Juxtaposition

What we do know for sure, is what.

As in, what exactly happened.

The shooting to death of an unarmed black man by a white policeman occurred on August 9, 2014 in Ferguson Missouri. The police officer was Darren Wilson. The unarmed man was named Michael Brown. On November 24, 2014 a county grand jury decided not to indict Darren Wilson for shooting Michael Brown until he was dead.

That is what happened.

We also know how it happened. I’m not here now to revisit or belabor that how.

I’ve already done that subjectively in my last writing.

You can read that here: http://www.brainspank.org/2014/11/shaft/

Of course, the conviction with which I expressed my opinion on the how of this matter engendered some anger.

That anger leads us to the why.  Up until now,  I really haven’t been able to understand the why.  My understanding of it is by no means complete but the anger aimed at me has provided a glimpse into it and maybe it will for anyone reading this.

This is why I’m sharing it here.

I received an email not long after I posted my opinion on the events in Ferguson from a man I’ve known since high school.  I don’t mind telling you that this man is a typical small town conservative who imagines himself a pillar of the community because he’s on the right side of guns, God and the constitution.   He absolutely believes we live in a post racial society.

In the past he’s written much worse.  Far more vitriolic and disturbing.  But this proves to be the most compelling view into a mindset that for me at least explains why such things are allowed to happen.

I thought about disclosing his identity but it really is beside the point.  We were once “friends” on social media but he blocked me long ago I’m sure because he was tired of me kicking his ass all over the place and making him cry in front of his friends.  I absolutely enjoyed calling him on his bullshit. I get bored and it was cathartic.

What I am doing now though, is issuing a challenge to this man.  Offering him an opportunity to own what he wrote to me and by all means defend it if he can, on my blog for everyone to see.

I do hope he will rise to the occasion.

This is why I write.

This is exactly why I bother.

Pay special attention to numbers 7 through 13 to get a real taste for the unhinged.

Good stuff.

What follows is his email to me verbatim in bold italics.

Ok Mike:

Here’s the facts that you can’t get through your thick irrational skull:

Regardless of what the police department did or does, it does not change the facts and especially the physical evidence

Fact 1.  Michael Brown did not shoplift, he robbed a store, the latter involving threat or use of force and that is a felony

Fact 2.  Regardless of why he was stopped he started a physical confrontation with a cop who was seated in his vehicle

Fact 3. The much smaller officer shot Mr. Brown as they fought over the weapon

Fact 4.  Mr. Brown then scurried away and failed to respond by the officer’s commands

Fact 5.  Mr. Brown then ran towards the officer in what eye witnesses describe as like a football player going in for a tackle

Fact 6.  The officer shot Mr. Brown dead.

Fact 7.  Friends of the deceased made up eye-witness accounts that portrayed Mr. Brown as non-violent, and being shot in the back while running away with his hands up

Fact 8.  The liberal media rags et al made up stories like the store owner nor anyone else called the cops (albeit a recorded 911 call to the contrary)

Fact 9.  Race baiters Holder, Sharpton, Jackson and the POTUS caused further division and incited the uninformed masses

Fact 10. Professional white communistic inciters flooded the cities to cause even more disruption

Fact 11.  The forensic evidence tells the story.

Fact 12.  If the FBI were to contrive with the police, the prosecution, the grand jury, the race baiting Holder and everyone else they would have likely indicted the officer on a charge, the officer would have reportedly committed suicide while in fact was placed into a WPP, or some other method of calming the tensions.  Then again, Holder loves to promote race wars, so perhaps it was all made up.

Most importantly is fact 13.  People just like you who have irrational thought patterns inspired by your biases and filled into your brain with your so-called credible sources are the reason why this country is so screwed.  You fall for all the garbage force fed to you by big brother.  You actually don’t believe it when the main person who designed Obamacare says it was written so stupid people would never understand the repercussions.  You actually believe them when they say amnesty of millions will somehow produce jobs and more money.  You believe them when they say there is not a smidgeon of corruption.  You believe them when they say the Constitution is antiquated and needs to be revamped.  It is true, liberalism like yours is certainly a mental disorder.  

It goes without saying that I did my level best.  I pointed out to him the actual definition of the word fact as opposed to opinion and conjecture.  I went as far as I could to address that difference.

He didn’t get it.

There was, in my estimation, just one fact in his email to me that began with “Here’s the facts that you can’t get through your thick irrational skull:” . Number 6, “The officer shot Mr. Brown dead”.

My response to him is really beside the point because his position is that Mr. Brown was a thug and Officer Wilson was fighting for his survival.  Things he can’t know.  Things he doesn’t know.  Things he has no way of knowing.  Things, ideas, concepts he got from an irresponsible media that led him to believe were facts.

So, the onus is on this man to to enlighten us further.

Understand reader, if you don’t talk to him here, he won’t see what you have to say.  It defeats the purpose of what I’m trying to do here if you comment elsewhere.

This is your glimpse into why.

So, to my old friend who wrote the above, show us what you got dude.

Please tell us about the “Professional white communistic inciters flooded the cities to cause even more disruption

Fair warning, any emails you send to me will be reprinted here as comments on this blog, anonymously of course.

I won’t reveal your identity.

The floor is yours.

Bring it.

Drinks for my friends.

96 Responses to “Juxtaposition”

  • SwapnaBaumann:

    I don’t think he will write. His brain is shoved up faux News and its kinds azzes.

  • Joanne Giovenco:

    Wow. Did that guy have to turn off Fox to write that or was it on in the background to keep reinforcing his views?

    “Professional white communistic inciters flooded the cities to cause even more disruption“

    What the hell does that mean? Who are these people? Why would communists care about what happened in a small town in St. Louis? Communists? Really? That one is beyond me. Who said that? O’Reilly or Hannity?

    Race baiters? If this person had any inkling of the reality this country has gone through since President Obama was elected, he would know who the REAL “race baiters” are. “They” are the republican party, the tea party, the marxists, the oligarchs, and every other person who–like this man–had to hide his/her racism before the election of President Obama. They may not even have known they were racists, but as soon as a black man entered The White House, they felt kind of sick and just knew something was wrong.

    Then the republican party and Fox told them what it was. It was the black people, although they didn’t say “black”, they used euphemisms that meant “black” to anyone so inclined. Like this guy.

    It was the poor. It was the 99% or the 47% or whatever.
    It was the welfare mothers who kept churning out kids to get more support from the government.
    It was the lazy people on unemployment and food stamps who just didn’t want to work.
    It was the people on food stamps who bought lobster and drove to the store in a cadillac.
    It was the drug addicts.
    It was people who wanted something for nothing.
    It was the people who dared to vote for people to represent their interests, such as social security, medicare, health insurance, and other social welfare programs, but the rich people who voted for people to represent their interests did nothing wrong.

    It was all those people who looked like the guy now inhabiting the White House.

    The republican party has used racism like a dagger to cut the nation in two. They made racism “fun again”. They made it acceptable. They made it OK for their people to hate.

    That is why people–such as this man–cannot see the forest for the trees. They can’t see that unarmed black teenagers are gunned down by police every week, if not every day. To them, they’re just more nameless, faceless black thugs who threaten their sense of security and make them realize–even if unconsciously–that the time of the “white man” superiority is coming to a close. Boy, that scares the hell out of them.

    This person is so blinded by hate, racism, and what Fox tells him that he can no longer tell right from wrong. Of all the statements he made, the only one that is accurate is: “The officer shot Mr. Brown dead.” Some of the other statements have a kernel of truth in them (those describing the crime), but the rest of it is so delusional it is difficult to understand how someone can live in such denial and ignorance of the truth.

    He accused you of being irrational and brainwashed and unquestioning of government and the liberal media (which does not exist) when it is he who is all those things. Lack of credible sources, big brother, Obamacare, illegal aliens, corruption, liberals, and the constitution. What do all those things have in common? They are the basis for the republican party and they are what is discussed daily on Fox. And they are all untrue.

    This man can’t comprehend that this white cop shot this black man just because he could. He said the cop was a much smaller man, but the two were exactly the same height. Michael Brown was unarmed. Whatever he did or didn’t do, he posed no threat of loss of life to this cop. The cop said he was scared. Fine. We all get scared, but he was scared because of the “big, black man” stereotype so pervasive in this country. He could have driven away. He could have called for back-up. He could have threatened him with violence until Michael Brown was subdued. He could have shot him in the leg so he couldn’t run at him like a football player.

    But he didn’t do any of those things. He shot Michael Brown 12 times! 12! How is that even possible to defend? To me, that shows someone filled with rage who is going to get that black guy no matter what. To me, that is a murderer.

    However, the way the DA described the incident to the grand jury and the things the cop said on the stand (which this man also alludes to) led to the grand jury not indicting the cop. Your friend believed the grandstanding DA from his press conference where he blamed everyone but himself, from the liberal media to the “lying” witnesses. Your friend ate it all up because he heard exactly what he wanted to hear.

    Racism makes people perceive the world in different ways. It clouds judgment so that reality is somehow lost along the way and the racists don’t even know there is any other way of thinking. They make the facts fit in to their distorted world view. If one were so inclined, one could say these people are sad and pathetic and ignorant, except for one thing: they choose to be this way. They choose to twist the truth. They choose to listen to those who think just like them. They choose to hate.

    And they are really good at it.

    • Michael Douglass:

      Thank you Joanne, very much, for taking the time. I hope you imagine that I pointed all this out to him and much more. You know I wouldn’t take that degree of bullshit lying down.

      • Joanne Giovenco:

        You know I meant Fascist when I said Marxist? I was thinking of a Hitler-esque thing to say, but then thought better of it, and used the wrong word entirely.

  • Jeff Prager:

    He’s delusional, a statement I can prove with facts.

  • Cathy Page:

    Wow! Your former friend is delusional. The evidence was so badly managed, the entire Ferguson PD and medical examiner should be fired. The prosecutor turned a grand jury into a joke. I hope when the feds are done investigating, the Ferguson PD will get a badly needed overhaul. The people of that town deserve better.
    I also hope whatever civil suits the Brown family initiate, that they get a big fat award. Not that money could ever replace their murdered child, but, dollars are all that seem important to government officials.

  • Pamela Smith:

    Pamela Smith: Michael, I may or may not respond to your friend; I have had the same conversation so many times that I am heartbroken and dog-ass tired trying to do the same thing you are doing..debate, emote, relate, refute.with people who will never try to understand. Thanks for all you do and including me. Pam.

    • Joanne Giovenco:

      I think we all feel the same way. We’ve all had this very same conversation so many times. I doubt any person I’ve tried to sway with the truth has had an epiphany. Most likely, they called me a…I think you know what they called me.

      • Michael Douglass:

        It IS very frustrating. Writing about it helps me at least, it’s cathartic. We have mutual friends that tell they feel sorry for him.

  • Peter Wills:

    Michael, the email from your “friend” is so typical of the racist, bigoted imbeciles who frequent social media like the trolls they are and spout their poisonous rhetoric and talking points with no foundation. I have seen it and experienced it, as recently as yesterday with a similar idiot, a Missouri truck driver named Kevin Stuckey, on Twitter, so often that it caused me to post on Facebook my thoughts and feelings about attempting to discuss issues rationally with these types(https://www.facebook.com/pjpw2320/posts/910753258942813.)

    The lines of so called arguments and their talking points are so common that they can only come from one source, Fox Noise!! It is sickening in the extreme to see the drivel that these probably otherwise reasonably intelligent people post.

    I don’t know how you maintain your sanity arguing with these idiots, I really don’t. But I respect you immensely for it.

    • Michael Douglass:

      Of course he hasn’t responded here and he hasn’t via email either. And I KNOW he’s aware of this blog. A mutual friend messaged him on my behalf directly.

  • Cherie McGinn:

    I’m tired of dealing with these folks, too. I have read, thought, written, read some more, and thought some more — all while looking for definitive answers to many unanswered questions. I have one issue that I keep coming back to about the “crime” itself — the owner apparently NEVER called 911 — it was another shopper in the store. SO, we don’t really know if those cigars were paid for or not. And, even if they were not paid for, the punishment for that crime is not death!

    Second issue is that the MO law states that if a reasonable person could conclude that Wilson feared for his life, that is all that is required NOT to charge him.

    There’s a whole lot of space in the narrative that raises questions — none of which will be investigated unless the feds decide to bring civil rights charges, which I doubt will happen. It is precisely because there was not an adversarial process that vetted the testimony and “facts” presented, we’ll never know what evidence was made up, true, or somewhere in between.

    And, finally, nothing Brown did justified a death sentence. Nothing.

