Today's Beau

Justin King - Beau Of The Fifth Column

"...one of the critical flaws in our representative democracy."

Today's Beau

Justin King - Beau Of The Fifth Column

We can stop exalting flawed human actors, and still praise their heroic actions.

Which would go along way to short-circuiting the rise of the next personality cult.

The Deliberately Un-Woke

(sorry I fucked this up earlier - I think I've got it fixed.)

A woman from Portland - Lindsay Clarke (she may be porn star Staci Succubus) - with a video I was having a hard time not thinking was a Poe: 

Time for a refresher.

And another:

And, "the invisible package of unearned benefits":

Say Their Names

              WALTER SCOTT
         GEORGE FLOYD

      TAMIR RICE
         AIYANA JONES
        STEPHON CLARK
      BREONNA TAYLOR

       SANDRA BLAND
ATATIANA JEFFERSON
            EZELL FORD
       AHMAUD ARBERY
       ALTON STERLING
           BOTHAM JEAN
              ERIC GARNER

Today's Beau

Saying there's no racism because the statistics indicate that black people are just more prone to commit crime is possibly the most racist shit you could say right now.

Justin King - Beau Of The Fifth Column

Starving The Beast

Today's Lesson

A million years ago when I was in school, we weren't taught any of this. There was a vague (in retrospect, maybe deliberately nonspecific) sense of "black people used to be treated pretty bad way back in the day, but that amazing Mr Lincoln fixed it and blah blah blah."

Nobody ever told us about Columbia or Rosewood or Tulsa, or any of the others. And there was a lot of 'em.

I'm a little pissed off about that - I can imagine people with brown skin have to be thoroughly fed up with that shit.

I think I'm in love with Carol Anderson though.

She makes the case that the standard trope about how "Hillary was just a really bad candidate" is and always was a bullshit cover for voter suppression (and other fuckery as well, but yeah).

And what could more "conservative" than to blame the victim?

"I dunno if he raped her, but look at how she was dressed...how much she drank...how she was dancing...where she was walking after dark...is she stupid?" etc etc etc

Anyway - we've got some big fuckin' problems up in this joint and while we don't solve those problems just by voting, we sure as fuck don't solve one goddamned thing without voting - not in a democracy we don't.

Meanwhile - maybe you'd like to look into some of this. And notice the recurring themes, as noted by Prof Anderson:

Civil War Period: 1861–1865[edit]

Main article: Mass racial violence in the United States § Civil War period 1861–1865

Reconstruction Period: 1865–1877[edit]

Main article: Mass racial violence in the United States § Post–Civil War and Reconstruction period: 1865–1877

Jim Crow Period: 1878–1914[edit]

See also: List of riots and civil unrest in Omaha, Nebraska

• 1885: Anti-Chinese riot in Rock Springs, Wyoming Territory
• 1886: Seattle riot of 1886^[16]
• 1898: Wilmington Insurrection of 1898, white Democrats overthrew elected government and attacked blacks^[17]
• 1898: Lake City, South Carolina
• 1898: Greenwood County, South Carolina
• 1900: Robert Charles Riots
• 1900: New York City
• 1904: Springfield, Ohio Race Riot^[18]
• 1906: Springfield, Ohio Race Riot^[18]
• 1906: Atlanta Race Riot, whites against African Americans^[19]
• 1906: Brownsville, Texas
• 1907: Onancock, Virginia
• 1907: Pacific Coast Race Riots of 1907
• 1908: Springfield Race Riot of 1908^[20]
• 1909: Omaha, Nebraska anti-Greek riot
• 1910: Nationwide riots following the heavyweight championship fight between Jack Johnson and Jim Jeffries in Reno, Nevada on July 4
• 1910: Slocum, Texas

War and inter-war period: 1914–1945[edit]

