If You Helped a Racist Become the Most Powerful Person in America, Then You’re a Racist Too

Michael Harriot
Monday 5:00pm Filed to: DONALD TRUMP



Legally, Lakeith Smith is a murderer.

When he was 15 years old, police officers confronted Lakeith and a group of friends after the teenagers allegedly burglarized a home in Millbrook, Ala. One of the boys, 16-year-old A’Donte Washington, “brandished” a gun, according to police, forcing officers to shoot Washington four times, killing him.

Alabama’s law stipulates that anyone committing a crime or fleeing the scene of a crime that results in a person’s death is guilty of felony murder. In March, Lakeith was tried as an adult and sentenced to 65 years in prison for armed burglary, second-degree theft, third-degree theft, and felony murder.



So, even though Lakeith Smith didn’t pull the trigger, by simply participating in a crime that resulted in a death, by the definition of the law, he is guilty of murder.

Donald Trump is a racist.

While it might be impossible to peer inside the necrotized heart or the egomaniacal dictator brain of Donald Trump (a fact for which I thank my Lord and Savior James Arthur Baldwin, every day), there is no need to. Regardless of one’s intent, a man can only be judged by his actions. People who cultivate farms are, by definition, farmers. If you spotted someone onstage moving rhythmically to music in front of an audience of millions numerous times, you wouldn’t wonder if that person was an accountant “in their heart.” Anyone with a working knowledge of the English language would refer to that person as “a dancer.”

And we have witnessed Donald Trump’s racism.

As president, he has introduced executive orders that disproportionately affected Muslims, referred to immigrant homelands as “shithole countries,” hired a Nazi sympathizer as an adviser, employed “the most racist politician in America,” referred to Mexicans as “animals” and “rapists,” excused white supremacist terrorists, referred to the mothers of black NFL players as “bitches” and placed the Justice Department in the hands of an attorney general who Congress previously determined was too racist to serve as a federal judge. He is working to dismantle anti-discrimination laws. He nominated a racist for a federal judgeship.

Even before Trump removed all doubt by tweeting a version of the universal racist clarion call of “go back to Africa” in a weekend Twitter rant, we knew what he was. We knew what he was before his white nationalist inauguration speech. Even before he was president, Donald Trump had already earned his white nationalist bona fide by discriminating against non-whites, calling for the deaths of the Exonerated Five, admitting that comments attributed to him calling black people “lazy” were “probably true” and pushing the unfounded nativist rumor that Barack Obama was a secret Kenyan Muslim.

Yes, Trump is, without question, a racist.

And so are his supporters.

Not some of them. All of them.

Again, it is impossible to measure the intent and calculate the anti-black sentiment in the heart of every single Trump voter. I am sure that many of the people who cast ballots for the tiny-fingered dictator simply didn’t want Hillary Clinton to become president. Many of them were “small-government” conservatives or pro-life, single-issue voters. Still, their actions made a confirmed racist the most powerful man in the world and placed his racist rhetoric on America’s bully pulpit for all the world to see.

What could be more racist than that?

One can argue whether or not Trump has created more racists, but it is inarguable that he has legitimized, normalized and emboldened hate. After he became president and put his unabashed bigotry on display, his election spawned an exponential rise in hate crimes. Authorities say his campaign rallies spark racial violence. Since his inauguration, Donald Trump’s name has been mentioned more times in news reports of hate crimes and bias incidents than anyone else except Jussie Smollett, according to ProPublica’s “Documenting Hate” news index.



Despite all of this readily available evidence, there are still millions of people who are willing to support Trump. They pretend to be blind to his incendiary rhetoric. They cheer when he solicits violence against protesters. They applaud his calls for police brutality. They chant for walls.

The legion of Trump supporters who are guilty of perpetuating racism is not limited to the people flying Confederate flags and screaming “Sieg Heil” at his rallies. His enablers include the Republican politicians who support his policies even though they disagree with them. They include the ones who remain silent on his addlebrained tweetstorms because they want to keep the Senate majority; the representatives who don’t condemn his immigrant concentration camps because they want funding for their district are just as guilty as the Nazis; the senators who ignore his concentration camps because their goal is to fill the Supreme Court with conservative judges are as complicit as the “alt-right” marchers in Charlottesville, Va. Every single Republican in Congress; every single GOP donor; every person who sides with Donald Trump, regardless of their reasoning, is complicit in his hate.

And that, dear friends, is racism.



Like Lakeith Smith, those people might not have pulled a trigger but they were a party to the crime. They are accessories to every single racist tweet. They should be called “racist” just as much as a getaway driver for a bank robbery is also called a “bank robber.”

I imagine that in many of the 4,743 lynchings between 1862 and 1968, there were a lot of people who absolved themselves of guilt by reasoning that they were simply providing pitchforks or being a good neighbor by helping their compadres light their torches. If it were not for his supporters, Trump would be as powerless as a hangman without a lynch mob. Without them, it would not matter who tied the noose or declared the death sentence. The mob is the thing.

Racism has nothing to do with intent. Most black people would not care how white people in rural Alabama or religious conservatives in Pennsylvania suburbs felt about them if those people had not empowered a man who wouldn’t care if every non-white American was wiped off the face of the earth.

Whether one refers to them as “economically anxious,” the “silent majority” or “Trump’s base,” they only have one thing in common: They are legal accomplices in Trump’s racist acts, or as they should be collectively known:

Racists.

https://www.theroot.com/if-you-helped-a-racist-become-the-most-powerful-person-1836387976

So this is from a Black opinion writer for the WaPo backed TheRoot.com Black News, Opinions, Politics and Culture.

This is how many POC now view Trump and his supporters. There are a ton of links to supporting articles in the words on the site. I'm not sure I'd call everyone that voted for Trump a racist because that goes too far I think, but those who continue to support him... man I just don't see how they can excuse it anymore. Let the flaming begin.

If you did *NOTHING* to stop a racist from becoming Prez then youre a racist too!

*coughOCDdidntVotecough*
*AkAVoteOrShutUp*

The only defense I have to that Eve is one of Trump's favs... who knew?

But you can bet your ass I'm voting against him the day early polls open in 2020, so at least there is that. Can you say the same?

Oookaaaaayyyyy mister non voter
This is where you take a seat.

Oh no no no... How you feelin' about your tug on the ole 2016 lever? Come on, spill the beans.

Honestly I dont know.
The choices were both so incredibly awful.

That said, Trump hasnt done much other than twist your panties on a daily basis. Which is kind of hilarious.

So Im not sure if we are better or worse after these 4 years.
I would like to see an unbiased 3rd party report on the state of the country before and after the 4 years to make an informed opinion.

Hard not to agree with this.

I've always been a believer, that if you don't care enough to vote, then you don't have much right to complain.


I have voted in every federal election since i was 18. I've missed very very few local elections as well. It's our civic duty. Our chance to be part of the government/process.

And, in this country, we have free elections.

I remember one year driving an older lady home from the booths when volunteering for a local election (extra credit for HS Civics Class), and i said something like "Thanks for voting". She didn't speak much english, but she basically said. "Of course. You have to vote. In some places you can't vote. It's a great opportunity".

And basically, she's right. Compared to most countries, we have fair and honest elections. And voting is the best way to make your opinion heard.

As I told my wife, in the end, a loud mouth progressive all over facebook and twitter's vote counts just as much everyone else's. lol. Obviously things are perfect, there's ways to make it better. But the point is the point. Everyone should vote. In every election. There's no excuse not to (if you're living in the United States, outside, i get it can be more difficult).

If i think i could possibly be away, i always vote absentee. Simple as going to City Hall Clerk's Office and filling out the ballot and handing it back to them


And this isn't a shot at OCD, but instead it is a point to everyone, that they should vote. Get informed and vote is the best. But voting is essential. It's an opportunity we shouldn't be taking for granted

I want to add something that Eve is fully aware of, 2016 is the only time in my adult life I didn't vote, and my reasons had nothing to do with Trump because I didn't think he had a shot... believe me, I won't make that mistake again. Lesson learned. That's all I have to say about that.

Now can we talk about the OP.

Pfft, like I keep track about your voting record. I only know you didnt vote in 2016 because you stated so. As in Bernie Bro hurls himself on sword against the Democrat Old Money Machine.

I wouldnt know how you voted prior to that. Other than you making vague references of being a Republican in the past.

There isnt anything to say other than this is the face you libs make every day when Trump twists your panties.

So you feel the need to post lame trolling message board topics such as this.

Edit: Also the irony that you copy the OP from a black racist website.

So show me ANY dem candidate that won't allow the murder of babies, open our borders, and won't tax me to death. Guess I will vote for Trump all over again due to there not being a better option.

Duh. You have your Grand Wizard in the WH. Congrats.

Over half the population wants pro-choice last time I checked.
I don't know if anyone who wants open borders.
History shows the myth that is that Dems want to increase taxes excessively.
Hey - but carry on with your propaganda.

As for Trump in the white house. I don't agree with the OP. I think the OP is exactly why the "Right" caricatures the "Left" as a bunch of tree hugging, tax increasing, "racist" crying loonies.

I think Trumps tweets from the other day calling for women of color to go back to their own countries is 100% racist. But taking that and applying it to every Trump supporter is asinine. And on a side note - Hilary and the Democratic party that couldn't run a campaign to beat a POS like Trump are as much as anyone to blame for him being in the WH.

So all those who voted for Nancy Pelosi are racists?

She was last weeks racist according to the Mob of Four.

j/c:

This is the type of article that makes me cringe. It actually makes the left look bad. Pick and choose.

Can we please stop with this nonsense about Trump being racist. His ACTIONS are 100% counter of what he says on Twitter:

1. Trump was/is ahead of his time in providing career opportunities and advancement opportunities for women in the workforce. See the following page with links to the Washington Post, https://gop.com/trump-has-a-great-record-of-promoting-and-empowering-women-at-his-companies/

2. Trump has appointed more Federal Judge that are women and is on pace to break Obama's appointment numbers. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/20...but-lags-obama/

3. Trump's real record on race may surprise you



So taker your racist nonsense concering and GTFO out of here. Trump has done more to improve the minotrity standard of living then any President in the last 100 years. Trump is the one who reversed all of Obama terrible polices and got Wall Street back on the government side so they started investing again and making jobs for people.

Trump has invested all this money in vouchers to give African American and minority kids access to better education systems more than any other President.

Stop listening to the stupid bias agenda driven nonsense that they call news. Trump has done more to improve things for minorities than any other President in the last 100 years, just too many are being misled and don't realize it. The numbers speak for themselves, Things were 100% worse for minorities when it came to wages, jobas, and earnings under Obama, Trump reversed that and has lifted these people up.

Trump "says" a lot of things because he is an entertainer,. Trump subscribes to the theory that "bad publicity is better than no publicity" this is all part of his plan to get the Dems to fight themselves just like how he made the entire Dem party look foolish yesterday with their Impeachment vote in the house, those comments were all planned to make the Dems reach and over react, and Trump played it brilliant...sad thing is so many fell for it.

Trump isn't racist, his policies, job creation, and increased wages and standard of living is proof of that. The fact he has specifically invested lots of money in vouchers specifically to improve educational access and standards for minorities is not something someone who is racist would do. Stop listen to the Communist/Socialist ridiculous slanted news...its might as well be National Enquirer at this point.

Focus on actions, not words. Like Ocasio-Cortez voting against things to help the migrant crisis like housing, money for food & medical care, and

Sorry to burst your bubble - but what he SAYS does matter. And when he SAYS racists things on a social media that hundreds of millions around the globe see and hear about, it matters a lot.

As for the economy and what he's done for people of color? I think there is a credibility issue with your source. Saying Trump has done more for people of color and minorities is a a lie or a manipulation of statistics. I have no issue giving Trump credit on the economy and employment numbers ... but he's ONLY doing as well as and continuing on from what Obama did.

https://www.apnews.com/e1afa3f19a054540a7c34ca193bdd9ae

A similar trend and graph (except +ve) would be seen for the economy and the Dow etc.

Words matter - and what Trump aid was racist and needs to be called out as such.

What doesn't help - is moronic articles like the OP.

These are the type of articles that make centrist vote for a guy like trump when they are unsure. Keep calling everyone a racist and a bigot simply because they don't align 100% with your politics, and you have just alienated say 70K or so votes in the rust belt that handed the election to trump.....

Eww boy ..... now making excuses on casting a vote for a racist and blaming articles you read on the internet. It’s so telling on the weakness of a high percentage of trump supporters. If I was a Russian I’d take full advantage of that weakness in their presidential election. Oh wait......

Continuing on from Obama? Wall Street HATED Obama and wouldn't even work with him at all. the only reason the economy has turned around is because Wall Street and the New York banking establishment likes Trump and is willing to invest, and Trump made moves to make things benefit them thus creating jobs.

Furthermore, What Trump says doesn't matter because he said those things INTENTIONALLY to bait the Dems into over commiting and knee jerking, and they did exactly that. Those statements about "The Squad" were intended to bait an already shaky House to vote on an Impeachment he knew would fail. Nancy Pelosi was smart enough to know what he was doing and didn't take the bait, but the liberal side of the Dems over commited, and made the entire party look like fools

Pelosi is FURIOS at the Squad right now, They won't be long for Washington because of it...the higher ups in the Democratic party want them out and are looking for ways to make that happen.

Furthermore you want to call Trump racist?

How about this:




So much for our fallen Heros, Black Hawk Down ring a bell? This woman HATES American, and she HATES Isreal no two bones about it. Yet we focus on Trump? Unbelievable!


you tell me who's racist?

Just get a flipping clue. Stop being brainwashed by your right wing coo-coo media. Facts dont lie. And if Wall Street hated Obama .,, then his performance is even more impressive.

Please actually open links and LOOK. Even if there are too many words - the graphs tell 90% of the story.

https://www.barrons.com/articles/obama-vs-trump-economy-whos-winning-51559328982

https://www.forbes.com/sites/chuckjones/...y/#2a78aa911af3

This type of article, that disgust so many of you, is the type of feelings Trump's racism and constant hateful antics brings out in a growing percentage of Americans. While guys like Erik, 40, Razor, and KOB defend Trump and revel in each perceived victory; Trump nurtures and weaponizes their biases to serve him in his political hate machine. Meanwhile the POC, immigrants, LGBTQ, and political adversaries he targets grow more fearful and feel less a part of America everyday.

Trump has no shame, therefore he has no bounds. This is a quality we all see on full display every day. Regardless of what he actually thinks, rather he says and does things just to provoke a reaction or actually means them, he is terrorizing Americans. His actions at the border show his lack of humanity, compassion, and concern for what the entire world thinks of him, each of us, and America. He is systematically dismantling the values and institutions that have made America a beacon of hope for 200 years. He's exploiting our primitive tribal instincts to strengthen his grip on power. We are all fighting with each other and doing nothing to stop him. When people compare him to Hitler, I can't help but wonder if this what happened during that dark time in Germany.

We are all so dug in to the sides we've chosen, or at a loss observing what's going on around us in disbelief, that we are just letting it happen. Our Country, our Government, our States, our Communities, Our friends and family; everything that we hold dear is being permanently altered and used against us. Men and Women that we have shared our entire lives with now distrust us and or one and other. Children absorb and mimic these abhorrent behaviors like mirrors reflecting our actions back for us to see how we are acting. Actions we once made taboo for good reasons and for the good of all are now becoming the accepted new norms. Generations of progress in the advancement of racial, religious, women's and LGBTQ equality rights are being erroded, if not completely undone. Our moral standards, our American values, our institutions, and the very principles we were founded on are under attack daily... And we just continue to watch and let it happen.

When we see our coworkers, friends, and family we shouldn't see them as the enemy. It shouldn't matter if they are black, white, latino, asian, native american, immigrants, LGBTQ, democrat, republican, christian, muslim, atheist or any other label being used to divide us. We should see their humanity, their character, their spirit, their struggles and triumphs... we should see people that bring value to our lives. We are all Americans, and as Americans we have all taken part in this great experimental democracy for over 200 years. One man's lust for power and influence should never be allowed to outweigh the sacrifices and effort put into making this country what it has been since its inception. No perceived good or value is worth the trade off of allowing a man like this to rise to and maintain power. A highly flawed bumbling leadership composed of posers and fools could never do as much harm and damage or lead us anywhere near the inevitable destination Trump is leading us toward right now. Is anything we might covet worth trading everything we are, the very soul of our nation, to obtain? And even if he delivers on his promises to those that follow him, is the price he demands simply not to high? All of us might not feel the shame that is being brought upon us as a nation while this is unfolding, but in the end we are all going to pay the price. In the past, we have fought wars to stop this kind of hate and tyranny. We would never stand for it and have sworn to defend the world from it. Yet here we are my friends, staring at the precipice. Will we continue to fight amongst ourselves perpetuating the divides? Will our inaction be the sum of our reaction? Will we allow the greatest country on earth to fall into the hands fascist tyranny? Our forefathers would not allow it because we used to be better than this in America.

Lol oh man. With all the other issues in this country, I forgot all about the talibangelicals in this country like Razor who would love nothing more than to be under a Christian theocracy.

So your defense of Trump not being a racist is... because he's really a race instigator and a liar...

Trump's popularity among Hispanics and Blacks is on the rise.

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/02/24/2020-hispanic-voters-donald-trump-225192

African-Americans have reliably voted Democratic since 1948, a trend that is unlikely to change. But a Morning Consult poll taken March 15 shows Trump’s approval rating among blacks sits at 12 percent, four percentage points higher than the eight percent of black Americans who voted for Trump in 2016.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/...support-in-2020

Among Black Voters, Trump’s Popularity Inches Upward

https://www.wsj.com/articles/among-black-voters-trumps-popularity-inches-upward-1541547594

So there goes your spew.

