span><\/p>\n

Daily Beast<\/strong><\/span><\/a> — “The drought exacerbated existing water and agricultural insecurity and caused massive agricultural failures and livestock mortality,” write Kelley et al. “The most significant consequence was the migration of as many as 1.5 million people from rural farming areas to the peripheries of urban centers.”<\/p>\n

It is precisely from those populations, uprooted and uncared for, that the group now known as ISIS drew its local recruits and cannon fodder as it rebuilt its ranks and spread its control over territory in the last three years. The core slogan of the Islamic State, “Remain and Expand,” speaks powerfully to people forced off their land and struggling just to survive.<\/p>\n

Ironically, among the politicians in the West who deny the impact of climate change and at the same time refuse to accept refugees from war and “economic migrants” from these benighted, blighted lands, the answer to “Remain and Expand” is “stay there and die.”<\/p>\n

Bernie Sanders has said that climate change is the greatest national security threat.<\/span><\/p>\n