  • I really can’t add anything to what others have already here … I implore you to continue to speak the truth and enlighten the masses, especially those commies who seem to be running so rampant in our society …

  • Lisa Abraham:

    Wow! My sympathies to you for having to do battle with such a hard-headed, closed-minded apologist for the police state. Do these right wingers have any idea how odd it is for them to be embracing state power in the form of a militarized domestic police force given the fact they are supposed to be champions for maximum civil liberties with minimal state interference? Do they know anything about the belief system of their own political party? Has Fox News managed to take them, Pied Piper style, right off the cliff? I’ll take an old school conservative any day over what they’ve morphed into in recent years. Making matters worse is the fact your former friend appears to be on shaky ground mental health wise and is very likely a racist. He was an easy harvest for Fox News. Any attempt to salvage him is most likely futile. He’s swallowed the hook, as they say.

    • Michael Douglass:

      I know, I know. My only hope is that the dipshit will think a little bit before he opens his pie hole next time.

  • Guido Colacci:

    Michael, sadly, too many amerikkkans see it as your friend does and it is NOT surprising … what they fail to comprehend is the GREAT distinction both police and too many white people make is that there is an INHERENT fear of black men… whether they have guns or not white men are afraid PERIOD… They fail to see the similarities that go beyond color… it is about money. I have no money, I can tell you , I am much more afraid of kkkops than I am of black men. A kkkop can kill me for no reason, a black man has no reason to kill me …Insanity or being a violent psychopath knows no color so both could kill me too but I will take my chances with a black man everyday and twice on Sunday… and the bottom line is this … its economics and class … a white guy will rip off a person who flashes cash as fast as a black guy, BUT the difference lies in that a kkkop will shoot to kill a black man and yet hesitate and diffuse a situation concerning a white man. Your friend is living in a world that does not exist except in their paranoid minds..AND THAT’S A FACT!

    • Michael Douglass:

      Well said Guido. I would only say that it’s not that there’s a failure to take it into account, but rather a willingness to ignore it.

  • Dorothy Durio Collins:

    I got into the same argument, line, song and verse with a very old friend in which I took your side and he argued your adversary’s TO THE LETTER.

    Yes, Jim Crow is alive and well. I am ready to help fight the fight. What bugs the shit out of me is how many whites believe the lies about what
    happened to Michael Brown.

    The ONLY thing we all agree on is this…Michael Brown is dead.

  • Jaina Lally:

    Whoa. That guy is severely misinformed and very sure of himself. I have to say that honestly my head is a little fucked up. Even the people who acknowledge all the facts still pretty much spin it to “he was out looking for trouble” or better yet “it just upsets me when they burn and loot their own communities”. Saying it as though the events that followed had a direct link to verdict of the proceedings that just failed them again. I thought I had a pretty realistic grasp on how racist my fellow Americans were. I wasn’t even close. And the scariest part is they don’t even know that’s what they are. They couldn’t be more sure they aren’t actually. Like your emailer. “It’s not about race Michael, it’s about about thugs and cops”. Get it straight, man.

    • Michael Douglass:

      Yup, although they have no way of knowing it, Mike Brown was a “thug”. Code word for nigger and that makes his execution okay.

  • Peggy Frigard:

    First of all, those that defended Darryn Wilson, did it starting before the announcement that there would be no inductment. They chose to believe that a cop that shot a black person, wouldn’t have done it, w/o a good reason. After all, there are no corrupt police officers. Although, they spew that the government is corrupt, and the police dept. is part of the government. They say it has nothing to do w/ race, on why they choose to believe the white officer’s version, over the dozen of witnesses. Yet, they defend Wilson, with such passion, and conviction that I find it hard to believe that they wouldn’t do that if it was a white person being shot, by a white officer. Those of us that are outraged at Wilson’s actions, the support of many people and the decision by the Grand Jury not to induct him, don’t want Michael Brown to be treated differently than any other victim of police corruption, and violence. We want him and others of diversity to be treated as equals, not that their lives are less worthwhile to fight for, but that they are of the human race. We’d all love to say that race is blind, and that racism doesn’t exist. We’d be living in lala land, if we chose to believe that the days of slavery, and downtrodden blacks ended when Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclaimation. We know about Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr., etc. making bold stands for blacks’ rights, and being punished for it. Those of us that know black people, and know many diversities SEE racism all around us. It’s plain to see, and very visible. If one chooses to not see, to soothe their own sensibilities, or to mold it to fit their own are simply doing themselves a disservice and everyone around them. Nothing is black and white, unless we make it that way. There is plenty of gray, and variables, if one chooses to open up their horizon of beliefs, and perceptions. Early on, after Michael Brown’s death, the police department released a statement saying that Wilson didn’t know about the robbery, and that he didn’t find out until after the death. Now, Wilson is saying (per tv interview) that he DID know about the robbery, and that he was at another call (before the shooting) when he found out about it. And, that he knew when he saw Brown that he was the suspect, and treated him accordingly. Which is it? Either, or? I find it convenient that his latest version fits his story now, of self defense, (from a known violent offender per the robbery). Darryn Wilson may have gotten away w/ murder, but he will still wear a scarlet letter. People know what he did, and the injustices of the system that let him go, and he will not get away scot-free. He has his supporters, but he’d have to live under a rock, to not be affected negatively by his freedom. He’ll still pay, though not necessarily the way a court of law should have made him. He’ll always be known as “that man that got away w/ murder, because he was a white p.o.”

  • Peggy Frigard:

    Yet, they defend Wilson, with such passion, and conviction that I find it hard to believe that they would do that if it was a white person being shot, by a white officer.*

  • Linda Dilworth:

    I find it interesting regarding the statement “made up eyewitness accounts.” Is that why one of the made up eyewitnesses was found shot to death and set on fire and the other one is “being protected” now? Your friend is delusional and refusing to face the FACTS. The real facts.

  • LeaAnn Loudmouth:

    Ignore this ignoramus. He’s not worth an argument. He’s a dinosaur, dying breed of dumbass, thankfully. Just like homophobics, he’ll go the way of extinct species. They are NOT getting “their” country back. “Their” country was imperialist white supremacist capitalist heteropatriarchy. We’ve evolved socially to a different way of life which embraces tolerance and equality. This fossil can sod off and stew in his unwillingness to accept change for the good of humanity. Sucks to be him.

  • LeaAnn Loudmouth:

    P.S. The elites (and their patsies) want the police force to remain militarized and unaccountable. They know they’re going to need to deploy troops in the US to preserve the unequal distribution of resources here.

  • Racism is a mental illness. Your friend like many other millions of WHITE AMERICANS are actually PSYCHOTIC. Their whole reality is rooted in the “ritualistic bloodletting” of their fellow Americans. As evidenced in the cognitive dissonance in your Friends email….Most “whote people” really think they CANNOT BE a RACIST in a racist society that add and subtracts human value based on “whiteness”. I don’t envy your “friend”….nor the millions who can’t acknowledge their own “white privilege “in the death of Michael Brown and the millions of AMERICANS of color who are sacrificed on the alter (s) of Racism DAILY in America.

  • Ronald Dene Larson:

    Not only all of the above, but the DA’s office gave the wrong instruction to the Grand Jury which exonerated him from the beginning due to an old law stating that “it was all right for a police officer to shoot someone running away”! The Supreme Court disavowed that law in 1985, and it was not until the last day of the hearing the Jurors were given the right instruction, “Not true”!!!

  • Midge:

    Well Michael I’m not sure this is worth your time, you’re far to intelligent and informed to have a real conversation with someone who clearly chooses to see things his way regardless of facts. This man is one of many right wing bigots that try to hide their racism until something like this happens and they are forced out of the shadows and into the light.

    I wonder if he realizes he looks like a raving lunatic, I’m embarrassed for him.. for just a moment.. then I remember the horror of Michael Brown’s death by a policeman’s gun, shot unnecessarily so many times with the last one directly into the kids head. I call this crime, real crime.

    Last nights court verdict on Eric Garner who was killed late this summer, was the end. This time it happened in plain sight with video and audio. They killed a man for selling untaxed single cigarettes. How many times did he have to yell I can’t breath, I believe the number was 9 or11, and still they held him in a choke hold which is illegal in NY. So lets say there were conflicting witnesses in the Ferguson death and although we really do know what happened we can’t really prove it 100% but the second death can’t be denied. WE ALL SAW IT live on television over and over. Neither of these officers were indited which is unbelievable. Here’s some good news for you though, tonight in NY there are police officers protesting the courts decision, now that takes courage and I applaud them for that.

    Your friend sounds like a fool, I hope he feels like one but I doubt it. He’s filled with hate and blind to anything other then his own opinion. Does anyone with critical thinking skills really believe that the police are never wrong? I doubt it. I’d love to know his name to make sure he’s not on my friends list by error.

    I support a national day of protest all over the country and people coming out in droves, moving out of their comfort zones to stand up and speak out, have their voices heard because we all know the voices of Michael and Eric have been silenced forever…

  • Alma:

    Michael, this all looks so familiar. I’ve got plenty of ‘friends’ who think and feel this same way. All white. White privilege is real, no matter how much they deny it. It saddens me that so many people can’t empathize with the black community and understand their anger over Michael Brown’s shooting. Hell, I just had a person I’d gone to high school with un-friend me on Facebook over the Eric Garner decision. Had he just not resisted….say what??? I’m sick to death of these idiots.
    Good for you for calling them out!!!!

    • Michael Douglass:

      Ladies and gentlemen, the subject of the piece finally speaks. And look how pathetic he is. Dave is under the impression that this little piece of news some how vindicates his bigotry and validates his racism and abject ignorance. Wow. Just wow.

  • David:

    Pathetic is a word that best describes your liberal response. Ignore the facts and go right into name calling. Don’t agree with me (you) or Obama. Well you must be a Racist, bigot. Please Michael. You were wrong, as were all of your compatriots above. Face it. The shooting had NOTHING to do with racism. Sure the department as a whole may have issues, but nothing, absolutely squat in this event was as a result of racism. Even the racist Eric Holder couldn’t find a smidgeon of evidence to suggest otherwise. Dude was a street thug who picked a fight with the wrong guy. End of story. That is all.

  • Michael Douglass:

    In case any of you haven’t figured it out, Dave, the douchebag above is the antagonist who’s own words are quoted in the piece above. It’s interesting he’s lacked the courage to come forth until now. We all owe Dave a sincere thank you for allowing us even further insight into his developmentally challenged mind. He actually thinks that because the DOJ did not charge Darren Wilson for violating Mike Brown’s civil rights on the day he murdered him for jaywalking, that all doubt is removed and Darren Wilson is as pure as the driven snow. People like Dave need this sort of bullshit vindication. They look for it, and whenever it comes along, no matter how many months or years later, they cling to it with a desperation that belies their lack of intellectual acuity. They need it because without it, there is simply no other evidence to counter their abject racism. He acknowledges that the Ferguson Police department has issues, wide ranging pervasive and systemic issues in fact. Dave believes officer Wilson, therefore exists in a vacuum. Dave calls the AG of the U.S. a racist and assumes that everyone who disagrees with him does so by virtue only of being an Obama supporter. All of this in the same breath. Dave lives in a world that is black and white and post racial. Pun intended. Liberals are commies and socialists and are BAD! Everything he sees and hears is filtered through this distorted lens and every myopic view is a result of it. In Dave’s simple addled mind, this whole episode in Ferguson is merely about the liberal vs. conservative ideologies. How fucking pathetic is that?

  • David:

    Pathetic is holding on to your erroneous view of the events that transpired. You sir, are a bigger bigot than anyone involved in that incident. I say that because your stance is one where you show your unwarranted hate for law enforcement, and take a position that does not stand up against the evidence and facts. You still show favorable bias for the thug who robbed a store, and picked a fight with law enforcement. You hold on to the one witness statement that claims the “gentle giant” had his hands up etc. etc.

    If law enforcement was a race you would be a racist. If conservative thought were a race, you would be a racist. You hate what you can’t understand, you obstinately, irrationally, unfairly or intolerantly dislike other people, ideas, etc. and that is the very definition of bigotry. It’s not liberals as a whole that I take issue with, rather it is self described liberals like you who cling to how they feel as opposed to what really is. You are blind to how liberalism is just another word for dependent, and desirous for trickle up poverty. You can’t see how each and every liberal policy expands the reach of the government, and the control it has. Nor can you see how liberal policy leads the way to failed methods of government, like socialism, communism, and your pal Obama’s favorite, Marxism.

    The facts vindicate my position on this Ferguson issue. And no, it was never about conservatism vs liberalism, it was about what is and what you wanted it to be.

    The facts vindicate my position that the AG is in fact a racist, that the POTUS and his crooked ilk are destroying this nation, and that “progressives” like yourself are mentally unstable. That’s not to say many people who call themselves conservative aren’t also mentally challenged. Perhaps it’s all those drugs that you took/take that alters your perception. The Hollywood and music industry is plagued with “liberals,” with views of the world that are so intensely skewed. And we all know how the drugs flow through the entertainment industry. The entertainment world makes its money from deceptive alteration, and perhaps fills its players with that same mindset. Then again, it might just be that you are simply guided by your feelings and lack the complex cranial component of critical thinking.

    In any case, I was right you were wrong…again.