He's already openly admitted that he'd prefer seeing the US conquer the entire Western Hemisphere. Warmongering Kristyunz*: the irony is simply too deep and rich.



*purposely spelled this way so as to not confuse these people with Jesus Christ

Thanks for the clarification.

So, by the OP's logic, the fact that the Left absolutely refuses to discuss the highest high school dropout rate among all ethnic groups, for generations, the highest rate of teenage pregnancy among all ethnic groups, for generations, and the highest rate of single parent households, for generations, each being strong pointers to poverty and other negative outcomes, all three together being a near guarantee of poverty and other negative outcomes, means that they personally are responsible for all the poverty and other negative outcomes in the black community.

Racist, bigot, racist, bigot, racist, bigot. Racist, racist, racist, bigot, bigot, bigot, racist,bigot, racist, bigot.

Just STFU already and do something useful for a change.

Taking a knee raised millions of dollars for that cause. But O the haters.

Which is fairly sad and pathetic... it's not like people didn't know this was a problem.... democrats have been claiming they would fix this problem in every election for decades and it took an NFL player taking a knee during the national anthem to actually get anything done?

politicians won't/can't fix this.

Fair enough. But if you take a look at any positive strides made in racial relations throughout our history, it came from people doing extraordinary things to bring attention to the problem to get something done.

Has there been significant change in the high school dropout rate, the teenage pregnancy rate, the single parent household rate?

More people whining about a problem does not equal a solution to the problem.

We could start by not forcing them to buy and drink the poison water in their water systems.

And then they could rebuild their city schools that don’t have decaying asbestos and mechanical systems.

These are just couple things that white neighborhoods demand and get easily.

I realize you are unable to distinguish between small numbers and large numbers, but the water problems in a fairly small city are literally a drop in the bucket compared to the immensity of the overall community-wide, cultural problem.

I'm not buying into the "everyone that voted for Trump is a racist" thing.

Own it like a boss pal.

The most alarming aspect of posts like these is that there are others like him. They are in our neighborhoods. Our stores. Our schools. Our government.

I understand you think you are throwing boulders.

My stones are bigger than yours.

Hey Menza - did you mean to respond to Vers? Is the code for "Reply" broken again?

And they are the self proclaimed smart ones.

I understand the absolute terror you internalize at even attempting to discuss the core issues as I have stated them.

Multiple opportunities, total failure. At least you are no longer trotting out "we talk about this all the time." Even though you never have, this has been stated repeatedly. Why was that? Did you come to the understanding that the statement includes an admission of the problem's existence?

Have you bothered to look at the two most successful, and certainly oppressed ethnic groups in this country, Indians (dots not feathers), and Jews, and see what their stats are in the same categories?

I will give you a clue, their kids do not drop out of high school, their teenagers do not get pregnant, couples with kids get married and stay together, and they are doing just fine financially. They do these because their CULTURE, and their COMMUNITY, will not tolerate otherwise. These things do happen in these groups, but they are MUCH less common. The reasons are INTERNAL to the group, not EXTERNAL.

Can't discuss that, it underlines the failure, and there is no one to point to and blame.

And while we're at it, let's discuss the huge opioid crisis in the white suburbs. Let's discuss the poor education of white America in the deep south. Though that's more meth territory.

Why target a certain sector and leave out the other? Seems like you pick and choose. That sounds familiar.

The title of this thread. Speaks a lot about the mentality of some people.

I worry just as much about those who refuse to own up to the fact that he sent racist tweets. This is a double edged sword.

So Im curious as to what you would think a black person that supports TRUMP should be labeled?

I didn't label anyone but an obvious racist. People can follow any leader they want. They can vote foe anyone they want. Maybe you really didn't mean to address your post to me....

Ment for OCD PIT

Unless you just have not been paying attention, those things HAVE been discussed, and as with many things, it is all a matter of compared to WHAT?

No one calls you a racist or a bigot for discussing the opioid crisis among suburban whites, no one calls you a racist or bigot for discussion of poor education in the deep south. On that score, I do not see the claimed racial distinction. Opioids, yes, southern education, no.

The problems are not excused by calling racism and the causes do not indicate a systemic cultural and community failure in a high percentage of the group. On a small scale, there are some similarities. There is the one, and there is the many. On a large scale, it is a much larger problem. Kinda obvious, ain't it? Multiple factors interact to compound the problem with exponential growth.

What are the poverty and incarceration statistics for the two groups when compared? As a percentage of the ethnic whole, not as total population? Don't limit yourself to just whites and blacks, look at ALL ethnic groups.

I'll add this: I didn't vote for Obama. And for 8 years if I disagreed with a single thing he did, I was called a racist. Even though I agreed with much he did.

I voted FOR Trump, as opposed to hillary. And now, if I support 1 single thing he does, I'm called a racist. A xenophobe, a bigot, and more names. I don't agree with all he's done/said. Yet somehow, I get called names again.

Sounds to me like the lefties like calling others names.

Here, the 5 worst states for education, according to the latest data.

Texas
Arizona
Arkansas
Alabama
Mississippi

I guess if you wish to exclude the history of a race that helps add to the issues you described that's your choice.

If you wish to ignore that schools with a higher tax base get more funding that's your choice.

Looking at things in a bubble can promote a certain perception. When you expand that bubble to include factors that contributed to the situation that picture become much more murky.

Damn near everybody that posts here is a self proclaimed smart one.

Not me. I do my best to inform myself on the differing topics of discussion to help me form my opinions. But in the grand scheme of things I understand I'm not really all that smart.

Or were you meaning on a general scale in this forum? Because that may change things a bit.

I thought that was pretty clear.

I wasn't smart enough to pick up on that.

OCD didn't even vote?

lmaoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

And I get labeled a racist, even though my daughter is dating a Mexican (hey, that's what he, and his parents call themselves. Not Latino's), and I get labeled a homophobe, even though my son is gay.

Shows how dumb some are tossing out labels.

Call me whatever you want if it makes you feel better. Being a jackass isn't going to change my worldview and it will just reveal more and more that they're unstable more than it is going to prove me whatever "ist" or "phobe" they are slinging around.

Not sure what I missed and I am heading out the door.... Not calling you or Arch anything. I said and maintain that the Trump tweets to the four women of color, 3 of which were born in the USA, telling them to go back to their crime infested countries was Racist. . . . . Do you agree or not?

If after all the years on these boards, you and I learned to get along, EVERYONE can find peace with each other.

Um, I was agreeing with your post. And adding to it.

On phone ... traveling... sorry didn't see other posts.

Arch, same thing here. My stepsons are so mixed they can claim whatever ethnic heritage they want. I don't care as long as they're good people. My son is dating a girl that's dominican. I don't care as long as she's good for him and he's happy. One of my stepsons is gay, and I don't care as long as he's happy. I get called a nazi, racist, and fascist by people that don't know a damn thing about me.

Isn't funny that the most racist among us are always the ones that accuse others and scream the loudest?

Racist sympathizers always seemed to have mixed grand babies or kids dating outside the race.

That’s not evidence that they themselves aren’t racist. Especially since they voted for one.

I mean seriously, we basically went back to “I have a black friend” comments. It’s hilarious the lengths people will go through to justify their bigotry.

I must be so racist, that I completely forgot to raise my kids to be racist. Now that's an obsession.

Racists have mixed kids because they're racist? I'm starting to think you don't know what the word racist means.

Oh no, I just made a racist statement by accusing someone of not knowing something.

Damn you racist libs are silly. Oh no, more hate speech.

Lol what nonsense did you just post?

Nothing will justify you voting for a racist. Nothing.

Got it. Thanks for explaining it to me. Despite every thing I've done in my life, despite my friends...........I'm a racist in your opinion. Neat.

That explains a lot about you.

Also explains a lot about you jumping through hoops to justify your vote for a racist.

Oh well lol

So, you think I'm a racist, a xenophobe, a sexist, and a ........whatever else name?

Really?

If only they would allow FOX to hold a Democrat debate.

Q -Yes, sissy half man, what is your economic plan for America's future?

A -Trump sucks.

Q -That really isn't an answer.

A -Racist!

Lost in all this self-pity crap is what Trump actually said. The man actually told four American citizens of color to go back to where they came from.

I don't care about your own personal plights. I do care about our president making racist comments and then having the people who voted for his stanky self deflecting the bullets that have rightfully been fired in his direction.

You don't like Trump because he's white. Racist.

No, telling anyone to go back where they came from is not racist.

It may be ignorant or nasty but it isn't racist.

Only the Libs in this country are crying racism because it fits their agenda.

#Orangeophobe

People across the globe are saying it was racist and a disgrace.

Btw.........it was also ignorant.

People across the globe supported Globalism until Trump ended the abomination.

You are deflecting again. But whatever..........

See - here is a great example of what I was talking about earlier. This is such a silly thing to say that here, in this particular post, I know you are just trolling. Not even you actually could believe what you just wrote, all you are trying to do is illicit a reaction.

Point being the world can stuff it when it comes to America and our politics.

If they were so wise they wouldn't need us to babysit and protect their puny lives.

Lol man you get more pathetic by the post. Keep going, this is glorious.

Intelligence personified. Compassion exemplified.

However, you are still deflecting. Trump's comments were racist. Nellie, you pal, got all upset because I criticized Germans and you actually defended him. LOL

It's rather amazing how folks on this thread and 888's thread dismiss Trump's racist statements and then cry that they are being victimized by being called racists in other avenues of life and get upset if someone degrades their race.

Y'all have been revealed.

You and the Left say it was racist, the rest of us say it was not racist.

“It isn't so much that liberals are ignorant. It's just that they know so many things that aren't so.”
-Ronald Reagan

After reading your comments in the other thread we were somewhat conversing, it is hysterical that you chose to include a quote that contained the word "ignorant."

Have a nice white night, 40.

That's Wacist! Wacist! Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

I wrote this in a different thread -

Apparently you are trying to say it's not racist to target a minority and tell them to do an action that is specific to them because of their race, color of their skin or heritage..... Something that would never have been said to a Caucasian. . . . . I would think that is the definition of racism.

If you don't think that's racist I am guessing you require Trump to drop a "Wop, Coon, Spick or Towel Head" tag to a comment before you see something you recognize as racist.

And world opinion always matters and it is in agreement that the comments were abhorrent.

Yeah I figured that would be misconstrued, that's not how I meant it. That's why I changed the pronouns to try and reflect "They're" and "they" to emphasize I wasn't directing at you, but adding onto what you were saying.

I'm all out of pee and vinegar.

J/C

If your white European and don't like this country, go back to your country.

If your an Irishman, and don't like this country, go back to your country.

If your a white Aussie, and don't like this country, go back to your country.

If your Black, Brown, Yellow, Purple, and don't like this country, go back to your original country.

If your white, brown, black, yellow, purple and American and don't like this country, then move.

What if your American and think Trump is a POS and want to make the USA better? THATS the analogy. And Trump's racist tweet was for USA citizens to "go back" because of the color of their skin. Keep on denying.

Maybe you should re-read my post....slowly. Where did even bring trump or "denied" anything?

Kick rocks, take a hike, etc.

Did you write this post anywhere on social media when trump was whining about this country non stop when Obama was president?

Nope.

Funny hat none of us liberals told y’all conservatives to go back to Europe when you was whining non stop about this country when Obama was in office. Nobody told trump that if he doesn’t like this country he can leave.

But this racist makes y’all feel empowered.

Are you my FB friend? Nope. ASSume somewhere else.

Deflections are not your strong suit, either.

I have no problem with people having different views, or different ideals about what will make the country better. I do have a problem when people show blatant hate for the country.

I hate everyone, you seem to only hate white people.

Willit, you are one of the GOPers on here that i really don't think is racist. But I still don't see how you can defend Trump on this, because he was blatantly racist.

Im not defending trump on this. that's what hilarious. I made a blanket statement, that I don't like ANYONE that hates the country - and yall fell into exactly what I thought was going to happen.

I specifically pointed out WHITE people first in my post, I specifically pointed out AMERICANS of all colors in my post to leave.

I never said a single thing about Trump, his specific comments, or anything of that nature. And then here comes the finger pointing brigade like clockwork. lol.

My case and point was made.

Re-read my post. Slowly.

Nowhere did mention trump, his comments, or anything of that nature.

And yes, I agree his comments were dumb, inappropriate, and had racial undertones to them.

See, heres whats funny. and I really want you to understand this - this for real. not trolling, not fighting, just stating.

Predictability. That's literally what Trump uses against the left, to keep his support. He knows you guys are going to start "see, all of you are racist because you voted for trump". What do you think those people are going to do, side with the left who is calling them racist and every other name in the book, or just sit there, silently, waiting to vote NOT for Trump, but against those calling them names? That's how he won, and that's how he win again. My .02

You did that in a thread condemning racism based on what Trump said this week. Maybe it's not us being confused.

And I understand the point you are trying to make in this last response, but I think most of his supporters are racist. He is obviously racist and if you can't speak out against that, then you condone it. The math is easy from that point.

I hate white racist, yes. I hate all racist.

And you give me literally no reason to ever think you posted that while Obama was president.

again, predictability. You only see what you want to see.

I LITERALLY JUST POSTED it was horrible and stupid, yet you are still there yelling at clouds "racist!"

Yes, the math is very easy. Your so blinded by hate and ignorance, you cant even see when someone is agreeing with you. SMH. Lick salt.

You can come a lot better than “lick salt”

That’s how I know you didn’t post stuff on FB under Obama. No true trash talker will ever say lick salt. Doesn’t have any sting.

welli was going to tell you lick something else, but I didn't want a ban.

And here I thought we were having a shot of tequila... Now I'm fn grossed out that you want me to lick something nasty.

When you sp[end all your time deflecting and changing the subject, then it certainly gives the impression you are defending Trump.

It's really simple - if you think Trump's tweets were racist then say so. Thanks

Wacist Wacist

Everyone and Everything is Wacist!

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Now you are making fun of people with speech impediments? No low too low.

No, I speak like the children I see constantly crying here.

Rabbi in Congresswoman Ilhan Omar’s district compares Trump rally to 'Nazi Germany'

https://www.yahoo.com/gma/rabbi-congress...-003100024.html

literally did not do that. But again your TDS and hate doesn't let you see that.

Left to right, top to bottom. Dictionary for the big words.

The real trouble we have in losing freedoms and such (i.e. anyone comparing a rally to nazi germany) comes not from the Republicans and Trump, but from Democrats.

They tried to limit speech with political correctness, now they try to limit speech by screaming 'racist' at everything said. One couldn't criticise obummer policies without being caled racist. Now they're defending antisemites by yelling racist.

what freedoms have we lost?

i keep hearing this crap from the right with no evidence to support it.

Freedom of Speech.

It is now so limited that many do not dare say what they believe.
It will cost them their jobs as the Fascists Dox, threaten, call their places of business and so on, while their media backs them up and gives them power.

Try wearing a MAGA hat or have a Trump bumper sticker on your car. The Fascists will cause you trouble.

Freedom of speech has not been limited.

Stop whining.

Maybe not in your world.

In the meantime, take a look at how the Fascists stormed ICE headquarters in Colorado, tore down the American flag, replacing it by raising the Mexican flag and then they tried to blow up the building.

Police had to shoot and kill the Antifa dude as he tried to light the gas cylinder!

sorry, i was too busy watching the fascist as the latest klan rally lead by trump.

I reject the premise of this article, and everything about it, and I am no fan of the Pornstar President.

There were plenty of people that despised Hillary too... Me included, but I could not in good conscience vote for Trump, so I wound up voting for her.

I blame the Democrats for mainlining Hillary's nomination.

I've never called you a homophobe but I have called you out for having a gay son and never once have I seen you stand up for the rights of gay people in any topic.

A lot of people use the line, "I have a black friend" but never speak out against racial inequality either.

You didn't choose for your son to be gay, but you could choose to stand on topics that would help insure his rights. I'm sure he would love to know that his dad is in his corner and speaking out for him to have the same rights as other Americans.

Said the spider to the fly.

Well let's face it, when someone thinks a business person has a right to treat someone differently than other American citizens based on that persons sexuality, then use the excuse he has a gay son as to suggest he has no issue with gay people, he just used someone's religion as an excuse to discriminate against his own son.

I'm not a big fan of people speaking out both sides of their mouth.

Lets face the truth here.

It is evil for you to play games with something so close to Arch's heart.

Shame on you.

Is this in reference to me? Or someone else?

Cause if it's to/about me, I must have missed where I said said it was okay to treat someone differently based on sexuality.

If arch would quit playing the "I have a gay son" card, I wouldn't discuss it. If he doesn't want it discussed, maybe he shouldn't bring it up?

I'm not the one who refuses to stand up for the rights of the gay community and try to make excuses for it by pulling the, "I have a gay son" card.

And if you dare question how great America actually is, and suggest it could and should be better, the President no less will tell you to leave the country. No irony or double standard here!! LOL.

So you don't think a baker should have to do business with a gay couple because his religion is more important than the rights of those who are gay? I could have sworn that you took the side of the baker.

Oh. This song and dance again. Got it.

Of course. You placed the value of religion over the equal rights of all Americans. That would include your son. I'm glad you get it now.

I didn't do anything of the sort. Thank you.

Jc

Fellow liberals,

Remember when the MAGA hatters claimed Ivanka would be the voice of reason to trump?

L

O

L

This stupid argument again? The courts already ruled for the baker.

Would it infringe the religious rights of a Muslim restaurant if you forced them to cater a gay wedding? Would it infringe on their religious rights if they were forced to serve ham?

The gay couple targeted that bakery, and the courts ruled against them. Get over it. BTW, the when's the last time you marched in a pride parade?

