These three things have happened in the past week:
1. The MAGA Bomber sent at least 13 pipe bombs to prominent Democrats, former members of Obama administration and media outlets. The bomber was identified as Cesar Sayoc, a Florida resident who drove around Miami in a white van which was covered in pro-Trump MAGA stickers and photos, and photos of prominent Democrats in “crosshairs.” Sayoc was known for threatening Democrats online and for rambling about all of his Deplorable thoughts to anyone and everyone.
2. A white man named Gregory Bush shot and killed two African-Americans at a Kroger supermarket outside of Louisville, Kentucky. He encountered a white couple in the middle of his terrorist assault and he said “whites don’t kill whites.” Before he killed those two people, he tried to break into an African-American church (but the doors were locked).
3. A white man named Robert Bowers took an AR-15 into Tree of Life Congregation synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on Saturday morning. There were Shabbat morning services and a bris happening at the temple. Bowers killed 11 people, and wounded six, four of them police officers who exchanged gunfire with Bowers after he barricaded himself in the synagogue. It’s being called the worst mass killing of Jewish people on American soil. Much like Cesar Sayoc, Bowers had a long history of hate speech and online activity of harassment and anti-Semitism.
That’s just in the past week. This past week has also included Donald Trump repeatedly talking about “globalists,” which is just a thinly veiled reference to Jewish people. He’s also mocked the idea of “Bomb stuff” and suggested that it was all a conspiracy against Republicans.
Republicans are doing so well in early voting, and at the polls, and now this “Bomb” stuff happens and the momentum greatly slows – news not talking politics. Very unfortunate, what is going on. Republicans, go out and vote!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 26, 2018
In addition to that, he has partnered with Fox News to convince his MAGA supporters that the real enemy is… a caravan of migrants slowly traveling through Mexico. Or perhaps the real enemy is Muslim people? Or the Democrats? Or the media? Who can even keep track? Oh, that’s right – the MAGA Deplorables keep track of all it. They have a list, and they listen very carefully to Trump’s dog whistles and hate speech. We have to say this: the president of the United States is radicalizing terrorists. He is actively provoking them.
Oh, and he just happens to be incapable of human empathy, much like any garden variety psychopath. Shortly after Robert Bowers surrendered, Donald Trump blamed the victims and said that the synagogue should have had better security:
Trump says the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting has "little" to do with gun laws: "If they had protection inside, the results would have been far better." (via CBS) pic.twitter.com/2z9JGCZXvb
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) October 27, 2018
Then he complained about how his hair got wet because he had to speak to media outlets after a terrorist he radicalized and empowered murdered multiple people inside a house of worship.
Here's the video. Trump jokes that he considered canceling his speech to FFA because his hair got wet while talking to reporters (about the mass shooting in Pittsburgh). pic.twitter.com/wLb4hpERgF
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) October 27, 2018
And he won’t shut up about “globalists” either, not even after an armed anti-Semite shot up a synagogue.
Just moments after Trump calls for unity at a WH event, he references "globalists," prompting several audience members shout "Soros" — who was a target of one of the bombs — and others shout "lock him up" to which Trump chuckles, points and repeats "lock him up" pic.twitter.com/IWZR3DRCvk
— Robert Maguire (@RobertMaguire_) October 26, 2018
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
The fury Trump’s responses foment in me is white-hot and boundless. And–though this is among the least of his recent offenses–his “Republicans, go out and vote” comment leaves me speechless. The leader of our nation is engaging in voter suppression. He is absolutely despicable. And I am enraged.
ENYA I’m right behind you. The problem is that I don’t know what to do with all this rage. He makes EVERYONE furious about something. Everything he touches turns to 💩. ALL of the Republicans are complicit and I hate them for caring only about themselves. And EVERY DAY IT GETS WORSE. Feeling helpless and hopeless is a lethal combination, and all the marching and poster making and petition signing and news sharing doesn’t make one bit of difference. My biggest fear is that Republicans control all the voting – the voting rolls, polling places, the results, everything – so even voting won’t matter.
This miserable excuse of a human POS actually said he wouldn’t consider cancelling his rally, just HOURS after the Jewish congregation was mowed down, but he might because “he was getting a bad hair day, from standing in the rain having to answer questions about it”. THIS is ITS idea of a JOKE???
Wonder what “joke” he’d make if his Jewish grandchildren, and his precious Daughter-Wife were in that temple??
Belle Epoch, GOPS are putting OUT Anti-Semitic ads, and their members are out and promoting Neo-nazis. Just look at Steven King? Loud n’ proud of it. Endorsing a candidate that has written a book on “exterminating Jews”. Talked about white pride in an interview in Austria… Look at De Santos, hell… ALL of them, spewing out the “Nationalist” /anti-immigrant rhetoric. Unless you’re one of “them”, you are an “Other”, and you’d better watch out. Sickens me that this country has come to this, not even 75 yrs. after a World War was fought to stop this kind of racism and fascism.
Jan – don’t get too admiring of WWII America. We had plenty of overt official racism of our own.
