Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Demovictory9
Demovictory9's Journal
Demovictory9's Journal
August 9, 2019
A black man was about to buy a cop’s house. Then, he found a KKK application in a bedroom.
The Confederate flag place mat on the dining room table was Rob Mathis’s first hint that something was off inside the home he was thinking of buying.
“I thought to myself, ‘Wouldn’t it be funny if this was a Klansman’s house?’” said Mathis, who is black.
Previously, Mathis and his wife, Reyna, had been ready to make an offer on the five-bedroom home they viewed on Wednesday in Holton, Mich., a small township of less than 3,000 people in Muskegon County. They thought the house on the 22-acre wooded lot about an hour outside of Grand Rapids, Mich., would give them enough space to entertain their children and grandchildren. Then, Mathis walked into the NASCAR-decorated garage to see not one but two Confederate flags in what his wife would tell him was the home of a police officer, MLive reported.
When the family and their real estate agent went upstairs to check out one of the bedrooms, Mathis and his son noticed a lone wooden plaque holding an aged, yellowed document. Once the father and son got closer, they were disgusted to realize what they were looking at: an application to the Ku Klux Klan.
“I said, ‘Oh my God, let’s go and get out of here right now,’ ” said Mathis, an Army veteran, in an interview with WZZM.
Walking through a home of a police officer with KKK memorabilia rattled Mathis, who struggled to grapple with what he’d seen in the “Klan house.”
---------
In response, Muskegon announced on Thursday that the police department had opened an internal investigation “after a social media post was brought to our attention accusing an officer of being in possession of certain items associated with a white supremacy group.” The local government wrote in a Facebook post that the police officer was “immediately placed on administrative leave, pending a thorough investigation.”
The home’s owner was identified by local media as Charles Anderson, a 48-year-old white officer.
“The City of Muskegon requests your patience as we thoroughly investigate this issue,” the city said.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/08/09/black-man-michigan-cop-kkk-house-suspension/
The discovery of Anderson’s racist collection has cast new light on a nearly decade-old fatal shooting. Anderson was pursuing 23-year-old Julius Johnson during a traffic stop on Sept. 23, 2009. According to the findings of an investigation from the county’s prosecutor, Johnson beat Anderson in the head, which caused the police officer, who said he feared for his life, to shoot and kill the black man. Johnson’s sister, Tunisia Phillips, initially told investigators that she heard her brother beg for his life before Anderson shot him, according to WOOD.
black house hunter spots Klan application/Confederate placemat and police uniform
A black man was about to buy a cop’s house. Then, he found a KKK application in a bedroom.
The Confederate flag place mat on the dining room table was Rob Mathis’s first hint that something was off inside the home he was thinking of buying.
“I thought to myself, ‘Wouldn’t it be funny if this was a Klansman’s house?’” said Mathis, who is black.
Previously, Mathis and his wife, Reyna, had been ready to make an offer on the five-bedroom home they viewed on Wednesday in Holton, Mich., a small township of less than 3,000 people in Muskegon County. They thought the house on the 22-acre wooded lot about an hour outside of Grand Rapids, Mich., would give them enough space to entertain their children and grandchildren. Then, Mathis walked into the NASCAR-decorated garage to see not one but two Confederate flags in what his wife would tell him was the home of a police officer, MLive reported.
When the family and their real estate agent went upstairs to check out one of the bedrooms, Mathis and his son noticed a lone wooden plaque holding an aged, yellowed document. Once the father and son got closer, they were disgusted to realize what they were looking at: an application to the Ku Klux Klan.
“I said, ‘Oh my God, let’s go and get out of here right now,’ ” said Mathis, an Army veteran, in an interview with WZZM.
Walking through a home of a police officer with KKK memorabilia rattled Mathis, who struggled to grapple with what he’d seen in the “Klan house.”
---------
In response, Muskegon announced on Thursday that the police department had opened an internal investigation “after a social media post was brought to our attention accusing an officer of being in possession of certain items associated with a white supremacy group.” The local government wrote in a Facebook post that the police officer was “immediately placed on administrative leave, pending a thorough investigation.”