Oh the ham argument. Guess what? Ham isn't on the menu in a Muslim restaurant. Cake is on the menu at a bakery.

You either think every American has the right to be served the same or you believe religious rights can be used as an excuse to treat some Americans differently. It's pretty simple. And I don't care which religion you're talking about.

It seems like you advocate religion can be used as a weapon to withhold services from certain people. I disagree

That same excuse was used on black people at one time. How did that work out?

Try devout muslims with a halal menu.

I'm not even religious and I can see why.

Not sure what that means, but I know people that voted for him and support him today and I know they aren't racist.

They just think he's the savior..... Of what, I'm not sure.

Like I said, they don't have pork on the menu. Bakers do have cake on the menu.

What ever are you talking about? No one refused to bake or sell them a cake, they just refused to decorate it with anything supporting a sin.

Wake up already.

Try asking them to decorate a cake with the words, "Don't tell my wife my girlfriend is beautiful."

They will show you the door.

It's a SIN? By whos standard?

If you don't know the answer to that, well, I will pray for you.

My point is, you argued with Pit about this but he was right, it's about religion.... That shouldn't even be a consideration.

Yeah, he made the perfect example of what I was talking about.(And I NEVER thought I would say that 40 was perfect at doing anything!).... "I don't have to treat you the same as everyone else because I think it's a sin!"

Religion being used as a weapon so that certain Americans aren't given equal treatment to other Americans based on religious beliefs.

Well lets see now...

You and Pit agree while the Supreme Court and I agree.

Hmmmmmm.

Well we know you think that's all that matters. You're from the "if you don't like it go back to where you came from" crowd.

There's often times a difference between the law and what's right.

And since you know we're right, you won't even tackle the subject at hand any type of actual debate.

Why am I not surprised that you would be on the side that allows religion be used to deny "certain people" the same right of service as others?

Well, according to the Polliticaly correct Sexual Harassament workshop class:

It's harassment whenever the "harassee" feels like they don't like it,

So, By that reasoning, It's whenever the baker feels it's a sin and doesn't want to make the cake.

C'mon folks, People can get a Cake Any Freakin where!

It's a bunch of flour and icing, we're not talking about Eye Surgery.

Well I guess that's an excuse why everyone shouldn't get the same service everywhere.

But everyone does get the same service at the Bakers.

White, Black, Rich or Poor, he ain't decorating your cake with things he considers sinful according to his religious beliefs.

Which once again means you believe religion rules over equal service to all Americans. You believe religious rights are more important than all Americans being treated equally. It's okay, you've made it clear that you feel using your religious beliefs to discriminate against certain groups of people is just fine.

For me personally, yes.

For my Nation, the Law of the Land covers that and the Supreme Court supports the baker.

Why do you fight so hard against America and her Laws?

Go back where you came from!

So, you really think devout muslims would cater a gay wedding.

I'd love to see a Native American get up in your face and tell you the same thing.

I fight for what I feel is right. Just as the people who founded this nation did. I fight for what I feel is right just like those who ended slavery did. I fight for what I feel is right just like the women of this nation did to secure their right to vote. I fight for what I feel is right just like those that fought for civil rights did. That's what true Patriots do.

They don't give up and leave. They help change this nation for the better.

Only people like you and your orange God seem to lack the understanding of what being a true American is and means.

If they're caterers I think they should provide catering services for everyone. However, it would have to be items from their menu that they serve. I don't know that they would. But it's no less wrong than a baker who refuses to serve someone who requests a cake from their menu.

Businesses have the right to refuse service to people for whatever reason, for instance
you can't get into some fancy restaurants while not being dressed up, and you can't get in to some places, wearing (sneakers), tennis shoes,
and McDonalds actually follows the signs they post that say "no shirt, no shoes, no service"

There is no age limit to become a Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader, but I bet they discriminate against people who have no charisma and can't move like the others move.

BTW- I would feel the exact same way if a gay owned bakery refused to bake a cake for a Christian couple who believes being gay is a sin.

But then again, I have never heard of that happening, have you? They would be willing to bake a cake and decorate it for the very same people that may discriminate against them. Maybe true Christians could learn a lesson from that?

Really? Let's see you refuse to refuse service to someone because they are black. You know, like people used to do and some of them too used religion as their excuse.

It is quite American to fight for changing laws you think are wrong but that is not what you do.

You attack and criticize those good Americans who obey our laws and respect the laws of the land.

Wondering out loud

I wonder what would happen if a white person walked into a bakery owned by a person of color and wanted to order a cake that said "All *insert N word* should be hung from trees.

Should that owner be forced to make the cake?

or you could switch that to All Mexicans with a slur against mexicans. or all Russians, Asians, Native Americans, Democrats, or Republicans?

You mean like those who fought to change and do away with existing laws? You do realize that slavery was legal by law, right? So according to your lack of logic, anyone who fought to change the law that allowed slavery was wrong. I mean plenty of people respected and obeyed the law of slavery too.

I could go on but even you know how stupid the point is you're trying to make.

Now you're just being obtuse.

That is an excellent question and I can answer it...

The Supreme Court says the owner can show you the door.

j/c

It amazes me the amount of people that can come up with off the wall BS to excuse discriminating against someone based on their sexuality by weaponizing religion. And people wonder why younger people are walking away from religion in droves. Some of you only have yourselves to blame.

It's hard for people to follow God when they can't see what God is supposed to stand for in his followers.

No I was being honest.

It is not discrimination against others or weaponizing religion.

It is however, the right to live your life by your own beliefs given you by a higher authority.

So far the democrats field no viable candidates for a national election in my mind. I mean your guys' candidates are so darn left that you don't have any moderates. A TON of people said if there was a better democrat candidate that came along they'd vote for that person. Since there isn't, they will most likely vote Trump.

As if anybody needed any proof that it was never about “I just couldn’t let Hillary be president”

I love you guys with your fake moral compasses. Just admit you’re a diehard republican and be done with it. Y’all lose more respect pretending to be independents by the day.

Trump will always be the rights response to the first black president. A bigoted, racist, sexist, con man, who represents the conservative base in its true nature.

I will always laugh at the people who keep claiming that was the reason they voted for trump. Always.

A big, freaking, hilarious lie.

If they actually believe in the things they claim to stand for......

Christian values, family values and morality, they could never vote for someone who has spit in the face of all of their values.

The man lies like nobody I have ever seen. And they know it. Multiple times on a daily basis. He spreads hate and division. Cheating on all three wives hits both family and Christian values. He's pond scum.

But they'll claim to care about all of those supposed values while they vote for him anyway.

I'm really surprised you consider this a serious question, but okay.

So you don't see the difference between the question you're asking and denying a person service due to who they marry? My point is discriminating because of someone's sexuality. Because of who they are.

And you don't see the difference here?

This is the reason I call them Kristyunz... because there is absolutely nothing Christ-like about them or their behavior(s).

Why do you feel the need to respond to the straw man argument?

The supreme court exists because laws sometimes step on each others toes. The United States Code has something like 54 volumes, each containing tens of thousands of pages. State Laws can be similarly numerous. The role of the Supreme Court is to help handle "tiebreakers", it's that simple.

If GM wants to know if his straw man is good, he should tell us when he goes in to bake a cake with those words, and how his lawsuit goes when the cake owner says no way. Or maybe he'll find a baker who will actually do it

Because GM and I have been friends both on and off the board for a very long time.

GM was on the board back when people posted on stone tablets

Your type of attitude supports why I will vote for Trump in 2020.

And I will cancel your vote with mine.
I'll consider it a public service.

Why? Because Swish has just nailed at least 40% of 45's base, along with their motivation(s)... and you just proved him right.

It will be an honor turning your vote into dust.
Others can thank me later.
You don't need to say anything.

But you were already a hater so his vote wipes out yours.

But my Trump vote still smells like victory. Again.

I'll lump you right in with him then. Same arrogant, modern, democrat know it all attitude when you actually don't know a damn thing.

Your attitude and over confidence will be why you lose again. You didn't learn from last time in 2016 and STILL don't understand why you lost, which is mind blowing to me. Your party is a shell of what it used to be. Its been hijacked by socialists.

If you have read the Progressive thread where the guys on the left aren't interested in working together for the nation and instead want to categorize all folks from a certain class into one.........then you might want to read it because your opinion might change as to whose vote will be dust.

I am not voting for anyone who doesn't respect me and others like me. And bro, there are a ton of people just like me. We want to help. We want to cooperate. But, don't expect us to say look away while those folks urinate on our shoes.

You wanna war w/us? Good freaking luck!

Last time I checked, 'victory' didn't smell like I was standing downwind of a feed lot.

You mistake what I say to tasty as some sort of attack on you or your sensibilities.

Read his posts before judging me. He's not interested in dialogue, so he gets the opposite of dialogue.

I'm all for cooperation and conversation, but I'm not wasting my time on those who are already nose-deep up Trumps sweaty jock strap. It's the same reason people like 40¢ get nothing but snark and shade from me these days. I gave them all a fair shake in the early days. Squandered opportunities run them out of re-do's after awhile.

I've been here at PP a lot longer than you, my friend. I know these people, because they've already shown me who they are for years.

Please do not presume to preach to me in this fashion, or I may end up feeling about you the same way I now feel about someone I used to consider a friend. He and I will not be finding our way back to each other anytime soon, and I'd hate for us to end up the same way.

If you can't discern my troll posts from my sincere ones, PM me with a question first before making things public. I'll answer honestly. Take me on in public, and things will not go well. At all.

Aight. Do what you gotta do.

jc

i swear to god there are some straight up beta males on this board. i mean we got grown ass men claiming that random dudes on DT is what will make them vote for trump again in 2020. we got dudes claiming they won't vote for certain candidates based on what some of their supporters say.

Thats like saying you won't support MLK because some of his supporters werent nice to you. i mean thats some straight up baby back......you know what lemme stop because i know the refs have been playing hot potato with the ban hammer when it comes to me today.

at the end of the day, a lot of you say one thing, but do another. you claimed you wanted somebody who loved and respected the military, a patriot, so you voted for a draft dodger who disrespected a good star family and claimed McCain wasn't a hero, sucks up to dictators and authoritarian figures, and funneled funds raised for vets into his campaign accounts.

you claimed you wanted a christian man back in office, so you voted for a guy who has 5 kids by 3 different women, cheated on all of them, one with an adult film star and playboy bunny, called his political opponents who were women derogatory names while campaigning, and can't even name passages in the bible to begin with.

i can go on and on and on with the blatant displays of hypocrisy and throwing away the so called "Values" you conservatives claimed you have.

this guy has emboldened the straight up scum of this country. he has made the white nationalist, klan, nazi's, and alt-right losers feel empowered to spread their hate for those who don't look like them completely out in public.

the guy is literally funneling OUR tax money into his personal bank accounts by constantly going to his personal properties, forcing agencies to buy services and equipment at his businesses in order to provide security. of course he doesn't take his 400k a year salary. he's making MILLIONS the other way.

but the beta males on this board will go "it doesn't matter if he's taking our money swish, you're being a big ole meanie and i dont like it!!!"

what a bunch of soft ass crap. if your ability to vote or not vote for a candidate is based on what someone attitude on a message board/social media account toward you, that is literally proof that you are a danger to the public at large.

my support for Mayor Pete, or Warren, is not based on what jules or rocket or anyone else thinks. its about what I think about their policies. just because i might get into a beef with OCD doesnt mean i will stop supporting sanders if he's going 1 vs 1 against trump. my support for mayor pete isn't based on jules and i's disagreement on whether he's electable.

its simply immature to think like that.

"omg liberals are being mean so im forced to vote for a racist"

"omg swish is being a big jerk so now i wanna vote for roy moore"

lol...man WHAT?

so disappointing. so, so, so disappointing.

Good one.

I'm strong enough to not vote w/a group of people that preaches hate and resorts to insulting those who are not like them.

You go on w/your "alpha" self and see where it gets you.

its gotten me quite far, thanks.

It was about as much of a compliment as you calling me "feminine." Dude, no way in the world would you say that to my face. Zero chance.

I don't understand, what difference would your getting hurt do?

i absolutely would.

Correct.

Right.

If I remember the whole thing correctly (and please correct me if I am wrong) The Baker did not refuse to sell them a cake. He refused to decorate it the way they wanted. I don't agree with him BUT if he feels that it's against his religion he should not have to do it.

Thus began my penchant for one line posts and no spell check.

As I said, it was because of who they were. Because of their sexuality. That is the point where religion is being used as a tool of discrimination.

You favor religion being used that way. I side that people shouldn't be able to use religion as a tool to discriminate against others. We just disagree here.

and I believe people should not be able to discriminate against others because of their religion.

But your right we just disagree.

So it was the baker who was discriminated against? Did his customers refuse to conduct their business profession with the baker?

Don't know why people bother to post. It's the same BS all the time anyways. No one voted for Trump because of his Christian values. They voted for him because the only other option was the traitor Hillary. A woman so vile that if you could stomach to vote for her then you just love evil people period. So just stop with the insults to Christians just because Liberals failed to produce someone worthy of voting for.

Something liberals don't understand is that as Americans we are FREE. That means we don't have to care about your identity politics where you segregate and discriminate against those who don't think the way you like.

I get that you want to enslave business owners and force them to make a product that goes against their beliefs but thankfully the Supreme court has upheld that American still have some religious freedom left. The Baker won his day in court for good reason. If you don't like how a business is run then don't go there or buy their services. These armies of lawsuits to ruin businesses that liberals don't like just goes to show they KNOW people don't agree with them and they can't trust the public to side with them to boycott the business.

Just be honest and accept that both sides will never agree with each other and leave each other in peace.

Washington (CNN)The Supreme Court ruled in favor of a Colorado baker who refused to bake a cake to celebrate the marriage of a same sex couple because of a religious objection.
The ruling was 7-2.
The court held that the Colorado Civil Rights Commission showed hostility toward the baker based on his religious beliefs. The ruling is a win for baker Jack Phillips, who cited his beliefs as a Christian, but leaves unsettled broader constitutional questions on religious liberty.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/04/politics/...ourt/index.html

So you use the law to make your case. But when marijuana wasn't legal you felt the law was wrong. Just because something is law doesn't make it right. Unless of course you agree with it.

Back on topic: Trump is a racists POS.

I am saying the law agreed with the Baker. Not saying it made my case. Common sense already made my case.

I still feel the law on marijuana is wrong, as is the law on legal abortions, and many, many other laws, as I am sure you will agree with me that many laws are wrong in our opinions.

GOP challenger Bill Weld: Trump is a "raging racist"

Washington (CNN)Former Massachusetts governor and longshot candidate for the Republican nomination for president Bill Weld levied a series of attacks against his primary opponent, President Donald Trump, dubbing him a "raging racist."

"Donald Trump is a raging racist, Okay? He's a complete and thoroughgoing racist. And he made that choice, a choice a long time ago, when he was engaged in the housing business in New York with his father," Weld said, speaking at the NAACP convention in Detroit on Wednesday.

He added: "The national Republican Party, has a choice. And a lot of them like to think that it's a political choice. But it's not a political choice. It's a moral choice."

"Unless the Republican Party in Washington expressly, expressly rejects the racism of Donald Trump, they're going to come to be universally viewed as the party of racism in America," the long-shot challenger to Trump said.

Weld's comments come a week after Trump lodged racist attacks at Democratic Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, Illhan Omar of Minnesota and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts when he tweeted that they should "go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came."

The tweets were widely condemned by congressional Democrats and some Republicans, and the House passed a resolution condemning the racist language Trump used.

Weld, the former two-term Republican governor of Massachusetts, officially announced his primary challenge to Trump in April, making him the President's only Republican opponent so far in the 2020 election. In 2016, Weld was the vice presidential nominee on the Libertarian Party ticket with former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson.

Weld is a staunch critic of the President, telling CNN's Jake Tapper on "The Lead" in April that it would be a "political tragedy" and he would "fear for the Republic" if the country had six more years of Trump as president.

And, prodded by the release of a redacted version of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, Weld ratcheted up his rhetoric against the President, calling for his resignation.

"If Donald Trump is an American patriot, he should resign from office," Weld wrote in an op-ed published in The Bulwark, an online platform that publishes conservative commentary, in April.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/25/politics/bill-weld-donald-trump-raging-racist-naacp/index.html

Don't pee yourself gramps

And that statement right there should scare the crap out of every American. We can now refuse somebody their liberty using theological religious beliefs. Smh. I’m not sure but doesn’t the KKK claim they are a religion?

This might help.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

As I said when the cake mess all started, who's rights are more important? The baker and his guarantee of free exersise of his religion, or the gay couple to buy a wedding cake and specifically went to that baker.

I don't know what other laws might apply - but any person of religion who is in a business enterprise has the potential to infringe others rights by denying their services to potential customers based on their beliefs.

If they are 'forced' to serve all customer's equally regardless of religion - then their 'liberty' or right to follow their religion is not being infringed upon ... they can follow their religion to their hearts content, just not run a business where they serve the public. Serve all equally regardless of religion - or do not start a business.

On the other hand if all businesses are free to run their business and discriminate against anyone and everyone based on their religious beliefs .... then potentially you can infringe the rights of many 'customers', everyday, all day, all the time.

Whichever side of the coin you come down on - someone is being 'infringed upon' to some extent. Personally I would put the onus on the person of religion - if you want to follow your faith, don't own a business which puts you into alleged conflict with customers ... as for people who are supposed to believe in God who want to not love 'everyone' - I find that disturbing. Reminds me of a good friend whose kids opened the door to some religious door to door knockers .... the door knocker asked the kids "what does God mean to you" and the 6 year old replied "love I guess" .... and the door knocker said, "No that's not right child...." the mother had arrived by that time and said, ok you can leave. (and the mother of the household was very religious)

And those establishments can potentially go out of business. As I recall, this baker had Christian crosses in his sign, so he was advertising his faith. There were plenty other bakers in the area. No where have I ever heard a business was forced to do business with a customer they don't want.