    • Michael Douglass:

      You know Dave, I find it both disturbing and annoying that the foundation of all your rebuttals in this debate is assumption accompanied by completely unrelated issues yet again. It’s really starting to be a pattern Dave.

      First paragraph: Your first assumption is that I hate law enforcement. I’ve never written or expressed anything to support this. I admire most cops and shudder to think where American society would be without them. I dare you to back this up, my criticism of the Ferguson police department excepted because it has subsequently been documented that it is a bureaucracy rife with racism and bigotry and guilty of exploiting/extorting minorities and the poor for money. Just look at the glut of resignations in the wake of the DOJ report. The second assumption comes in a triplet. Dave, you simply do not know that Mike Brown was a thug, that he robbed a store or that he picked a fight with Darren Wilson. YOU DON’T KNOW THESE THINGS DAVE. How many times do I have to point this out to you? The OWNER of the store maintains to this day that there was no theft and that neither he nor any employee called the authorities. THE ONLY person who alleges there was an altercation initiated by Brown is Wilson. If I shot an unarmed kid from over twenty feet away, I might just say the same thing. And what evidence do you have that he was a thug? Again, I dare you to back any of these assumptions up Dave.

      Second paragraph: If law enforcement was a race I’d be a racist? If conservative thought was a race I’d be racist? Sheezus Dave, that’s pathetic and you are really reaching. It’s embarrassing to witness. This is how you attempt to turn it around on me and defend ACTUAL racists?

      At the risk of dipping into the whole conservative vs. liberal thing you’re so preoccupied with, it is a hallmark of conservatism to blame the opponent for that which you are most guilty of. Then we move precipitously to “trickle up poverty” and how “each and every liberal policy expands the reach of the government, and the control it has”. And then “how liberal policy leads the way to failed methods of government, like socialism, communism, and your pal Obama’s favorite, Marxism”. I WANT YOU TO TELL ME EXACTLY WHICH POLICIES Dave. Which ones? In the very next sentence you take pains to insist that this conversation is not about that. Which is it Dave? You can’t have it both ways but again, I dare you to back this shit up. What policies Dave? Surely you’re not talking about the consistently heinous attempts by conservatives to regulate abortion, contraception and same sex marriage are you? These things represent a massive overreach of government into our lives don’t you think? How about drug testing for food stamps or any other social program? That’s a huge expense and requires massive government oversight and thus far has proven to be ridiculous in terms of drug users found and over all efficacy in general. Is this what you want to debate Dave or is it the horrible state of affairs in Ferguson?

      You insist this isn’t about that but you just can’t seem to help yourself. So which is it Dave?

      Your next paragraph begins with your assumption that the AG of the United States is racist. How Dave? Back that shit up genius. And how is this POTUS destroying this nation? How Dave? Back that shit up genius. Immediately after this you wander into any drugs I’ve availed myself of as a result of being in the Hollywood liberal music scene? WTF does that have to do with the price of tea in China? Then you go off on some ludicrous tangent about the entertainment industry in general and………well, what? What exactly are we discussing here? Again……..all completely off topic. You seem far more interested in impugning me and my actions than anything to do with domestic affairs and American politics/society. Which is it Dave? What’s it gonna be? Can you, are you capable of separating the two? It appears not.

      And fer fucks sake, what in the mad fuck is a “complex cranial component”? I’m willing to bet you made that shit up all on your own didn’t you Dave? I mean, what’s the difference between an orange Dave?

      What I predicted, and what did indeed happen is that you and people like you would assume that the lack of an indictment for Darren Wilson is vindication and somehow proves his complete innocence. The only thing it actually proves Dave is that a grand jury led by a state prosecutor, a known member of the KKK, decided to actually try the case instead of pursue his judicial obligation and thus expedite a foregone conclusion. That conclusion was that in a town like Ferguson, in a state like Missouri, with a prosecutor like Bob McCulloch, there was not enough evidence to try Darren Wilson. IT BY NO MEANS PROVES DARREN WILSON’S INNOCENCE DAVE and it’s only people like you who think it does. Another assumption Dave. Further, people like you view the lack of charges filed by the DOJ for violating the civil rights as even further vindication that Darren Wilson never met a black man he didn’t assume was a low life piece of lazy shit.

      I will tell you this. All this means to me and most progressives is the sonafabitch got away with it because the bar for the grand jury was so low and the bar for the DOJ was too high. I and other progressives already knew this. We progressives predicted it because we are painfully aware of the racial temperature in this country and particularly the temperature in the deep southern regions. I’ll let you in on a little secret Dave. The traditional role of police in America has ALWAYS been to protect the interests of the monied and therefore according to that mindset, the interests of society in general. As time goes on, and wealth becomes more concentrated (due almost exclusively to republican/conservative policies), protecting those interests has naturally evolved into more egregious discrimination, persecution and prosecution based on economic class. What we see now in places like Ferguson is the manifestation of this ethic concentrated racially merely by virtue of the fact that the population is well over sixty percent black and the municipal ruling bodies being well over eighty percent white.

      It’s not necessarily the fault of individual officers or even entire departments.

      Racism in this country is only lately become a partisan issue Dave and it’s only because conservatives have forced it. Republican and democratic presidents and congress’ alike have passed the re-authorization of the The Voting Rights Act by overwhelming majority on behalf of both parties for decades since soon after that day in Alabama 50 years ago when blacks were attacked by police and many beaten to with an inch of their lives. Only now, for the first time in half a century is the future of this fundamental right in jeopardy and it’s because of republicans and conservatives.

      So tell us Dave, what EXACTLY are you right about and what exactly am I wrong about?
      This time, try, I know it’s hard for you, to stay on topic.

      • Irene Biskey:

        Random uses of the words drugs, liberals, and over-use of quotation marks for no apparent reason are hallmarks of scared beings, IMO. David is scared shitless, right now. Is there such a thing as death via constipation?

    • Midge:

      Ahhh and here we have a white supremacist who comes out of the shadow’s occasionally to have his say.

      David, surely you know that there are “your facts” and then the truth which are REAL facts. I don’t know very much about you, if you are a man of religion, etc. but I do wonder why you are so filled with hate that you would ignore what’s happened to this young man and stand without question with the officer that killed him. My father In-law and his father were both career policeman and I know from the inside that the younger one was a raving bigot and acted on his hate. I won’t say more then that…

      You can certainly live in ignorance, many chose that path, but enlightenment is so much better even if it is painful to watch sometimes…

  • david:

    Racism is a partisan issue? Now that is indeed a bigoted statement.
    Bar was too high?.. yea, the bar that demands that evidence be sufficient enough to warrant probable cause is so low enough to necessitate crawling to get under it. The reason they did not entertain prosecuting him is because everything went down exactly as he said it did.

    Obama: there’s that whole thing about surrounding himself with crooks, dividing the nation, his racist views, his alarming friendship with the Muslim Brotherhood, his obvious hatred for Jews, Obamacare (which is not insurance, unconstitutional regardless of what the SCOTUS said, and detrimental to the entire country), his bi-passing Congress with the BS immigration policy (not designed for the benefit of anyone but insuring the democratic vote, his deplorable foreign policy, his mountain of lies, and on and on and on. There’s his communistic upbringing, his arrogance and he and his wife’s hatred for this country. Adding double digit Trillion dollar debt to the country – absolutely a debt that cannot ever be repaid by even 6 generations from now. “Fundamental Change”- the people that voted for him failed to realize what he meant. Your view of police role “ALWAYS” protecting wealth tells it all. Holder is obviously a racist as demonstrated by his failure to prosecute the NBP members who interfered with people trying to vote. He said it himself when he said he would not prosecute because he felt a duty to protect “my (his) people”.

    A complex cranial component is a functional non delusional brain. Something you clearly lack.

    Racism exists, but it played no part in the Brown v Wilson episode, except perhaps Brown may have hated cops and or people who are not of his same skin color. How come progressives never talk about the racism that exists when it is a race that hates white people, or Mexicans, or Asians, or anyone else? How come the issue of slavery always fails to mention that slavery is still ongoing with the Muslim culture, blacks owning blacks, Muslims owning Christians and the like. Why do you fail to recognize that the Irish and Chinese were slaves more recently than blacks in this nation. That the Jews were slaves in other Europe more recently than blacks were there or here? Your position that conservatives are all racists is so incredibly ignorant and bigoted. And by all means, if a black man or woman is conservative your bigoted take must be that they are self-loathing, or stupid, or whatever.

    I’m a highly decorated retired LEO,and criminal psychologist, who wore the badge with respect and honor, serving society as a whole. I treated everyone the same, regardless of color or any other “issue.” It is why I was able to have a realistic take on the event, and not a programmed response like, “Yea I saw the video of Brown in the store, but the store owner had no issue with the Gentle Giant who was simply jaywalking when he was shot numerous times with his hands up” version offered by the liberal media to create a further divide in the nation. You, on the other hand, are a drugged out “progressive” bigot, who thinks others should have to sacrifice so you can get health insurance (by forcing others to pay for it), fails to realize that his children will be enslaved to an ever increasing oppressive government and insurmountable debt, who has made no sacrifice to society and believes his contribution is to make money by altering crappy music into something a bit less crappy so that the lower end in the world of Idiocracy have something to listen to. And there you have it Mike. All of your criticisms of me are merely “projections” of your bigoted self. Now that is staying on subject

    • Michael Douglass:

      Wow Dave.

      I believe you’ve outdone yourself here.

      I am impressed.

      Experience dictates that picking you apart point by point is pretty futile and your contributions here illustrate with frustrating consistency what a useless endeavor that is.

      So let me just ask you some questions:

      How do you know everything went down the the way Darren Wilson said it did?

      What crooks are surrounding president Obama?

      What proof do you have of Obama’s racist views?

      What proof do you have of his friendship with the Muslim Brotherhood?

      Tell us what evidence you have that Obama hates Jews.

      Tell us how the ACA is a detriment to the whole country.

      Tell us how his immigration policy is just to insure more democratic voters in light of the fact that the last three republican presidents have taken almost identical action and in the case of Reagan at least, far broader and deeper.

      Tell us what is deplorable about his foreign policy.

      What proof do you have of his “communistic upbringing”?

      How exactly do he and his wife hate this country? What evidence do you have?

      Do you understand that Obama has increased the debt by 53% and the bulk of that is because of the stimulus signed by Bush and the two wars that Bush kept off the books? Do you understand that Bush increased the debt by 101% without putting the wars on the books? Do you know that Clinton only increased the debt by 32%? Are you aware that Bush Sr. increased the debt by 54% and Reagan increased the debt by a whopping 186%? Do you understand that Obama has decreased the deficit by over 60%?

      Tell us again how Eric holder is a racist. Is it because you’re probably the last person in America that still gives a shit about two guys in front of a polling place 8 years ago? And by the way, here’s what Eric Holder said about it under oath: “When you compare what people endured in the South in the 60s to try to get the right to vote for African Americans, and to compare what people were subjected to there to what happened in Philadelphia—which was inappropriate, certainly that…to describe it in those terms I think does a great disservice to people who put their lives on the line, who risked all, for my people,” And: “To compare that kind of courage, that kind of action, and to say that the Black Panther incident wrong thought it might be somehow is greater in magnitude or is of greater concern to us, historically, I think just flies in the face of history and the facts.,”

      Is a “complex cranial component” something you learned about in your experience as a criminal psychologist? Why don’t you tell us about your time as a criminal psychologist Dave? Oh and does this have anything to do with the “Professional white communistic inciters” Dave?

      Why do you assume that progressives never talk about any and all other forms of racism and slavery and discrimination and injustice Dave? We do. It’s a major component of our moral imperative. Why do you assume that Dave? And do you honestly draw no distinction at all between the forms and instances of slavery you referenced? Are they actually all the same to you? I mean really Dave, are you just that fucking stupid?

      And tell us specifically about your time as a highly decorated law enforcement officer Dave. Tell us all about it. Tell me if I’m wrong but I understand you were a parole and probation officer for about ten years. Is that right Dave? What high decorations did you receive for that noble profession and why did you “retire” after such a short time if you enjoyed wearing ” the badge with respect and honor, serving society as a whole” so much. What exactly happened there Dave? Was that SWAT promotion just never within reach? Did you leave that to become some kind of esteemed criminal psychologist Dave? You’re aspirations to become a cop were pretty obvious in high school once you started to cultivate that stupid stereotypical Carson City cop mustache. All the people I’ve talked to tell me you were just another prick with a badge and if it weren’t for that badge, you probably would have gotten the shit kicked out of you more than once.

      The thing is Dave, I realize all your going to do here is let fly with with a bunch of baseless accusations, assumptions and suppositions again. I know that and so does everyone else. It’s your entire schtick. In my last reply for example, I asked you over and over to name one policy Dave. Just one. Obviously you can’t. No one is ever going to take you seriously if you can’t back your shit up Dave. And you just can’t. You NEVER have, not ONCE.

