Minnesota: This morning I saw a clip of “The worst person in the world” (in the words of Keith Olberman), as William Barr was suggesting the violence caused in the protests to the MURDER of George Floyd resulted from a group (my friend who is an individual 1 supporter is constantly referring to) labeled “Antifa” (anti Fascists). At the same time the leaders of Minnesota were suggesting those who were coming into the state and instigating the violence were “white nationalists.” Of course, Barr was acting as the head sycophant for individual 1 who was “tweeting” threats to bring in the military – proving our IMPEACHED so-called president is impaired. I don’t believe our “military” is intended to be used against our own people, in fact I believe our constitution prevents it (Isn’t that why we have the “National Guard?”).

I did a bit of searching on the internet as I wondered who might be moving into Minneapolis to instigate the rioting, looting, and arson attacks on the very community which is suffering from the issues leading to the MURDER in broad daylight – the cop was staring into the phone of the young girl video taping him as he was MURDERING Mr. Floyd with what appeared to be no emotion, he had his hand in his pocket while his knee was suffocating Mr. Floyd via his neck – I was trying to figure out who might be joining the protests with the idea of causing trouble. Obviously, African Americans are (understandably) very ANGRY and they’ve had “enough!” Which makes the instigators, whoever they are, even more obscene, in my view – like leeches simply looking for an opportunity to “suck the blood” out of a community.

The reality is there are a lot of ANGRY members of the African American communities around the country because the MURDER of Mr. Floyd is not a one off. We’ve been listening to African Americans as long as I can remember (I was born in the 1940’s) complaining of being harassed by police simply because they are Black Americans. (“listening” to the ones who haven’t been MURDERED) Obviously, racism is real in this country – I’ve been writing about this for years (essentially, since I started putting my thoughts in this blog – or whatever it is). I must admit to being uninformed to the degree of the white nationalist movement in this country. I remember individual 1 leading the so-called “birther” movement after “we the people” voted a person of color into the “White House.” But I was naive enough to think the election of a President who is a direct descendant of a Kenyan meant things were getting better. Of course, that didn’t change the beliefs of any of the white nationalists – just intensified their views.

Recently, I finished reading “Rising out of Hatred” by Eli Saslow which is the story of Derek Black’s “journey” from being the heir apparent of the white nationalist movement to realizing the damage his HATE was doing to untold numbers of people. It’s a great book, by the way – extremely well written and, to me, inspirational. A diverse group of students, one in particular, included Black in various social gatherings despite their disdain for his core beliefs. They were able to see, outside of the beliefs he was raised with, he was/is a brilliant scholar, kind person, and someone who didn’t really understand the ramifications of his belief system. His father operates (still does) the website “Stormfront” along with his “mentor” David Duke. Both Black’s father and Duke have been, at times, the “Grand Wizard” of the KKK.

My point here is, after reading this book I started a more involved “content” in my web experience and I’m discovering how involved the white nationalist movement actually is. When I was still teaching I received (regularly) the newsletter of the Southern Poverty Law Center ( the “SPLC” – I kept up a yearly subscription to help support them while I was still teaching), a group which the people at Stormfront despise – because, they are busy identifying hate groups around America. After Obama’s election I remember them exposing the increase in “cells” of white nationalists all across the nation and it was alarming. I just didn’t take the time to investigate – shame on me! However, I knew (somewhat) about these cells from, of all people, Chuck Norris who was the first I listened to suggesting “we need to take back our country” in regard to Obama’s election.

So, along comes individual 1 leading the “birther movement” and deciding to run for president – with most “establishment” republicans seeing him as some kind of “kook” in the words of Lindsey Graham. I don’t believe many understood where his support was coming from and, I believe, that misunderstanding continues to this day. (Although, there’s obviously a group of republicans, Graham at the front of the list, who are interested in keeping their jobs over any principles they may want to project – to me, Graham is the most pathetic of all the republicans who’ve willingly become sycophants) Of course, individual 1 is far from the first RACIST to be elected to the “White House” and to suggest he “converted” his “tea party” republican “faithful” is absurd on its face. If you witnessed the “tea party” reaction to President Obama’s election you know it was founded on racism and the republican party welcomed the “tea party” caucus with open arms.