Not all Christians are bigots who are stupid enough to think God will burn them in hell for baking and decorating a frickin' cake. But some are.

And that dumb ass line about, "There are other bakers out there".

Yeah, there were other open seats on the bus when Rosa Parks sat in the front of the bus. There were other places to eat when three black guys sat at a whites only lunch counter at Woolworths.

You obviously didn't learn anything about the fight for civil rights did you?

Recent history might be a good starting point for you.

J/C

I am not sure why we are still arguing over a baker and the cake, when the SCOTUS has already ruled who is and was right on the issue. Just Sayin...

Laws get overturned all the time. Laws get created all the time.

As with people of color, it won't be long until those will be protected regardless of their sexual orientation. It's coming, like it or not.

Laws might. Amendments have been overturned once. I doubt religious freedom will ever take a backseat.

That's what they said before civil rights was enacted.

When ‘Religious Liberty’ Was Used To Justify Racism Instead Of Homophobia

“Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, malay and red, and he placed them on separate continents. And but for the interference with his arrangement there would be no cause for such marriages. The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix.”

— Judge Leon M. Bazile, January 6, 1959

https://thinkprogress.org/when-religious...a-67bc973c4042/

It didn't work then and it shouldn't work now.

So, should conciencious objectors, quakers, jehovas witnesses, amish, and others be forced to serve in the military?

That has nothing to do with being able to deny people the same good and services as everyone else based on color or sexuality.

Here is where you don't understand, no laws were made or broken. that's the point.

It was not discriminatory against them, as they were not refused a cake, they were refused his art that comes from his religious freedoms.

If they were refused a simple vanilla cake - the other side would have had a leg to stand on.

However you can put ifs and buts in one hand, and crap in the other, and see which one gets filled up first.

Doesn't change the fact you are arguing he broke the law, when there wasn't a law to break. The only thing in this case that would have broke the law, was forcing the baker to make art on the cake.

The highest court in all the world agrees with me.

You have a few posters on a message board that agree with you.

Take this L

Oh yes it does. Those people get exceptions due to their religious beliefs. This is because their religion extends beyond their church to their lives. They live their religion.

I'm sure that if the dems ever get their dream of a one party system, they will remove ask those pesky rights you complain about, but for right now, those people of religion are protected by law.

Where did I say anyone broke the law? I said that I believe the law is wrong. I said that laws get overturned and changed all the time.

Decorating a cake is a service that bakery's provide. Religion is being used a s a weapon to deny gay people that same service due to their sexual orientation.

Religion was used as an excuse why black people should not get equal service as well. It was wrong then and it's wrong now.

What exactly are they denying other people?

The point seems to go right over your head. I believe people should have religious rights and freedoms. Up until the point their beliefs infringe on the rights of other Americans.

No one is forced to serve.
It's the very definition of volunteer army.

I think you might have been able to find a better talking point with a little more effort.

It is now. It hadn't always been.

The point is going over yours. Let's change your statement. I believe gays should have rights and freedoms, up until it their rights infringe on the freedoms of other Americans.

Once again, this is "who's rights are right?" The scotus chose religious freedom.

You do realize things change, right?

Did you miss the post where people used religious freedom to discriminate against black people too?

I guess you would have stood on the side of religious freedom then too.

Or did black people step on the rights of religious freedom when they fought for equal treatment?

I've read passages in the bible against homosexual acts. I don't recall the same about color of people. A Christian will always have that to reference.

In the Old Testament? The book for the Jews?

I must have missed the part about decorating a cake.

We are all sinners. Did you miss that part? So I guess if the baker doesn't serve sinners, he's out of business.

Leviticus and romans, as I recall. Don't most Christians follow both old and new testaments?

Actually most Christians eat pork, so no.

So you missed the part where we're all sinners?

Yeah even the anti-semites and anti-Christians elected DEMS in congress are protected by the law.... wheres the outrage by the the left

Everyone should be protected from people making excuses to discriminate against them.

HaHa that is hilarious calling openly anti semetic,anti americans. anti Christians victims WOW,A new low from you

Interesting.

I am the person you used to consider a friend.

I disagreed with you, on a lot. I agreed with you often - on non political things. And in your opinion, that separated us. That's fine. I'm not preaching, I'm stating fact.

Perhaps you don't, or didn't, know me as well as you thought you did. That is not my fault.

You speak of people that are nose deep in Trumps sweaty jock..........???

No, sir, you didn't, and don't know me like you think you did.

Outrage over 'offensive' black dolls designed to be abused

https://au.news.yahoo.com/outrage-over-o...-025148981.html

WTF

Take a deep breath, little sjw snowflake.

There is absolutely nothing racist or hateful about some little yarn dolls that just happen to look like Jim Crow/pickaninny/coon caricatures. Yarn dolls designed to be bashed and mutilated. These dolls are for therapeutic purposes, promoting good mental health by giving people a constructive outlet for all those natural impulses that 'polite society' shuns.

Jeebus. Try to have a little harmless fun, and there's always some jerk who just has to toss his turd in the punch bowl.

Put your whistle away, race cop- this isn't racist because there's no such thing as racism at all.

smdh.

OCD knows more about being Black and Racism than you will ever know!

Let me see if I have this right: Somehow, this doll is the fault of all white people?

You do not have this right.

Where do you come up with this stuff?
"All White people" is your invention.

I simply made the absurdist/sarcastic claim that there is no such thing as racism of any sort.

I think you just felt compelled to pipe up because of....





Malcolm Gladwell was right: satire often fails because it actually requires something from its audience.

Yea, it is hard to nail satire. As George Carlin said, think about how dumb the average American is, then realize that half of all Americans are dumber than that...

This makes me mad. I know I give black people crap for the constant whining, but this is legit offensive and whoever made it should spend a few weeks in jail for hate crimes.

Satire also requires something from the author. You were lacking.

Don't blame me if the joke was written at NBA regulation while you were standing in a 10-ft hole.

pfffft.

He just doesn't appreciate our sense of humor Clem. Yesterday it was me and today it's you.

I bet he thinks Tim Allan is funny though. But then again I do too.

Clem, you have to be almost over the top ridiculous to make proper satire. Your rant missed that.

Now ,if you had stated that you were taking the case of the pickaninny beating doll before the supreme court to seek the extermination of all white seamstresses, that would have been satire.

Pitt, it's more sarcasm than satire. Trust me, if you say anything funny on the board in the next few years, I'll quote it and admit it's funny.

You don't recognize funny when you see it. So nobody really cares about your opinion in concern to what's funny.

Not hard at all. You simply take the ridiculous, and present it as seriously as a campaign speech. As I said, it was more sarcasm than satire.

That depends on who is giving the speech. Now if it's the same guy that lies several times during every speech, then..... who can really take it seriously?

Please name me one politician that hasn't lied on every speech.

Well if you honestly hold that view then I don't understand how you are so strongly opinioined (evidently) against the position of the proverbial Baker.

And if people don't like Christians who refuse to decorate a () message on a cake, change the scenario to askinga a Muslim baker to bake an image of mohamud on that cake, because Muslim's still murder people who make imgaes of Mohamud, ask Salmon Rushti.

But since you hold the view that people should be protected from people making excuses to discriminate against them, you should understand,

The baker mustn't be asked to take the Lord's name in Vain on the decoration,
Neither be forced to murder because the government forces them, or to bake a cake for a murderer, or any other type of criminal behavior
like a thief, or a burgurlar, or in any other way deny their sincerely held religious beliefs

Unless someone has a relationship with God, they might not understand the extreme violation it is to hypothetically
ask an Amish person to shave, Force an Amish person to shave their beard,
or Force a Jesuit to drink alcohol
or Force a person to work on the Sabbath,

One might as well agree the gov't would be right to force them to commit whatever the most Heinious act a brain could imagine, because in principle it's the same thing.

If the Government can force a baker to bake a sacrilelegous cake, then hypothetically the Mayans can force people to walk their children through the fire,
and the hindus can force women to be put on their husbands funeral pire.

Because as long as you deny someone their religion, you denied someone their life.

But as you said, everyone should be protected from people making excuses to discriminate against them.

Which I think we largely have in the USA today,

Unless the person discriminated against is someone, like me.

Err, there is some descriminaton going on against Latino immigrants today, and that's unfortunate, I've stated my position on that, there is more we need to be doing about that.

CNN anchor Victor Blackwell chokes up on air after Trump rips ‘infested’ Baltimore

Don’t cry for me... Baltimore?



A CNN anchor got choked up on air Saturday after President Trump ripped Rep. Elijah Cummings and the city, calling it “a disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess.”

“Donald Trump has tweeted more than 43,000 times. He’s insulted thousands of people, many different types of people. But when he tweets about infestation, it’s about black and brown people,” Victor Blackwell said.

“The president says about Congressman Cummings’ district that no human would want to live there,” Blackwell continued.

“You know who did, Mr. President? I did, from the day I was brought home from the hospital to the day I left for college, and a lot of people I care about still do.”

It’s far from the first time the president’s words have triggered waterworks on CNN. Morning host Alisyn Camerota needed a tissue in January 2018 when discussing the president’s remarks on “s–thole countries.”

“I don’t know why this one makes me so emotional,” Camerota said.

https://nypost.com/2019/07/27/cnn-anchor...sted-baltimore/

Sen. Sylvia Allen Warns the U.S. Will Soon 'Look Like South American Countries'

Arizona State Senator Sylvia Allen — speaking at a Republican event this month — expressed concern that the United States is "going to look like South American countries very quickly," warning that new immigrants will not be able to "assimilate" at the rate that they are arriving.

Allen made her remarks during a July 15 event commemorating "Mormon Political Pioneers" at the Arizona Republican Party headquarters in Phoenix.

Phoenix New Times obtained audio of Allen's comments on Thursday, the full version of which is posted at the bottom of this page. In a text message, Allen told New Times that her comments on assimilation were inspired by a study from a University of North Carolina professor.

"I said we needed to be able to control our immigration process so that we have time to assimilate people into our society and economic system. Jobs, housing, education, and health care," she said. "Plus to be able to teach them about the American form of government. That's all there was to it."

Allen cited the same professor again in response to follow-up questions regarding her comments about South American countries, a reference she made to declining white birthrates, and a criticism of Democratic State Senator Martín Quezada.

During a rambling, 25-minute speech peppered with religious and autobiographical references, Allen expressed a worldview that the founding principles of the United States are under attack by feminists, secularists, and immigrants.

Allen's discussion of assimilation occurred near the end of her speech, following a reference to Dr. James Johnson, a business professor at the University of North Carolina who studies demographics.

"Another thing that Dr. Johnson talked about is the 'Browning of America,'" Allen said. "That America is fast becoming ... we're going to look like South American countries very quickly."

Allen, a Snowflake resident who represents a legislative district comprising parts of Coconino, Gila, Yavapai, and Navajo counties, raised alarm over the declining birth rates of whites in the United States.

"The median age of a white woman is 43. The median age of a Hispanic woman is 27," Allen said. "We are not reproducing ourselves, the birthrates. But here's what I see is the issue. It's because of immigration."

Johnson has been widely cited for his work identifying six ongoing demographic changes in the U.S, including population growth in the South, increasing interracial marriage, longer life expectancy, declining economic prospects for men, a rise in children living with grandparents, and immigration-driven population change that he calls "the Browning of America."

Allen expressed fears that the United States does not have the resource capacity for new immigrants. She also cautioned that immigrants are arriving at a rate that does not allow them to learn "the principles of our country."

"We have a right as a country to have people coming in an organized manner, so we know who are coming. So we can have jobs for them. So we can provide education for them, and health care, and all these things that people need," Allen said. "We can't provide that when people are just flooding us and flooding us and flooding us and overwhelming us so we don't have time to teach them the principles of our country any more than we're teaching our children today."

Allen's interpretation of Johnson's research does not align with how he presents it in public lectures. In frequent talks to business groups, Dr. Johnson describes the trend of increasing immigration from Hispanic countries as a reality that the U.S. will need to adapt to if it wants to maintain its "competitiveness in the global marketplace."

In a 2013 lecture to the National Entrepreneur Center in Florida, Johnson disputed the notion that immigrants place a burden on society. He distinguished between the "fiscal impact" of immigrants, such as healthcare and education costs, with the "economic impact," which factors in the spending power of immigrants and other benefits.

"There are these spin-off jobs that wouldn't be there if you didn't have the immigrant. They are paying taxes. They spend money goods and services," Johnson said. "If you shut down the borders and run everybody home, what happens to the immigration attorney? They ain't got no money. They're out of a job. And everything he spends on goes down the tube."

In her speech, Allen also made a reference to her colleague Quezada.

"When Senator Quezada says we don't want to assimilate, then what do you want? What do you plan for America to look like in 10 years? What kind of form of government are we going to live under in 10 years?"

After listening to a copy of the July 15 audio, Quezada told New Times he could not say for certain what remarks of his Allen was referring to. But Quezada pointed to tweets he sent two weeks prior in which he advocated for "acculturation" of immigrants over "assimilation."

Quezada was referring to comments by a Democratic presidential candidate, who explained in an interview that he did not grow up speaking Spanish due to a legacy in which the language was "looked down upon."

"Some of us have been victimized by this nation's culture of forced assimilation rather than acculturation," Quezada wrote on Twitter on July 1. "Some of our families were able to pass on aspects of our culture like language. Others were beaten in school for speaking native or indigenous languages."

Quezada compared Allen's remarks to those of former Republican State Representative David Stringer, who famously called immigration an "existential threat" and decried that there "aren't enough white kids to go around" in Arizona public schools.

"This is David Stringer all over again. It was very much Stringer-esque, in the tone and perspective she has on immigrants," Quezada said. "It’s insulting, to say the least."

Stringer's comments on immigration — which were widely publicized in June 2018 — led top Republican officials to call for his resignation. He eventually vacated his seat in March over revelations that he was arrested in Baltimore in the '80s for allegedly molesting underage teenage boys.

Prior to her comments on immigration, Allen used her speech to rehash her opposition to an Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), the proposed constitutional amendment that would guarantee equal rights regardless of sex. During the most recent legislative session, the Arizona Legislature rejected the ERA for the third time in three years.

Allen repeated her earlier criticism that the ERA refers to "sex," rather than "gender," before launching into a broader criticism of feminism. What's really hurting society, Allen said, is the decline of the patriarchy.

She cited research by Johnson showing that women are enrolling in college at greater rates than men, and that men accounted for most of the job loss during the 2008 recession.

"We have been taught in our society that the patriarchal order is horrible and awful for children, going after our families and destroying our families. That is the basis of our foundation of society. You destroy the family, you destroy the society. And we are working overtime to destroy our society," Allen said. "Our boys are struggling to know how to be men. This feminist movement is not doing favors for us, at all."

A charter school owner, Allen was first elected to the Arizona State Senate about a decade ago, representing District 5 from 2008 to 2012. She joined the Legislature again in 2014 as a District 6 senator and has twice won re-election.

Allen previously drew headlines in 2015 for saying that Arizona should consider adopting a law that would require mandatory church service. "Probably we should be debating a bill requiring every American to attend a church of their choice on Sunday to see if we can get back to having a moral rebirth," Allen said.

In 2009, speaking in support of uranium mining, Allen falsely claimed the Earth was 6,000 years old.

Listen to the full audio of Sylvia Allen's July 15 remarks below:


https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/ari...-hotel-11328235


The article contains audio voice clips of the woman. This video shows her talking about mandatory church for Americans...

Student group says Harvard 'woefully' failed to address racist messages

Four students, including two who are black, notified school officials they received messages with comments including "we all hate u" and ''you know you don't belong here."

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — An association of black students at Harvard Law School says the university "woefully failed to act" after four students received offensive emails and text messages from an anonymous sender.

The Harvard Black Law Students Association issued a statement Friday criticizing the school after it was unable to determine who sent the "hateful, racist and sexist" messages, and after officials refused to share details of an investigation with students who received the messages.

Four students, including two who are black, notified school officials this year that they had separately received messages with comments including "we all hate u," ''you know you don't belong here" and "youre just here because of affirmative action."

Harvard officials say the case was investigated by university police, information technology officials and an outside law firm hired by the school, but they have been unable to determine who was behind the messages.

"Sadly, the realities of technology sometimes permit those who commit such acts to evade detection, and we are disappointed that we were unable to identify who is responsible despite our efforts along multiple fronts," a Harvard Law School spokesman said in a statement.

The student group believes the messages came from another student or students, but Harvard officials say that has not been confirmed. The group says the messages were sent from "retailer display phones" and two anonymous Gmail accounts.

Part of the dispute arises from a request to share details of Harvard's investigation. The four students say Harvard officials promised to provide the findings of the investigation but have refused to do so. Harvard officials say student privacy laws prohibit them from sharing the findings.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/stu...ssages-n1035376

Baliwhore is a rat infested city. It has been for about 200 or so years. Their favorite son, Edgar Allen Poe, was killed by rabies, probably contracted from a rat bite. How the media gets from rats to black and brown people, I don't know. They must be racist.

Yeah double down on those hate pants. You wear them so well.

Do I hate the shining sewer on the Chesapeake? Yes. Trump refered to rats and rodents, of which that city has plenty. A black reporter decided to equate that to black and brown people. Tell me, where's the hate coming from?

I wonder why he never says anything negative like that about poor, southern, white communities with the same problems?

I'm sure you never wondered that though.

Mexico Agrees to Pay for Trump’s Psychiatric Care

By Andy Borowitz

MEXICO CITY (The Borowitz Report)—Hoping to resolve the seemingly intractable conflict over immigration, Mexico surprised the world on Thursday by agreeing to pay for Donald J. Trump’s psychiatric care.