This country was racially segregated either by law or de facto. Washington DC itself was segregated. That meant different sanitary facilities, different drinking fountains, different restaurants (black Americans had to bring their own food on train rides), different schools, different hotels, different housing in general (white neighborhoods didn’t sell to blacks), different access to everything including of course jobs. There were many places black Americans simply could not go. Movies were basically segregated – most had all-white casts except for an occasional black stereotype for comic relief. The films with mostly black casts were aimed directly at black Americans and shown in places where blacks could actually enter. The military itself was racially segregated until Truman desegregated. So black and white soldiers weren’t even supposed to fight and die together. And lynching of people for being black by a white mob was still quite popular. I actually knew someone my age whose wife had lost a relative to a lynching.
White Americans were not terribly bothered by Nazi prejudices about black people because they shared the same prejudices.
This continued after the war. The comedian Jack Benny (who was Jewish and keenly aware of the consequences of accepting -isms) managed to insist that one of his major cast members (Eddie Anderson, who was a black standup comic and played Rochester, who had been hired as factotum when the cheapskate Benny character managed to lose him his original job) be allowed to stay with the group in hotels by threatening to move everybody to another hotel. Yes, a famous comedian and comic actor was told he couldn’t stay at hotels because he was black. Anderson really was very famous, watched on tv every week by a big chunk of the population. The extremely famous Sammy Davis Jr had similar obstacles and had to stay in different hotels when traveling with his white colleagues.
People of Japanese extraction in 1941 were forced to sell their homes and businesses and spent years in concentration camps. President Roosevelt gave the same excuses for that as Hitler had done for rounding up Jews. Kids grew up in those camps and were traumatized. The government used the supposedly confidential 1940 census to quickly round up people for the camps, something I like to remind census takers about if they try to tell me that my answers are confidential. This is why it’s important to fight the citizenship question Trump is putting on the next census form. It is dangerous to give such centralized information about certain things to the government now just as it was in 1940, especially considering Trump’s anti-immigrant activity. The government is not benign, but that is hard for people who have never been targeted to understand.
European Jews were not welcomed to take refuge in the US during the Nazi era, even if they had relatives willing to support them. Their applications were stalled until many were dead. Those who managed to get on a boat headed to the US after Kristallnacht were turned back. Anti-refugee sentiment was high in the US, so Trumpers are not a new phenomenon. Remember those were the days when Jews were not even allowed in country clubs, for example …. There was a lot of anti-Semitic feeling here. I doubt that many Americans went off to fight the Nazis because they wanted to protect Jews.
And don’t get me started on what was and still is happening to Native Americans.
Etc. etc. etc. I’m sure I’ve left a lot out.
WWII was fought for a lot of reasons, but it certainly was not fought against racism or anti-Semitism.
Jwoolman, thank you for the insightful post. Those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it. It is disingenuous to fetishize the good guys / bad guys narrative. It feels like dangerous times in America.
Thank you @jwoolman
jwoolman,
My father fought in WWII, and received a Presidential Citation for freeing prisoners from concentration camps. His regiment is also honored at the Holocaust Museum. He fought for all people, and to insinuate otherwise is speculative and disrespectful. The laws of the government do not always reflect the will and beliefs of the people. Surely you have come to see that by now.
When the Government announced the Japanese internment, very few opposed it. People believed the President when he said that Japanese-Americans were a national security threat. The NAACP nor the American Jewish Committee spoke against it. Prejudice came in all shapes and sizes, and no one was spared…well, almost no one.
In 1944 the Treasury Department intervened and wrote a scathing report blasting the State Department and its “wilful refusal to act” on behalf of jewish refugees. Due to this report, the War Refugee Board was formed. Tens of thousands of Jewish refugees were admitted to the US, but millions had already died.
Good people are always trying to do what is best for our country and our people, but there are those who will always want to do what is best for themselves. They don’t care about the greater good. The Donald Trumps of the world will be a footnote in history of what can happen when people don’t stand up to hate and indifference.
@Belle Epoch – What you do with the rage is to vote, and get everyone you know to do the same. What you do with the rage is to reach out and be as kind as possible to everyone you encounter. Sending you strength and love and a hug, unless you are not a hugger, in which case I send you whatever you consider to be a supportive gesture and a reminder that you’re not alone.
@J Woolman – thank you so much for your words of wisdom.
Thank you, CANNIBELL! I AM a hugger and I’m sending you one back! 😘
His base really dont care.
Its incredible how people latch on to people and excuse and follow everything they do
There is no reaching his base. If they don’t care after everything that has happened this past week and trumps horrible response to it all…. then they will never care. #vote
VOTE!
The only good/bad thing is every American is gonna have to solve this mess because this week is was the appetizer. In the words of Malcolm X, the roster have come home to crow. Trump will never take any responsibility. All signs are firmly pointi no g toward a recession next year.
Slightly off topic but has anyone noticed the subtle push towards the narrative that the man behind the mail bombs has mental issues?