What I’m getting at here is that individual 1 had a very strong base of various factions of the white nationalist movement “loyally on board” right from the start of his campaign and the republicans who now have a bad case of “lockjaw” in regard to the continued scandalous behavior of our IMPEACHED so-called president have pretty much made their “deal with the devil.” It appears to me, as an aside, that Mitt Romney is the ONLY republican who will emerge from individual 1’s reign with any sense of honor. So, how does all this relate to Minnesota’s riots and William Barr suggesting the “instigators” are “Antifa” (with, of course, NO evidence)? Sadly, the DAMAGE I’m always writing about coming from individual 1’s administration seems to have no bounds. From what I’ve read and what I’ve heard from people with inside connections to the FBI this is just “more of the same” coming from Barr and individual 1 – scandalous behavior.

Of course, just as I am “uneducated” to a (pretty high) degree on the white nationalist/supremacist movement so am I on the group identified as “Antifa.” As I said in a previous post I, personally, am “Anti Fascist” – my father was part of the Army in the 1940’s as America fought to stop Fascists from over-running Europe, Asia, and presumably North and South America. The first I heard of “Antifa” was when they were identified as the “counter protesters” to the neo-Nazi’s who marched on Charlottesville carrying Tiki Torches, wearing swastikas, carrying Nazi and/or Confederate flags while chanting “Jews will not replace us.” It was at that rally, of course, when a neo-Nazi drove his car into a group of counter-protesters “Antifa?” killing a young woman and injuring over 20 others. Of course, individual 1 was obligated to defend the neo-Nazi’s because, well, they’re a much larger part of his “base” than most of us realize.

The question, to me, becomes why all of a sudden is William Barr or individual 1 threatening to list “Antifa” as a terrorist organization? Well, the obvious answer, to me, is they apparently show up to protest at individual 1’s rallies. Another interesting “fact” I found as I was reading about “Antifa” was The “Web Brigades” – a Russian “Troll Farm” has been lobbying for “Antifa” to be listed as a terrorist organization. Is this coincidental? Here’s the “deal” for me – I hope the people who matriculated to the various protests arising from the LYNCHING of George Floyd and then instigated the violence, looting and arson are identified and prosecuted, no matter their affiliation – just as I agree all four of the police officers involved in Floyd’s MURDER need to face accountability. What I saw on the video was horrific – what African Americans are trying to get across to “we the people” is this has been going on for, well, FOREVER! Cameras are a recent phenomenon.

I’m not pre-supposing anything about who the “instigators” were – I’m just writing about what I was able to find or what I observed. From the “observed” point of view, time after time, I saw young white men with HAMMERS walking the streets of Minneapolis (and, other cities) smashing windows and throwing “Molotov cocktails” into businesses and into one of the police precincts. It’s hard for me to envision they were there because of their grief toward Mr. Floyd’s MURDER. I hope as many of them as possible will be apprehended and prosecuted for the damage they’ve caused to the various communities around the country. Individual 1 is using this unrest to go after “Antifa” which, from what I can tell, isn’t anything more than a bunch of left wing radicals who are organized via Facebook and other social media “tools.” This, as opposed to the white nationalists who appear to be a much larger segment of the population and much more organized.

I had never logged into “Stormfront.com” until I read “Rising out of Hatred” and it’s a large, well organized, website/platform. If you want to check it out click HERE. Now I’ve logged in twice, but I’ve yet to “peruse” the site and likely never will. But, it is a significant place for what they call themselves as the “white minority” and, I believe, they are connected to a significant number of the “cells” referred to by the SPLC and Chuck Norris as mentioned above. While I was reading about Mr. Black I didn’t get the sense they were promoting any kind of violent attack on government – in fact, almost the opposite – call me naive, but I sensed they feel individual 1 is their “ticket” into “mainstream” American politics. (Despite knowing both Black and Duke were part of the KKK’s leadership) However, subsequently, I’ve been reading about other white nationalist/far right wing groups like “Patriot Prayer,” “The Proud Boys,” and various groups tagging themselves with versions of the moniker “Boogaloo” who openly are trying to instigate a racial “civil war.”