The home’s owner was identified by local media as Charles Anderson, a 48-year-old white officer.
“The City of Muskegon requests your patience as we thoroughly investigate this issue,” the city said.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/08/09/black-man-michigan-cop-kkk-house-suspension/
The discovery of Anderson’s racist collection has cast new light on a nearly decade-old fatal shooting. Anderson was pursuing 23-year-old Julius Johnson during a traffic stop on Sept. 23, 2009. According to the findings of an investigation from the county’s prosecutor, Johnson beat Anderson in the head, which caused the police officer, who said he feared for his life, to shoot and kill the black man. Johnson’s sister, Tunisia Phillips, initially told investigators that she heard her brother beg for his life before Anderson shot him, according to WOOD.
August 9, 2019
“I was depressed by the time I left.”
“ … the tour was more of a scolding of the old South.”
“The brief mentions of the former owners were defamatory.”
“Would not recommend.”
“Would not recommend. Tour was all about how hard it was for the slaves,” wrote one reviewer of the Whitney Plantation in Louisiana.
“I felt [the African American tour guide] embellished her presentation and was racist towards me as a white person,” another McLeod visitor wrote.
“Our guide Olivia offered a heavy bias with only the hand-picked facts that neatly fit her narrative and for a large part weren’t germane to a plantation tour,” one person said of the McLeod Plantation, according to a review posted to Twitter, before following up with the racist comment, “I found it amusing when she told us some freed slaves fled to northern cities like Baltimore and Detroit where they continued to thrive to this day!”
“There is really nothing good you can say about slavery but I felt [the tour guide] took it too far. His information is correct but I think he left off part of the story,” one review read.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2019/08/08/some-white-people-dont-want-hear-about-slavery-plantations-built-by-slaves/
Tourists visiting southern plantations don't want to hear about the slavery stuff
“It was just not what we expected.”“I was depressed by the time I left.”
“ … the tour was more of a scolding of the old South.”
“The brief mentions of the former owners were defamatory.”
“Would not recommend.”
“Would not recommend. Tour was all about how hard it was for the slaves,” wrote one reviewer of the Whitney Plantation in Louisiana.
“I felt [the African American tour guide] embellished her presentation and was racist towards me as a white person,” another McLeod visitor wrote.
“Our guide Olivia offered a heavy bias with only the hand-picked facts that neatly fit her narrative and for a large part weren’t germane to a plantation tour,” one person said of the McLeod Plantation, according to a review posted to Twitter, before following up with the racist comment, “I found it amusing when she told us some freed slaves fled to northern cities like Baltimore and Detroit where they continued to thrive to this day!”
“There is really nothing good you can say about slavery but I felt [the tour guide] took it too far. His information is correct but I think he left off part of the story,” one review read.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2019/08/08/some-white-people-dont-want-hear-about-slavery-plantations-built-by-slaves/
August 9, 2019
Woman is killed and another is injured after both are stabbed at a Pittsburgh bus sto
Woman is killed and another is injured after both are stabbed at a Pittsburgh bus stop - as witnesses say one of the victims was wearing a hijab
One woman was killed and another was injured after they were stabbed by a man in Pittsburgh on Thursday morning
The man stabbed the two victims right in front of a police officer
Officer was checking on a woman who had been spotted sleeping at a bus shelter
Suspect lunged at the woman and stabbed her before also attacking a woman standing nearby
The officer tackled the man and arrested him before helping the women
One of them died in hospital while the other is suffering from minor injuries
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7338469/Woman-killed-injured-Pittsburgh-stabbing.html
August 8, 2019
(CNN)Some of President Donald Trump's own aides conceded Thursday that his visits to two cities in mourning did not go as planned, as a new video revealed he bragged about crowd sizes while visiting patients at an El Paso hospital.
