Month: August 2017
U.S. Capitol Has Three Times as Many Statues of Civil War Figures than of Black People
3x
Consider this: In the Capitol’s National Statuary Hall Collection there are three times as many statues of Confederate soldiers and politicians as there are statues of black people in the entire Capitol complex, according to records maintained by the Architect of the Capitol, the Washington Post reports
Not a Single Member of Trump’s Evangelical Council Has Resigned
(Updates at end of post)
So many members of Trump’s manufacturing advisory council resigned over his support of armed extremists in Charlottesville, Va. that he had to disband the group to avoid further embarrassment. One by one, until Trump cried uncle at eight, leaders of industry released statements of resignation, adding their disagreement with the president’s views on race, anti-semitism, protest, and the circumstances of the loss of life at the white supremacy rally.
But not Trump’s evangelical council. Not a single member has resigned, from former Rep. Michele Bachmann to the Rev. Jerry Falwell to James Dobson.
PayPal Expels White Supremacists from Its Online Services
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Washington Post: PayPal has agreed to removed at least 34 organizations, including Richard Spencer’s National Policy Institute, two companies that sell gun accessories explicitly for killing Muslims, as well as all accounts associated with Jason Kessler, the white nationalist blogger who organized the Charlottesville march, according to a list provided to the Post by Color of Change, a racial justice organization seeking to influence corporate decision makers.
KKK Leader Glad Hayer Died
“I’m sorta glad that them people got hit and I’m glad that girl died. They were a bunch of Communists out there protesting against somebody’s freedom of speech, so it doesn’t bother me that they got hurt at all. … I think we’re going to see more stuff like this happening at white nationalist events.”
— Justin Moore, the Grand Dragon for the Loyal White Knights of Ku Klux Klan, said he was glad that a woman died in Charlottesville when a car drove through a crowd, the Charlotte Observer reports.
If Trump Fires Bannon …
“If Trump finally pushes Bannon out of the White House, the nationalist policy project will be all but dead. The new chief of staff, John Kelly, is far more moderate on immigration and has pushed Trump to abandon the idea of a physical border wall. Economic policy will be fully under the control of Cohn, and the heretical idea of raising taxes on the wealthy will have no champion. Trump himself has always been more animated by the xenophobia of Bannonism than by its populist economic views. A Trump White House without Bannon will be no more radical in its coddling of far-right groups—today Trump showed again that he needs no encouragement—but it will be more captured by the traditional small-government agenda of the G.O.P. Bannon hoped to destroy.”
— Ryan Lizza
Robert E. Lee Was No Hero
“What is Robert E. Lee known for? This is what I mean by the margins of the debate. Lee is known for one thing: being the key military leader in a violent rebellion against the United States and leading that rebellion to protect slavery. That’s it. Absent his decision to participate in the rebellion he’d be all but unknown to history. He outlived the war by only five years. There’s simply no positive side of the ledger to make it a tough call. The only logic to honoring Lee is to honor treason and treason in the worst possible cause.”
— Josh Marshall
It’s Arguable that Donald Has Done More for the Paris Climate Accord than Obama Did
His administration recently submitted the paperwork to the United Nations confirming that the U.S. will join Syria and Nicaragua to refuse to be part of the ambitious plan to reduce greenhouse gasses and combat climate change.
But maybe Trump is actually doing more for the Paris Accord than former President Barack Obama did by just signing it:
A presumably unintended consequence, however, is that President Trump’s comments prompted 237 cities and counties, 13 states, the District of Columbia, 323 universities and colleges, 1,666 businesses and investors, and 23 foundations to commit themselves to the Paris climate agreement since June 1, 2017. This begs the question whether President Trump may have done more to further the Paris agreement than President Obama.
Statistically speaking, it’s hard to argue with those numbers ….