      I’m willing to bet you cannot answer seriously and sincerely, cogently and rationally, one single question I’ve asked you here. And you are about to prove me right for the umpteenth time. I can’t wait.

      You’re a cartoon Dave. You are a living stereotype.

      So I guess my last question to you is, where do you get all this shit?

      Tell us that at least. At the very least, we deserve to know just exactly where you get this shit.

      • Michael Douglass:

        I urge you to read, really read the comments about YOU by people other than me before you respond. Try to respect yourself for once by stepping back and realizing just what a fucking cartoon you are to NORMAL everyday people Dave. Do this before you open yourself to further ridicule. Please stop being so goddamn pathetic. Have some dignity. Understand how people would react if you said these things in public. THIS is how they would react. THIS is what they would say. THIS is why people look at you funny Dave, because you’ve actually said these things out loud or they have read them here.

    • Dave: “Adding double digit Trillion dollar debt to the country”>>

      Isn’t that cute, look how he capitalizes the word “trillion.” I guess because it’s a really big number?
      Poor Dave shows us again that he can’t get even the most basic facts straight. He can’t even count. Let’s review:
      Reagan tripled the debt, spending twice as much as all previous presidents combined.
      GW Bush doubled the debt again, taking it from roughly $5 trillion to $10 trillion (please note, ten actually has two digits). Then GW Bush left $2.7 trillion to fall directly on the next guy, Obama. That brings us to about $13 trillion handed to Obama, not counting the additional $10 trillion Bush left fronted for the following years.
      So where is this “double digit Trillion dollar debt” Dave babbles about? Obama has not caused any double digit debt. David simply doesn’t know his ass from a hole in the ground. But anyone reading his comments knew that already.
      Further education:

      The deficit has declined every year under Obama and over 90% of the deficits that have occurred are directly from GW Bush legacy:
      1) the Bush crash,
      2) the Bush off budget wars,
      3) the Bush era tax cuts,
      4) the Bush Medicare D (which was unfunded and cost more than the ACA)

      Without those, there is no deficit left at all. Zero. Zip. Chart:
      https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn2/1073916_10152035982402908_1542878496_o.png

      Further background on that early deficit:
      “…before Obama took office the US was projected to run a deficit of nearly $1.9 trillion, [by]… August 2010… total deficit [rose to] $866 billion.” [that’s $2.7 trillion] http://mediamatters.org/blog/201010190032

      Who did it? Further reading: “America’s Sea of Red Ink Was Years in the Making” http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/10/business/economy/10leonhardt.html?_r=1

      Excerpt:
      “About 33 percent of the swing stems from new legislation signed by Mr. Bush. That legislation, like his tax cuts and the Medicare prescription drug benefit, not only continue to cost the government but have also increased interest payments on the national debt.
      Mr. Obama’s main contribution to the deficit is his extension of several Bush policies,…
      About 7 percent comes from the stimulus bill that Mr. Obama signed in February [2009]. And only 3 percent comes from Mr. Obama’s agenda on health care, education, energy and other areas.”
      –ibid

  • Ron Williams:

    Michael, I’m too tired to bother with these people, their vitriol, their bigotry, their hatefulness. I am too old (67) to worry my tired old brain into even bother taking any shit they regurgitate serious. I’m just tired of the 67 years of vile racism I have been subjected to. Fuck’em all. They won’t change. They won’t listen. They won’t even consider minorities have really had a tough time in this Country and it appears it continues and will continue. Guys like this, his mind is corrupted with hatred and bigotry. He will never “debate” he will only lecture. Spread his bile. I just don’t give a shit about these people any more. I seek out more enlightened people to share my life with. Fuck this guy and the horse he rode in on.

  • Cathy Rouse Page:

    David, you are wrong on so many levels, I hardly know where to start. So I won’t. It would make no difference to your narrow views, to your failure to recognize that racism and bigotry are alive and affecting the lives of black people in so many ways. I could list actions specific to the Republican party, but, frankly you are a waste of time.
    I don’t know what world you exist in, or where you get your thinking, but, you are wrong.

  • Linda Dilworth:

    Michael, I am so sick of these delusional and racist hateful people. It’s enough to live this life daily being surrounded by all of the hate they spew. They want and seemingly have a license to kill. This is what they want. They’re like a kid in a candy store with their rage and hatred and wanting permission to kill. Lying when they know damned well they are lying. I am also tired. Just so tired of being hated for just existing. Facts? There are very little factual statements made by your former friend and all of those who want to justify their hatred ands racism. I just love it when they try to state what other races have been through and how recent their slavery has been. Anything to pretend slavery racism and their hypocrisy never and still doesn’t exist. A person would have to be a blind idiot to even make such a stupid statement and even more idiotic to think others can’t see through their lies and hypocrisy. I have had this conversation so many times and I am sick of it. Sick of them and their perverted sense of justice. Sick of their hypocrisy. This will never change as long as these horrible people are alive and pass their hatred on to their offspring. Of course they don’t care that minorities have had a hard time in this country. They WANT us to have a hard time. They want us to die. These same “good people” will then turn on each other if we are all exterminated. They have to have someone to hate. Poor whites will follow.

    • Michael Douglass:

      You should really listen to this woman Dave. She has a stake in all this, she’s got a real dog in this hunt and you just don’t. Read how your attitude and ignorance affect real people in their day to day lives you disgusting piece of shit.

  • Gordon Michaels:

    Thanks for all you do Michael

    We sure do breed a special kind of stupid in these parts don’t we..lol

  • Heathen Hammer:

    “I’m a highly decorated retired LEO,and criminal psychologist, who wore the badge with respect and honor, ‘

    That right there explains a great deal. Your ex-friend David is a former cop and thus is blind to the brutality of his own occupation. In addition he must toe the Blue Wall’s line and insist that the cop could not possibly have been at fault, racist, or deceptive, while we know for a fact that the federal Dep of Justice found overwhelming evidence that all such things were rampant in that police jurisdiction.

    Aside his bonkers FOX News talking points, the guy cannot process that he, an undereducated thug who himself undoubtedly brutalized for fun during his employment, is in the twilight of his brothers in blue being allowed to murder civilians with impunity. He’s angry, stupid, and scared, and thus he needs to dip deep into the bonkers section of his gasping brain to demonize people who see that his ilk must be forced out of law enforcement, and the entire system revamped forever.

    • Michael Douglass:

      The thing is this, he was a goddamn parole officer for ten years a decade ago. He wasn’t highly decorated and he was never a criminal psychologist. He’s a loser. I knew him in high school and he was a loser then and has spent the rest of his miserable life compensating for it. Typical white trash small town punk.

  • Joanne Giovenco:

    It is truly beyond comprehension that there are so many people like David that live in such a fantasy world. His comments sound EXACTLY like the comments you find after articles on right-wing websites like NewsMax, WorldNewsDaily, and so, so many others. What do they have in common? Hate. Hate. Hate. And more hate.

    Do you ever read any of those comments, David? Do they make you feel better since so many people are reinforcing your viewpoint with their lies, delusions, and Fox “facts” that have brainwashed them into not even being able to think for themselves anymore? None of them have an original thought. It’s the “Muslim Brotherhood” this and the “ACA” that and “the deficit” here and the “communism” there. It’s all that and more. These are the people who think, “Obozo” and Obummer” are innovative insults. These are the people whose comments are so filled with hatred, not only for the President, but for people who are just “not like they are”.

    Because they are all perfect. All their beliefs and values are the “right” ones. They hate the ACA even though it has helped millions of people, including me. They spout words like “socialism” and “communism”, but I doubt most of them could give a definition of what those words mean. They don’t understand the difference between “debt” and “deficit” and how each is calculated and neither do you. The deficit, which is the difference between the current year revenues and expenses has fallen under President Obama. In fact, the last few quarters have had surpluses, something not seen since the days of President Clinton.

    The debt, which is the sum of all prior years’ deficits or surpluses, includes the deficits inherited from George Bush. The only thing you can look to in reality that increased the debt under President Obama is the stimulus–and that stimulus stopped the recession and kept us out of a worldwide depression. Deficits that you attribute to President Obama had nothing to do with him. He inherited the impact of the “Bush Tax Cuts”. He inherited the impact of “Medicare Part D”. He inherited the impact of the two wars. He inherited the impact of the recession that started under Bush. When people are unemployed, the federal and state governments do not receive the income tax revenues they would have generated. In addition, because unemployed people have much less money, they don’t spend as much, overall demand goes down, and the economy constricts further. It is a downward spiral that is difficult to get out of. Luckily, the stimulus did that.

    I’m not even going to address the racism in Ferguson because your mind is closed to that topic. I would just recommend reading some non-right-wing website to learn about all the people in the police department and in the city government who have lost their jobs because they were found to be racist, promote racism, and make excuses for racism. Eric Holder is not the racist in this situation. Reading your words almost made me laugh because that is so absurd. Is every black person who tries to help other black people who are being oppressed and outright murdered by white people a racist? I’m pretty sure your answer is, “Yes”.

    Just a few points:

    –Obama is not a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, nor has he filled his cabinet with people in the Muslim Brotherhood. He is Christian. Do you remember the matter of Reverend Wright, the Christian minister (who is a racist) whose church the Obama’s attended in Chicago? People jumped all over President Obama during his first campaign because of his association with Reverend Wright, again, a Christian minister. Now, you have seem to forgotten about him because you are convinced the President is Muslim. He isn’t. You can’t have it both ways.

    –Needless to say, Obama is not Muslim, no matter what Fox says.

    –Obama does not hate Israel and/or the Jewish people. Israel is situated in a bad location, completely surrounded by people who would like to eradicate its existence. I can certainly understand the need for Israel to be more secure, but how far is the United States supposed to go to ensure that? Israel’s interests are not always in the best interests of the US, but are we supposed to support them anyway. The US gives billions in aid to Israel, including billions in weapons, planes, and nuclear weapons. What does Israel give the US? A warm, fuzzy feeling that we are helping out a country that would otherwise be wiped out? Being allies with Israel has cost the Us a lot and not just monetarily. I believe helping them is the right thing to do, but limits have to be set. Otherwise, why don’t we just make them a state?

    And, what Netanyahu did with congress is unforgiveable. He was giving the congress of the United States direction as to how they should help him. He knows congress doesn’t give a damn what the actual President of this country wants, so he ignored that and acted like he was, “President for a Day”. Maybe we should become a state of Israel.

    –Obama is not going to declare himself emperor and refuse to leave office in 2017.

    –Obama has not fostered racism. The republican party has taken it upon itself to do that. They let all the closet racists come out into the open again because they made it ok to hate President Obama. After all, he doesn’t “look like they do”. Were you a racist before President Obama became President–or was it after when the republican party and Fox told you to be one because the President was only the President of the “welfare queens”?

    –Why is it a problem when the poor vote for the people they think will help them the most, but it is just fine and dandy when the rich vote for the people who will give them what they paid for? I’m pretty sure the anchors on Fox never mention this.

    –How come the debt ceiling was ALWAYS raised prior to Obama become President without incident, but has become a pissing ground ever since? The republicans almost let this country default on its debt. They have no idea what that would do to the country and the world. When economists went to talk to them about it, they laughed at them, because, you know, what do economists know? About the same as scientists, I guess. You probably didn’t hear that on Fox.

    –There is nothing wrong with President Obama’s executive order on immigration. Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush all did the same thing, but I don’t remember hearing a peep about impeaching them for doing it. Tell me exactly, how would you go about deporting 11 million people, some of whom have been here their entire lives and have nowhere else to go? What exactly would your plan be to do that? The republicans know it can’t be done, but they can’t come up with an immigration plan of their own because their racist “base” wouldn’t like it one bit, nor would the corporations that own them because there would go their cheap labor supply. Of course, you don’t hear that on Fox.

    –His “obvious” communistic upbringing? Really? You used the word “obviously” several times in your posts, as if all these things are so widely-known and accepted by most of the people on earth. The only thing that’s “obvious” is that Fox and Rush talk about this stuff all the time.

    –I don’t necessarily think all conservatives are racists, but seeing what is happening with the republican party and what it is doing to the country, if conservatives still vote for these republicans they are nothing more than collaborators. They might vote republican because of fiscal policy (which is a complete joke), but they are enabling the hate and racism of those they elect. That is just wrong. If you’re not a racist, then you don’t vote republican.

    –Obama surrounding himself with crooks? I am laughing at that. Even if he did surround himself with crooks (and I’m not saying he does), it pales in comparison to George Bush surrounding himself with war criminals.

    –You didn’t mention Obama being a homosexual or marrying a man in college or Michelle being transgender, but I’ll just say–NOT.

    You jump on things Michael or I or others on this blog have written and just liberal bullshit. I don’t see it that way at all. Being liberal has nothing to do with being on the right side of history. Being liberal means we care about other people and don’t want them to die because they don’t have health insurance. Being liberal means we research stories we see on TV or read on the internet to determine the truth because there are a lot of lies out there. Being liberal means we have empathy, something sorely lacking in conservatives. Conservatives just accept the lies because the lies fit in with what they believe and they don’t have the ability to “think outside the box”. They don’t want to, either. What they believe is how it should be and that’s that. How dare anyone question their values and beliefs?