As for the horrific shooting and murder of innocent people yesterday of course 45 has to say it could have been prevented if there was a armed guard outside the entrance. So will we now have armed guards outside all places of worship, schools, shopping malls, and any place people gather? Let’s of course do that and not look at some sort of gun control
Just sickening
PS: even the long haired guinea pig on 45’s head has had enough of the crap coming out of his mouth. It is getting ready to jump off his head and run to Canada
Canada had a white supremacist shoot and kill many Muslims praying at a mosque shortly after Trump’s inauguration. We don’t even want the hair.
Remember that one of the first things Trump did was lift Obama restriction giving gun access to mentally challenged. Trump embargoed the pics after the Stonewall shooting.
I hate this about the GOP. They blame mental illness when these events happen, but do everything they can to prevent Americans from getting access to mental health care.
Trump should never be allowed to forget that he signed legislation that allows people who are deemed mentally incompetent by the government to own firearms.
“Mental issues” is the GOP and NRA scripted response to any act of mass violence committed by a white person, instead of taking steps to strengthen public safety. Whenever I hear it, I like to point out the voting record of various prominent Republicans on mental health parity laws and funding for mental health treatment, along with their NRA rating.
Yes, LP. It’s completely disingenuous every time and it enrages me. Every time.
I am Jewish and every synagogue in my city has a police presence at services. We walk past the officers on high holidays and when dropping my kids off at religious school on the weekend. We have an officer that lives on site as well. I was raised Christian, and never in all my years of going to church to ever see law enforcement on site just so we could observe our faith.
Yesterday was a very hard day, but hearing Trumps comments pushed me over the edge. We shouldn’t HAVE to arm ourselves to practice our religion in a country founded on principles of religious freedom!
And this weekend in the midst of so much violence he decided to call himself a nationalist and fire up the radicals even more.
@juju- I was saying the same thing yesterday. I don’t want to live in a police state where there are armed guards everywhere because these deplorablea think they need and have a right to a cache of automatic rifles in their homes. I don’t want to have to send my children to school with an armed teacher and hope that they can defend my child from a lunatic with a gun. Teachers barely make ends meet and people want them to train and carry guns to defend an entire class of kids from an armed shooter? How do people think this is a logical answer??? What is the difference between the US and other developed nations? Why do we have so much more gun violence and mass shootings? If you can’t make the connection that we have the most lax gun laws and the NRA and these other countries don’t then you don’t want to see it. I’m so mad and don’t even know what to do with this anger besides vote and even that feels like not enough but how do we get this guy out because at this point his supporters will ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS no matter what support him.
I was raised Catholic, covered to Judaism many years ago and I feel the same way. We’ve had a security guard at our synagogue for years-although he’s never been armed. Our Jewish preschool playground had cut outs in the walls-last year an older couple donated the money to put in bullet proof glass. It is so sickening to me that we have to even think about this and plan accordingly.
It is really sad and troubling how America has accepted the threat against the Jewish community, isn’t it?
There’s been armed guards at the temple near my house for years, and it is so freaking WRONG that they need to take such steps. Yet it is becoming common place and people aren’t questioning why it is needed in the first place.
RBC – Our shooters generally do have mental issues. That’s not a lie. It’s extremely rare for their actions to be motivated as a rational paramilitary response to political conditions. Politics may seem to drive them, but actually their underlying instability and distorted thinking is what overcomes those natural barriers to killing strangers. Even with military training, designed to overcome those barriers, a lot of soldiers just don’t shoot unless directly threatened.
But that’s also why politicians cannot say the kind of crap Trump does without consequences of this sort. Most of them know that if they demonize the opposition or any group, they risk triggering some lunatic in the audience to think he has approval to go kill those people and will be considered a hero. These people typically think they are only doing what everyone else would do if they were brave enough. They think they have community approval.
That’s why we have had a clear increase in fatal and violent incidents and in harassment of women, non-whites, immigrants, refugees, and Muslims since Trump started campaigning for President and especially after he won. School teachers saw it in their classrooms, and a major educational organization developed resources for them to use to try to combat it. The bullies were definitely referencing Trump as they harassed their Muslim, immigrant, and refugee classmates. Even some teachers did such things to children.
Trump didn’t create the hate, but he clearly made it ok to express it. He continues to attack everybody he doesn’t like not because he is clueless, but because he really wants them dead. He is an extreme narcissist with sociopathic traits and is also an extremely vengeful person. He has always been this way. He wants more attacks to occur. That’s why he has to be careful not to make potential terrorists feel they don’t have his approval. His consistent pattern is to reluctantly and very late say something acceptable, avoiding mention of things that might be a problem for him (such as mentioning that Jews were killed at prayer in a synagogue by a vocal anti-Semite, or naming the people he hates that were targeted by pipe bombs). Then he says something to reverse that, so any lunatics listening will know he didn’t really mean it and he loves them dearly, so please proceed.
Exactly. It is a textbook example of stochastic terrorism.
Kaiser, thank you for calling this situation as it is. It is very important that this stuff doesn’t get sugar-coated.
Yes! Many thanks to Kaiser and Celebitchy for using your platform to educate people who may not understand what’s happening. And for providing a place where we can find comfort and connection at this difficult time.