Speaking to reporters, the Mexican President, Enrique Peña Nieto, said that he had authorized funding for the psychiatry and proclaimed, “Work on Donald Trump could begin tomorrow.”

Peña Nieto displayed several photographs showing prototypes of therapists, including a bearded Freudian analyst who he said came highly recommended.

While some Mexican taxpayers argued that a full course of psychiatric treatment could prove more costly than a border wall, Peña Nieto warned against skimping on such a necessary expense.

“When the safety and security of the world is at stake, eight hundred dollars an hour is a bargain,” he said, but added that Mexico would try to find a therapist who takes insurance.

https://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/mexico-agrees-to-pay-for-trumps-psychiatric-care

There's some quality satire for ya!

We are African Americans, we are patriots, and we refuse to sit idly by

This op-ed is co-signed by 149 African Americans who served in the Obama administration.

This post has been updated.

We’ve heard this before. Go back where you came from. Go back to Africa. And now, “send her back.” Black and brown people in America don’t hear these chants in a vacuum; for many of us, we’ve felt their full force being shouted in our faces, whispered behind our backs, scrawled across lockers, or hurled at us online. They are part of a pattern in our country designed to denigrate us as well as keep us separate and afraid.

As 149 African Americans who served in the last administration, we witnessed firsthand the relentless attacks on the legitimacy of President Barack Obama and his family from our front-row seats to America’s first black presidency. Witnessing racism surge in our country, both during and after Obama’s service and ours, has been a shattering reality, to say the least. But it has also provided jet-fuel for our activism, especially in moments such as these.

We stand with congresswomen Ilhan Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley and Rashida Tlaib, as well as all those currently under attack by President Trump, along with his supporters and his enablers, who feel deputized to decide who belongs here — and who does not. There is truly nothing more un-American than calling on fellow citizens to leave our country — by citing their immigrant roots, or ancestry, or their unwillingness to sit in quiet obedience while democracy is being undermined.

We are proud descendants of immigrants, refugees and the enslaved Africans who built this country while enduring the horrors of its original sin. We stand on the soil they tilled, and march in the streets they helped to pave. We are red-blooded Americans, we are patriots, and we have plenty to say about the direction this country is headed. We decry voter suppression. We demand equitable access to health care, housing, quality schools and employment. We welcome new Americans with dignity and open arms. And we will never stop fighting for the overhaul of a criminal-justice system with racist foundations.

We come from Minnesota and Michigan. The Bronx and Baton Rouge. Florida and Philadelphia. Cleveland and the Carolinas. Atlanta and Nevada. Oak-town and the Chi. We understand our role in this democracy, and respect the promise of a nation built by, for and of immigrants. We are part of that tradition, and have the strength to both respect our ancestors from faraway lands and the country we all call home.

Our love of country lives in these demands, and our commitment to use our voices and our energy to build a more perfect union. We refuse to sit idly by as racism, sexism, homophobia and xenophobia are wielded by the president and any elected official complicit in the poisoning of our democracy. We call on local, state and congressional officials, as well as presidential candidates to articulate their policies and strategies for moving us forward as a strong democracy, through a racial-equity lens that prioritizes people over profit. We will continue to support candidates for local, state and federal office who add more diverse representation to the dialogue and those who understand the importance of such diversity when policymaking here in our country and around the world. We ask all Americans to be a good neighbor by demonstrating anti-racist, environmentally friendly, and inclusive behavior toward everyone in your everyday interactions.

The statesman Frederick Douglass warned, “The life of a nation is secure only while the nation is honest, truthful and virtuous.” This nation has neither grappled with nor healed from the horrors of its origins. It is time to advance that healing process now through our justice, economic, health and political systems.

Expect to hear more from us. We plan to leave this country better than we found it. This is our home.

Saba Abebe, former special assistant, Office of Economic Impact and Diversity, Energy Department

Tsehaynesh Abebe, former adviser, U.S. Agency for International Development

David Adeleye, former policy specialist, White House

Bunmi Akinnusotu, former special assistant, Office of Land and Emergency Management, Environmental Protection Agency

Trista Allen, former senior adviser to the regional administrator, General Services Administration

Maria Anderson, former operations assistant, White House

Karen Andre, former White House liaison, Department of Housing and Urban Development

Caya Lewis Atkins, former counselor for science and public health, Department of Health and Human Services

Roy L. Austin Jr., former deputy assistant to the president, White House Domestic Policy Council

Kevin Bailey, former special assistant, White House; senior policy adviser, Treasury Department

Jumoke Balogun, former adviser to the secretary, Labor Department

Diana Banks, former deputy assistant secretary, Defense Department

Desiree N. Barnes, former adviser to the press secretary, White House

Kevin F. Beckford, former special adviser, Department of Housing and Urban Development

Alaina Beverly, former associate director, Office of Urban Affairs, White House

Saba Bireda, former senior counsel, Office for Civil Rights, Education Department

Vincent H. Bish Jr., former special assistant to the assistant secretary of strategic program management, Department of Health and Human Services

Michael Blake, former director for African American, minority and women business enterprises and county and statewide elected officials, White House

Tenicka Boyd, former special assistant, Office of Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, Education Department

Tanya Bradsher, former assistant secretary for public affairs, Department of Homeland Security

Stacey Brayboy, former chief of staff, Office of the Chief Financial Officer, Agriculture Department

Allyn Brooks-LaSure, former deputy associate administrator for external affairs, Environmental Protection Agency

Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, former director of coverage policy, Office of Health Reform, Department of Health and Human Services

Quincy K. Brown, former senior policy adviser, Office of Science and Technology Policy, White House

Taylor Campbell, former director of correspondence systems innovation, White House

Crystal Carson, former chief of staff to the director of communications, White House

Genger Charles, former general deputy assistant secretary for the Office of Housing, Federal Housing Administration, Department of Housing and Urban Development

Glorie Chiza, former associate director, Office of Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs, White House

Sarah Haile Coombs, special assistant, Department of Health and Human Services

Michael Cox, former special assistant to the assistant secretary for intergovernmental affairs, Commerce Department

Adria Crutchfield, former director of external affairs, Federal Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force, Department of Housing and Urban Development

Joiselle Cunningham, former special adviser, Office of the Secretary, Education Department

Charlotte Flemmings Curtis, former special adviser for White House initiatives, Corporation for National and Community Service

Kareem Dale, former special assistant to the president for disability policy, White House

Ashlee Davis, former White House liaison, Agriculture Department

Marco A. Davis, former deputy director, White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics

Russella L. Davis-Rogers, former chief of staff, Office of Strategic Partnerships, Department of Education

Tequia Hicks Delgado, former senior adviser for congressional engagement and legislative relations, Office of Legislative Affairs, White House

Kalisha Dessources Figures, former policy adviser, White House Council on Women and Girls

Leek Deng, former special assistant, Bureau for Global Health, U.S. Agency for International Development

Tene Dolphin, former chief of staff, Economic Development Administration, Commerce Department

Monique Dorsainvil, former deputy chief of staff, Office of Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs, White House

Joshua DuBois, former executive director, Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships; former special assistant to the president, White House

Dru Ealons, former director, Office of Public Engagement, Environmental Protection Agency

Rosemary Enobakhare, former deputy associate administrator for public engagement and environmental education, Environmental Protection Agency

Karen Evans, former assistant director and policy adviser, Office of Cabinet Affairs, White House

Clarence J. Fluker, former deputy associate director for national parks and youth engagement, White House Council on Environmental Quality

Heather Foster, former public engagement adviser and director of African American affairs, White House

Kalina Francis, former special adviser, Office of Public Affairs, Treasury Department

Matthew “Van” Buren Freeman, former senior adviser, Minority Business Development Agency, Commerce Department

Cameron French, former deputy assistant secretary for public affairs, Department of Housing and Urban Development

Jocelyn Frye, former deputy assistant to the president and director of policy and special projects for the first lady, White House

Bernard Fulton, former deputy assistant secretary for congressional relations, Department of Housing and Urban Development

Stephanie Gaither, former confidential assistant to the deputy director, Office of Management and Budget, White House

Demetria A. Gallagher, former senior adviser for policy and inclusive innovation, Commerce Department

Lateisha Garrett, former White House liaison, National Endowment for the Humanities

W. Cyrus Garrett, former special adviser to the director of counternarcotics enforcement, Department of Homeland Security

Bishop M. Garrison, former science and technology directorate adviser, Department of Homeland Security

Lisa Gelobter, former chief digital service officer, Education Department

A’shanti F. Gholar, former special assistant to the secretary, Labor Department

Jay R. Gilliam, former special assistant, U.S. Agency for International Development

Artealia Gilliard, former deputy assistant secretary for transportation policy, Transportation Department

Brenda Girton-Mitchell, former director, Center for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, Education Department

Jason Green, former associate counsel and special assistant to the president, White House

Corey Arnez Griffin, former associate director, Peace Corps

Kyla F. Griffith, former special adviser to the secretary, Commerce Department

Simone L. Hardeman-Jones, former deputy assistant secretary, Office of Legislative and Congressional Affairs, Education Department

Thamar Harrigan, former senior intergovernmental relations adviser, Department of Housing and Urban Development

Dalen Harris, former director, Office of Intergovernmental and Public Liaison, Office of National Drug Control Policy, White House

Khalilah M. Harris, former deputy director, White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans; former senior adviser, Office of Personnel Management

Adam Hodge, former deputy assistant secretary for public affairs, Treasury Department

Valerie Jarrett, former senior adviser, White House

Will Yemi Jawando, former associate director, Office of Public Engagement, White House

Karine Jean-Pierre, former northeast political director, Office of Political Affairs, White House

A. Jenkins, former director, Center for Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, Commerce Department

Adora Jenkins, former press secretary, Justice Department; former deputy associate administrator for external affairs, Environmental Protection Agency

W. Nate Jenkins, former chief of staff and senior adviser to the budget director, Office of Management and Budget, White House

David J. Johns, former executive director, White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans

Brent Johnson, former special adviser to the secretary, Commerce Department

Broderick Johnson, former White House assistant to the president and Cabinet secretary for My Brother’s Keeper Task Force

Carmen Daniels Jones, former director, Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization, Agriculture Department

Gregory K. Joseph II, former special assistant, Office of the Executive Secretariat, Energy Department

Jamia Jowers, former special assistant, National Security Council

Charmion N. Kinder, former associate, Press Office of the First Lady, White House; former assistant press secretary, Department of Housing and Urban Development

Elise Nelson Leary, former international affairs adviser, National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Kimberlyn Leary, former adviser, White House Council on Women and Girls

Daniella Gibbs Léger, former special assistant to the president and director of message events, White House

Georgette Lewis, former policy adviser, Department of Health and Human Services

Kevin Lewis, former director of African American media, White House; former principal deputy director of public affairs, Justice Department

Catherine E. Lhamon, former assistant secretary for civil rights, Education Department

Tiffani Long, former special adviser, Economic Development Administration

Latifa Lyles, former director, Women’s Bureau, Labor Department

Brenda Mallory, former general counsel, White House Council on Environmental Quality

Dominique Mann, former media affairs manager, White House

Shelly Marc, former policy adviser, Office of Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs, White House

Tyra A. Mariani, former chief of staff to the deputy secretary, Education Department

Lawrence Mason III, former domestic policy analyst, Office of Presidential Correspondence, White House

Dexter L. McCoy, former special assistant, Office of the Secretary, Education Department

Matthew McGuire, former U.S. executive director, The World Bank Group

Tyrik McKeiver, former senior adviser, State Department

Tjada D’Oyen McKenna, former assistant to the administrator, U.S. Agency for International Development

Solianna Meaza, former special assistant to associate administrator, U.S. Agency for International Development

Mahlet Mesfin, former assistant director for international science and technology, Office of Science and Technology Policy, White House

Ricardo Michel, former director, Center for Transformational Partnerships, U.S. Agency for International Development Global Development Lab

Paul Monteiro, former associate director, Office of Public Engagement, White House

Jesse Moore, former associate director, Office of Public Engagement, White House

Shannon Myricks, former specialist, Office of Management and Administration Information Services, White House

Melanie Newman, former director of public affairs, Justice Department

Fatima Noor, former policy assistant, Domestic Policy Council

Bianca Oden, former deputy chief of staff, Agriculture Department

Funmi Olorunnipa, former ethics counsel, White House Counsel’s Office

Elizabeth Ogunwo, former White House liaison, Peace Corps

Stephanie Sprow Owens, former deputy director, Reach Higher, Education Department

Denise L. Pease, former regional administrator of the northeast and Caribbean region, General Services Administration

Danielle Perry, former special adviser to the assistant secretary, Agriculture Department

Allison C. Pulliam, former special assistant, Office of Presidential Personnel, White House

Colby Redmond, former advance specialist, Office of the Secretary, Commerce Department

Derrick Robinson, former researcher, Office of Communications, White House

Lynn M. Ross, former deputy assistant secretary for policy development, Department of Housing and Urban Development

Sarah Rutherford, former press and media operations assistant, White House

Alexander Sewell, former special assistant, Export-Import Bank

Michael Smith, former special assistant to the president and senior director of Cabinet affairs for My Brother’s Keeper, White House

Russell F. Smith, former deputy assistant secretary for international fisheries, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Commerce Department

Jackeline Stewart, former press secretary, General Services Administration

Angela Tennison, former leadership development director, Education Department

Kenny Thompson Jr., former special assistant to the president and director of message events to the vice president, White House

Ivory A. Toldson, former executive director, White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities

Fred Tombar, former senior adviser to the secretary for disaster recovery, Department of Housing and Urban Development

Christopher R. Upperman, former assistant administrator for public engagement, Small Business Administration

Malik Walker, former senior adviser for congressional and legislative affairs, Office of Personnel Management

Jason R.L. Wallace, former director of scheduling and advance, Department of Housing and Urban Development

Myesha Ward, former assistant U.S. trade representative for intergovernmental affairs and public engagement

Clarence Wardell III, former presidential innovation fellow

Benjamin E. Webb, former executive director of policy and planning, Customs and Border Protection, Department of Homeland Security

C’Reda J. Weeden, former executive secretary, Department of Health and Human Services

Tonia Wellons, former associate director, Office of Strategic Partnerships, Peace Corps

Antonio White, former senior adviser, Treasury Department

Monae White, former special projects manager, Education Department

Aketa Marie Williams, former director of strategic communications, Office of the Undersecretary, Education Department

Jonta Williams, former adviser to the assistant administrator for Africa, U.S. Agency for International Development

Jessica Wilson, former special assistant, Office of Policy, Department of Homeland Security

Taj Wilson, former deputy associate counsel, White House

Candace Wint, former director of advance, Department of Housing and Urban Development

Brent C. Woolfork, former managing director, Overseas Private Investment Corporation

Tarrah Cooper Wright, former special assistant to the secretary, Department of Homeland Security

Ursula Wright, former associate assistant deputy secretary, Education Department

Carl Young, former adviser and assistant, Office of Management and Budget, White House

Stephanie Young, former senior adviser, Office of Public Engagement, White House

David N. Zikusoka, former senior adviser for weapons of mass destruction and nonproliferation, Office of the Vice President, White House

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/...9f64_story.html

j/c

It's become patently obvious to all decent people that the most disgusting, diseased, rat-infested place in America is the space between Donald Trump's ears.

You won't hear about where the hate comes from on these boards but you will hear it in the Diners, Churches, meeting Halls, and Grocery Stores all around this land.

You've obviously never been to the shining sewer on the bay.

Sen. Bernie Sanders said on Sunday he thinks it’s “unbelievable” that President Trump “attacks American cities” when asked about Trump’s tweet calling Democratic Rep. Elijah Cummings’ Baltimore district a “disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess.”

However, Sanders sounded a different tune in 2015 when he likened Cummings’ West Baltimore district to a “Third World country.”

“Anyone who took the walk that we took around this neighborhood would not think you’re in a wealthy nation. You would think that you were in a Third World country,” Sanders said during a tour of the city in the aftermath of riots over the April 2015 death of Freddie Gray, an African-American man who died after falling into a coma while in police custody.

So Bernie is a Racist too.

Who da thunk it.

What is this world coming to?

Guys you get more pathetic by the day - your false equivalencies are more tragic and misplaced than ever.

He says in defense of a known Racist.

See - while most of our posts are trolling in nature, at least sometimes you raise your game a little, even if it's just to get a smile out of me. This post here? Not funny, not cute, not clever, not quirky, not outright out of this world brazzenly false to be remotely humorous .... just a bad attempt at trolling. Try harder.

j/c:

I am not as intelligent as you guys, but I fail to see how either comment was racist. I think they are just talking about rats and unhealthy living conditions.

I wasn't talking about anything other than the Bernie quote ... the one after a riot.

I put "j/c."

I wasn't talking to anyone in particular. I just read both quotes and I don't think either was racist. I could be wrong. Just offering my opinion.

I will say this to both sides, though. When either side tries too hard to slam the other side, it typically leads to turning those w/an open mind off. And while we don't talk as much as the extremists on either side, we actually do make-up the majority of the population.

Often times, less is more.

j/c

Oh whoa is me! I have to endure those who would choose a side and fight for what they believe in with a fire in their bellies! Why can't we all just compromise our values for the sake of appearing content!

smh

I see your in here stirring the old pot and fostering lies about Bernie because your boy proved yet again to be unfit for the office of POTUS. You sad little trumpians with you constant translations of what this fool punches out on twitter with his fat thumbs and tiny hands. Not only is Trump a racist piece of garbage, but he has the likes of you and your ilk covering his tracks making him look feeble minded and or like a spoiled child throwing his tantrums. He doesn't need mother hens looking out for him, he needs you to kick him in the seat of his pants.