    You have to question things because that is how you learn and that is how you are able to find the truth. What is the point of having a working brain if you just accept what people tell you? Think. Ask questions. Find the truth. Give a damn about other people.

    Give it a try. At least, try to stop hating so much. If you can’t, you’re just pathetic.

    • Michael Douglass:

      Joanne, you bring it like no one else. Goddamn it thank you. Really. You’re so thoughtful and so thorough and spend the energy necessary to make this asshat I went to high school with look like the dipshit he is. He cannot answer you. But I dare him to try so we can all sit back and laugh at him and his abject willful ignorance even harder.

      I urge you to read this lesson from Joanne Dave, really read what she has to say because you have been absolutely schooled by a kind, thoughtful and very smart woman. You’ll never fully realize the extent to which you are being shamed here but maybe, just maybe you’ll think twice about opening your cake hole mouth the next time about a subject which you know so painfully and embarrassingly little about. And maybe, just maybe other people just as dumb as you are will see this and realize they too have been given serious reason to pause and just shut the fuck up.

      This woman has owned you in a way that I’m just not able to and I am grateful to her for it. In a perfect world, before you die, you will be grateful too, you crayon eating motherfucker. Wipe your chin.

    • joanna bonazzi:

      So incredibly well said; I’m giving you a standing ovation here in my living room!lol You captured what we all think and feel as liberals. I too know so many Dave’s. It’s both infuriating and sad all at the same time. Michael thank you for your blog. Keep up the good fight.

  • Your friend is a racist..until they die off this nation will continue to suffer.
    I could go into to all the reasons he and those like him are wrong..but it would be a waste of time…

  • You friend is a racistbpure and simple..
    He won’t change..nor those like him..raised in ignorance..they will never change

    • Michael Douglass:

      Yes David Kurtz, he is racist, and just like the developmentally challenged, he’s happy, clueless and has no idea that he’s “different”.

  • One has to wonder what the hell we have serving on our police forces these days.

  • Bob Cull:

    There are a few things in David’s rants that I find very telling.

    He has an unreasonable hatred for President Obama, witnessed by his claims that he surrounds himself with criminals and distortions of fact concerning him. For example the unfounded claim that his EO which delays deportation for certain undocumented immigrants is an “amnesty” that is intended to garner votes for Democrats.

    There is no basis for such a claim, these immigrants are not being granted citizenship and therefore will not be able to vote in any election.

    He also seems to think that being a retired police officer somehow gives more weight to his opinions than the opinions of others. He even seems to suggest that his opinions outweigh facts.

    A cop who sees himself as superior to anyone is not a good cop, I have dealt with that sort of cop before. They often like to tell people, “I AM the law.” No, they are not the law, their job is to enforce the law, not to proclaim what the law shall be.

    Finally, he repeatedly employs the favorite tool of the racist — Projection. Anyone who he disagrees with becomes a racist. I’d be willing to bet that one of his favorite lines is “I’m not a racist, some of my best friends are black.”

    In my experience most often people who say that are talking about people who would be very surprised to find that the speaker is “one of their best friends” and seldom consider him/her to be their friend, they recognize them for what they are — RACIST.

  • I don’t know how Obama got into this discussion, except that he always seems to get into every discussion about every issue in America. The only discussion regarding Obama in the case of Ferguson is that his DOJ, and it is HIS DOJ, failed to bring charges against the dirtbag who shot Michael Brown. Shame on Eric Holder and Barack Obama for that one.

    Otherwise, let’s face some facts: Since 9-11, the police have been given extraordinary powers and militarized with equipment of annihilation. And they are using it at will and with impunity, with no oversight or ramifications for the murderous rampage they are on.

    Here’s what I don’t understand: Whatever happened to disabling someone running at a cop with a rock? Why not shoot him in the knee, if you have to shoot someone at all? Then arrest him and take him in. Suddenly in America, we’re on a “shoot to kill” mission and the cops know they can get away with it, particularly if the victim is a person of color or a minority.

    This country is a mess. There is no question about it. And it’s getting worse by the minute. The fact is that we have become the land of the “ruled” instead of the land of the “elected to carry out the will of the people.” We complain on Facebook and other social media, but we rarely do anything tangible about the situation. We are under constant surveillance (and it isn’t Bush’s surveillance program that Snowden blew the whistle on; it’s Obama’s) from our government. That is a tool of oppression.

    My point is that all of this will continue until the American people rise up. And I’m afraid that is exactly where we are right now in our history. Because this isn’t going to be fixed by voting. The two-party system is broken, and neither side wants to fix it. It works fine. For them.

  • Don Johnson:

    Well, the police do no wrong. The victims are thugs, along with their friends who witness the encounters, and naturally, anything they say is a lie. The politicians and activists are race baiters, and the people who protest are communist. The “truth” is staring you in the face, Michael. Can’t you see it?

  • This proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that racism alters a person’s brain chemistry … provided, of course, one even has a brain to begin with … or perhaps it is shoved so far up one’s ass that oxygen can’t get into it … shit for brains …

  • James Vickers:

    The thing that amazes me the most, with this, and the recent stuff in Oklahoma, the bus, the old lady repeatedly using the “n” word on film, isn’t that they are racist. Obviously they are–the department in Ferguson was, top down. The few black employees knew it, some that were being considered were even told “You’re going to have to put up with it,” in so many words. The thing that astounds me is how they can be so oblivious to their own racism.

    Eric Holder, early in his term in office said something. He said “Modern racists are cowards.” I did not exactly know what he meant at the time. The more I’ve thought about it, and observed them, I think I have figured it out. While old racists were openly hating of black people, unquestioning bigots and proud, the modern racist is a different breed. The modern bigot wants to be able to be their racist selves, treat black perps differently, arrest them more, shoot them more frequently, for the “manner in which they walk,” I believe the arrest reports say. “Really??” How they walk? But here’s the key. They don’t want to be called on it–they’re comfortable wearing their hypocritical coats, but cowards in the fact they don’t want to embrace it, to own their racism. My only other thoughts on this possibility is they just don’t understand or see it, or know what is racist about it. Maybe they were so used to seeing their own parents and relatives “be” racist, they think of it just as ordinary behavior, thus, “not racist.”

    I guess we could call that a kind of progress–weirdly it does show they at least see it as something “society” has come to embrace, that racism is a bad thing.

    All I really needed is the statistics in the department, about 50/53 white people, three blacks who all “know” it’s racist, in a town that is 70% black. Call that a huge flag. Then emptying a clip of 15 or so bullets into a kid?? Either he’s a horrible shot, or he really wanted that black kid dead. Dead, dead. Either way, he’s not fit for the force, as if he shoots that badly, then.. and if he’s such a bigot, then he’s going to be trolling for black kids to shoot, for walking.

    “The Simpson’s” had an episode where someone said “Republicans live in a place that exists only in their minds.” Someone above said “an alternate reality,” which comes close. With FOX, Rush, Glen Beck, and the rift of the rest of the 98% right-wing political talk, it’s not surprising these people develop. The Tutsi Hutu conflict in Rwanda was inspired by talk radio, running around hacking up folks with a machete. I wish I knew how to crack that thick shell developed by FOX–but it’s partly just the kind of person that is attracted to the new Republican racist rhetoric–like I said, they were trained from birth, by parents. So it’s deep, deep racism, a hard shell developed over a life.

    My hope is, this is the dying gasp, this stuff happening lately, with Obama, with the bus, with everything. At least the college reacted correctly with the Sorority, moving them off campus. There are signs of hope, and that is the main thing. With each generations, more racists die, and hopefully new parents will refrain, with each generation, from developing more hateful little fucks to pollute our society.

  • Bob Babcock:

    The ONLY usefulness of responding to folks like that is in sharpening our reasoning AGAINST the forces of injustice. I’ve been doing that and now am focused on creating independent civilian review boards and supporting extensive Grand Jury Reform across the country.

    Join me in these efforts and don’t waste too much time on the opposition. ALL LIVES MATTER!

  • Kell Morrow:

    WOW!

    First thing that I am going to say is that, according to Officer Wilson, he stopped Michael Brown because Michael Brown was “walking in the middle of the road,” while eyewitness accounts say that in reality, Michael was walking down the side of the road.

    Why is that important? For a number of reasons. 1). It is not against any law to walk down the side of a road when the town is too cheap to use tax dollars to provide sidewalks. (We have sidewalks in Albuquerque but Sandy Springs, Georgia, where I come from is too cheap to provide them so a pedestrian either walks on the side of the busy street or sprains his ankle in the uneven grass. 2). Officer Wilson was not stopping Michael for anything having to do with the incident in the convenience store. He didn’t know about that, so that discussion is not at all relevant to this discussion. It had nothing to do with the stop. It had nothing to do with the shooting. 3). This is apparently a regular practice in Ferguson (according to police records) to stop and question and demand identification from Black people who are walking down the road. This practice, when carried out without probable cause is called police harassment, and that probably cause needs to be more than “Walking While Black.” See, otherwise, the way that they do it in Ferguson, it is a violation of the Fourth Amendment. Now, your right wing friend can claim that we liberals are always “protecting the rights of the criminals,” but in making that stupid (yes stupid) claim, he is assuming that stopping and searching and harassing every Black man is fighting crime.

    Secondly, I have a problem with Officer Wilson having been allowed to testify before the Grand Jury. The purpose of the Grand Jury is to determine if there has possibly been a crime committed and whether the subject of the jury may have committed said crime. It is NOT to dtermine guilt or innocence, (No, Officer Wilson was NOT found “Not Guilty” in court. The Grand Jury is not supposed to even hear the defense’s side of the case, just the prosecution side. And that would have been, the fact that Officer Wilson shot Mr. Brown repeatedly. (WHY?) That would be that Officer Wilson decided to pull up on Brown and his friend. (WHY?) What made Brown eligible for a police stop? Then, if the Grand Jury brings back an indictment, the case goes to trial Ane that’s where the defense presents their case.

    Thirdly, The rant about how horrible we liberals are with our socialistic philosophies. Socialism is a funny thing, Sport. The greatest part of our national budget goes to defense spending but, not really for OUR defense….but rather for the defense of other nations. South Korea comes to mind–and we defend them from their northern neighbors. That is socialism…..using my tax dollars not to improve US Infrastructure and schools, but to keep others who care nothing about me, safe. And NOW, the 47 GOP Tee Party Terrorist Senators, who want to go to war against Iran. That is far from patriotism.

  • TimFromLA:

    Lets look at the facts:

    Fact 1. Michael Brown did not shoplift, he robbed a store, the latter involving threat or use of force and that is a felony

    Michael Brown neither shoplifted nor did he rob the store owner. As a matter of fact, a second party called the police but not witness…witness? Yes, the store owner. When you go to court, and are accused of a crime, the State becomes the victim hence State of Florida vs. Michael Douglass. The collective are the victim. Since Brown was never charged with a crime, calling him a robber is legally incorrect. I would rewrite the blog so that you would not be sued on libel. Also, from the moment of the “robbery” which never took place, a call was never generated according to the Ferguson P.D. communication. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zta9FyoA7TU) The audio was hacked by the Hacktivist group Anonymous. So legally speaking, the only crime Brown committed was jaywalking…which is an infraction.

    Fact 2. Regardless of why he was stopped he started a physical confrontation with a cop who was seated in his vehicle

    And where, pray tell did you hear this? From the officer’s comments?

    Fact 3. The much smaller officer shot Mr. Brown as they fought over the weapon

    Darren Wilson is 6? 4? and 210 lbs., Brown was 6? 4? and 292 lbs. at the time of his death. Minus the 80 pounds of fat by Brown, I’d say that both were equal. Here is another question, why didn’t Wilson call for backup or at least additional units to the scene? Wasn’t there a robbery call. When a call is broadcast just after a fresh felony, more than one unit is dispatched…no wait, there was no broadcast according to (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zta9FyoA7TU)

    As for fighting for their weapon, if Brown was truly hulking, would not Wilson be dead?

    Fact 4. Mr. Brown then scurried away and failed to respond by the officer’s commands

    He scurried away. When you pursue a fleeing felon and your life is not in imminent danger, then the Use of Force changes. You wrote: “The much smaller officer shot Mr. Brown as they fought over the weapon” So was Wilson fighting against Brown for his weapon or was he scurrying away? If the former, then the shooting was justified. If the latter, then there was an improper use of force.