Enya, I’m with you on the white hot, boundless rage. Voting is critically important but not enough. Frankly I don’t trust the voting systems we have (I’m in Austin and apparently our aging machines are literally changing Beto votes to Cruz votes… They say it’s just an old machine problem but I don’t know if I actually buy it at this point). And I don’t trust the GOP who are in power to behave honestly. There will be massive efforts to throw out ballots and suppress the blue vote.
So hard not to despair at this point. One nice thing–yesterday a Beto canvasser rang the doorbell to help get out the vote. He was a 70-year-old white guy and that fact nearly made me tear up, because my god, I’m so exhausted by the hot rage I have for most older white dudes after kavenaugh and all the other things. It was just nice to see this elderly guy getting out the vote for Beto.
@Lindy I live in Bryan Texas and we are seeing that issue too. It is NOT the machines failing but the republicans tampering. 🙁
Nothing will get done.
Ugh, yeah–it’s just too much to believe at this point, isn’t it?
I’ve been reading reports of straight ticket switching. I feel more despair because I read that the same day as the shooting and the murder.
This has been a problem since at least 2004. Exit polls stopped being accurate predictors of the result. All signs point to vote-shifting software (especially when there is a typo in the software that results in massively unbelievable numbers), not “old machines”. They were doing it when they were new.
Most of the machines are made by two manufacturers who are active Republicans. I suspect certain vulnerabilities may have been hard-wired in, but there are other ways to explain it. A machine does not have to be hooked up to the net to acquire malware. A vote-shifting program would be very small and could come along with the ballot, which has to be loaded into the machines. The program could have instructions to trigger at a certain time and self-delete when the polls close. It would be hard to find traces if the space was overwritten many times with random zeroes and ones. But mainly nobody has seriously looked for such evidence. There are other ways involving technology that is increasingly adept at fiddling with things at a distance.
If people want to keep using those machines for convenience, they must all have paper backup that can be viewed and checked by the voter. This is the most secure way to make sure the vote tallies are not changed by machines. Technology keeps advancing and it will be a lost cause trying to keep up with it, so simpler is actually better. And then recounts of those paper ballots must be mandatory in every election. The Republicans keep going to court to block recounts and that has to stop. And doing recounts on request by a candidate when the margin is tiny is simply not enough. The hackers just have to aim at keeping that margin big enough to avoid automatic recounts. People have to get away from the idea that they just have to catch “human error” and realize they have to actively prevent and detect outright fraud.
Every vote counts regardless. Democrats can win if they get enough votes to outrun the hackers, as Obama did in 2008 and 2012 and Hillary almost did in 2016. The stakes are even higher today and so I would expect greater efforts than ever before to manipulate the vote counts.
Vote paper if you can. I did that in the 2016 race and was quicker because no one was voting paper.
I used the paper ballot bc I remember this happening during the 2016 election. i was telling my husband I wish they would give you a print out after your vote was cast that shows how your vote was logged. I mean, we’re living in the year 2018 for frick’s sake.
After such a horrific event yesterday, what real President would go off to a campaign rally? I can’t envision Obama or Bush or anyone else doing that. A domestic terrorist attack has just occurred and he’s out campaigning spewing more hate and lies. I’m so afraid for this country. When will people wake up and realize this is a civil war of ideologies for the heart and soul of this country.
And what real president would “joke” that a press conference in the rain about a mass shooting resulting in a bad hair day for him?
Worse yet are the people who laughed and applauded at that remark. I am beside myself with rage and despair…finding it hard to see how people can go on with their normal activities. I want to run screaming in the street. I’m sick.
What real human would? He is a sociopath in service to a hostile foreign power.
he was also tweeting about a baseball game last night.
FYI IslaLund : https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/why-obama-didnt-cancel-fundraising-despite-tragic-charleston-shooting/2015/06/20/143b15a8-1704-11e5-89f3-61410da94eb1_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.04676ca660e3
45 the orange white supremacist in charge does not need the military, he has an army of MAGAMANIACS at his beck and call. He is a Nationalist by his own saying. I would not be surprised if his MAGAMANIACS don’t start targeting polling stations next.
Vote. But be prepared for more of these attacks. Because the MAGAMANIACS have the Word from their masters mouth to do harm because you will not be held accountable.
I’m out of words about it. I feel so powerless and I’m just out of words.
This kind of confirms for me that Ivanka’s conversion wasn’t sincere. I dont’ look for her to be an agent of change, but if her conversion were sincere, if she really wanted her children to grow up in the Jewish faith, she’d actually leave DC or otherwise indicate actual displeasure. Instead we’ll get pouty Barbie.
She issued a meaningless Tweet.
She issued a meaningless, boilerplate tweet, on a Saturday afternoon, during which, as a claimed Orthodox, she would not have had access to news or her phone.