TA DA!!

That city is probably only 2nd to London when it comes to rat population. I used to have to go there twice a week for medical treatments at Johns Hopkins. Once you get away from the fancy waterfront, it's a really ugly city.

Your missing some simple common sense. Baker says he won't decorate cakes in a way he finds offense there is nothing you can do to make him. To do so is to enslave him to work against his will.

If you want the service a business provides then you have to accept what they offer to make. Just like you can't go into a restaurant and FORCE them to cook something that is not on the menu.

Just like you can't go into an atheist bakery and demand they make a Christian cake when it goes against their beliefs. You can only order what they are willing to create. You don't like what is available then take your business elsewhere. Both sides are free, not just the buyer.

What the hell are you talking about now? I simply said neither statement sounded racist to me.

.

No, you said that then talked about how the 'majority' 'like you' were turned off by both sides... You are not the majority Vers. Not even close.

I disagree. I think most folks are fair-minded, open to compromise, honest, willing to cooperate, and aren't extremists. I think most folks want what's best for their families and this country. I do not think that the majority are extremists who feel the need to hate, label, mock, and tear down others who do not share their own particular beliefs.

We know those people exist and we typically ignore what they have to say because we understand that they are not acting in good faith or thinking rationally.

Thus, it's safe to assume that you and I disagree on which type of person comprises the majority.

There you go again calling others extremists... I know who you are targeting with that crap. There are millions of progressives, about 1/3 of all dems. And you think that somehow all those people are 'extremist' because you don't want big changes or anything that makes you remotely uncomfortable. You are a republican hiding in the ranks of dems. Hell if I could prove it somehow, I'd bet even money you voted Trump.

There are extremists on both sides. Thankfully, they do not represent the majority. I should clarify that statement. They talk the most. They make the most noise. They get the most attention. However, they are not the majority and just a burden on those of us who want to build this country into something better rather that furthering the divide.

You're not the majority, that's your need to feel important saying those words. And I'll take your extremist label and wear it proudly because according to your views:

- Standing loudly against overt racism makes me an extremists.
- Giving a damn about they way kids are being treated at the border makes me an extremist.
- Wanting policies that FAVOR the working class instead of the 1% and corporations makes me extremist.
- Wanting a country that produces an educated workforce and the next generation of entrepreneurs unbound by the costs of education and communications makes me an extremist.
- Calling out Fascism for what it is BEFORE it can take root makes me an extremist.
- Defending Democratic Socialists and far left libs from right wing smear tactics like being labeled extremism makes me extremist.
- Attacking the dumbest POTUS to ever hold office for his racism, misinformation propaganda, lies, deceit, profiteering, traitorous actions, womanizing, and dividing the nation makes me an extremist.
- Wanting to drive greed out of the medical system and provide affordable healthcare across the board by ending for profit insurance companies and the over inflated costs on medicines, devices and supplies makes me extremist.
- Thinking people who work a 40 hour work week deserve to be able to stand on their own two feet financially without assistance or going broke makes me an extremist.
- Thinking that reforming our biased laws, prisons and the biased law enforcement agencies that target the poor and POC at a higher rate because they are poor and POC makes me an extremist.

I could go on and on but well... that would be extreme.

You are trying to justify your positions, which are usually in flux depending on which way the winds blows, by claiming to be part of the 'majority'... A dream class that has it all figured out and sits quietly in silence until voting day... That's not the majority, that's the herd of lemmings.

I don't know if either can prove if I am part of the majority or not, but what I do know is that you and I are not alike. You can slap any label on me that you choose, but that isn't ever going to result in me becoming a hateful, biased, person who discriminates against others just because they are different than me.

For the second time today. Have a nice life.

It's okay that we're not alike. I have no issue with that. And who wants you to be hateful, biased, and discriminating? Is that how you see me? lmao smh

For all I care you can label yourself anyway you want, just stop attempting to demonize progressive views by labeling them extremist. And stop pretending to be part of some larger group that has some higher place in the pecking order... lmao, that's some Trumpian crap... Silent Majority... smh

You berating me and falsifying my opinions will not make me stop. Quite the opposite.

HA! We have mostly the same positions in your post on the other thread! So unless you are 'extremist' too, our differences are smaller than you think. Berating bigotry is one thing (I don't think I've ever called you a racist) but arguing my point of view is not berating you Vers. It's talking about our beliefs. Not sure why you are feeling so under attack over any of your stances on issues. Calling you a centrist is not an attack. When you stay neutral and claim the middle ground, you can't have things both ways. That's the only thing I can remember attacking you on lately. And the snide labeling of progressive... which you are not too far from being yourself. Taxes seems to be the bid difference.

Decorating a cake is on a bakers "menu".



Please site on single example of an atheist baker refusing to bake a cake for a first communion party of a Catholic. Or an atheist baker refusing to bake a cake for a Jewish family celebrating a bar mitzvah. I'll be waiting......



That's the exact same thing they used to tell black people before laws were created to change it.

Better to have a few rats than to be one

In case anyone missed it, the president of the United States had some choice words to describe Maryland’s 7th congressional district on Saturday morning. Here are the key phrases: “no human being would want to live there,” it is a “very dangerous & filthy place,” “Worst in the USA” and, our personal favorite: It is a “rat and rodent infested mess.” He wasn’t really speaking of the 7th as a whole. He failed to mention Ellicott City, for example, or Baldwin or Monkton or Prettyboy, all of which are contained in the sprawling yet oddly-shaped district that runs from western Howard County to southern Harford County. No, Donald Trump’s wrath was directed at Baltimore and specifically at Rep. Elijah Cummings, the 68-year-old son of a former South Carolina sharecropper who has represented the district in the U.S. House of Representatives since 1996.



It’s not hard to see what’s going on here. The congressman has been a thorn in this president’s side, and Mr. Trump sees attacking African American members of Congress as good politics, as it both warms the cockles of the white supremacists who love him and causes so many of the thoughtful people who don’t to scream. President Trump bad-mouthed Baltimore in order to make a point that the border camps are “clean, efficient & well run," which, of course, they are not — unless you are fine with all the overcrowding, squalor, cages and deprivation to be found in what the Department of Homeland Security’s own inspector-general recently called “a ticking time bomb."

In pointing to the 7th, the president wasn’t hoping his supporters would recognize landmarks like Johns Hopkins Hospital, perhaps the nation’s leading medical center. He wasn’t conjuring images of the U.S. Social Security Administration, where they write the checks that so many retired and disabled Americans depend upon. It wasn’t about the beauty of the Inner Harbor or the proud history of Fort McHenry. And it surely wasn’t about the economic standing of a district where the median income is actually above the national average. No, he was returning to an old standby of attacking an African American lawmaker from a majority black district on the most emotional and bigoted of arguments. It was only surprising that there wasn’t room for a few classic phrases like “you people” or “welfare queens” or “crime-ridden ghettos” or a suggestion that the congressman “go back” to where he came from.

This is a president who will happily debase himself at the slightest provocation. And given Mr. Cummings’ criticisms of U.S. border policy, the various investigations he has launched as chairman of the House Oversight Committee, his willingness to call Mr. Trump a racist for his recent attacks on the freshmen congresswomen, and the fact that “Fox & Friends” had recently aired a segment critical of the city, slamming Baltimore must have been irresistible in a Pavlovian way. Fox News rang the bell, the president salivated and his thumbs moved across his cell phone into action.

As heartening as it has been to witness public figures rise to Charm City’s defense on Saturday, from native daughter House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Mayor Bernard C. “Jack” Young, we would above all remind Mr. Trump that the 7th District, Baltimore included, is part of the United States that he is supposedly governing. The White House has far more power to effect change in this city, for good or ill, than any single member of Congress including Mr. Cummings. If there are problems here, rodents included, they are as much his responsibility as anyone’s, perhaps more because he holds the most powerful office in the land.

Finally, while we would not sink to name-calling in the Trumpian manner — or ruefully point out that he failed to spell the congressman’s name correctly (it’s Cummings, not Cumming) — we would tell the most dishonest man to ever occupy the Oval Office, the mocker of war heroes, the gleeful grabber of women’s private parts, the serial bankrupter of businesses, the useful idiot of Vladimir Putin and the guy who insisted there are “good people” among murderous neo-Nazis that he’s still not fooling most Americans into believing he’s even slightly competent in his current post. Or that he possesses a scintilla of integrity. Better to have some vermin living in your neighborhood than to be one.

Baltimore Sun Editorial Board
This piece is written by the Baltimore Sun Editorial Board. If you would like to submit a letter to the editor, please send it to talkback@baltimoresun.com.

https://www.baltimoresun.com/opinion/edi...fada-story.html

Trump is about to execute a white supremacist,
while trying to free a Black rapper from jail,
as he pushes prison reform that directly benefits families of Black men,
while calling out a city where minorities are victims of crime and blight.

If Trump is a racist,
He sucks at it.

-Greg Gutfeld

That is almost every business...


I can love somebody without condoning all that they do. I can love somebody without wanting to participate in/or provide my professional services for their activities that I find morally objectionable.

Jesus loved and forgave the prostitute at the well.. he left her with "go and sin no more"... he didn't offer to build her a damn whorehouse so she could keep doing it in a nice new comfortable building.

This notion that God is love and Jesus is love... THEREFORE, nobody that calls themself a Christian is allowed to ever be critical of another person's actions, or should be obligated to provide services for those actions just so they can make a living, is absolutely FREAKING INSANE. It is a total bastardization of everything that Jesus stood for.. EVERYTHING. Sorry, Jesus was not this "YOLO", "You do you" kind of dude who was ok with anything and everything that people did just so he could pass that off as "loving them"... Everytime Jesus encountered a sinner and healed them or forgave them it was always with "sell all that you have and FOLLOW ME"... or "Go and sin no more" or "Put your trust in God"... it was NEVER, "Ok, you're forgiven, go ahead back to what you were doing before"...

Yes, feeding people, clothing them, helping them are all important in the Christian faith and should be done without obligation... but the single greatest form of love in the faith is to help somebody find a relationship with Jesus... it's about eternal salvation, that's the single most important form of love... all other expressions of love are to get to that, not to condone what they are doing or to make them more comfortable in their own sin....

In 2014 the sun ran a headline ..... it was the lead story ... it was all about baltimore’s Rat hot spots ...

In 2016 there headline one day was ... TRUMPS’ RIGHT WERE A RAT INFESTED 3rd WORLD COUNTRY .... or something to that affect ...

My oh my how times have changed .... *L* ....

So i went to google those headlines and of course google buries them so i went to the sun’s main page ... it was loaded with TRUMPS A RACIST and Baltimore is doing AWESOME articles ... about 1/2 way down the page was a headline and a map that didn’t fit ...

EVERY DAY they run a section that merits enough hits to keep it on the front page of their online addition ... it read ...

RAT HOT SPOTS .... *LOL* ... they could at least bury it for a few days while they mock the president for calling it a rat infested disgrace ...

And Cummings has done an AWESOME JOB representing his district .... i’ll be waiting to hear his LONG LIST OF ACCOMPLISHMENTS other than continuing to get re-elected and making him and his family VERY VERY RICH ....

LOVE to know what he’s SPECIFICALLY DONE to help his very oddly drawn up district ... gee, i wonder how that happened ... ...

Trump’s right ... it is a 3rd world crap hole .... just like SF, LA, Seattle and Portland to name a few have turned into ... the difference is those cities are actually thriving in many ways ....

IF u have a clue and are half as smart as u pretend to be on here ... you’d know WHY it happened and WHEN ... that used to be one thriving ass city .... its a real shame what happened there ...

But hey ... trump opened the door and lord only knows u and yours won’t hesitate to crash through it no matter HOW MUCH U HAVE TO IGNORE to get there ... i mean a newspaper has a front page of articles telling us what a racist trump is cause he called the city a rat infested hell hole and mixed in amongst those headlines on the front page is one titled ... RAT HOT SPOTS ... *LOL* ..

Talk about struggling with 0 + 0 ...

Now go back to being in the majority ... ....

Baltimore's mayor on rats and dead anima... just last year

More news on the real rat problem.

https://www.townhall.com/columnists/rachelalexander/2019/07/29/yes-baltimore-is-a-disgusting-rat-and-rodent-infested-mess-n2550744%3famp=true

Just watched my local ABC News as they interviewed people in Cumming's District.

They say President Trump is right. Place is terrible.

Then I watched my National ABC News as they called Trump a racist.

Is your local station owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group? Look it up:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_stations_owned_or_operated_by_Sinclair_Broadcast_Group

I'm not sure, I will look it up.

But I do know the ABC National News is owned by the Democrats.

I think this is the type of article that we should ignore rather than highlight. It's slanderous, false, misleading, and makes our side look bad.

Sometimes, less is more.

Ben Carson: Trump told me he's still willing to work with Elijah Cummings to 'bring relief' to Baltimore

https://www.foxnews.com/media/ben-carson-trump-cummings-baltimore

What the hell is the damn city of Baltimore doing to help itself????????????????? They can't tax themselves into the 90's? They need the federal gov't to bail them out? If so, the gov't. of Baltimore is a total failure. Complete, utter, total failure.

And their past mayor said as much, while trying to sell books.

What trump tweeted wasn't racist. Hell, the past mayor of Baltimore said basically the same thing. It IS a rat infested city. But somehow it's the fed. gov'ts fault?

Maybe Cummings ought to figure his crap out. How long has he been suckling on the public teet?

Brilliant post DC. Just loved it!

It is a sad tale of woe.

I have been through there many times, hoping the car would not break down. People shouldn't have to live like that but the priority seems to be on comforting illegal aliens.

Same story in Detroit, San Fran, Seattle, LA, Philadelphia etc.

A real shame.

Elijah Eugene Cummings (born January 18, 1951) is an American politician and the U.S. Representative for Maryland's 7th congressional district, serving in his 13th term in the House, having served since 1996.

Not only is Baltimore rat-infested it's also the number one city for bed bugs:

Orkin Releases Top 50 Bed Bug Cities List

Baltimore and Washington D.C. continue to hold top spots
ATLANTA (January 8, 2019) – For the second year in a row, Baltimore tops Orkin’s Top 50 Bed Bug Cities list, released today. New York fell four spots, while Dallas-Fort Worth joined the top 10. San Diego and Albany rejoin the list, after falling out of the top 50 in 2017, and New Orleans and Flint, Mich. join the list for the first time ever. Orlando has fallen off the list despite public lawsuits from hotel guests.

What a crock...

Interesting....























After viewing these, I couldn't help but be reminded of a similar issue we have in the area with East Cleveland. Looks identical, unfortunately.

When you can't disprove the facts, yell Racist.

That was one of the “weird” things I learned through Mr. President shining a spotlight on B-more ... one site posted a list of the top 5 worst cities to live in ...

One was Cleveland ... i had no clue it was that bad in parts ... none .. that shocked me ... the other shocker was Baltimore wasn’t even in the top 5 ... not sure who compiled the list ... but based off what we’ve learned now that B-more is in the spotlight how bad are the conditions in the other cities in the top 5 ...

The other thing that i found extremely sad ... a dude on one of the sites i go to spent about 5 hours in one of the neighborhoods interviewing people ... he said in the 5 hours or so he was there from 3 in the afternoon til around 8 at night .. NOT ONE CHILD WAS PLAYING ON THE PLAYGROUND so he started asking ... where are all the kids ... reply was there not allowed out cause its to dangerous ...

How sad is that ....

What I find sad is that in a country with so much wealth we allow this to happen. This isn't overnight this is decades of abandonment and it is always in the poorest regions. Detroit, Flint, East Cleveland, Baltimore, East St. Louis, Newark etc. Shameful that is should happen in a country with so much wealth.

Let's now shine a light on the poorest regions of...I don't know....let's say West Virginia, and in particular the white areas where there is heavy unemployment and opioid abuse/deaths. My guess those areas are equally as bad and "infested". Where are the similar tweets directed at those Republican congressmen/women who oversee those districts? Not quite the same level of shaming, if at all, from the Pres is there? Wonder why?

Cause there not blasting him or his BORDER AGENTS pretty much on a daily basis ... they haven’t said he’s a russian spy nor have they went after everything to do with every business dealing he and his family have had ... do u know what their trying to get their hands on they have no business going after ... hate trump all u want ... what there doing is WRONG ...

Do u know what prompted his attacks on Cummings? ...

If Manchin starts coming after him he’ll get his too ... just like all the rest of the people that attack him that he goes after .... the list is long ... u want republicans he hasn’t been to kind too .... McCain, Romney and the entire Bush family including mama bush and that is literally just the tip of the iceberg ...

And dawg ... thats why whats going on in SF, LA, Seattle and Portland is even more shocking to me ... there’s TONS OF OPPORTUNITY and MONEY in those places .... in b-more, there’s still a ton of money just no opportunity ...

Couldn’t agree more with the wealth we have as a nation and yet we have places that are as bad as the worst 3rd world countries i’ve been too ... SAD ...

Somebody on Twitter posted that they were on a flight into BWI airport yesterday and the stewardess made a comment about them beginning their approach into lovely and beautiful Baltimore, MD and the passengers began to applaud... this is obviously because folks who are flying for business and recreation DON'T LIVE in the areas being discussed.. nor do they care all that much about them, as long as it doesn't bleed over into THEIR neighborhood.


The poorest county in WV is McDowell County with an average FAMILY income of under $25K.. It is 89.1% white, 9.5% black, .3% other.... I defy you to find me any photos of McDowell County on the internet that look anything like all of the ones circulating from many of our major cities...

Also, let's look at some facts.. On the BestPlaces website, they rate crime on a scale of 1-100 with 1 being low crime and 100 being high crime..