    Fact 5. Mr. Brown then ran towards the officer in what eye witnesses describe as like a football player going in for a tackle
    ‘Witness 40’ for Ferguson grand jury exposed as a racist, mentally ill felon who lied about shooting: report
    http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/witness-40-ferguson-grand-jury-racist-liar-report-article-1.2047404

    The key witness, who described Michael Brown charging ‘like a football player’ at Officer Darren Wilson in the moments before the fatal Aug. 9 shooting, has been named as Sandra McElroy, a 45-year-old St. Louis woman and Wilson supporter who likely was not even in Ferguson the day of the shooting. The Smoking Gun report found McElroy, who once lied to police in another high-profile St. Louis case, has a history of racist rants online and was convicted of felony check fraud.

    Fact 6. The officer shot Mr. Brown dead.

    Yes he did

    Fact 7. Friends of the deceased made up eye-witness accounts that portrayed Mr. Brown as non-violent, and being shot in the back while running away with his hands up

    You sure?

    Fact 8. The liberal media rags et al made up stories like the store owner nor anyone else called the cops (albeit a recorded 911 call to the contrary)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zta9FyoA7TU This is the Ferguson Police Department communiction.

    Fact 9. Race baiters Holder, Sharpton, Jackson and the POTUS caused further division and incited the uninformed masses

    If that were the case then why did:

    Ferguson City Manager, John Shaw, Resigns After Scathing DOJ Report
    http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/michael-brown-shooting/ferguson-city-manager-john-shaw-resigns-after-scathing-doj-report-n321171

    Fact 10. Professional white communistic inciters flooded the cities to cause even more disruption

    And so did the KKK

    KKK raising money for Ferguson police officer
    http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2014/08/19/ku-klux-klan-ferguson-police-michael-brown/14275115/

    KKK Threatens ‘Lethal Force’ Against Ferguson Protesters And Appears on TV To Explain Why
    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/14/kkk-threatens-lethal-force-protesters-ferguson_n_6155570.html

    Then Anonymous steps in:

    KKK hit by cyberattack after Ferguson threats
    http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2014/11/18/anonymous-hacks-kkk-twitter-accounts-ferguson-threats/19215047/

    Fact 11. The forensic evidence tells the story.

    Yeah, Wilson’s shooting is questionable

    Fact 12. If the FBI were to contrive with the police, the prosecution, the grand jury, the race baiting Holder and everyone else they would have likely indicted the officer on a charge, the officer would have reportedly committed suicide while in fact was placed into a WPP, or some other method of calming the tensions. Then again, Holder loves to promote race wars, so perhaps it was all made up.

    EXCLUSIVE: Now Ferguson prosecutor is accused of lying about evidence in ANOTHER grand jury which cleared police of killing two unarmed black men

    Grand jury decided to clear Officer Darren Wilson in November after he shot Michael Brown to death in Ferguson, MO, in August
    Decision sparked nationwide protests under slogan ‘Hands up, don’t shoot’ though claims Brown were later discredited
    Now St Louis County Prosecutor Robert McCulloch stands accused of lying about another high-profile grand jury which cleared police of shooting unarmed black men in Missouri
    The ‘Jack In The Box’ killings in 2000 have parallels to Ferguson death of Michael Brown claim American Civil Liberties Union
    Claim is part of legal case in which grand juror is asking for right to speak publicly and claims prosecutor is not being ‘transparent’ about hearing
    Lead attorney for ‘Grand Juror Doe says McCulloch is using the secrecy of the grand jury to ‘cover up’ shocking truth of Darren Wilson hearing

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2902587/Now-Ferguson-prosecutor-accused-lying-evidence-grand-jury-cleared-police-killing-two-unarmed-black-men.html

    Most importantly is fact 13. People just like you who have irrational thought patterns inspired by your biases and filled into your brain with your so-called credible sources are the reason why this country is so screwed. You fall for all the garbage force fed to you by big brother. You actually don’t believe it when the main person who designed Obamacare says it was written so stupid people would never understand the repercussions. You actually believe them when they say amnesty of millions will somehow produce jobs and more money. You believe them when they say there is not a smidgeon of corruption. You believe them when they say the Constitution is antiquated and needs to be revamped. It is true, liberalism like yours is certainly a mental disorder.

    Well, Darren Wilson was never indicted and guess what, he can be indicted until he is presented before a judge. There is no double jeopardy and with the administration resigning and showing a pattern of racism in the City of Ferguson, well, what happened in Los Angeles will happen in Ferguson and none too soon.

    Thank you

  • David:

    Oh little Mikey. I never had the slightest inkling to go into law enforcement until I did. I built cars, and had variegated employment. However, when I did go into it I earned top honors in POST in every category. I became a trainer in every capacity ranging from report writing to defensive tactics, combat and yes, criminal mentality. I earned citations from local, state and federal LEO agencies, and from District court judges. I retired early for a myriad of reasons, not the least of which was that I could earn tons of money selling P&C insurance to businesses, and not have the stress of working amongst the worst of the worst offenders which proved to be a drain, both physically and mentally. No Mike, my becoming a cop wasn’t what kept people from kicking my ass, it was the fact that they couldn’t or more often, had no desire to try.

    I am a Certified Insurance Counselor and a Certified Risk Manager, the latter designation is held by only two other people in Northern Nevada. Hence, I am in fact an insurance expert and know exactly why the ACHA is utter BS, and how it doesn’t even qualify to be called insurance (the transfer of financial risk, which is founded by the risk being unknown). I still serve as an expert witness for criminal proceedings, still sell insurance and am contracted with the state to investigate other areas of the law. I likely donate more time and monies to worthwhile charities in one year than you will your whole life. Actions, not words.

    I’m hardly undereducated. Two degrees, two Masters level Risk Management type designations, education in and educator of law enforcement, and occupational health and safety. My experience and education variables give me more perspective on life than anyone of you could ever understand. Moreover, I am as far from bigoted and racist as any person can be. I judge people not on their words, not on their appearance, but rather their actions. The actions of this administration, and his predecessors is intolerable. I give this country roughly 10 years before it sinks into madness, and you have yourselves to blame for not recognizing your own fate. Those who fail to prepare, prepare to fail.

    I agree, Joanne is smart. However, she is wrong about me and other issues in so far as I can see. I don’t use the mainstream conservative or liberal news as my sole basis for opine. I use combinations of them, and more importantly I have seen the world through many eyes. I have a great deal of empathy which made supervising some of the worst criminals difficult on the pshyche, but that high degree of empathy is what helped me to be such a successful investigator (yes Mike, P&P makes use of investigators for multiple reasons). And yes, we had entry teams similar to SWAT teams. The difference between street cops and P&P LEO’s is that virtually every single person P&P comes into contact with is a full on crook, and every bit as dangerous if not more so than the avergage Joe the cops deal with day in and day out.

    I won’t go in to all of the details of this traitor in the WH, and the “folks” with whom he surrounds himself. If you remain ignorant to his upbringing and his actions, and the impact of same in the future and in the future of your offspring, your blindness is incurable. Unfortunately for the rest of us, we are doomed to be regulated by those who seek the power to reign over us, and are given the power to do so by the ignorant and willing. But for the love of earth, stop with the Bush comparisons. They are tired old excuses of the Democratic party. The Bush’s, Clintons, and the current POTUS, and most certainly their backers are all traitors, as is the majority of Congress. And then there is their faithful followers who are just as much to blame.

    Liberal by definition is what Laura says, but the trouble with that way of thinking with one’s feelings and then putting them into practice is that you can’t give to others without taking away from others. Everything has a price. We have record numbers of people on food stamps, welfare, over 93 million not employed, a health care system built by the largest insurer and drug companies, with rising costs and decreased access. This government is taking more and more, and creating tickle up poverty whilst collapsing the very thing they pretend to want to protect,the middle class. Ever increased surveillance and militaristic cops, you think that’s going to end well? You think a huge influx of illegal immigration is going to help the economy because some Harvard fuck says so? You think that the influx isn’t giving the “terrorists” more access, or bringing in diseases that were eradicated here years ago? You think it won’t put a further demand on the government to collect more from the working class to pay for them? No, it’s magic land in the liberal mindset. It is an attack from the interior. The deficit only appears lower because of the feds infusion of fiat currency. The illusion of a stronger economy based on the stock market, the so-called unemployment figures, and the “deficit” reduction is a hat trick, and magic is for fools, even those who appear intelligent to others. You can all banter away and use you bigoted responses against me all you want. You won’t change me, and you only write to pat yourselves on the back for having like-minded friends, who lay ignorant to the real world. And I won’t try to educate you any further because it would be like trying to teach a fish to climb a tree. So surround yourself with yourself, and thanks for remaining ever so divisive, bigoted, and rest easy knowing that there are so many of you who think the same way. Go drink your Brawndo (it’s got electrolytes), hold a rally where you spew hatred for anyone you consider conservative or different than you and by all means welcome to Idiocracy. You should feel at home there.

    • Michael Douglass:

      Congratulations Dave, once again you’ve acquitted yourself with aplomb.

      Remember this from just my last reply?

      “In my last reply for example, I asked you over and over to name one policy Dave. Just one. Obviously you can’t. No one is ever going to take you seriously if you can’t back your shit up Dave. And you just can’t. You NEVER have, not ONCE.

      I’m willing to bet you cannot answer seriously and sincerely, cogently and rationally, one single question I’ve asked you here. And you are about to prove me right for the umpteenth time. I can’t wait.”

      So, once again Dave you’ve proven yourself to be completely empty. Utterly lacking in substance, relevance and devoid of any credibility or merit whatsoever. Once again Dave, while all these people, including myself, pile on and shoot every bullshit assumption, supposition and assertion you make thoroughly and systematically full of holes, you supply NOTHING, no sources cited or referenced, no proof, no evidence of ANYTHING.

      You have become your own best proof that you are completely full of shit.

      You just can’t do it can you Dave? You just can’t back your shit up can you?

      This proves just one thing exclusively, you are completely full of shit.

      Congratulations Dave, you have just given any and every person here and in your life the best of all possible reasons to discount anything you say. It means everything you believe and everything you say is totally absent any foundation or basis in truth at all. It means that you are living a lie. It means that there is simply no reason for anyone to regard you as anything but a joke.

      You are a cartoon Dave, a racist, bigoted anachronistic cartoon.

      The tragedy here is that the cartoon isn’t funny Dave. Not funny at all.

      You are a walking talking manifestation of hate, divisiveness, ignorance and hypocrisy.

      Congratulations Dave.

    • Joanne Giovenco:

      Just some corrections to erroneous information in your post:

      –The number of people on food stamps has decreased steadily since the economy improved. The numbers are still higher than average, but they are much below what they were during the worst of the recession.

      –93 million people are unemployed? I don’t think so. There are around 320 million people in this country, so you believe that roughly one in three is unemployed. If that were true, we would be in the greatest depression in history and would probably never be able to get out of it. We would be a third-world country, although in some ways we already are. Privileged Americans could never stand living in third-world conditions, so the US would resort to muscle to obtain food and other goods for its people. Being a third-world country with nuclear weapons is very dangerous.

      –93 million people. I can’t even believe you wrote that down. It is absurd on its face.

      –03 million unemployed people? Where did you get that?

      –Since the ACA was implemented, health care costs have actually decreased for the first time–ever. The CBO released a report stating the ACA would cost less than originally anticipated.

      –If the democrats and the President has proceeded with health care reform the way they wanted to, we would have single-payer right now–Medicare for all. That would be the best system as it is in the rest of the “civilized” world, but the President knew the republicans would never go for single-payer, so he and the democrats came up with the ACA, using republican ideas, such as the individual mandate. He wanted the health care plan to be bipartisan, but even after making concessions to the republicans, only one voted for it (and he was from Louisiana, a republican from a mostly democratic district who was allowed to change his vote after the results were obvious.

      –Of course it is insurance. Who bears the risk? We do.

      –Limited access. Not as much as before. More people are covered than ever and use of the ER is down because more people are insured and able to have private doctors. There was limited access before the ACA, but no one cared because those without insurance were poor or unemployed and they were ignored by society. When Sarah Palin said the ACA would implement “death Panels”, I wanted to laugh. There were already death panels and they were there for the people without insurance. Approximately 46,000 people died each year because they didn’t have insurance. That number has decreased to approximately 28,000 and would be even lower if republican governors had expanded Medicaid in their states. Instead, they are officially murderers because people in their states are dying needlessly due to their partisan politics.

      –As for illegal aliens, they already have a huge impact on the economy. They have jobs, pay taxes, spend money, increase demand, and, therefore, expand the economy. In addition, they pay Social Security and Medicare taxes, systems they will never be able to use because they are illegals. These “aliens” are helping to keep the two funds solvent.

      –I asked you what your plan was to deport 11 million people. I see you didn’t respond. They will never be deported. If there truly are 11 million of them, that represents 3% of our economy (in terms of population). Do you think losing 3% of our economy would not be noticed? Yes, it would. We would immediately be in a depression. They aren’t going anywhere, so you and the republicans better get used to it. And what is the republican plan, anyway? All they do is say, “Deport, deport, deport…”, and the base rises to its feet and wildly applauds because they are that stupid. The base holds no one accountable unless a republican dares to say, “Hello”, to President Obama in passing. Then that republican is “primaried” by someone further right than he or she is.