I never even heard about the white man killing the 2 African Americans until this…my husband said he heard about it yesterday. This country is falling apart and I am so scared for my kids. I just got blocked from my brother-in-law…he posted how the bombing suspect was a registered democrat. I posted (to be funny I thought) FAKE NEWS. I thought people could take the wrong way & deleted…then I read how SO MANY PEOPLE are claiming he is a democrat, the stickers are too new to be his and the worse – look at his name build the wall. I commented on my page that ignorant people will be ignorant no matter what. He blasted me telling me the only people this man followed were democrats, this man hated Trump and the pot is calling the kettle black. Then he blocked me! So now family get togethers will be oh so fun! And I have two of them like this! How did this happen? I mean, I know Trump (I SO HATE THE MAN) but these were normal people before him…how did they all become so out there? I am sorry, I just feel I am the only one in my family (well other than my husband & daughter…but I am much more vocal about this) who understands this man is a total idiot destroying our country!
I also read that he was a Democrat turned Republican when Trump was running for president and that he voted for Trump. But wasn’t that exactly what Trump did, was Dem but turned Rep to run for office? So the excuse that he was Dem doesn’t fly.
The police was hesitant to call it a hate crime and didn’t do until day later. One if the eyewitnesses heard shooter comments.
The whole point is the turning of “normal” people. At the same time, “normal ” people have always been turned by race hatred, the “normal” Germans were turned by their own culture of superiority.
Normal people not turned: black Americans. Native Americans. LGBTQ Americans and so on.
http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/10/white-supremacist-shooting-in-louisville-kentucky-kroger.html
I know how you feel, I’m married to a guy who voted for Trump thinking maybe change would be good. He’s not really into politics but just will blindly vote for trump again. It’s really affecting my marriage in some ways because he doesn’t even take the time to educate himself.
I’m really sorry. There can’t be much harder than a spouse exposing him or herself to be not what you thought in such a horrible way.
Oh Floatnurse I m so sorry that must be so difficult
@ Lucy It’s probably too late for you see this, but I wanted to chime in. I’m also dealing with cancelling family members, like my own brother, and other loved ones. It is so isolating. That word seems too kind— it’s more like isolation, despair, and trauma (past and present) mixed together.
I did not see this coming. My parents raised us to be aware of social injustice, and to be aware of white privilege in particular and what it means. White privilege is a product of nothing but racism, and it saturates pretty much everything in America from government (especially criminal law) to entertainment to academia, etc etc… Yet most white people never even notice it. My parents were/are both social justice activists so I grew up feeling strongly that I had to use whatever privilege I had try to help others and fight the power.
But as things get worse every day in our government, even my brother has turned out to be an ignorant, racist, misogynist. His children are mixed race!! And then excuses are made for him, by the rest of the family ie, “he just doesn’t get it.” How many more times am I going to have to hear that when a man is an *ssh*le?!! Is this what his daughter will be told when she gets older?! Just how hard would it be for him to open his eyes and get it?! Men are not incapable of empathy. I’m not asking for some divine revelation, just that he TRY to see things outside of his own personal perspective. But I guess that’s asking too much. Basically the message from my family is that I am supposed to be silent about my trauma and pain because it could upset someone else, a message I internalized long ago, but which takes a different form today.
I am survivor of sexual violence, some of which my family definitely knows about, but no one has been supportive, despite the fact that they all read the NYTimes every day and have read tons of articles about how all this sh*t is re-traumatizing survivors. I tried to talk to my dad, got nothing, and tried to talk to my mom, who seemed to get it in the moment but not thereafter. During that upsetting conversation I told her I regretted saying anything about that to anyone, ever, both when it happened, and during that conversation. Because people STILL don’t get it, and if I hadn’t told them, I could at least comfort myself by imagining that they would get it if they knew. She seemed to get it, but that didn’t last. Just the other day we were at a car dealership and the sales guy was trying to intimidate us in that classic way, and I wasn’t having it. I wasn’t rude, I just corrected him when he said things like “you don’t know what you’re talking about.” I asked my mom to leave a minute ahead of me because I wanted to quickly tell this man that it is not appropriate to speak to women that way, and the times are changing. So my mom got mad at ME and told me not to cause “a thing.” I was furious that after everything she knows about me, that it was more important to her that I be “well-behaved” than able to defend my own dignity (BTW I am a grown ass woman, WTF). I don’t understand how she does not see the connection and I have been too emotional about it to talk to her for a week now. Remember that 3 Billboards movie? I keep thinking of how she once told me that, if she were that mother, she hoped she’d be just as powerful an advocate for her daughter. I can’t stop thinking of telling her “you are the opposite of that mother.” Since I don’t want to cause a huge “thing,” I’ll just have to isolate myself long enough to choke these feelings down.
And my closest friends don’t acknowledge the crisis we have on our hands for what it is. I feel like we are living in different worlds. So yeah, I’m very alone, even when I’m with my closest confidants.