• 1917: East St. Louis Riot^[21]
• 1917: 1917 Chester race riot
• 1917: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• 1917: Houston Riot
• Red Summer of 1919
  • 1919: Washington, D.C.
  • 1919: Chicago Race Riot of 1919^[22]
  • 1919: Omaha Race Riot of 1919
  • 1919: Charleston riot of 1919
  • 1919: Longview race riot
  • 1919: Knoxville Riot of 1919
  • 1919: Elaine Race Riot
• 1920: Ocoee Massacre
• 1921: Tulsa race massacre (Tulsa, Oklahoma)^[23]
• 1921: Springfield, Ohio Race Riot^[18]
• 1923: Rosewood massacre (Rosewood, Florida)^[24]
• 1927: Yakima Valley Anti-Filipino Riot^[25]
• 1928: Wenatchee Valley Anti-Filipino Riot^[25]
• 1929: Exeter Anti-Filipino Riot^[26]
• 1930: Watsonville Riots, Anti-Filipino riot which inspired race riots in San Francisco, Salinas and San Jose and attacks elsewhere.^[26]
• 1935: Harlem Riot of 1935
• 1943: Detroit Race Riot^[27]
• 1943: Beaumont Race Riot of 1943
• 1943: Harlem Riot of 1943
• 1943: Zoot Suit Riots
• 1944: Agana race riot

Postwar era: 1946–1954[edit]

• 1946: Columbia, Tennessee Riot
• 1949: Peekskill Riots
• 1951: Cicero Race Riot in Illinois

Civil Rights and Black Power Movement's Period: 1955–1977[edit]

• 1958: Battle of Hayes Pond (Maxton, North Carolina)
• 1962: Ole Miss riot, Oxford, Mississippi
• 1963: Birmingham Riot of 1963, Birmingham, Alabama
• 1963: Cambridge riot of 1963 (Cambridge, Maryland)
• 1963: Lexington Riot, Lexington, North Carolina^[28]
• 1964: Harlem Riot of 1964 (Harlem neighborhood, Manhattan, New York City)
• 1964: Rochester riot (Rochester, New York)
• 1964: Philadelphia 1964 race riot (North Philadelphia section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
• 1965: Watts Riots (Watts neighborhood, Los Angeles, California)
• 1966: Division Street Riots (Humboldt Park neighborhood, Chicago, Illinois)
• 1966: Hough Riots (Hough community, Cleveland, Ohio)
• 1966: North Omaha, Nebraska (North Omaha community, Omaha, Nebraska)
• Long Hot Summer of 1967
  • 1967: Roxbury riots (Boston, Massachusetts)^[29]
  • 1967: Tampa riots (Tampa, Florida)
  • 1967: Texas Southern University Riot (Houston, Texas)
  • 1967: 1967 Detroit riot (Detroit, Michigan)
  • 1967: Buffalo riot (Buffalo, New York)
  • 1967: Milwaukee Riot (Milwaukee, Wisconsin)
  • 1967: Minneapolis North Side Riots (Minneapolis, Minnesota)
  • 1967: 1967 Newark riots (Newark, New Jersey)
  • 1967: Plainfield riots (Plainfield, New Jersey)
  • 1967: Cincinnati riots (Cincinnati, Ohio)
• Protests of 1968
  • 1968: Orangeburg massacre (Orangeburg, South Carolina)
• 1968: King assassination riots following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
  • 1968: Baltimore riot of 1968 (Baltimore, Maryland)
  • 1968: Chicago West Side riots (Chicago, Illinois)
  • 1968: Louisville riots of 1968 (Louisville, Kentucky)
  • 1968: 1968 Washington, D.C. riots (Washington, D.C.)
  • 1968: 1968 Wilmington riots (Wilmington, Delaware)
• 1968: Glenville shootout and riot (Cleveland, Ohio)
• 1969: 1969 York Race Riot (York, Pennsylvania)
• 1969: Stonewall Riot (New York, NY)
• 1970: May 11 Race Riot (Augusta, Georgia)
• 1970: Jackson State killings (Jackson, Mississippi)
• 1971: Camden riots (Camden, New Jersey)
• 1972–1977: Escambia High School riots (Pensacola, Florida)
• 1972: USS Kitty Hawk Riot (Coast of North Vietnam); October 12–13
• 1975: Chaffey High School Race Riot enhanced by local sniper (Ontario, California)

1978 to today[edit]