"That was some, that was some crowd," Trump said, according to cell phone video from one attendee. "And we had twice the number outside. And then you had this crazy Beto. Beto had like 400 people in a parking lot, they said his crowd was wonderful."
White House officials blocked reporters and their cameras from entering the two hospitals during his visits to Ohio and Texas this week, a move they said was out of respect for the patients' privacy. But according to one person familiar with the President's reaction, the President lashed out at his staff for keeping the cameras away from him, complaining that he wasn't receiving enough credit. Aides had feared a moment like the one that is now going viral — where the President appears to focus on himself in front of those still recovering from a tragedy.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/08/politics/trump-el-paso-coverage/index.html
The moment aids feared. viral video showing Trump bragging about crowd size at El Paso Hospital
(CNN)Some of President Donald Trump's own aides conceded Thursday that his visits to two cities in mourning did not go as planned, as a new video revealed he bragged about crowd sizes while visiting patients at an El Paso hospital.
"That was some, that was some crowd," Trump said, according to cell phone video from one attendee. "And we had twice the number outside. And then you had this crazy Beto. Beto had like 400 people in a parking lot, they said his crowd was wonderful."
White House officials blocked reporters and their cameras from entering the two hospitals during his visits to Ohio and Texas this week, a move they said was out of respect for the patients' privacy. But according to one person familiar with the President's reaction, the President lashed out at his staff for keeping the cameras away from him, complaining that he wasn't receiving enough credit. Aides had feared a moment like the one that is now going viral — where the President appears to focus on himself in front of those still recovering from a tragedy.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/08/politics/trump-el-paso-coverage/index.html
August 8, 2019
From the moment he took to the podium to defend his "Straight Pride" event, Don Grundmann was booed by the assembled crowd at Wednesday's Modesto City Council meeting. But he quickly became a source of their unmitigated amusement after a slip of the tongue sent the meeting into joyful laughter.
Grundmann, who is attempting to host a "Straight Pride" rally on Aug. 24 in Modesto, started off by defending his intentions.
"We haven't done anything," he protested. "We're a totally peaceful, racist group."
Although he quickly tried to recant the "racist" portion of his sentence, the chambers were already laughing and cheering so loudly he couldn't be heard. One of the Modesto city councilmembers can be seen laughing so hard, she fully turns away from her microphone.
Grundmann, who is a chiropractor based in the Bay Area, is partnering with Modesto resident Mylinda Mason for the event. He's also the founder of the four-month-old National Straight Pride Coalition. On its website, it says it aims to promote and defend "Western Civilization," "Caucasians," heterosexuality, a "God ordained natural nuclear family." It also extols the virtues of nationalism.
https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/modesto-don-grundmann-straight-pride-rally-14290367.php
Crowd erupts into laughter as Modesto Straight Pride leader says he's part of 'racist group'
From the moment he took to the podium to defend his "Straight Pride" event, Don Grundmann was booed by the assembled crowd at Wednesday's Modesto City Council meeting. But he quickly became a source of their unmitigated amusement after a slip of the tongue sent the meeting into joyful laughter.
Grundmann, who is attempting to host a "Straight Pride" rally on Aug. 24 in Modesto, started off by defending his intentions.
"We haven't done anything," he protested. "We're a totally peaceful, racist group."
Although he quickly tried to recant the "racist" portion of his sentence, the chambers were already laughing and cheering so loudly he couldn't be heard. One of the Modesto city councilmembers can be seen laughing so hard, she fully turns away from her microphone.