That went on much longer than I intended, sorry! I just meant to say— I get it. You’re not alone in feeling that way. I feel more alone than I ever have in my entire life and I’m pretty much out of lifelines. So if you need one, let me know 👊
I’m so sorry to hear you’re going through all of this Stumpi. Pls take care of yourself and try to just be calm and secure in knowing what you know. Let the light of truth guide your path, hopefully to some new friends, activities, sanctuaries. I wish I could say more to help but for now, just wishing you comfort and peace…
I am so sorry you have all this going on in your life! I also experienced sexual abuse at work and out, my work made the guy apologize to me and the other, no one really knew about as I was ashamed. I think you are remarkable to have told anyone about-I find it horrible that your family would not be there for you, but you should be proud you said something. I am sick of hearing…but my son! He will be wrongly convicted (I have 2 daughters, no son…I would hope I would not feel this way if I did since I would hope he would not put himself in this type of situation). I have decided that the older people (of which, unfortunately, I could be considered) are just too set in their ways to see truth…the women grew up in the clutch your pearls, stay at home, take care of your man (my MIL actually got upset with me when I went on a work trip since I was not leaving dinners home for my husband and 2 daughters-I laughed!). I try to rationalize they especially do not want to say anything. I was like that when I was younger, the older I get, the more injustice I see, the more my mouth opens. I was raised to never discriminate, yet my brother is very much a Trump lover and is what I consider prejudiced-he has his moments but to me not enough. I do have a friend I get together with once a month who feels as I do, in that I am lucky. I wish we could form a group outside of here just to keep us sane, though I do come here when I get overwhelmed just to get my mind back. I really hope you are able to find someone who is able to listen to you. For what it’s worth, I think just reading what are dealing with, I think you are amazing and hope you keep on keeping on! Here for ya!
@Lucy and @Sue Denim Wow, thank you both so much for your kindness! I wasn’t expecting anyone to respond but I was waiting in a long line so I thought I’d check. I started tearing up! I am so touched that you both reached out to me— I truly appreciate it!!
I know my problems are nothing compared to what many people have suffered through. But I really needed to feel heard, so you two have given me a wonderful gift! And you’ve inspired me to reach out to old friends, which I really didn’t consider before. I’m in this awkward, isolated place, far away from all of my good friends, because a spinal injury forced me to move in with my mom after I finished law school (I’m not a particularly young person myself). So I’ve been unable to work in an office but not disabled enough for any student loan forgiveness. I’m very lucky that my mom supports me, but it also makes it impossible to set the boundaries I need in order to deal with my family. I’ve made some progress with the pain this year and have gotten back to work part time while doing freelance stuff from home. I can’t wait to get out of here, though it seems like a pipe dream. Anyway, again, thank you both, from the bottom of my heart!!
In Houston he announced he was a nationalist.
Exactly the signal. And then he went after the “globalists,” the Jews. He did it on purpose. It’s all on purpose.
Yes. He is part of a sustained campaign of terror, intended to weaken all western democracies. I checked Hamilton68 right after the shooting, and it appeared as a theme being pushed by Russian bots and trolls. Also, Trump’s “walk away” theme tweet was done the same day as the “walk away” protest in DC and in concert with bots and trolls.
I thought the Temple killer was angry that Trump was ‘controlled ‘ by Jews for letting the refugees in or some baseless conspiracy story like that?
Read that also and that he hated Trump and didn’t vote for him. Wonder who got to him to spew that out of his mouth. Especially after the pipe bomber that had a van plastered with pro-Trump stickers and pictures of the victims with X’s through them.
The shooter didn’t like trump because he felt he wasn’t far right enough.
The Temple killer was a rabid anti-Semite who supported Trump online but was critical of Trump because he thought Trump needed to explicitly hate Jewish people more vocally.
I just watched a lady on MSNBC say “Other presidents would be holding back tears when discussing something like this”(mass shooting,tragedy,etc.) I started to think has this man ever showed any sincere sign of empathy,compassion,etc?
Maybe I missed it.
Not that I have seen.
He’s a monster. A psychopath. He has never shown human emotion. If you notice he doesn’t laugh either. He just bullies and makes fun of people. The US really needs to remove him because he’s done a lot of damage in two years.
I will never understand how people can vote to support this asshat. Not those idiots who slavishly follow his every fart—there never has been hope for them—but those usually normal Americans who willingly tie themselves into knots to rationalize all his stupidity. Are they just so conditioned to vote Republican that they can’t wrap their minds around thinking and voting independently? It’s tragic. It’s a tragedy for our country.
I pray that if the shoe is ever on the other foot, that I will be able to see beyond the trite slogans and empty showmanship to vote for my own and my community’s interests at the expense of my political party.
I am an African American and I didn’t want my children to go anywhere yesterday. I beside my self until the returned home. This is the country we live in now. I am fearful for my young adult children that some nut job trumpet would harm them because of the big mouth piece of scum in the White House. I blame the media who thought it was all fun and games when he was running, I blame the 3rd party voters, the non voters and any republican that voted and supported him. Our greedy, racist republican Congress and Senate. Who would have thought in 2015-2016 the year of 2017 & 2018 would be the beginning of the American third reich.
I am so sorry Onemoretime. No parent should EVER have to fear for their children’s safety like this. I know this is not new but it gets ever more disturbing. I hope the country will not continue like this, and I pray for all of us but most of all your children. The most basic human right is to feel secure in one’s skin and one’s home.
Hugs to you, Onemoretime.
I’m so sorry that your family has to live through this kind of terror. I can’t imagine what it would feel like to be in your shoes. My sister’s children are Jewish and she was going through similar feelings yesterday.