The violent crime rate in McDowell is 16.2.. national average is 22.7... Baltimore is 77.8
The property crime rate in McDowell is 22.1.. national average is 35.4... Baltimore is 67.6

The reason rural/poor counties don't get all of the negative attention is for 2 reasons..

1. They tend to vote republican so republicans don't blast them.
2. Democrats don't know they exist.

My points exactly.

I don't know if it might be because you're in the NW part of the country and I'm in Ohio, but the opiod crisis in the region you mentioned is front and center. As far as Ohio is concerned, SE Ohio is majorly affected and recognized as a serious issue in the state. The whole understanding of the concept of "Harm Reduction" has spouted up in large part because of what it going on in Ohio as a result of opiod use and what else it can lead to as a result of it. Rob Portman talks about it often looking to fix the issue and the same with Sherrod Brown. It's a bipartisan issue here. However, I've not heard Trump discuss or visit the area, so there is that to consider regarding your point.

We all know why Trump is focusing on Baltimore.....for political reasons and to take a shot at Cummings.

Regarding crime...when you are desperate you do whatever you have to do to survive for food, housing, water etc. The sad thing is almost all of the violence in cities is out of desperation and drugs/turf/gangs etc.prey in areas like this. It is only when these inner city ills spill into middle class white areas that it makes headline news. Heroin was an issue for decades in black neighborhoods. All the jazz musicians talk about it in the 50s/60s etc. The Fillmore district was once flush with opioid epidemic. But, it only hit headline news and they only used the word "epidemic" when it spread into white communities, and in particular, suburbs.

West Virginia poverty may look different than Baltimore or inner cities, but make no mistake about it there are areas of the state that have become near ghost towns and forgotten due to being ravaged by the closing of mines, mills, unemployment, desperation, opioid. The difference in density of population may not look the same as the boarded rowhouses in Baltimore or the burned out lots of Detroit, but the comparison I am making is these areas are not front and center of his attacks. Trump has a history of singling out POC and the US as a country (not just local/state governments) w/so much wealth should be ashamed that they are allowed to become this bad.

My last statement on why they get little attention might align with your points.. but your guess that those places are equally bad and "infested"... no, I refuted that point..

I've lived in small towns, suburbs, and big cities.. there is a sense of community in small towns that doesn't exist anywhere else. In a small town if you notice somebody has had a bag of trash in front of their house for a while you pick it up and stick it in your own trash can, in the city thousands of people will walk around it every day.... it's just different.

Opioids are bad in Oregon too. Particularly bad in areas of our state with high unemployment, but as Portland is the largest city it's more concentrated here and as we have a very large homeless population it is very visible. It's very common to see somebody on the street shooting up, heroin and meth casualties line, walk or are passed out on our streets, it's very, very common to see the orange remnants of syringes on the pavement, and in some areas it is very common to see whole discarded syringes (in 2018 28,000 syringes were collected on the streets of downtown Portland). So, it has impacted us in the PNW as well.

There is ample video and historical evidence that local politicians, republicans, democrats, blacks, whites, almost everybody seemed to be in agreement that these parts of Baltimore were like this going back at least a few years.... then Trump says it and suddenly it's racist to point this out and everybody (re: democrats) who pointed this out before is now coming to the defense of Baltimore and this Cummings guy...

It has been one of the most hypocritical, about-face, 180 turns in recent memory from the democrats... Make no mistake, Trump is an arse and he says things in the most vile and hateful manner possible.... but the democrats had an opportunity to say "You're right, what can we do about it?".. but those words "You're right" when referring to this President just can't be uttered, even when he is... even when it could help a situation...

I don't say this lightly.. but yes, I believe ranking democrats would rather have these poor people living in trash and filth and rats, than fix it and allow Trump to get even the slightest bit of credit... it is that agenda driven.

In some areas of the cities they also stopped collecting trash. I know this was once an issue in E. St. Louis. So, this too doesn't help matters. My guess is if you and your family are struggling to eat or are addicted to hard drugs...trash on the streets is the least of your concerns.

U didn’t answer my question sir ...

Do u know what triggered Mr. President to go after Cummings? ...

And I can provide one long ass list of non colored folks he’s went after ... to say he only goes after people of color is just not factual ... i’ll add to my previous list ...

McCain
Romney
Bush family including mama bush
DeBlasio
Jeff Sessions
Pocahontas
Paul Ryan is a recent victim ... *L* ..
Rosie O’Donnell ....

Once again this list is just the tip of the iceberg .... he goes after EVERYONE that he feels attacks or slights him ... only difference is when its a POC he’s a racist for it .... *scratches head* ...

When Mr. President went after Little Marco and Lyin Ted in the debates or on twitter not one word about racism back then ... curious as to how that works ...

This is from April, so back before it wasn't racist to say these things... but it helps explain the problem.

Baltimore's perpetual trash problem
By BALTIMORE SUN EDITORIAL BOARD
APR 11, 2019 | 9:20 AM

Why can’t we have a clean city? It’s a problem that has perplexed generations of mayors in Baltimore. Call it the perpetual trash nemesis.

Decades of tactics have been tried to beat it. William Donald Schaefer’s Trashball campaign urged people to ball up their debris and toss it into a receptacle like a two-point shot. Kurt L. Schmoke banked on people idolizing Cal Ripken Jr. enough to convince them to pick up after themselves as part of his “It’s Your Baltimore. Don’t Trash It!” initiative, while Sheila Dixon tried to disgust people into doing better with photos of rats. Her “Cleaner, Greener Baltimore Initiative”also included adding hundreds of trash cans around the city and reducing trash pickup to focus more on recycling. Then there was Martin O’Malley, who made a big splash showing up to neighborhoods like a rock star clad in a jumpsuit and hanging from the back of a trash truck as part of an eight-day clean-up tour early in his administration.

Yet, here we are again in a mess of a city. Food containers, balled up clothes, paper, banana peels, plastic bags and tons of other pieces of litter line the shoulders of roads, pile up in alleys and are strewn across fields and yards. Not only is it unsightly and contributes to a rodent problem, but it can create a glum and gloomy feel in a time when the city is already facing self-esteem issues because of high crime and the scandal surrounding the University Maryland Medical System and Mayor Catherine Pugh, who’s now on an indefinite leave, and her Healthy Holly books. If anything, the city needs a major scrubbing to help restore some of its faith and image.

Acting Mayor Jack Young, tired of seeing people casually toss litter out of car windows or on the ground as they walk down the street, has decided to take on the issue as one of his main platforms. “A clean city is an inviting city,” he said during a recent meeting with The Sun’s editorial board. The city’s crime problem makes it hard to keep some neighborhoods clean, he said, noting that criminals don’t like “clean spaces.” They need trash piles to hide drug stashes or debris-cluttered alleys to make it difficult for police to chase them. John F. Chalmers, head of the city’s Bureau of Solid Waste, said sanitation workers will clean up trash piles only to have dealers dirty them up again. Some will threaten city employees who try to tidy up. So whatever Mr. Young has in mind, it seems solutions for the trash and crime problems will go hand-in-hand.

Mr. Young has no specific plan yet, which is understandable given that he is barely into the new, temporary position, but he has some ideas he hopes to implement, like working with the state to have inmates pick up trash. The city used to have such a program that also lead to sanitation jobs once people were released and would be worth bringing back. He might also want to follow the lead of some other cities, including Los Angeles and San Francisco, that have paid homeless people to help clean up neighborhoods.

[Most read] Better to have a few rats than to be one »
The Bureau of Solid Waste also faces some other obstacles amid the growing calls for service, including a flat budget and high turnover among employees. Workers need CDL driver’s licenses, and those who have them can often find higher paying jobs elsewhere. The city’s housing department is responsible for investigations into illegal dumping and citations, which probably slows down the process of keeping the city clean. Maybe streamlining everything into one department would make it more efficient.

Still, some tactics the bureau has implemented have shown promise already, including installation of “smart trash cans” in certain neighborhoods that alert workers when they are almost full and opening up a city service center to small haulers to prevent illegal dumping.

But a cultural shift in the city needs to take place if Baltimore is to become home to clean streets and alleys. A change where people say it’s not OK to throw that hamburger wrapper out of my window because I have pride in my city. Those who don’t live in the city need to think about how they’d feel if somebody threw trash in their backyard as if it were the community landfill. To put it simply, too many people need a lesson in basic decency. And it’s people of all races, ages and socioeconomic backgrounds who are culprits of the widespread littering, which, by the way, is against the law.

Mr. Young was not shy in his criticism of people who won’t take personal responsibility for their contributions to the grime and grit, and we wish him luck in what other mayor’s have not been able to achieve. Sending the message from the top is a good start. Mr. Chalmers, who has been with the bureau for 30 years, called the trashing of the city a learned behavior and said workers often check dumped garbage to find it belongs to someone in the neighborhood. People need to know Baltimore is not their “personal trash can,” he said, and suggested that maybe public shaming, perhaps on social media, might make them see the light. Not sure if he was joking, but it’s not a half bad idea.

Sheila Dixon
Baltimore Sun Editorial Board

Copyright © 2019, Baltimore Sun

Link

My take-away? Gimmicks don't work, threats don't work.. the only thing that works is community pride.. so how do you inject that back into a community that has lost all sense of pride and has, apparently, allowed the neighborhood to be taken over by drug dealers?

The minimum wage in Baltimore is over $10/hour and legislation will raise that to $15/hour over the next few years.. unemployment in Maryland is at about 3.5%, in Baltimore it's just over 5%, which still isn't bad...

According to the article, this problem goes back 4 or 5 mayors ago.. I'm not being sarcastic or cynical, how do you fix it when the very folks who live there, won't let you fix it?

I have left the last part of your sentence out simply because I don't give Trump credit for anything other than his ability to manipulate the media and being a Narcissist. However, I do agree with what you say on ranking democrats. The establishment, no matter what party, are both to blame.

This is why I disagree w/the dNC pushing a "moderate" Dems. They are the establishment and nothing will change with them. Just take a stand for crying out loud and stop pandering to the point where you just pat each other on the back. I'm not saying the "Progressive Left" are the answer either because I question just how "Progressive" they actually are. "Socialist"? Give me a break. None of these candidates are "Socialists". No idea why the right think this. Even the use of "Democratic Socialism" is lame. Hell, I don't like that Warren just came out defending herself and said she was a "Capitalist". Who is she trying to appease? My guess is the moderates. Lame.

But, I recognize that the moderates is who the Dems think they have to pander to in order to win and if that's the case...nothing gets done because you are constantly thinking about your voter base on both sides so you just massage things a bit to make it look like you are doing something. Yawn.

Here’s an article that says the cops in b-more don’t even have enough cops to respond to the 911 calls ... i wonder how much that has to do with the erosion of support from our dem leaders has to do with this ...

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/cortneyobr...crisis-n2550854

Critics and skeptics of President Trump were not very well going to listen to him when he warned about the perilous state the city of Baltimore is in, but perhaps they'll listen to actual Baltimore police officers. On Monday, the Baltimore City Fraternal Order of Police publicized some somber statistics.


Baltimore City FOP
✔
@FOP3
6 murders in Baltimore since Friday, 38 for July, 196 for 2019
22% higher than 2018
6 shootings since Friday, 80 for July, 437 for 2019
30% higher than 2018#cityincrisis

6,740
8:38 AM - Jul 29, 2019
Twitter

Baltimore Police Commissioner Michael Harrison hoped to address this crisis with his recent crime plan, but Baltimore City FOP President Mike Mancuso said it will do little to help. First and foremost, they don't have the staff - they don't even have enough officers to respond to all 911 calls. That's not to mention their lack of other resources.

Diam, I know the point you are trying to make. I'm not going to go there. I am disgusted with the lack of decorum, respect, class as well as the school boy bully tactics that come out of our WH on a daily basis. As a nation, when the highest office publicly and regularly does this it validates mean and spiteful behavior and it has turned us against each other.

Ultimately, he does this to distract and if he receives credit I guess he does this (distract) pretty well too. The media love it and hang on it for DAYS. Read CNN and you would think nothing else happens in the world, ever. They fall for it hook, line and sinker.

The first black pres. didn't give much of a eff either but hes held in the highest esteem by dem party....and the MSM pfft

Trump’s Racist Rant Omits Kushner’s Vermin-Filled Properties

Someone forgot to tell the president that Jared Kushner’s Baltimore properties are filled with mice (and maggots and mold).

While Donald Trump spent the weekend lobbing racist attacks at Congressman Elijah Cummings for representing a “disgusting, rat and rodent infested” Baltimore district where “no human being would want to live,” perhaps he should have taken the matter up with his son-in-law Jared Kushner, a local slumlord whose Baltimore properties are reportedly filled with vermin, maggots, and mold.

According to the Washington Post, apartments owned by Kushner Cos., where Kushner served as CEO until joining the White House, were responsible for more than 200 code violations in 2017 alone. Repairs were apparently “made only after the county threatened fines, local officials said, and even after warnings, violations on nine properties were not addressed, resulting in monetary sanctions.” That same year the New York Times and ProPublica found that tenants of the Kushner properties had reported maggots, mold problems, and a mouse infestation. In the Kushner Cos.’ Essex Park complex, for example, truck driver Marquita Parmely said the mouse infestation was so bad that her 12-year-old daughter found one in her bed, while her two-year-old’s asthma was aggravated by allergens in mice droppings. A private investigator who looked into Kushner’s property-management company called the managers “slumlords,” a description that’s also been applied to the Kushners’ management of New York City properties. (Christine Taylor, a spokeswoman for the Kushner firm, said at the time that the firm was in compliance with all state and local laws, which then Baltimore County executive Kevin Kamenetz remarked was “a stretch of truth.”)

“It is certainly ironic that the president’s own son-in-law was complicit in contributing to some of the neglect that the president purports to be so concerned about,” Baltimore County executive John A. Olszewski Jr. said in an interview on Saturday. Shannon Darrow, a program manager at the tenant-advocacy group Fair Housing Action Center of Maryland, commented Sunday that “[Kushner] has been creating a race to the bottom in terms of poorly maintained properties,” and has “been very, very deeply implicated.” In addition to horrifying living conditions, per the Post, over the past two years, the Kushner family business and affiliated entities have been sued multiple times by Baltimore-area residents alleging the firm has “charged them excessive fees and used the threat of eviction to pressure them into paying.” During the period between 2013 and 2017, corporate entities associated with the Kushner properties have requested the civil arrest of 105 former tenants, “the highest number among all property managers in Maryland during that period,” according to the Baltimore Sun. “It’s been our recent experience that working families have been preyed on at the benefit of Mr. Kushner and his company,” said Olszewski.

Vermin, mold, and maggots aside, business in Baltimore has been very, very good for the Kushners, whose Maryland properties generate at least $90 million in revenue each year. A Kushner Cos. representative did not address questions over the weekend about Trump’s description of the area, telling the Post only that “Kushner Companies is proud to own thousands of apartments in the Baltimore area.”

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2019/07/jared-kushner-baltimore-properties

And Trump helped put a slum Lord in an upper level of his government.

https://news.yahoo.com/president-baltimore-democrats-really-prepared-090013224.html

USA today:

The President was Right About Baltilmore

Ask yourself honestly: Would you ever consider living in West Baltimore? And are you a racist if you say no?

Baltimore ranks in the top 10 of the least livable cities in America. Until this week, it was not controversial to point that out. But now that President Donald Trump has tweeted about Baltimore, it seems as though anyone who criticizes the awful conditions there is opening themselves up to charges of prejudice.

The flap began last week when Rep. Elijah Cummings, whose 7th district covers much of Baltimore City, lashed out at acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan at a hearing on conditions inside illegal alien detention centers. “What does that mean when a child is sitting in their own feces, can’t take a shower?” Cummings shouted. “Come on, man. What’s that about?”

President Trump responded with tweets saying Cummings’ district was “FAR WORSE and more dangerous” than the detention facilities, “a disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess.” The president suggested Cummings focus more on cleaning up this “dangerous & filthy place” than on bullying in hearings about the border issue.
The accusations of racism continue

The president’s remarks were immediately denounced as racist by Democrats and the usual frantic pundits, even though the tweets had no racial content. Trump responded that “Democrats always play the Race Card, when in fact they have done so little for our Nation’s great African American people.”

More on Cummings' story:Donald Trump's depressing racist vitriol brings out the worst in too many Americans

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders said Sunday that it was “unbelievable that we have a president of the United States who attacks American cities.” But it was perfectly fine four years ago when Sanders said during a visit to West Baltimore, "Anyone who took the walk that we took around this neighborhood … would think that you were in a Third World country."

Sanders’ comment came in the wake of riots sparked by death of Freddie Gray while in police custody. Articles from that period routinely cited the city’s endemic poverty as a root cause of the rioting. A typical 2015 report from the Associated Press noted that Baltimore “struggles daily with pervasive poverty and widespread joblessness, failing schools, drug addiction, a crumbling infrastructure and corruption.”

President Barack Obama said then that difficult conditions in Baltimore required national “soul searching” — because the $1.8 billion stimulus bonanza he had lavished on the city didn’t seem to solve anything.

Many Americans probably imagine West Baltimore as the gritty, open-air drug mart portrayed in HBO's “The Wire,” and they aren’t that far off. Last year, USA TODAY reported that “Baltimore is the nation's most dangerous big city.”