Grundmann, who is a chiropractor based in the Bay Area, is partnering with Modesto resident Mylinda Mason for the event. He's also the founder of the four-month-old National Straight Pride Coalition. On its website, it says it aims to promote and defend "Western Civilization," "Caucasians," heterosexuality, a "God ordained natural nuclear family." It also extols the virtues of nationalism.
https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/modesto-don-grundmann-straight-pride-rally-14290367.php
August 8, 2019
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1159318329506574336
Kerri Ann Resists 🌊🌊🌊2020 replied
Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
Just watched a world class loser, Tim O’Brien, who I haven’t seen or spoken to in many years, & knows NOTHING about me except that he wrote a failed hit piece book about me 15 years ago. Fired like a dog from other jobs? Saw him on Lyin’ Brian Williams Trump Slam Show. Bad TV....
insults crammed into one tweet: "world class loser", "failed", "fired like a dog", "Lyin'"
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1159318329506574336
Kerri Ann Resists 🌊🌊🌊2020 replied
Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
Just watched a world class loser, Tim O’Brien, who I haven’t seen or spoken to in many years, & knows NOTHING about me except that he wrote a failed hit piece book about me 15 years ago. Fired like a dog from other jobs? Saw him on Lyin’ Brian Williams Trump Slam Show. Bad TV....
August 8, 2019
https://www.rawstory.com/2019/08/texas-sheriffs-deputy-faces-calls-to-resign-after-racist-and-misogynistic-facebook-posts-involving-elf-dolls/
On Wednesday, KXAN News reported that several residents of Williamson County, Texas are calling on the Commissioners Court to fire a sheriff’s deputy, Commander Steve Deaton, following a series of “racist and misogynistic” Facebook posts.
The posts depict a series of Barbie dolls and elf dolls posed in ways that imply sexual assault. In one post, a black elf doll holds the hair of a white Barbie doll, with the caption, “Sticking to etiquette our elf holds the hair of his date to the party while she pukes. Silently though he wonders whether the roofie he slipped her earlier will still be effective.”
Another post showed an elf destroying an action figure of a black football player with a tiny chainsaw, complete with a pool of blood, reading, “Our patriotic elf grew angrier all season. He finally snapped and decided to show the NFL how he goes about taking knees for not standing during our national anthem.”
?1565229599418
Texas sheriff's deputy posed Barbie and elf dolls in racial scenarios
https://www.rawstory.com/2019/08/texas-sheriffs-deputy-faces-calls-to-resign-after-racist-and-misogynistic-facebook-posts-involving-elf-dolls/
On Wednesday, KXAN News reported that several residents of Williamson County, Texas are calling on the Commissioners Court to fire a sheriff’s deputy, Commander Steve Deaton, following a series of “racist and misogynistic” Facebook posts.
The posts depict a series of Barbie dolls and elf dolls posed in ways that imply sexual assault. In one post, a black elf doll holds the hair of a white Barbie doll, with the caption, “Sticking to etiquette our elf holds the hair of his date to the party while she pukes. Silently though he wonders whether the roofie he slipped her earlier will still be effective.”
Another post showed an elf destroying an action figure of a black football player with a tiny chainsaw, complete with a pool of blood, reading, “Our patriotic elf grew angrier all season. He finally snapped and decided to show the NFL how he goes about taking knees for not standing during our national anthem.”
?1565229599418
August 8, 2019
This tweet tRump just posted says it all... it's all about Trump, no mention of the victims
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1159298817478414337
August 7, 2019
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7332199/Donald-Trump-vents-Twitter-Fake-News-ignoring-left-wing-leanings-Dayton-mass-shooter.html
Donald Trump and first lady Melania quickly left Dayton for El Paso on Wednesday after visiting privately for two hours with hospitalized shootings victims and first responders
The president made no public remarks in Ohio, where the community was mourning nine shooting victims
But a top adviser to the president insisted he was ' treated like a Rock Star inside the hospital' and it 'was all caught on video' in tweets that he sent while Air Force One was headed to the state of Texas
'They all loved seeing their great President!' social media director Dan Scavino tweeted after Dayton's mayor and Ohio's Democratic senator attacked Trump minutes after his departure at a press conference
Trump left Ohio without paying his respects to the dead at Sunday's shooting site, where the members of the community established a make-shift memorial, after his motorcade passed hundreds of protesters
Journalists were not allowed inside, allegedly to protect the victims' privacy - but the White House released photos of Trump being hugged by the 'incredible medical staff at Miami Valley Hospital' on social media
It put out a highlight reel of the otherwise secret visit, as well, that gave the impression of a warm visit
'Some extremely powerful moments throughout the entire visit, with so much enthusiasm and love, contrary to what the Trump Hating Dems would ever share or say,' the White House aide said
Trump said in a tweet of his own that that he had a 'warm & wonderful visit' as he flew toward the state of Texas for another bereavement visit
'Just left Dayton, Ohio, where I met with the Victims & families, Law Enforcement, Medical Staff & First Responders,' the president wrote from AF1
Trump himself tweeted a short video that played over a sentimental soundtrack, showing him and first lady Melania Trump posing for photos with doctors and nurses and comforting hospital staff. 'Have you ever seen anything like this?' he asks one group. Others, including a group of law enforcement officers, are shown greeting the first couple warmly.