To Onemoretime (and any parent who fears for the safety of your children during these intense times), I send you all the love and light I can muster. I passionately wish for the safety and health of your children, no matter how old or young they may be. Peace be with you and your family.
I live outside of Pittsburgh now, but Squirrel Hill was my home for many years. My neighbors attended services at this synagogue. I am devastated for their community. I am enraged at the disgusting rhetoric being normalized by the POS in charge of this country. Please PLEASE vote for gun sense laws and candidates on November 6.
I keep hearing people say “thank god no children were killed” in the mass murder yesterday. That is what we have become. We are now grateful when it isn’t the children being slaughtered. I’m so sickened by this. How did we get here. Can we ever recover?
Sandy Hook. They love to clutch their pearls about children, but they don’t actually care about protecting them.
ETA: apologies if that sounded rude or dismissive.
You’re absolutely right, it’s horrifying and heartbreaking and rage-inducing that we have to look for an “at least it’s not…” to help process the news about the latest atrocity. It’s going to take decades to really recover from this. Some of us never will.
Incredible point, Mar. How did we get here, indeed. I weep for my country and my fellow Americans.
The decency bar is now stuck 6 feet under ground. Emperor Zero thinks he has nothing to lose but in 9 days the dems win the House and a reckoning starts for the Orange menace and his administration.
Things will get much much worse between November 7 and the actual flipping of the House come January. Be aware if you live in a reddish state and do not gloat because the crazies will begin the true purge come mid-November.
ITA. When Trump said, “LOL, I’m gonna tone it up, not tone it down,” chills went down my spine. Please be very careful, everyone.
I’m sorry to be such a downer, but this is the most beaten down and helpless I’ve felt since the election— and I’ve been upset every single day since the election.
Things are escalating and getting so much worse by the day, and I honestly don’t think voting is enough. Of course I’ll still vote, but if the machines are rigged/hacked (and we have every reason to believe they are), it’s pointless. Even if the Democrats do sweep the elections, this man is going to claim they were “fake” and the GOP will refuse to honor the results anyway. They will all go along with him, just like they did with Kavanaugh.
I can’t believe this is still going on. That the entire GOP is truly so corrupt that this has continued for almost two years now with zero consequences. I am so angry and sad and scared that it is unhealthy, and I could feel my blood pressure rising as I read this post. I don’t even know what to do anymore — I don’t think our country can come back from this, I really don’t.
Nothing matters to his supporters. NOTHING. They either love and praise the horrible crap that he does, or they claim something was a “liberal” hoax like they’re doing with the bombs. They will NEVER admit they were wrong as a point of pride. And they are angry, shameless and heavily armed!! We can’t reason with people like this. Donald is just going to keep having these awful rallies and getting people riled up for 2020.
The fact that absolutely no scandal sticks is horrifying. In any normal world, that big expose in the NYT a few weeks ago about his decades of tax evasion should have been an immediate career-ender. I feel like any other elected official would have been pressured to resign within hours. With him, it was barely talked about for a full day and then everyone moved on. What is happening?! I’m just so full of despair and scared for how much worse things will likely get.
Lorelei
You are correct. Plus the Khassogi murder.
Please vote and get five friends to vote with you. Keep your head up and watch with glee when Mueller drops the hammer after midterm voting. I’m not saying Mueller is going to save us but he has plans for Junior and Kushner.
Isolation game continues.
Lorelei, I hear you and often have to turn off the news. But Eric is right, we can’t lose hope. Many more of us out there who want peace, equality and decency for all. We just aren’t as loud or obnoxious as the far right. However, strength in action, boting, refusing to accept the lies and violence. Small changes turn into bigger changes and progress!
I can’t believe that Cheeto Mussolini claimed an armed guard inside the Synagogue could have prevented this. First, that person would have had to exchange fire with this lunatic and many people would have died in the crossfire. 2nd. This evil pond scum shot and seriously wounded 4 heavily armed, bullet proof vested, helmeted experts. Why do civilians need AK47’s again? Oh NRA, $$$, 2nd amendment distortion.
Vote, vote, vote! Call, write email your government officials! Refuse to be silenced.
If we could get the press to report the truth without bias or opinion we could all be much further ahead. Instead the press has become about the money, not the honourable and oh so vital institution it once was. Remember the bravery of the reporters who would go into the trenches during the war? Now they talk directly to the president and tell him how to think. When exactly did the news media decide it was their job to educate the masses with their opinions? Walter Cronkite is probably rolling in his grave.
Because this is what dictators do. They create chaos. Every single day is a new chaos so we move right from one bad thing to another so we can’t concentrate on any one of them. And that way he gets away with all of them. I cannot fathom how any of his supporters other than the blatant outright white supremacists can continue to defend him. How can they not see this man is emboldening these terrorists?
I’m devastated about the attacks. Thank you for your courageous reporting.