      –“This government is taking more and more, and creating tickle up poverty whilst collapsing the very thing they pretend to want to protect,the middle class.” What the hell does that mean? “Tickle up poverty?” I’m assuming you meant, “trickle up poverty”, which still makes no sense whatsoever. And the government destroyed the middle class. Yeah, maybe you are right there because republicans in congress relaxed banking laws so much that the banks failed–and then we bailed them out. Isn’t that a joke? The banks collapsed, created massive unemployment, a housing crisis, and a recession/depression and what exactly did they lose? Whatever they lost was returned to them by us. Sure, they ended up paying fines, but those fines came nowhere near what the banks cost the American people.

      –I still don’t get “trickle-up poverty” because the rich got richer while the poor and middle class suffered. Do you mean the middle-class became more poor because of the poor? I would have to disagree. The middle-class lost its standing because people lost their jobs and their homes. That didn’t have anything to do with poor people. And, yes, food stamps and unemployment insurance were expanded to help them. How is that wrong? Were we just supposed to let people starve and lose their houses. Millions of people did lose their homes and millions more are underwater on their mortgages and can’t do anything about it.

      –So illegal aliens are causing the resurgence of measles, huh? No, they are not. They get their vaccinations. Rich idiots who want to live a “natural” life are not vaccinating their kids and that’s what causing the resurgence of diseases. It has absolutely nothing to do with illegal aliens.

      –“The illusion of a stronger economy based on the stock market, the so-called unemployment figures, and the “deficit” reduction is a hat trick, and magic is for fools, even those who appear intelligent to others.” I assume you are referring to me as “appearing intelligent”. You are the one who spent paragraphs talking about how smart you are, but, you know what? None of your incredible degrees and none of your life experience has anything to do with finance. Whatever you know, you heard it from someone else, and, of course, it’s wrong.

      –I agree with you about the stock market, however. It is completely manipulated by traders, large corporations, and investment banks. The stock market is supposed to reflect the state of the economy. It is not supposed to keep going up when the economy isn’t that great. It is a total lie and one day it will crash. Of course, the people who will be hurt are the ones with their money in 401Ks and IRAs because they are not, for the most part, sophisticated investors. The rich will do just fine. Hell, they’ll be the ones to determine when it is time for the market to crash.

      –“You won’t change me, and you only write to pat yourselves on the back for having like-minded friends, who lay ignorant to the real world. And I won’t try to educate you any further because it would be like trying to teach a fish to climb a tree.” Holy hell. You should be a comedian because that is just hilarious. You educating us? Yeah, we’ve all learned a lot, haven’t we?

      –“I won’t go in to all of the details of this traitor in the WH, and the “folks” with whom he surrounds himself. If you remain ignorant to his upbringing and his actions, and the impact of same in the future and in the future of your offspring, your blindness is incurable. Unfortunately for the rest of us, we are doomed to be regulated by those who seek the power to reign over us, and are given the power to do so by the ignorant and willing. But for the love of earth, stop with the Bush comparisons. They are tired old excuses of the Democratic party. The Bush’s, Clintons, and the current POTUS, and most certainly their backers are all traitors, as is the majority of Congress. And then there is their faithful followers who are just as much to blame.”

      This is my favorite of the things you wrote because once again you resort to all the bullshit lies about the President. At the same time, you are saying we are the bigots, when you are really looking in the mirror. You see how ugly hate and racism and bigotry are, so when you see these things in yourself you can’t stand it, so you try to turn it around on everyone else. Sorry. I don’t buy it.

      The information I gave you about the debt and the deficit is accurate. Unfortunately for you, it is the result of George Bush, but then you go back to the faithful chant of, “You liberals have to stop blaming Bush”. Um, Bush needs to be blamed. He’s the one that caused this, with a little help from his friends.

      How long is it going to take for you and your racist cohorts to come to terms with all the lies you believed about President Obama once he is out of office. What are you going to do when he hasn’t taken anyone’s guns? What are you going to do when he hasn’t declared himself emperor? What are you going to do when he continue to go to a Christian church? What are you going to do when you finally figure out he hasn’t turned the US into an Islamic country?

      WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO???

      Do you know why people hate? Because they are scared. They are scared of people who aren’t like them. They are scared of people who have less than them because they don’t want to imagine themselves in that position so they demonize the poor. They are scared of anything foreign because they don’t have the ability to adapt (those illegal aliens are going to take our jobs–well, get a clue because they already have jobs).

      And as the country gets browner and browner, people will hate more and more because they will be scared to death of losing what they have when in reality they have nothing. You are scared. You are scared to death. That black president is going to treat black people better than white people. That scares you. It terrifies you because in your mind black people have their place and it’s not in the White House.

      You are scared and so you hate and you lash out at everyone who doesn’t agree with your perverse view of the world. You blame us for electing the black man, so, we, of course, are evil. No, we’re not. We’re also not afraid. Oh, maybe we are afraid of all the people like you because you have the ability to group en masse as zealots have all through history.

      Just start thinking about how you are going to justify your belief in all the lies about President Obama. How are you going to rationalize it? You only have about 22 months to figure it out. I don’t think that’s enough time for people like you because the hate takes up so much room in your brain that it squeezes out all rational thinking.

      So come back in three years and tell us you’re sorry and that you were so wrong. We all know it already, but we’d like to hear it from you. Three years (even four or five–take your time) is a short time to wait, but we will be here waiting.

  • Cathy Rouse Page:

    I reread. You wrote excellent summarizes about Ferguson.
    After reading the latest comments I have to say, he is not voicing unique ideas.
    I see this opinion mirrored in the comments section of news in my feed. I can hear his opinions spoken aloud by old men sitting on Main Street in my small, southern town. I have been accused of “playing the race card” for pointing out what I recognize as racist and bigoted.
    Speaking out to a group about these injustices brings the accusation of fomenting racial unrest. Accused of being racist because I speak of racism at all.

    My momma always said to consider the source, when having to deal with negative people.
    That the existence of racial injustices are denied by people like him are a big part of the reasons that allow it to exist.

    Either you are part of the solution, or you are part of the problem. Silence and denial are a dangerous combination.

  • Larry Busby:

    Sadly, as another poster said, things will not change much until those born before the baby boomers have passed away. It may take even longer. I know my parents tried their best to make us racists like they were and I still fight it nearly every day.
    You have an excellent way of explaining things, as do some of the other posters !!
    I Wish You Well in your journey to inform and educate others !!

  • David:

    As I said, she may be intelligent, but she is wrong, wrong, wrong. I didn’t answer your questions Mike because I’ve done it in the past. You just go on and on about how my sources are not reputable, but yours (ohh Brian Williams, hi Hillary, Hi Barry, hi CNN, MSNBS)are impeccable and unbiased. As I’ve said before those who don’t read the news are uninformed, those that do are ill-informed. You people are both because you rely solely on partisan sources. I asked Mike some time ago to look at one of my sources and to cite one single instance where the reporting was flawed. Crickets. No response, nothing, nada, zip.

    The AHCA is so inherently flawed it makes virtually every educated person in the insurance industry wonder if it was designed to fail. The illusion of more people having “insurance” is just that, an illusion. Subsidies are code for taxes, and taxes come from the middle class…yup, more trickle up poverty. The program is not sustainable, and is by no means insurance. And what the CBO said is that the program will cost less than predicted but you missed the reasoning behind it. And don’t forget, your POTUS said it was modeled after the VA program. Ask the vets how that’s working out for them. The cost of healthcare has in fact gone way up since implementation. Ask any hospital head, any doctors office, anyone in the insurance business. The price of Rx drugs has gone up as well.

    Yes, I meant trickle up poverty and you proved my point to say that the poor are getting poorer as is the diminishing middle class. That is trickle up poverty because the middle class is being forced to provide more and more for the poor, the unwilling and yes the influx of illegals. The rich, (the majority of who pay for the election and decisions of these cronies in DC) will of course get more and more wealthy.

    I did not answer about deportation because that is an issue that is very complex, and realistically never going to happen. But what could have been done and still could is actually controlling the borders. Controlling them to ensure more radical terrorists, major criminals, and persons bearing disease are not allowed to cross. Yes, our prisons are full of illegals who committed crimes where they were, and continued to do so here. Yes, we eradicated diseases like measles years ago, but guess what’s crossing the unprotected borders. You blame “rich” people who don’t want to be vaccinated. That is preposterous in the face of the other illnesses that have been popping up around the nation, that were never here at all. Again, you use your media outlets for your stance.

    You are almost correct about a number of us being scared. We aren’t scared that there is a black man at the helm, we are concerned that every single swipe of his pen puts our country even deeper into the red. The deficit will spring board up 10 times what it is now in the coming decade. The debt will go beyond $20 Trillion. One need not have a formal education in finance or economics to understand what that means. And then what will you do? You will say it was the Republican Congress that let it happen, and what the hell, it’s Bush’s fault. Perhaps you’ve forgotten who was in charge of the House and Senate during the Bush years. Perhaps you’ve conveniently forgotten that Obama voted to go to war whilst in the Senate. The color of his skin is not at issue for us, it is the content of his character. You are content with his lies, his horrific math [my dad and mom were so influenced by Selma (which occurred in
    1965) inspired them to make baby Obama in 1961). He seems to not mention that his folks and his mentors were all communistic followers. You seem to not care and choose to discount what is readily available from reliable sources. You love his lies because they are comforting to you. They make you FEEL good. Hell, you probably come to Hillary’s defense for destroying evidence, and lying about those 10’s of thousands of emails. But hey, what do you expect from a gal who was fired for lying during Watergate? Hell, for all of your bigotry you maybe celebrating with the others because the cops getting shot in Ferguson last night. You dismiss the notion that Iran wants to blow Israel off the face of the Earth and you think your POTUS is right to allow them more time to make bombs that could do it. You think it was wrong of Israels PM to come here and plead for the US to wake up to the fact that Iran/ISIS/ the MB are out to destroy western mentality. You refuse to understand how this administration forced a coup in Egypt to inject the MB into power. And the injection of “rebels” all over the ME countries. You think it’s cute for the POTUS to be taking selfies, doing away with military command, instilling militaristic police forces on US soil, going on ultra-lavish vacations, golfing and the like while our country is bleeding. Oh but he’s hated because he’s black…yea that’s the ticket.

    Do I have hate. Yes, I hate anyone who causes others pain, especially when they do so under the costume of caring for society. Remember, it was Hitler who said the individual is of no concern. In three years, the internet may well be closed to freedom of expression, if that expression is against socialism, Marxism and the like. So no, you will not be hearing apologies from me. You will however, need to apologize to what’s left of your families for subjecting them to your propaganda, your votes, your intolerance of conservative thought, your blindness to the control of governmental power and the corruption of same, their reliance on said government for necessities, and the abject poverty in which they will be forced to live. You will have to apologize for subjecting them to the “big city” way of thinking, as they wish there was somewhere they could go to merely express their freedom of thought without being subjected to scorn and ridicule. For being so self absorbed, unprepared, and unwilling to be patriotic in the face of oppression. But you won’t apologize, you will hope to never see the shame in the mirrors that have lied to you for so long.

    This is the last time I will post here. This way Mike can go on and on about how he and everyone of his supporters are smart and how I’ve been owned/schooled or whatever. This way you will have no one opposing your myopic, bigoted views and you can go on with the theme that “it’s all Bush’s fault and you’re a racist. You can go on unfettered by the truth, the facts and reality. Go back and watch your reality shows, ponder the lives of fictitious characters, walk down the busy LA streets filled with plastic phones, boobs and butts. Go on with your vile hatred and bias towards anyone who thinks differently than you (yup, bigotry) without worry that you are being called out for being what you accuse others of. I find it interesting that both the Republicons and the Demoncrats say virtually the same thing about each other, how the other is biased, wrong, liars, cheats, uncaring, unwise and on and on. Yes, these are the haters, and you are them. Guess what, they are both right but both wrong because they generalize, lump and judge. A true independent chooses wisdom over party, substance over style, and knows that both entities have become the enemy of the state. They see the games that are played out and the players who act according to their role. So now I leave you with yourselves. CHEERS

    • Michael Douglass:

      Just the record, the only sources Dave ever cited were Newsmax and Alex Jones/infowars nonsense. And all you really need to know is he is “illinformed” enough to buy into the ridiculous myth that immigrants coming across our southern borders carry diseases. People like Dave don’t even bother to avail themselves of information like the fact that Mexico has a much better and more efficacious vaccination program than the United States does.

      • Michael Douglass:

        The rest of this is just a bunch of paranoid hypocritical bullshit FOX news talking points that Dave swear he doesn’t watch.

        I mean Hillary’s emails? Really?