The video ends with a message: 'America stands with Ohio!'
The president also tweeted once he reached El Paso, Texas, the site of Saturday's first gun massacre, that he had watched Brown and Whaley 'misrepresenting what took place inside of the hospital.'
'They all loved seeing their great President!' social media director Dan Scavino tweeted after Dayton's mayor and Ohio's Democratic senator attacked Trump minutes after his departure at a press conference
WH angry Trump's "Rock Star" reception at hospital not acknowledged. Creates video
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7332199/Donald-Trump-vents-Twitter-Fake-News-ignoring-left-wing-leanings-Dayton-mass-shooter.html
Donald Trump and first lady Melania quickly left Dayton for El Paso on Wednesday after visiting privately for two hours with hospitalized shootings victims and first responders
The president made no public remarks in Ohio, where the community was mourning nine shooting victims
But a top adviser to the president insisted he was ' treated like a Rock Star inside the hospital' and it 'was all caught on video' in tweets that he sent while Air Force One was headed to the state of Texas
'They all loved seeing their great President!' social media director Dan Scavino tweeted after Dayton's mayor and Ohio's Democratic senator attacked Trump minutes after his departure at a press conference
Trump left Ohio without paying his respects to the dead at Sunday's shooting site, where the members of the community established a make-shift memorial, after his motorcade passed hundreds of protesters
Journalists were not allowed inside, allegedly to protect the victims' privacy - but the White House released photos of Trump being hugged by the 'incredible medical staff at Miami Valley Hospital' on social media
It put out a highlight reel of the otherwise secret visit, as well, that gave the impression of a warm visit
'Some extremely powerful moments throughout the entire visit, with so much enthusiasm and love, contrary to what the Trump Hating Dems would ever share or say,' the White House aide said
Trump said in a tweet of his own that that he had a 'warm & wonderful visit' as he flew toward the state of Texas for another bereavement visit
'Just left Dayton, Ohio, where I met with the Victims & families, Law Enforcement, Medical Staff & First Responders,' the president wrote from AF1
Trump himself tweeted a short video that played over a sentimental soundtrack, showing him and first lady Melania Trump posing for photos with doctors and nurses and comforting hospital staff. 'Have you ever seen anything like this?' he asks one group. Others, including a group of law enforcement officers, are shown greeting the first couple warmly.
The video ends with a message: 'America stands with Ohio!'
The president also tweeted once he reached El Paso, Texas, the site of Saturday's first gun massacre, that he had watched Brown and Whaley 'misrepresenting what took place inside of the hospital.'
'They all loved seeing their great President!' social media director Dan Scavino tweeted after Dayton's mayor and Ohio's Democratic senator attacked Trump minutes after his departure at a press conference
August 7, 2019
“I don’t understand why anyone lives in Los Angeles,” my mother-in-law said to my husband over the phone a few months ago. “It’s full of immigrants.”
This offensive “observation” was not a stand-alone comment. It was only the latest in a series of bigoted sound bites from my in-laws. Both in their 70s, they live on Florida’s Gulf Coast in a predominantly white, older community saturated by conservative talking points. They see themselves as tolerant, life-loving Catholics. But their tolerance extends only to people they know and understand ― and those people are white, straight, “American” people.