I try not to watch him when Don the Con on tv, I switch the channel as soon as he is on. did he hold a minute of silence for those murdered in the synagogue before his rally yesterday? I heard he talked about his hair, joked around then said, if there was someone at the Synagogue armed this would not likely have happened. If I’m not mistaken, sarcasm, four highly trained swat team police 👮 were shot, what would a watch man do with a regular weapon? I am not going to let Don the Con off the hook, these two haters are his people because he encouraged them in being hateful. The shooter is anti Semite, white nationalist, DTC, SAYS he’s a nationalist. #45 said about people like shooter there are good people on both side when they were marching in Charleston yelling “Jews will not replace us”. The other nut has his photo DTC, don the con, plastered all over his van, this van was all over 📺, yet Don the Con said he did not see his photos on the van. I have no idea how anyone can believe a word out of this mans mouth..
I can’t believe that Cheeto Mussolini claimed an armed guard inside the Synagogue could have prevented this. First, that person would have had to exchange fire with this lunatic and many people would have died in the crossfire. 2nd. This evil pond scum shot and seriously wounded 4 heavily armed, bullet proof vested, helmeted experts. Why do civilians need AK47’s again? Oh NRA, $$$, 2nd amendment distortion.
That was such utter garbage and I thought the same. There were professionals there, you can’t deal quickly with the types of weapons this terrible person – which is hard to call him anything human-like – was armed with easily.
Remember… “you reap what you sow” and “what goes around comes around” – these are true for a reason.. have faith… and VOTE (I know everyone here will). Good WILL triumph over evil. Believe it!!
I’m really terrified of our nation right now. I want to have such high hopes for the election, but they’re all about cheating to win. I wish every damned body would just rise up and say no more of this.
When I read that the fatalities in the shooting were b/w 54 and 97 I wanted to scream. Hate mongering coward shooting at a bunch of elderly people who can’t hope to fight back at a ceremony celebrating a baby. Too disgusting for me to even process. Our president has empowered pure evil to act out. I am afraid it will take us a long time to put these evil monsters back under the rocks that they crawled out of.
I watch a snippet or two from every rally only to keep myself from becoming complacent. I listen to several media outlets (sans Faux) throughout my work day. I really want to just hide in the comfort of my fictional books and Netflix because…well you know. Prior to this presidency I would have labeled myself wholly ignorant on politics. I knew the basics, nothing more. I have this pressing sense of urgency to watch every step this administration takes because I cannot shake the all consuming gut feeling we are heading very certainly towards a civil war of some sort. Back to these horrific rallies, I can’t unsee the almost comical (if it weren’t so terrifying) resemblance to The Hunger Games and the “rallies” in the Capitol. Trump certainly fills the role of President Snow. I am daily filled with disbelief that this is our new reality.
Is it just me or does Trump seem to be demonstrating more and more symptoms of dementia/mental decline. I am not excusing his behavior, he has always been a vile creep. But his impulse control and attention span seem noticeably impaired even since he took office…
Honestly, I see no difference. I think what we’ve been exposed to lately is his “hypeman” persona due to the elections and, because he so fucking stupid, he can’t turn it off when appropriate. Blaming the Tree of Life synagogue for not having armed security or congregants is just one example. The congressional Repugnants have given him a blank check and immunity to do, say and act in any way he pleases from day one, and he never passes up a moment to show how us how truly ignorant and hateful he is.
Thank you, Kaiser. It’s such a good thing that you’re standing up like this. When others are going about reporting funny gossip as usual you have recognized the seriousness and used your voice to try to help. It is appreciated
Agree. Brava, Kaiser!
I’m from Pittsburgh. The area where the synagogue was attacked is famous for its Jewish population. It’s an ethnic center for a lot of Jewish culture and religion. Considering we’re only a few months removed from the Antwon Rose shooting, there’s a lot of unease among the ethnic communities here. A lot of people are shaken.
All the racists love Trump. He gives them signals that he’s on their side. A reposted HIllary meme with the star of David, Don Jr’s gf posing while they all make the a ok sign (a sign white nationalist have adopted). The list goes on on on. It’s like this secret society where he communicates his love & acceptance of these racists white nationalists through these subtle signs. Those who don’t follow the white nationalist SM might never pick up on them, but it’s Trump’s way of secretly saying to them that he is following them & that he believes as they do.
Whenever I feel sad or that this world is just a hate-filled, fucked up mess, I think about the bus that I ride to work. Everyday, riders get on and greet the driver warmly and smile at fellow passengers, making small talk about the weather (I live in Canada where the weather is a hot topic!)…then passengers depart, always thanking the driver as they leave the bus. It might seem like a minor, unimportant thing in the whole scheme of life, but to me, it reminds me that there is still good and love in this world, to not lose hope for my species 💕
We really must hope and vote and never give up. I have a little person I love who goes to a synagogue affiliated school, it’s so scary, even though every place has safeguards in place. She sings a lovely grace before meals, although we aren’t Jewish, and I distracted her when we were out to eat the other day, because I felt scared of bigots. That was before this happened, because that’s where we live now. Instantly, I felt bad, but… As a Native woman I already get dirty looks and outright statements of things like: “Eww Indians!” while they make a wide circle around our table while out. Like I care, but it’s clearly only a small step away for these people to be violent. Well, once again I went rant-y – just vote everyone. Then lets follow the next steps from there, because votes aren’t respected on their own value any more by some.