The Path of a Dictator

So many voters/would be voters in this country are blind to the warnings: Donald Trump admires Putin, praises Saddam Hussein, quotes Hitler, would put his opponents in jail, spouts supremacy, doesn’t denounce the KKK, has celebs who use the Nazi salute a la Laura Ingraham when speaking for him, he says HE alone can save the country.

He embodies Benito Mussolini’s fascism, Adolph Hitler’s master race obsession, North Korea’s “Great Leader” concept, and textbook dictator-esque hypnotic magnetism. To wit, women who flock to support him even though he calls people like them “pigs,” “dogs” and “disgusting animals.”

History will not treat this American episode kindly.

Trump’s real appeal: “I play to people’s fantasies.”

White Skin Didn’t Create This Guy’s Privilege?

The following Facebook update posted yesterday by retired Milwaukee County sheriff’s sergeant James Criss highlights the ignorance of Milwaukeean Eli Jacobs whose letter ran in yesterday’s Journal Sentinel newspaper.

Here is Criss’s Facebook post, followed by Jacobs’s letter:

A Nation Divided? When Blacks were slaves, when “Jim Crow” ruled, when it was illegal for interracial marriage, when we HAD to live in segregated neighborhoods, attend separate and unequal schools, had to be within the boundaries of the ghetto after 1900 hrs or risk the abuse from Law. When there were neighborhood contracts restricting the sale of homes to Blacks and “red Lining”, WE WERE VERY DIVIDED. When between 3 and 5 thousand blacks suffered lynching and not one person was held responsible, WE WERE DIVIDED. When Obama was elected president, I thought the impossible had happened and that we were well on our way to becoming a “stew”. Until bigots announced that they would obstruct any action he initiated and swore to make him a one term president. And yet, surprise surprise, the People voted him a second term. And despite the anger and frustration many of us feel, knowledge of the Nation’s “past” convinces us that we have never in the Nation’s history been this much “One”. And despite the cries of the “Dividers”, we will fall, crawl, stand and walk our way through these times to an even more united nation. Because we are a Nation of many prayers.

Jacobs’s letter ran with the header, All Americans Matter

I am white and I am privileged. But the fact that I am privileged has absolutely nothing to do with the color of my skin. It is unfortunate that the concept of “white privilege” has somehow become an acceptable theory in journalism and academia to explain the rapidly deteriorating race relations in America.

I am privileged because my grandparents worked hard to provide my parents with better lives than they had themselves. I am privileged because my grandparents taught my parents the differences between right and wrong and my parents in turn instilled those same values in me. I am not privileged because I am white; I am privileged because I have a hardworking and loving family that sticks together through thick and thin.

I am not privileged because I am a white American. I am privileged because I am an American — just an American. There is absolutely no adjective needed to describe the type of American that I am. In fact, no adjective should ever precede the word American.

Being an American is one of the greatest privileges that any person could possibly have. But people need to stop putting other qualifying words in front of the word American. The word American should stand alone.

Whether a person is rich or poor, black or white, college-educated or street smart, the common denominator is that we are all Americans, and that is what truly matters. All Americans matter.

Eli Jacobs

Milwaukee

No way in this God’s world did Jacobs’s accident of birth not have something, if not everything, to do with his “privilege”. Because of his white skin, he and his family did not suffer the restrictions that dictated where they could live, loans they could get, jobs they were hired for, the need to be off the street or out of town by sundown. His white skin didn’t put him risk of being lynched, hold him responsible for the misdeeds of all other white-skinned people. His white skin didn’t keep him out of good schools, clubs and associations or off of golf courses where opportunity and business deals incubate. If Jacobs’s “privilege” is the result of his grandparent’s and parents’ hard work and teaching their kids right from wrong or a hardworking, loving family that sticks together through thick and thin, than most Americans whose skin is not white would be among the most privileged in the nation.

One thing Jacobs is right about, “The word American should stand alone” and not have qualifiers like African in front of it. Jacobs doesn’t seem to realize that he and his arrogance and blind bigotry are the very reasons so many non-white skinned Americans have been and continue to be marginalized with “qualifiers” attached to their national identity.

White Skin Didn’t Create This Guy’s Privilege?

The following Facebook update posted yesterday by retired Milwaukee County sheriff’s sergeant James Criss highlights the ignorance of Milwaukeean Eli Jacobs whose letter ran in yesterday’s Journal Sentinel newspaper.