Actually, it isn’t just racism that muddies the water in my relationship with my in-laws. It’s sexism and homophobia, too. Sometimes, it’s even veiled anti-Semitism. (Note to non-Jews everywhere: Telling a Jewish person how much you love Jewish people is, on its face, a message of marginalization.) My father-in-law once had to leave the room when two men kissed on TV. “Disgusting,” he whispered under his breath, within earshot of my son.
My in-laws have always been conservative. They have always been Republican. But, before 2016, they were Catholics devoted, specifically, to the “problem” of abortion. That was the issue they cared about, and it was the issue that ignited their ballot box passion. What my husband and I have witnessed, however, has been an ideological shift, from a relationship with religion to blind idolatry.
In the past two years, fueled by a president who “tells it like it is,” my in-laws have said a spate of problematic, objectionable and, often, straight-up hateful things. My sweet mother-in-law, who cries at the very notion of a dog’s death, wanted to know why Senate hopeful Roy Moore’s teenaged accusers didn’t come forth with their claims sooner, thereby dismissing their claims. When my 1-year-old threw a tantrum and I accused him of being a “drama queen,” she gently corrected me: “It’s drama king.”
My father-in-law clucked when, in a scene in the movie “Moonlight,” an impoverished Black drug dealer pulled up in a decked-out low-rider. It was an expensive car, and my father-in-law wanted us to know that people of that sort were always spending above their means. “That’s just what they do,” he said, shaking his head. “That’s just what they do.” He meant Black people ― all of them.
It Might Be Time To Cut My Right-Wing, Trump-Loving In-Laws Out Of My Kids' Lives
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-cutting-off-relatives_n_5d448ed4e4b0ca604e31f5ba“I don’t understand why anyone lives in Los Angeles,” my mother-in-law said to my husband over the phone a few months ago. “It’s full of immigrants.”
This offensive “observation” was not a stand-alone comment. It was only the latest in a series of bigoted sound bites from my in-laws. Both in their 70s, they live on Florida’s Gulf Coast in a predominantly white, older community saturated by conservative talking points. They see themselves as tolerant, life-loving Catholics. But their tolerance extends only to people they know and understand ― and those people are white, straight, “American” people.
Actually, it isn’t just racism that muddies the water in my relationship with my in-laws. It’s sexism and homophobia, too. Sometimes, it’s even veiled anti-Semitism. (Note to non-Jews everywhere: Telling a Jewish person how much you love Jewish people is, on its face, a message of marginalization.) My father-in-law once had to leave the room when two men kissed on TV. “Disgusting,” he whispered under his breath, within earshot of my son.
My in-laws have always been conservative. They have always been Republican. But, before 2016, they were Catholics devoted, specifically, to the “problem” of abortion. That was the issue they cared about, and it was the issue that ignited their ballot box passion. What my husband and I have witnessed, however, has been an ideological shift, from a relationship with religion to blind idolatry.
In the past two years, fueled by a president who “tells it like it is,” my in-laws have said a spate of problematic, objectionable and, often, straight-up hateful things. My sweet mother-in-law, who cries at the very notion of a dog’s death, wanted to know why Senate hopeful Roy Moore’s teenaged accusers didn’t come forth with their claims sooner, thereby dismissing their claims. When my 1-year-old threw a tantrum and I accused him of being a “drama queen,” she gently corrected me: “It’s drama king.”
My father-in-law clucked when, in a scene in the movie “Moonlight,” an impoverished Black drug dealer pulled up in a decked-out low-rider. It was an expensive car, and my father-in-law wanted us to know that people of that sort were always spending above their means. “That’s just what they do,” he said, shaking his head. “That’s just what they do.” He meant Black people ― all of them.
Profile Information
Gender: FemaleHometown: California
Member since: Tue Feb 27, 2018, 10:32 PM
Number of posts: 32,443
