Witness
Category: Culture and society
News for the week of 12 May 2019
Tue 14 May 2019 – Georgia passes a bill (HB 481) that criminalizes abortions after six weeks. “[U]nborn children are a class of living, distinct person” that deserves “full legal recognition.” Women who self-terminate can be prosecuted. Gov. Brian Kemp. 34-18 in the Senate, 92-78 in the House.
Wed 15 May 2019 – Alabama passes a bill (HB 314) that makes it illegal for doctors to perform an abortion. The woman will not be prosecuted; the doctor can face up to 99 years in jail. Gov. Kay Ivey. 25-6 in the Senate, 74-3 in the House.
Thu 16 May 2019 – Missouri Senate passes a bill (HB 126) criminalzing abortion after eight weeks. Women would not be prosecuted; doctors would face five to 15 years in prison. Gov. Mike Parson. 24-10 in the Senate.
- Georgia Just Criminalized Abortion. Women Who Terminate Their Pregnancies Would Receive Life in Prison.
- Missouri Senate passes bill to ban abortions at 8 weeks
Continuing the story, Washington and either Volusia or Brevard county voting machines in Florida were hacked by the Russians in 2018, potentially tipping the scales. Republicans previously blocked security measures recommended by all intelligence agencies to secure elections.
- Russian government hackers targeted small county in Florida panhandle in 2016
- 19 July 2018 – House GOP refuses to renew election security funding as Democrats fume over Russian interference
Lots of Iran news. Basically, the administration is telegraphing aggression based on very, very suspect intel in order to either Iraq war that shit or for Trump to (as some Republicans fear) set up a Kim Jong Un-like meeting with Rouhani and give away everything like he did then. Rep. Tom Cotton said, unbelievably, said the US could win a war agains Iran with: “Two strikes, the first strike and the last strike.” Where to even begin.
- Cotton: US could win war with Iran in ‘two strikes’
- War Games: Trump, Bolton, and the Alleged March to Fight Iran
Trump may pardon a soldier, on Memorial Day, who was convicted of war crimes.
News for the week of 5 May 2019
(Notes on the news. Trying this weekly in order to remember the notable stuff.)
Rudy Giuliani, the president’s lawyer, planned to go to Ukraine to help their government do opposition research on Joe Biden.
- Rudy Giuliani Plans Ukraine Trip to Push for Inquiries That Could Help Trump
- Rudy Giuliani Cancels His Trip to Ukraine, Blaming Democrats’ ‘Spin’
Trump held a rally in Panama City Beach, FL and complained that you can’t use weapons to attack immigrants:
And don’t forget — we don’t let them and we can’t let them use weapons. We can’t,” Trump said. “Other countries do. We can’t. I would never do that. But how do you stop these people? You can’t. There’s—
An audience member then shouted “Shoot them!” Trump then joked about it.
The New York Times acquired Trump’s state tax returns for 1985-1994 which revealed that he lost $1.2B over that time period.
Georgia passed a bill that bans abortions after six weeks.
School shooting in Highlands Ranch, CO.
You’ll feel shame
You’ll feel shame but won’t address it or speak about it or sometimes even know that it’s affecting you but it will be there. The most conscious thoughts will be justifications you’ll know are weak. You were part of a history that will be repressed. A country that really won’t deal with what it did to itself and how distorted it became. It’ll take months or years or decades (or sooner) to address it, and when you finally get there you’ll feel queasy from the shame. You know it now. This is not what you wanted, at least, not all of it. You have hatreds and prejudices and but a morality that nags. “Something is not right.” And the shame will creep in. And you’ll justify your initial intentions while still knowing there was wrong that was there and not just wrong but one of those very basic wrongs. The shame may temper what you teach your children and save the next generation. Maybe. If the damage isn’t already done.
This is what I hope for you.
Updated 2 May 2019
A Former Alt-Right Member’s Message: Get Out While You Still Can
A lady completely bat-shit connected to the news outlets and pundits and participants in some of the most extreme racism and anti-semitism of the recent political climate. Katie McHugh acts regretful, makes excuses, blames “the climate.” Relationships with and those associated with: Daily Caller. WorldNetDaily. Breitbart. Her essays and tweets contain extremely extremely vile statements about other POC and Jews and one of her current excuses is that there were much worse racists.
Witness
A crowd of Covington Catholic (website, Facebook) students harass and mock Nathan Phillips. Known contacts:
- Browe@covcath.org
- Sbeiting@covcath.org
- Rflesch@covcath.org
Loose timeline of useful information that was released on Twitter:
4:16 AM – 19 Jan 2019 – A video of the event
3:53 PM – Jan 19, 2019 – Rapist Jake Walter from the school
Boone County deputies say Jake Walter, a one-time Covington Catholic basketball standout, held a woman down this weekend and repeatedly raped her until she bled.
Walter dismissed the victim by laughing at her and telling her that she would be fine.
12:16 AM – Jan 20, 2019 – Statement from one of the students mother
Shame on you! Were you there? Did you hear the names the people where calling these boys? It was shameful. Did you witness the black Muslims yelling profanities and video taping trying to get something to futher (sic) your narrative of hatred?? Did you know that this “man” came up to this one boy and drummed in his face? Shame on you. Only reporting what you want. More fake news.
…
Delete my email. I want nothing to do with helping perpetuating (sic) your hate. I do not want to be a part of your story. You are ruining a boys life for fake news. Hate spreads like wildfire. I pray for you.
— Quote captured from WATCH: Covington Catholic Students Wearing MAGA Hats Taunt Native Americans [VIDEO] on Heavy.com.
8:44 AM – 20 Jan 2019 – Each student’s face–45 in all–screengrabbed from the video
Updated 24 Jan 2019
Images of previous incidents where Covington students were being racist
Student wearing blackface at a basketball game, apparently taunting a black player on the other team. Taken from a thread titled Should The Colonel Crazies’ Treatment Of Inbounders Have To Change?
Another image taken from a basketball game with students giving the white supremacy hand sign (the Medium article Does the OK Sign Actually Signify “White Power,” or What? details the symbol’s history and hoaxes). Image originally from this tweet. No source.
6:04 PM – 21 Jan 2019 – Harassing a female before the Nathan Phillips incident
Last thing, for people wondering what they yelled, all we specifically heard was “MAGA”, “Build the Wall”, and some people say they hear “slut” at the end of the video ok it’s past my bedtime goodnight twitter
Media presence
Daily Beast posted the article Covington Catholic Teen on ‘Fox & Friends’: Blackface Is ‘School Spirit’ on two students’ interview on Fox the morning of the 23rd. File under “male white privilege makes stupid”. These teens are either unprepared or stupid or both. Cf. the Parkland kids carrying themselves in the public sphere with calm intelligence and moral certitude.
Savannah Guthrie interviewed Nick Sandmann (possibly #1 in the group image above) on NBC Nightly News on the evening of the 23rd. He is as expressive and sympathetic as the two on Fox. This is more of an indictment of thrusting kids into the media. Allegedly, the Bishop at the school has now barred them from speaking to the media.
Predictable, Trump and Fox support them.