• 1978: Houston's Moody Park on the first anniversary of Joe Campos Torres death.
• 1979: Great Brook Valley Projects Riots Worcester, Massachusetts, Puerto Ricans rioted
• 1980: Miami riots (Miami, Florida): Reactions following the acquittal of four Miami-Dade Police officers in the death of Arthur McDuffie.
• 1980: Chattanooga Riot (Chattanooga, Tennessee)
• 1984: Lawrence, Massachusetts Race Riot: A small scale riot centered at the intersection of Haverhill and railroad streets between working class whites and Hispanics; several buildings were destroyed by Molotov cocktails; August 8, 1984.^[30]
• 1989: Overtown Riot (Miami, FL) After a black motorcyclist was shot by a Hispanic police officer in the predominantly black community of Overtown, residents rioted for two nights. The officer was later convicted of manslaughter.
• 1990: Wynwood riot (Miami, FL) Puerto Ricans rioted after a jury acquitted six officers accused of beating a Puerto Rican drug dealer to death
• 1991: Crown Heights riot (Crown Heights neighborhood, Brooklyn, New York City), black anti-Jewish mob killed 2, injured 190.
• 1992: Los Angeles riots (Los Angeles, California): In reaction to the acquittal of all four LAPD officers involved in the videotaped beating of Rodney King, in addition to the Korean involved in the murder of Latasha Harlins; riots broke out mainly involving black and Latino youths in the black neighborhoods of South Central Los Angeles and Korean-American neighborhood of Koreatown before spreading to the rest of the city
• 1996: St. Petersburg riots (St. Petersburg, Florida): After Officer Jim Knight stopped 18 yr. old Tyron Lewis for speeding, he claimed to accidentally fire his weapon, fatally wounding the black teenager. Riots broke out, lasting 2 days.^{[citation needed]}
• 2001: Cincinnati riots (Cincinnati, Ohio): In a reaction to the fatal shooting of an unarmed young black male, Timothy Thomas by Cincinnati police officer Steven Roach, riots broke out over the span of a few days.
• 2003: Benton Harbor riots (Benton Harbor, Michigan)
• 2005: 2005 Toledo riot (Toledo, Ohio): A race riot that broke out after a planned Neo-Nazi protest march through a black neighborhood.
• 2006: Fontana High School riot (Fontana, California): Riot involving about 500 Latino and black students^[31]
• 2006: Prison Race Riots (California): A war between Latino and black prison gangs set off a series of riots across California^[32][33]
• 2008: Locke High School riot^[34] (Los Angeles, California)
• 2009: 2009 Oakland riots (Oakland, California): Peaceful protests turned into rioting after the fatal shooting of an unarmed black man, Oscar Grant, by a BART transit policeman.
• 2014–2015: The Ferguson unrest, a series of riots break out in Ferguson, Missouri over the shooting of Michael Brown.
  • August 2014: riots for two weeks after the initial shooting of Michael Brown.
  • Late November and early December 2014: riots for one week after the police officer who shot Michael Brown was not indicted.
  • August 2015: riots for two days during the anniversary of the shooting of Michael Brown.
• 2015: The Death of Freddie Gray was an incident in which a suspect died in police custody and later protests turned into riots in Baltimore.
• 2016: The Shooting of Abdullahi Omar Mohamed sparked riots on the night of the shooting.
• 2020: The Death of George Floyd caused days of rioting in the Minneapolis-St Paul, MN metro area. This has further spread to the cities of NYC, LA, San Jose, San Francisco, Atlanta, Milwaukee, Detroit, Chicago, Washington DC, Charlottesville, Charlotte, Baltimore, Portland, Dallas, Denver, St Louis, Oakland, Cincinnati, Bakersfield, Seattle, Boston, Memphis, Indianapolis, Las Vegas, Columbus, Kansas City, Sacramento, Omaha, Louisville, Phoenix, Albuquerque, Fort Worth, Richmond, Philadelphia, Visalia, Nashville, Rochester, Orlando, Tampa, San Diego, San Antonio, Seattle, Oklahoma City, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Salt Lake City, Miami, Norfolk, Reno, Madison, Charleston, Santa Monica, Houston, Paducah and many other major cities within the US.

Overheard

Q:
You're willing to turn your back on friends because of their politics?

A:
I'm willing to turn my back on them because of the morality of their politics - huge difference.

We can disagree on lots of issues and still be friends - racism isn't one of them.

- abuse of power isn't one of them.

- corruption isn't one of them.

'Splaining

James Corden, with Olivia Harewood

Revisiting

Here's a blast from the past. 

Jay Smooth, explaining the conversation we wanna have - the conversation we have to have.