The poverty rate is over 22%, and the population is shrinking. The city’s politics are riven with endemic corruption — former Mayor Catherine Pugh resigned in disgrace this May. She's the third Baltimore mayor in a row to leave in the wake of intense scandal. Baltimore is dotted with thousands of vacant buildings, and as for rodents, exterminator Orkin listed Baltimore in the top 10 of its annual survey of “rattiest cities.” The 1970s promotional nickname “Charm City” is as ironic as ever.
The city's premier newspaper failed to represent its own territory accurately

The Baltimore Sun rose gamely to the city’s defense against President Trump, editorializing that Baltimore is better than you think, citing inter alia “the beauty of the Inner Harbor or the proud history of Fort McHenry.” (Note that the gentrified Inner Harbor neighborhood is one of the whitest neighborhoods in the city at 68%, so maybe not a great example for the Sun’s purposes.)

“If there are problems here, rodents included,” the newspaper claimed, “they are as much (Trump’s) responsibility as anyone’s, perhaps more because he holds the most powerful office in the land.”

It is a bit of a reach to argue a president in office since 2017 bears more responsibility for city sanitation issues than the local congressman elected to his safe seat in 1996. Maybe the people of the 7th district just need a more effective champion.

Readers sound off:Despite Trump's cruel and racist taunts, I have hope for America

It’s hard to say when this latest tweet-based freakout will subside. Will Democrats carry the #WeAreAllBaltimore banner into the 2020 election? Is Baltimore now the model city they will present to the country as the representative product of Democratic social and economic policies in action? Good luck with that.

Critics can continue to shout about racism, but that is no replacement for a rational discussion about the problems of poverty, crime, drug abuse, family breakdown and lack of educational attainment. A job-creating economy will do more in the long run to help the people of Baltimore than endless political posturing about race. It probably already has.

So, what Trump tweeted and said IS correct. And not racist.

And then you do the 'what about' thing. What about Trump's son in law.

Ah, so now they're trying to excuse what he is saying it's only "parts of Baltimore".

In that case it is true. But that's not what Trump said. As with any city there are good areas and bad areas. So what Trump did was paint an entire city with a broad brush so his followers would swallow it whole and now the story changes.

His son in laws properties are IN Baltimore. Isn't that where Trump was talking about?

And no, what Trump said was not true. There are very nice parts of Baltimore. There are bad parts of Baltimore. He painted the entire city with a broad brush that paints a picture that is nowhere close to true.

But you just keep doing you....

Jarrod has Mice???

You must not have read where everyone that doesn't live in a Jarrod apartment and lives in Cummings district HAS RATS!!!

Does Jarrod have apartments in Cummings district?

Read and learn 40cent. Yet another one from your side who wants me to do their homework.

It's not homework we want, it is just some truth to your posts for a change. You post a hit piece from Vanity Fair and cry when others post from Breitbart.

Mice? I admit that was pretty funny.

https://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2019/07/29/jared-kushner-baltimore-properties-mice-infested/

https://www.newsweek.com/trump-jared-kus...lations-1451479

https://foxbaltimore.com/news/local/trum...hner-properties

There are a lot more where those came from.

So, what Donald said was correct. Thanks.

You are a peace of work.

All those articles come from the same hit piece by then Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz.

No it wasn't. Is English your second language?

Trump described "Baltimore" that way. Not just parts of it. What if someone described all the people in your area based on comments that pertained to drug addicts in your area. Would you say that the drug addicts in your community accurately describes you and your family?

This isn't complicated.

I’m not trying to make a point ... i was genuinely curious as to if u knew what prompted trumps truthful yet brutally worded tweets ... motive means a ton to me in instances like this ...

When u said in a post after my question or we were tying at the same time ... u said u could give trump credit for nothing ... ever ...

that tells me your a very intelligent, good dude that dislikes our president so much it doesn’t matter what he does you will never give him credit ... i will still ask questions of u cause you act civil and are a smart, good dude IMO ... i’ll just avoid certain types of questions and know just how “open minded” u are ....

That may come across as me taking a shot at u ... i’m not ... not even close .... i respect U and how u handle yourself in here ...

Trump was pointing out how bad Cumming's District was in Baltimore. He said we send billions in federal money to Baltimore each year so how is it Cumming's District is so bad?

And Mice are not Rats.

Neither are maggots and mold.

I adamantly oppose the notion that just because you are moderate, that means you have no convictions. This notion gets passed around a lot on here that if you aren't solidly right/or solidly left, that somehow means you are wishy washy.. I have very strong convictions, they just don't align with the current right or current left consistently.

Yeah, it seems that common sense has become a bad thing. That only extremes from both sides have validity..... by some.

I agree. I know I'm hard on people who won't pick a side; but being centrist and or looking for centrist or moderate solutions should not be consider lessor in anyway. It's a shame that moderates and centrist feel the need to vilify the true left and true right for believing in a more pure partisan approach. Getting called extreme and extremist is getting old fast, seeing as how that is what has been used to describe terrorist for years. I think the opinions of the 'far' left are just as valid as those center left. Same on the right.

I would make one exception to the above statement and that is when political ideals become justification for things like bigotry, hate speech, and unAmerican forms of government like autocracy and fascism. I know somebody will want to add socialism to that short list feeling butt hurt on the right, but we have always had socialism in the country in our public policy. Ben Franklin pushed libraries and Community Fire Fighting as examples of some of the first. I'm sure slavery will be brought up as an example of white supremacy or part of the or American way back then... It was, but we fought that war and outlawed it for the harm it done, unlike socialism.

Having to have a solution that everybody agrees on is extreme. That's why so many problems go unresolved. Stop relating the far left to extremism like they are terrorist.

Extremist;

a person who holds extreme or fanatical political or religious views, especially one who resorts to or advocates extreme action.

Now if you choose to take that out of context or to equate that to terrorism that would be you taking it out of context, not me.

You know damn well that term has been tainted with its use describing terrorist. Don't try to play that game with me. The right has mastered the use of these innuendo attacks.

So you've never heard of right wing extremists? I guess the liberals mastered it too.

You have decided to attach something to it that it doesn't mean. That's not my intent and I believe that both parties have an extremist element to them. And i plan to post that when I find it appropriate to do so.

The kumbaya center is extremist too by that definition bro. They do not tolerate the true left/right.

I don't take it as you taking a shot at me. But no, I honestly can't give the man any credit other than his ability to manipulate the media and distract the country. I admit that he's very good at that.

Why can't I give him credit? Even if you remove the race baiting or xenophobic remarks that are being debated in here and in our media, this man is captured on tape admitting to sexual harassment and assault. That to me makes him void of anything I want to be around, listen to or respect, let alone sitting in the highest office! Sorry. That's the plain & simple truth for me, at least. Nobody will convince me otherwise. As a father, husband, friend, ally...somebody trying to be a decent human being it really bothers me. Add to it the race and general intolerance issues and I find it toxic and very sad for our diverse, rich country.

That said, I think Republicans in office who don't stand up to him are even worse because they are not only moral less, but also spineless and pathetic.

Half of voters say Trump is racist: poll

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/455364-half-of-voters-say-trump-is-racist-poll

I guess you could see it that way.

But if you think about it, we're actually asking both extremes to come up with something that makes sense for everyone. It's like with college tuition.

Some seem to think from one side that putting most all of the burden on the taxpayer to foot the bill for college tuition is the route to take.

I think that's an avenue that the right will never walk down. So to ever pass something like that you would have to take control of the house, the senate and The White House. That's not likely to happen. Even if it did, as soon as the GOP takes over it would be repealed and we would be right back at square one.

By making all college loans tied into the prime interest rate, paying for two years of free community college and capping tuition of all state and community funded colleges and universities, you greatly reduce student debt, you put a much smaller burden on the tax payers and it would be much harder to overturn because it would be a much more popular idea.

Now that may require the government to supply the loans rather than simply guarantee the loans because that would take the profiteering out of it. But let's face it, that's nothing more than semantics.

Now will that make college tuition zero? No. Would it be a vast improvement for college students? Yes.

So actually it's a middle ground that may stand the test of time and it would take concessions from both sides. I won't try to speak for everyone who calls themselves a moderate. But I want solutions that won't be fought over and tossed back and forth every time the two parties change power. And I don't think either extreme in politics is offering that right now.

Probably because that's all they hear from the msm. People are too lazy to read anything other than headlines, and the msm is full of crap headlines.

Half of voters say Trump is NOT a racist:

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/455364-half-of-voters-say-trump-is-racist-poll

It seems the Right is suddenly emboldened. Lots of recent posts from that "side."

Diam, you asked this question:



We all know what triggered his attack. Now, I have a question for you.

Do you think that is how the President of the United States should be behaving? Do you think perhaps he should concentrate more on fixing our problems rather than getting into a "he started it" childish debate w/others?

j/c - I think, just like the idea of running on how bad Trump is, the Democrats and the left wing media need to move on and not make everything about racism. That's just going to turn people off after a while .... the tweets against AOC and the other 3 were racist: they were said to a specific audience based on the color of their skin and wouldn't have been said to white politicians/person .... the Baltimore thing is just Trump being crass and a bully and divisive .... I don't read racism into it. Move on. Focus on what's important.

Look Pit compromise is good and the way to go when you have two parties that are willing to be honest partners... When was the last time you saw a GOPer give so much as an inch? At some point you just have to take charge, be the adult and do what's right for the country.

I’ll be more than happy to answer your questions .... u first ....

What was it that triggered his tweets? ... i want specifics ...

U think i’m all of a sudden emboldened .... ... its like u don’t know me at all ... this is behaving like an adult and asking questions to try and understand instead of the bovine jackass i behaved like before ...

I’ll chat u can do the snarky ...

The emboldened comment was not directly solely at you. It just seemed that there were several posts from the right while many of the guys on the left were staying quiet. It was not an attack on you.

I said we all know why Trump went after him and others. He felt that they were attacking him and he decided to fire back on them.

Thus, that is why I asked you the questions I did. Do you think that is how the POTUS should act? I get that guys on this board do it all the time, but should our President lower himself to such standards?

They were attacking him but thats not what prompted the tweet attack ... the day before or earlier that day Cummings said some despicable things at a hearing to either the director of ICE or Homeland Security ... it was one of those guys ... the way he talked to him was SICKENING ... a 100% thouroughly emberrasing dressing down that had no basis in reality and was as far below the belt as u can get ....

he accused of him of having no heart and asked him if he condoned the way the “asylum seekers” are being treated ... do u have kids? ... how can u be so inhumane, how can u not care? ... he asked those “questions” in a 3 minute running diatribe ... dude looked like he was about to cry ... you’d of got up and punched him and no one would have blamed u ...

Trump went after him right after he attacked someone in his admin and that was the last straw ... if it wasn’t for how they go after him and his family members in public and through the courts he may not have done it ... but what Cummings did was SICKENING and was solely for the camera ...

Of course I don’t think thats how our president should behave ... i’m not nor have i ever condoned his behavior ... no one else would know that ... u just asked me the very first question I’ve ever been asked in here ... Pit tells me how i feel and think all the time when he has NO CLUE what so ever cause he ASSumes he knows ...

Mr. President is a penchelant child with no discipline ... NONE .... he pees me off plenty with his tweets cause our president needs to be above that ... I LOVE the fact he fights back and doesn’t eat the lefts crap but he could do that THE RIGHT WAY ... he chooses not too ... that SUCKS ... he’s his own worst enemy ... he’s done so much more than most even know ...

In your other post u asked me shouldn’t he be doing his job instead of engaging in crap like that ... i don’t think thats the case at all ... hate him all u want all he does is work ... he puts plenty of time in doing his job ... i’m not sure if you’ve realized all he’s gotten done ... dude works his arse off ...

I wish he would change his behavior but he’s in his 70’s and he doesn’t seem to have any flexibility with his brutal tweets ... there gonna keep coming regardless and thats a shame ..

Oh come on. For years I've heard republicans complain that their elected officials never defend themselves. Most of them would instantly apologize or resign after being accused, falsely or not, of anything. Trump is the first one since Reagan to fight back, and people keep complaining.

Trump is right about balt. Obummer gave that city 1.8 billion after the freddy gray riots. Where did it go? Why does Cummings have two completely different demographics in his distict?

Dividing the country works w/a certain part of the country, but I believe that more people are hopeful that the "sides" work together rather than promote hate and bias.

I didn't see you comment on that during the obummer years. When the left uses terms like "white nationalists" or calls us all racists, is that dividing the country too? How about that "basket of deplorables"? White nationalist is just their new term for nazi, so they don't have to use the word nazi. What about white hispanic, when they called Zimmerman white before they knew his backround? Have you ever read the lefts comments on black or homosexual conservatives?

What part of the country is that?



I’ve hoped for that for the last 30 years ... about 20 years ago i used to say it appears to me they go on TV and take opposite stance on every issue and rip each other with absurd insults and then go have a few beers together and *L* at us .... i’m Not sure anything’s changed other than they can’t go out together cause of social media ...

And the ironic thing Vers ... u can’t stand trump but he’s the only one willing to work with the other side ... he’ll work with anyone ... he’s proven that ... even in this case ... he’s said he’d love to go to b-more with Cummings and work on the issues with him ... no response as far as i know from Cummings yet ...

Trump has performed admirably these past three years.

If he comes any where close the next 4 years, he will definitely be remembered as one of the greatest presidents of all-time.

If we actually put a woman on the moon in 2024...

I see 8chan posters are back. Maybe somebody could post something from Stormfront telling us how Trump is not racist. Or Breitbart... smh

This place looks more and more like those sites all the time.

He went off on Cummings because Cummings questioned Kevin McAleenan and somewhat berated him in a house oversight committee hearing over family separations and conditions at the border. He didn't actually say any thing directly to Trump. This part specifically.

Hair and make up did a great job. Now as long as he keeps his mouth shut......

Trumpians won't get this...

I get it.. it's an exaggerated compilation of anything and everything a person might ask another person from a different culture.. and phrased in the most obnoxious and offensive way...

Because, y'know, that's how white people act.

I have gotten on both sides for dividing the country.

You asked this question and I was trying to answer you. You asked if anyone knew what prompted Trumps tweets and I answered you damned question.

Jesus Christ man!

The berating of the Director was just a cheap POLITICAL stunt by Cummings that's all and I think it may have backfired on him by Trump bringing to light of Baltimore and all the LIB run major cities that have totally ignored the minorities .. hope they wake up to the truth of who is really the cause of their despair,by ignoring them as legal American citizens while they are so interested in ILLEGALS.

I can't find the article that I read the other day but going all the way back to when Trump was first elected and had members of congress to the WH for visits, he met Cummings and there was serious tension between the them.. the article didn't get into who said what or who caused it but evidently there has been a general dislike between the two for a long time that I'm sure has only been made worse since the election... This incident with the questioning might have been the last straw, but it apparently wasn't the first.

I’d all ready answered it menZa and you ignored it when i asked u directly and came back with some snide ass comment yesterday ... pay attention ... .

Amazingly enough your quote didn’t include the real nasty stuff ...

So the king of snide assed comments is calling the kettle black?

I just answered the question you asked in the thread.

You're welcome.

It wasn’t even close to the first ... no clue what happened that far back but over the last few weeks Cummings has subpoenaed every record imaginable pertaining to anything financial from Trump, Kushner and Ivanka ... this all falls in line with Cummings job as the head of the oversight committee ... Trump isn’t happy there still continuing to go down the collision/obstruction path either ..

Cummings crapping all over dude was the last straw and it triggered Trump ... if it wasn’t for all the other things who knows if trump goes off ... more than likely not ..,

I’m not condoning or making excuses for Mr. President .. just trying to present the background and facts in case anyone is actually interested in learning as opposed to just patting themselves on the back and declaring they are right and have the moral high ground ...

I have no problem admitting i’m the kettle or the pot in some cases ... its not pretty but sometimes its the truth ...

I’m not sure what’s up your butt lately .. to many occurrences lately of the BS u just pulled ... i mean this is BS Pit and u know it .. at least u used too ...

- i ask u a direct question yesterday ...
- u reply to that post from me and don’t touch the question ...
- i ask Vers ...
- Vers replies ... i fill in the blanks answering my question ...
- then a day and at least one reply later u decide to answer the question ...

U used to be able to handle 7 x 19 ... now 0 + 0 seems to be beyond your grasp ...

Later Pit ... u can make last shot at me and no matter how menZaesque it is i won’t reply .. knock your self out my friend ...

Well Trump did promise to release his taxes once Obama released his birth certificate. It sucks that somebody is trying to make the man honor his word.

Trump In 2011: I'll Release My Tax Returns When Obama Releases His Birth Certificate

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/andrewkaczynski/donald-trump-tax-returns-birth

He also promised to release them if he ran for president.

Speaking of 'whataboutisms'..........^^^

follow along arch......



So I responded with had Trump done what he said this wouldn't be happening because they would have those records. Had he of not lied, again, they would have his tax returns. That's quite relative to the comments I addressed.

You having trouble following along today? When someone claims the usual Trump whine of, "They're being so mean to him!"?

I feel it's quite pertinent to explain how we got here.

So, let me follow along. Cummings dislikes trump. Cummings has bee the rep. for how long? 20 years or so?

Trump makes a statement about rat infested Baltimore, which is correct. Yet, somehow racist in the eyes of idiots.

Cummings called his own district drug infested, but that's fine.

And you bring Kushner into it? And then try to twist trumps tax returns into the conversation as well?

You are a real piece of work. Thanks for the entertainment.

Yeah, ignore the post I quoted that I responded to. I'm not sure if you're ignoring it or too brainwashed to recognize it.

And I mean, if Baltimore is so full of slums, shouldn't we hold the people who own those properties responsible to improve them? Instead, Trump puts Kushner in charge of many important things in our government.

So let me get this straight.... Trump should call out the terrible neighborhoods of Baltimore and hire one of its slum lords? Makes perfect sense arch. lmao And of course nobody should mention it.

And if trump hadn't lied at least twice that we know of, Cummings wouldn't need to be going after his financial records.

But yeah, ignore the liar and go after the person holding him accountable. Typical Trumpian response.