Additionally, as the protest of Mr. Floyd’s murder began to materialize I managed to find several different websites where members of these right wing groups were saying the protests were a “call to action.” Leaders were suggesting they be “locked and loaded” as their members dispersed to different protests around the country. To me, that would suggest it’s more likely these white nationalist cells who’ve been looking for opportunities to create chaos and instigate racial violence were the primary culprits in what took place in Minneapolis, Louisville, Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle, Portland, Oregon, and many more places around the country. The fact I was unable to find a “call to action” from anyone associated with “Antifa” doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. My point is, I hope whoever the instigators were would be identified and prosecuted.

One person I listened to who has direct connection inside the FBI suggested their intelligence was indicating the “boogaloo bois” were on the move with the intention of instigating the rioting which ultimately took place. (May very will be continuing) The suggestion was “cell phone tracing” – which has been used in the Covid-19 pandemic – may very well help the authorities to identify who was matriculating where. I’m guessing if that is actually true and the troublemakers are identified by their phones that will generate even more anti-government sentiment. Although, I’m sure, sophisticated thugs know how to shield themselves from being followed digitally. Personally, that’s “above my pay grade.” I have to add, I’ve witnessed numerous people who came to the protests with hammers and they are the ones breaking the windows, usually after dark. EVERY one of them, that I have seen via the video cameras of the news organizations, has been white. Hopefully, many have been arrested and “we the people” will be able to understand where the perpetrators have come from.

I don’t believe individual 1 has any more of an idea who was instigating the violence than I do, but he’s using this tragedy to further another item on his “bucket list” and that is to label “Antifa” a terrorist organization. What’s interesting about that, to me, is I’m not sure it’s even an organization – anything more than another “Facebook group.” From what I can tell, there’s no designated leader, no manifesto – or whatever you would call a set of principles – and, it appears, there are a significant variance in the degrees of beliefs between the different people who identify with the movement. I guess what I’m saying, it seems to be more a “movement” than an organization. Whatever – another deflection strategy coming from the “White House.”

Above I referred to William Barr as “The worst person in the world.” If you remember when Keith Olberman was on MSNBC he had a segment of that title on his show every night – which I always found quite interesting (I miss Olberman) – and, I almost feel Barr is more dangerous than individual 1 because he’s more “flying under the radar.” His actual title is “Attorney General” – but his role is of chief sycophant to our IMPEACHED so-called president. He, in fact, prevented the FIRST impeachment which SHOULD have taken place when he cut off Mueller’s report “at the knees” with his disingenuous four page “summary” where he declared individual 1 “not guilty” of OBSTRUCTION of Justice – which CLEARLY was NOT the “gist” of the report. In fact, quite the opposite. Mueller WANTED Congress to investigate and act on whether or not they considered the OBSTRUCTION impeachable behavior. (Which, it certainly would have been in the eyes of republicans had a democratic president committed such vile behavior against our rule of law – we’re seeing the results of that example in the streets of our cities right now)

Reports are that Barr is continuing to placate individual 1 via instigating “investigations” into his political opponents – just as you would expect in some third world nation ruled by a “tin pot dictator.” He’s the lead sycophant in a long line of republicans who, for some strange reason, continue to STAIN their own reputations in their feeble attempts to avoid getting one of individual 1’s NASTY tweets. At this point, from the standpoint of individual 1’s obsession with somehow “winning” the November election, I don’t think there’s much he can do other than unforeseen CHEATING – which, I have to say, would NOT surprise me AND Barr will certainly be helping in that regard – but, it seems, virtually everything he/they do is the opposite of what they should do – if their goal is to gain voter support. And, it’s as if Barr is now individual 1’s “puppet.” They are destroying our nation – their actions are pathetic and the results of their actions are depressing – and that’s aside from all the rioting going on right now.