Today's Tweet

hat tip = my boy Lukey - proud of you, son.

Watching the murder of #GeorgeFloyd and the resulting protests, I was reminded of the way I used to think. I wrote a letter to former myself. #LetterToAWhiteMan #BlackLivesMatter

Medium post: https://t.co/NmqBBtG1kI pic.twitter.com/jhs2j4gIUt

— Rhett McLaughlin (@rhettmc) May 31, 2020

A Death In Minneapolis

Those 4 cops got fired with uncommon alacrity.

Maybe it's because the mayor is in knee-jerk mode ...



... and maybe it's because he knows there's a lot more to the story that's yet to come out.

Over to you, Justin King:

We can hope we're seeing one of those "Jesus-Fuck-Enough-Of-This-Racist-Cop-Shit-Already" moments.

History

John Oliver - on the confederacy and the shit people try to pull when they need to cover their asses.

Today's Prank

There are truly heroes among us.

Gizmodo:

YouTuber Josh Pieters has revealed that he pranked far-right British commentator Katie Hopkins by flying her to Prague and presenting her with a fake award. Hopkins, who is frequently retweeted by President Trump and was recently suspended on Twitter, was awarded with the Campaign to Unify the Nation Trophy, abbreviated as C.U.N.T. And if you think that’s mean, just wait until you hear her hate-filled acceptance speech for the award.

The 26-year-old Pieters explained the prank in a new video on his YouTubechannel, which has over 1.2 million subscribers. And it was a surprisingly large undertaking to convince Hopkins that she was getting a real award. Pieters organized flights, hotels, a dinner at the Four Seasons, and even hired actors to play members of his fake advocacy group, the Cape Town Collective For the Freedom of Speech.

Pieters, who’s originally from South Africa but lives in the UK, set up a fake website to make his organization appear more authentic, though there are some clear hints it might be fake. The photo of the founder that appears on his website is the current leader of the Ku Klux Klan, as just one example.

The video:

I'm guessing Katie Hopkins doesn't really care that she got punked. She cares that she got the exposure.

Because some people are so desperate for attention, they'll act out - to the extreme if necessary - just to get people to notice them.

In The Age Of Poe

Kinda in reverse, maybe? Reality can get so perverse that sometimes when something real happens, it sounds like it came straight outa The Onion's evil twin.

Detroit Free Press:

Sauntore Thomas is reeling from a one-two punch.

First, the Detroiter sued his employer alleging racial discrimination in a lawsuit that settled confidentially. Then he went to the bank this week to cash his settlement check, but the Livonia bank refused to cash or deposit his check. Instead, they called the cops and initiated a fraud investigation — actions that dumbfounded Thomas and his lawyer, triggering another lawsuit.

On Wednesday, Thomas sued TCF Bank for alleged race discrimination, saying the Livonia branch mistreated and humiliated him by calling four police officers when all he was trying to do was deposit legitimate checks. According to police, the bank's computer system read the checks as fraudulent.

TCF Bank spokesman Tom Wennerberg said Thursday that TCF abhors racism and it was not a factor in how the bank handled Thomas' requests. He said the checks Thomas presented displayed a watermark that read VOID when they were scanned in a web viewer.

Thomas isn't buying it, noting the check cleared 12 hours later. He's upset that two officers questioned him inside the bank, while two others stood guard outside, he said, adding he was an account holder for nearly two years at that TCF branch.

It's not quite completely cut-n-dried - the folks at TCF kinda have a point, partly because of mere circumstance - Sauntore had a whopping 52¢ in his account at the time. And partly because he "made some unusual requests".

ie: he asked to cash one of the checks ($13K- while depositing 2 others totaling $86K), and he asked for a new debit card.

Granted, some of this is a bit red-flaggy, but c'mon, all you have to do is make a coupla phone calls. But that doesn't even factor in when you're going to put a hold on the money til the checks clear anyway.

Normal protocols apply. You tell him you can't cash him out for thirteen large, but you tell him he can go to the bank that issued the check.

And that's the kicker. Not more than a few hours later, Sauntore took his checks to a Chase branch (which didn't issue the checks), and sailed the whole thing right on through.

And BTW - you're not the fuckin' cops. Turn in your little decoder ring and stop playing Junior Treasury Agent. 

Instead of a good customer, now you've got an expensive lawsuit on your hands.