        “The Bush White House email controversy surfaced in 2007 during the controversy involving the dismissal of eight U.S. attorneys. Congressional requests for administration documents while investigating the dismissals of the U.S. attorneys required the Bush administration to reveal that not all internal White House emails were available, because they were sent via a non-government domain hosted on an email server not controlled by the federal government. Conducting governmental business in this manner is a possible violation of the Presidential Records Act of 1978, and the Hatch Act.[1] Over 5 million emails may have been lost or deleted.[2][3] Greg Palast claims to have come up with 500 of the Karl Rove lost emails, leading to damaging allegations.[4] In 2009, it was announced that as many as 22 million emails may have been deleted.[5]”

        Where were you then Dave?

        I could pick EVERYTHING apart AGAIN Dave but you’ve proven without a doubt that there is no point in doing so.

    • Joanne Giovenco:

      I’m actually going to be short here (what a concept).

      Dave lives in a world where reality is altered. His reality is fed to him by Fox and the right-wing web sites. He has no clue he has been brainwashed.

      As I read his responses, I noticed, as I’m sure you did, that he just repeated the same things he originally said–“paraphrasing” I think an English teacher would call it, as she gave him an F for plagarism. His comments are just wrong. Measles, the ACA, Obama, and all the rest–he’s just wrong. I don’t know how someone becomes so wrong about everything. Of course, there’s the brainwashing, but he shows no sign of being able to form an original thought.

      I didn’t write anything unless I had sources for it that I trusted. My own opinions may have slipped in there and they may be wrong, but the other things are right.

      Of course, he didn’t answer any of my questions, as he didn’t answer any of yours. He can’t.

      And I’d really like to know how he came up with the idea that 93 million people are unemployed. It’s 93 million miles to the sun, isn’t it? Maybe he just heard 93 million somewhere and decided it meant unemployed people. Who knows? Maybe that’s how he comes up with his “reasoning”. He heard two random things and combines them: Measles, illegal immigration–damn, illegal aliens are bring measles to the US. Does he watch TV? Has he heard the celebrity morons talk about not vaccinating their kids? How could he not have heard that?

      This guy is wrong about pretty much everything. He also doesn’t care. He has his alternate reality and he’s all warm and cozy in there.

  • G.a. Underwood:

    Dave’s post was quite revealing and sadly, all too common. The only items he seemed to have omitted from the right-wing checklist were (1) cramming his own personal god into our government, our re-written history, our schools and down our throats, and (2) his infatuous relationship with the firearm resting in his cold, dead hand.

    There are so many perfectly valid, well-expounded points here that I won’t parrot them. But frankly, I’ve given up on people like Dave. It’s not that they’re not worth the effort, because they are. The problem is that their opinions, rooted in a pre-planned program of constant suspicion, fear, hatred and resentment, are so deeply ingrained and are constantly reinforced by the least ‘Fair and Balanced’ opinion network on cable television.

    Dave’s rapid, but all-too-familiar descent from mature communication to personal insults in the face of calm reason stand as sufficient evidence (to me, anyway) of the futility of addressing someone so distant from reality.

    Besides that, my concerns relating to people like Dave come from a different angle that I’d like to bring to your table. I’ll warn you first, though, it gets a little weird. But I’ll get to that in a few minutes. A bit of necessary ground-laying first.

    Our country’s more divided than ever, thanks to the ever-increasing vortex of fear swirling over our country since 9-11, like an Atlantic hurricane that refused to return to sea. So-called “conservative” bit players like Dave have been well-trained to fear losing those things most precious to them, such as their:

    * Guns, read ‘authority, control, dominance, power’;
    * Money, as in being personally ‘robbed’ by the poor, ‘lazy slobs’ who can’t find decent-paying jobs like Dave has because they’re not trying hard enough.
    * Religion, and the displacement of Christianity as our number one (read ‘only’) religion; and
    * Social superiority over women and minorities.

    Koch-tied fears have been firmly implanted, nurtured, documented and validated in Republicans’ minds, to grow roots of impenetrable proportion.

    It’s growing more socially acceptable in certain low circles to make rape jokes, to scream threats at Hispanic children, to speak with a shocking disrespect of our President, to deny people access to medical care, to openly be racist, sexist assholes. That makes it easy to keep refueling the fear, Those groups who seek to keep all of us in a state of high anxiety understand how this self-perpetuating culture works. Their fears are used against them to keep us a deeply divided nation. (Hello there, Fox!) So many Republicans have become proselytized to the GOP message to hate their fellow man. But it’s not really about who gets food stamps, or ‘Obama’s coming for your guns!’ or immigration, either.

    Their legislators may even think (but never publicly admit) they represent Duke Energy or Standard Oil or Bobby Jo’s Coal Mine instead of voters, but they’re looking at the checks instead of the money chain. They, like Dave, are nothing more than small time players, stooges, replaceable pawns in a much larger show.

    All these pathetic puppets really only represent one very small group. The ultra-wealthy. The big boys, those uber-rich old white men. (I’ll call them ‘Kochs’ for simplicity’s sake, but it’s intended to include the dozen or so mega-wealthy Republican families.) And the Kochs have a warped view of the world that’s completely centered around themselves and their wealth. A mental illness of some narcissistic sort. The puppets have all been sold a bill of goods that IS David Koch’s 1980 Libertarian Vice Presidential campaign platform. (Extracts at the end of this comment piece.)

    Well-informed taxpayers and voters represent a threat to the Kochs when we concern ourselves with matters such as the environment, minimum wage, working conditions, safe working conditions, and the way we want to leave our kids with a slightly better world. We’re a threat that could potentially slow down their money pipeline, and we must be brought under control because THAT’S WHAT MATTERS. It’s that simple, really. We
    represent a liability that needs corrective measures taken – the sooner, the better.

    Let me interject here that I don’t own a tinfoil hat, because this is where the creep factor enters.

    If the Kochs can convince half the voters, or enough of the right legislators, of the need and value of their goals, everybody else loses. The Kochs don’t hate the poor. I’m certain they hold NO emotional regard for the underprivileged at all. But they DO need for US to hate the poor.

    At least half of us that make it to the polls and get to vote, anyway. We NEED to feel cheated to accept that there is a need for the Koch plans to pass. The unfortunate must be demonized to make it easier for Americans to at least tolerate, if not embrace, the Koch abolitions that will eventually bring widespread unnecessary suffering and premature death to the non-wealthy. All the poor represent to the Kochs is competition. Competition for that delicious government money. Government money they believe could, should and would be theirs.

    I’ve given up trying to get through to these people, Mr. Douglass. Most aren’t stupid, despite their aversion to statistics, facts and history itself. (Why do you think they’re trying so desperately to re-write it?) But they’re gullible and insecure, needing to belong to a group and to be supported in their opinions. Fox offers 24/7 reassurance while telling viewers to trust no one else.

    What happened to these people?

    Did you ever hear the story about how to boil frogs? (Just hang with me for a minute on this.) The legend goes that if you want to boil frogs, you first put them in a big pot of lukewarm water on the stove. Then you begin gradually turning up the heat [Voter fraud! Welfare cheats! O’Bummer’s Birth certificate!]… until the water temperature gets higher and higher [Benghazi! Gitmo! Gun control!]… until it reaches the boiling point [Bill O’Reilly! Gitmo! Unconstitutional power grabs!], and the frogs have never even noticed that the temperature has risen to a lethal level, unaware of their imminent deaths.

    That’s our closed-minded Republican friends. Gradual, continual exposure to the wrong sources by the wrong personality types. Considering any ‘libtard’ viewpoint would equate to leaping out of the cozy-warm pot that their friends all enjoy so much. When your fears are broadcasted and supplemented 24/7, there’s safety and security in staying together in number. They’d be laughingstocks to open their minds, and there’s a lot of comfort in mutual superiority.

    Thank Fox, the legs of the GOP, for exacerbating their mental illness.

    Rather than trying to convince the GOP to the realities of life – that people DO want to work, the economy IS improving, etc – we should be concentrating our best efforts on educating our young people. They have a vested interest in politics right now. Especially young women. They’re going to wind up being our best, last hope in 2016, and the clock’s been ticking. With a bit of luck, maybe some will get theough to GOP parents.

    People like to compare current trends to George Orwell’s “1984”. The book describes a futuristic society harshly divided by classes. But they’ve missed one point. Obviously people will still be needed to run and repair machines and perform other tasks of manual labor. But in reality, Mr. Orwell’s version is too mild. His novel didn’t factor the rapidity of advances over the past handful of decades in automation, mechanization and computerization. Should their Koch-land ever come to fruition, our demographics would differ significantly from Mr. Orwell’s novel. Our nation would be FAR too heavy in the non-wealthy, blue collar and white collar working classes.

    But the Koch plan, if implemented, already paves the way toward an ‘idealized’ population by eliminating most of the unnecessary burden of the poor on society through disease, exposure, starvation. The Koch plan takes care of ridding society of its perceived ‘parasites’ – seniors, the infirmed, handicapped of all ages, lesser-performing employees who don’t quite measure up, children born to parents who can’t afford them, etc.

    And the ‘solution’s built-in to take care of itself. Once these changes were integrated, no shocking new legislation to control population demographic levels and ranges would be necessary.

    And no, I really don’t have a tinfoil hat. I don’t believe that the full Koch agenda would pass here.

    But I do believe far too many mentally ill Republicans would be thrilled if it did.

    Following is a list of David Koch’s Libertarian Party platform statements from his failed vice presidential campaign.

    CHALLENGE:Take a GOOD, hard look and tell me just exactly how far off we are right now from his stated goals. How many of these things have Republicans already vowed to introduce this year? Some have already happened. They essentially want to repeal every major piece of legislation passed im the last 80 years. That ought to scare the hell out of you.

    Out of all of us.

    ****** EXCERPTS OF DAVID KOCH’S LIBERTARIAN PARTY PLATFORM: ******

    THE REPEAL/ABOLITION OF:

    All government welfare, relief projects, and ‘aid to the poor’ programs

    All personal and corporate income taxation, including capital gains taxes (“As an interim measure, all criminal and civil sanctions against tax evasion should be terminated immediately.”)

    All welfare plans and the provision of tax-supported services for children (WIC, Aid to Families with Dependent Children, food stamps, Head Start, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, YMCA/YWCA, etc)

    Compulsory education

    Compulsory insurance or any tax-supported plan to provide health services, including those which finance abortion services (Now ‘The Affordable Care Act’)

    Federal campaign finance laws

    Federal control of all inland waterways, and of the water distribution systems that deliver water (to be ‘privitized’ by the wealthy)

    Medicare and Medicaid (add ‘Obamacare’)

    Minimum wage laws

    Planned Parenthood

    Safety laws, such as safety belts, air bags, or crash helmets

    Social Security

    The American Cancer Society

    The American Red Cross

    The Consumer Product Safety Commission

    The Department of Energy

    The Department of Transportation

    The Environmental Protection Agency

    The Federal Aviation Administration

    The Federal Election Commission

    The federal railroad system (to be ‘privitized’ by the wealthy)The federal highway and public roadway systems (to be ‘privitized’ by the wealthy)

    The Food and Drug Administration

    The government ownership, operation, regulation, and subsidy of schools (to be ‘privitized’ by the wealthy) and taxes on the income or property of private schools

    The Legal Aid Society

    The Occupational Safety and Health Act

    The Postal Service (to be ‘privitized’ by the wealthy)

    and SO much more.

    • Michael Douglass:

      Sheezus G. A. This is genius and spooky as hell. I see this but haven’t seen it distilled down to the granular so succinctly.

    • Joanne Giovenco:

      Wow. I had never seen that platform before. It is beyond scary. What is left of government after eliminating the things on his list? Defense. Of course, it’s always Defense. I want to know how we continue to spend on Defense with no income taxes.

      We’ve been saying for a while that republicans want the poor to die, to just get out of the damn way. Everything listed in Koch’s platform would kill people, but, you know what? It just might be the Kochs and their pals get killed. There are way more of us than there are of them (99-1). When people realize what is being done, when they are living on the street and watching their children starve, they will rise up and do something about it. Poor people and middle class people have guns, too.

      I’m afraid that is where we are headed.

      • G.a. Underwood:

        Let’s hope it doesn’t have to get that bad, Joanne. I’m pessimistic when I read of the editing of history, the privatization of schools, the ‘deals’ my own state gives Duke Energy to avoid clean-up for decades (by 2030, at last report) and to only pay (free) tax-deductible fines, the state-by-state incorporation of legislation all designed toward the Koch-design and the gleeful encouragement of this by SO many people. Voters, eagerly demanding their own demise. The question, “How bad will it have to get?” terrifies me, because I fear that the majority of them will NEVER see the truth of their situation. I wonder what it would take for people to see that a handful of people are feeding them misleading social superiority and exacerbating intentionally-created divisions drawn in resentment and hate before they finally think to ask, “Who’s profiting from it all?”

        I’m glad you get it, Joanne!

  • Michael Douglass:

    What’s gonna happen to Dave when he realizes he gets ALL of his information from people who just make shit up?

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