As I said above, labeling “Antifa” a terrorist organization is simply another act of deflection by individual 1. I’ll end this on the stray thought which just went through my head. Sadly, after individual 1 is voted out of office, I do not expect ONE republican (with the possible exception of Mitt Romney) to attempt to work with democrats – ie Joe Biden and whoever he chooses as a running mate – to solve all these significant problems. It’s just not in their “DNA” – especially if Moscow Mitch manages to somehow win re-election – shame on Kentucky should that happen. This is why it is of paramount importance to vote out republicans “across the board.” While this is a sad time in America my prayer is, as we look back “down the road,” we look upon it as a turning point which has revived what Abraham Lincoln called our “better angels.”

Final Thought: Earlier I suggested everything individual 1 does is the OPPOSITE of what he should do if he had any idea of what it means to be the president of the United States – even if you’re the IMPEACHED president of the United States. Today he decided to suggest he’s going to do some kind of military takeover of our country. Is this a precursor to November? Is this why he doesn’t want people voting by mail. I have to say I was offended twice by his actions today (what else is new?); First, he ordered the PEACEFUL protesters removed from the streets around the “White House” by police officers riding horses and shooting canisters of tear gas into the crowd of protesters who were doing NOTHING wrong and were not violating the curfew which had been implemented in Washington DC.

Apparently, he did this so he could do the second – and maybe most, to me – offensive he did – which was to walk across the street from the “White House” to hold a photo op at a church where he was holding up a Bible. Now, as I’ve said here many times, I’m a (liberal, I guess) Christian and seeing individual 1 holding up a Bible in a photo op is almost as ugly as it gets for me. There’s no question in my mind his “connection” to Christianity is that Evangelical Christians seem to support him no matter what. He’s apparently trying to hold together his so-called “base” with an action which, to me, was obscene. As I’ve said, I have found NO evidence that he’s someone who EVER goes to church. Apparently, the church was vandalized in the protests – but, the reality is he is incapable of finding an HONEST way to express anything.

I haven’t been watching the protests day and night, but I did hear that individual 1, along with his bone spurs, spent the last couple days in the “White House” bunker. I don’t find this man to have a “lick” of courage – he’s an incredible bloviator who would like “we the people” to think he’s “tough” – when he comes across to me as a complete coward. Not only in times like this but in virtually everything he does. He doesn’t even have the guts to fire people to their faces – he leaves it to others or to his “twitter” finger. This man is showing himself to be more pathetic by the day and he has no clue how to deal with what “we the people” are facing in the LAST few months of his administration. Whether it be Covid-19, Climate Change – ie Hurricanes and wild fires which are likely to be more intense, the economic depression he’s leading us into, or all this unrest in our cities. He’s in over his head and he’ll NEVER admit this. He has no idea what to do and “we the people” can’t trust republicans to work to help democrats attempt to solve these problems – so, it’s up to us – meaning “we the people” to vote them all out in November.

And, that’s just the beginning. If democrats think winning in November is their challenge, they shouldn’t be running for office. “We the people” need to DEMAND that there will be no “business as usual” – and the rebuilding of our nation MUST start from the “bottom up” – meaning, this idea shareholders are more important than workers must change – universal health insurance is a MUST – I’ve got a long list of issues which I believe are imperative and you can find them in the archive – but, the protesters are absolutely correct – until we’ve corrected the issues they’re dealing with we haven’t solved anything. The challenges are immense and the solution requires action by “we the people” and leaders capable of listening.

I keep thinking of a photo I saw the other day where the cop had his knee on George Floyd’s neck and, in another part of the photo a picture of Colin Kaepernick taking a knee prior to a football game in 2016. When I listened to individual 1 refer to the football players who were taking a knee as “sons of bitches” and then realized the owners of the football teams were, essentially, with him – well that’s when I lost interest in NFL football. Kaepernick has been black balled and we now understand everyone would be better off had EVERYONE listened to him and the other players supporting his protest. Kaepernick gave up his career due to his belief in the critical importance of his “message” – to me, that’s courage and integrity. When individual 1 called him a “son of a bitch” it was just one more in a long line of his cowardly actions!