Here is Criss’s Facebook post, followed by Jacobs’s letter:

A Nation Divided? When Blacks were slaves, when “Jim Crow” ruled, when it was illegal for interracial marriage, when we HAD to live in segregated neighborhoods, attend separate and unequal schools, had to be within the boundaries of the ghetto after 1900 hrs or risk the abuse from Law. When there were neighborhood contracts restricting the sale of homes to Blacks and “red Lining”, WE WERE VERY DIVIDED. When between 3 and 5 thousand blacks suffered lynching and not one person was held responsible, WE WERE DIVIDED. When Obama was elected president, I thought the impossible had happened and that we were well on our way to becoming a “stew”. Until bigots announced that they would obstruct any action he initiated and swore to make him a one term president. And yet, surprise surprise, the People voted him a second term. And despite the anger and frustration many of us feel, knowledge of the Nation’s “past” convinces us that we have never in the Nation’s history been this much “One”. And despite the cries of the “Dividers”, we will fall, crawl, stand and walk our way through these times to an even more united nation. Because we are a Nation of many prayers.

Jacobs’s letter ran with the header, All Americans Matter

I am white and I am privileged. But the fact that I am privileged has absolutely nothing to do with the color of my skin. It is unfortunate that the concept of “white privilege” has somehow become an acceptable theory in journalism and academia to explain the rapidly deteriorating race relations in America.

I am privileged because my grandparents worked hard to provide my parents with better lives than they had themselves. I am privileged because my grandparents taught my parents the differences between right and wrong and my parents in turn instilled those same values in me. I am not privileged because I am white; I am privileged because I have a hardworking and loving family that sticks together through thick and thin.

I am not privileged because I am a white American. I am privileged because I am an American — just an American. There is absolutely no adjective needed to describe the type of American that I am. In fact, no adjective should ever precede the word American.

Being an American is one of the greatest privileges that any person could possibly have. But people need to stop putting other qualifying words in front of the word American. The word American should stand alone.

Whether a person is rich or poor, black or white, college-educated or street smart, the common denominator is that we are all Americans, and that is what truly matters. All Americans matter.

Eli Jacobs

Milwaukee

No way in this God’s world did Jacobs’s accident of birth not have something, if not everything, to do with his “privilege”. Because of his white skin, he and his family did not suffer the restrictions that dictated where they could live, loans they could get, jobs they were hired for, the need to be off the street or out of town by sundown. His white skin didn’t put him risk of being lynched, hold him responsible for the misdeeds of all other white-skinned people. His white skin didn’t keep him out of good schools, clubs and associations or off of golf courses where opportunity and business deals incubate. If Jacobs’s “privilege” is the result of his grandparent’s and parents’ hard work and teaching their kids right from wrong or a hardworking, loving family that sticks together through thick and thin, than most Americans whose skin is not white would be among the most privileged in the nation.

One thing Jacobs is right about, “The word American should stand alone” and not have qualifiers like African in front of it. Jacobs doesn’t seem to realize that he and his arrogance and blind bigotry are the very reasons so many non-white skinned Americans have been and continue to be marginalized with “qualifiers” attached to their national identity.

 

Until the ‘Strongman’ Comes for Them

News reports say evangelicals are solidly behind Donald Trump. The guy in this news story — “Conservative Pastor Says He’d Vote for Trump Over Jesus Because Jesus is Weak” — explains why.

Oh, they of little faith.

And why wouldn’t they flock to loser Donald? They’re probably safe, unless/until they cross their beloved “strongman” or get a conscious and try to do the right thing. I’m sure this “conservative pastor” would never do that. What, and risk losing his ‘megachurch’? Never happen.

Reminds me of Germans who wanted to make their country great again rallying behind Hitler.

The Pigs, Dogs and Disgusting Animals Who Love DT

I’m amazed at all the pigs, dogs and disgusting animals that flock to donald trump’s rallys and that say in interviews that they will vote for him because they like what he says.  (Yes, I know that under ordinary circumstances correct grammar would be “who”, not “that”, but since donald has dehumanized them by calling them pigs, dogs and disgusting — his words for them, not mine. I would NEVER call women things like that!) These pigs, dogs and disgusting animals are what donald calls women (what donald calls them, not me!), or at least some women, such as Rosie O’Donnell, Arianna Huffington, Bette Midler, NYTimes columnist Gail Collins and just about every female he disagrees with, who has criticized him, question him (other than to puff up his ego) or whom he doesn’t consider “hot” or “beautiful”.

Just by looking at them, it’s clear most of these female-gendered donald fans don’t fit donald’s idea of “hot” or “beautiful”. All that’s needed for a clue to what does fall under either of those labels, take a gander at donald’s daughter and favorite squeeze, Ivanka.

All I can figure is, these fawning D’Trumpsters are either deaf, blind and brainless or have no self-esteem.