White Supremacist kicked off Facebook. Well occasionally Facebook gets something right.

Courtesy of Fast Forward:

Facebook is the latest platform to expel white supremacist Richard Spencer. The website has removed three pages that belonged to the white supremacist, the BBC reported. 

Spencer, who is known for popularizing the term “alt-right,” ran the Facebook page of his National Policy Institute think tank, another one promoting his AltRight.com news analysis website, and his personal page. 

At a time when Facebook is under scrutiny for privacy concerns, the social media website is taking action against hate speech. 

Spencer rose to prominence in 2016 when he was filmed celebrating President Trump’s election win by cheering: “Hail Trump, hail our people, hail victory,” to an audience who responded with Nazi-like salutes. 

I am all for free speech and all.

But there are some people whose free speech is all about taking freedoms away from other people, and I am less than sympathetic when those individuals lost their rights.

This should help to keep things straight.

A little simplistic, but accurate overall.

Black Congressmen flatly state they will not attend the opening of a Civil Rights museum in Mississippi due to the attendance of Donald Trump. White House responds in the dumbest way possible.

Receiving the 2010 Medal of Freedom from the first black President.

Courtesy of CNN:

Two black congressmen say they will not attend the opening of the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum Saturday because President Donald Trump is set to attend. 

In a joint statement released Thursday, Democratic Reps. John Lewis and Bennie G. Thompson said that after "conversations with church leaders, elected officials, civil right activists and many citizens of our congressional districts," they have decided not to attend the opening. "President Trump's attendance and his hurtful policies are an insult to the people portrayed in this civil rights museum," the two congressmen said in a statement. 

"The struggles represented in this museum exemplify the truth of what really happened in Mississippi. President Trump's disparaging comments about women, the disabled, immigrants and National Football League players disrespect the efforts of Fannie Lou Hamer, Aaron Henry, Medgar Evers, Robert Clark, James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner and countless others who have given their all for Mississippi to be a better place."

They added, "After President Trump departs, we encourage all Mississippians and Americans to visit this historic civil rights museum."

While Donald Trump managed to keep his itchy fingers off Twitter, the Sarah Huckabee Sanders responded with this: 

“We think it’s unfortunate that these members of Congress wouldn’t join the president in honoring the incredible sacrifice civil rights leaders made to right the injustices in our history,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement. 

She added that Trump “hopes others will join him in recognizing that the movement was about removing barriers and unifying Americans of all backgrounds.”

Holy shit!

 Does this idiot woman not know who John Lewis is?

That man in the foreground being beaten by a cop is John Lewis.

I’ve marched, protested, been beaten and arrested--all for the right to vote. Friends of mine gave their lives. Honor their sacrifice. Vote. pic.twitter.com/1lYp99RaOe

— John Lewis (@repjohnlewis) November 3, 2016

Here he is being carried out by cops while fighting for civil rights.

 John Lewis has been arrested at least 45 times while fighting for civil rights in this country.

John Lewis could drop his pants and urinate on this civil rights museum and he would still remain a civil rights hero.

The only thing he could do which might stain his reputation would to be show up to this museum on the same night that Donald Trump was in attendance.

And Sarah Huckabee Sanders needs to take those wonky eyeballs of hers and direct them toward some history books before she opens her big fat mouth again.

A long and sordid history indeed.

Former Trump adviser Carter Page claims “I have been the victim of one of the most horrendous civil rights violations in recent U.S. election history.” Yeah, that's what happened.

Carter Page to @CNN's @ChrisCuomo: "I've been the victim of one of the most horrendous civil rights violations..." https://t.co/3FeN6FEzWh

— New Day (@NewDay) April 27, 2017

Courtesy of The Hill:

A former campaign adviser to Donald Trump said Thursday he was “the victim of one of the most horrendous civil rights violations” during the 2016 presidential election. 

“I have been the victim of one of the most horrendous civil rights violations in recent U.S. election history,” Carter Page told co-host Chris Cuomo on CNN’s “New Day.” 

Page’s comments came after Cuomo pushed him to disclose how he became involved in Trump’s campaign, first claiming that it is confidential and then saying he doesn’t want to create issues for other people. 

Page denied the allegations against him, saying they have caused “a complete firestorm based on this completely false narrative.”

Later Cuomo offered Page the opportunity to clear up any misunderstandings, this was his response.  

.@ChrisCuomo to fmr Trump aid Carter Page "Sometimes I scratch my head and wonder why you're doing" these interviews https://t.co/pBm6kNqPve

— New Day (@NewDay) April 27, 2017

Yeah any problems that Carter page is now facing are the direct result of his own actions and his own statements to the press.

And I have a feeling that those problems are really just beginning. 

This is why teaching civics is so important.

They understood it clear as a bell back in 1948.

So why is it so damn hard for everybody to understand today?

Immediately after Donald Trump assumed office the White House website scrubbed all mention of Climate change. And so it begins.

Courtesy of Motherboard:  

At 11:59 am eastern, the official White House website had a lengthy information page about the threat of climate change and the steps the federal government had taken to fight it. At noon, at the instant Donald Trump took office, the page was gone, as well as any mention of climate change or global warming. 

It’s customary for www.whitehouse.gov to flip over to the new administration exactly at noon, but the only mention of climate on President Trump’s new website is under his “America First Energy Plan” page, in which he vows to destroy President Obama’s Climate Action Plan, which is a government-wide plan to reduce carbon emissions and address climate change. To reiterate: It is normal that the site is completely new; it is notable that climate change is not mentioned on any one of Trump's new pages.

“President Trump is committed to eliminating harmful and unnecessary policies such as the Climate Action Plan and the Waters of the U.S. rule,” the site says. A search of the website found no mention of "global warming," and the only mentions of "climate change" were archived pages that, after clicking on the links, led to scrubbed pages.

This is only the beginning.

The website also scrubbed any mention of LGBTQ protections, Women's rights, civil rights, and health care.  

The Republicans, with Trump's help, are determined to reverse every bit of progress President Obama achieved, and to scrub him from the pages of history.

It will be up to us to protect his legacy, fight against any attempts to take us back to pre-Obama times, and remind people of all that he accomplished during his time in office.

Remember what a great American President once said, "WE are the change we have been waiting for."

And if we want to defend that change, then our fight is far from over.

Sarah Palin very disappointed that the only black guy she identifies with was dissed by the new Civil Rights Museum.

Courtesy of the conservative BLM supporter's Facebook page: 

Black Conservatives Need Not Apply? 

Those at the Smithsonian's new African American museum who chose to ignore one of our most honored and accomplished African Americans must hear our concerns and address the inexplicable snub of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. 

Phone #: (202) 633-1000 
E-Mail: nmaahcinfo@si.edu 

Thomas has fought for equal rights his entire career, including as Chair of the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission before being appointed to the highest court in the land. To ignore his good work is to censor his good work. 

It's rhetorical to ask why this most influential conservative was snubbed, but let's ask anyway. Our silence is complicity. 

- Sarah Palin

Yeah gee why would a guy who was accused of sexually harassing his female employee during his confirmation to the Supreme Court, spent his time in the court as Antonin Scalia's butt boy, and actually voted to strike down the Voting Rights Act of 1965, NOT have a place of prominence within a museum celebrating civil rights?

Yep that one's a puzzler alright.

P.S. By the way it's not exactly true that Clarence Thomas is not mentioned in the museum.

See, his name is right here on the plaque honoring Anita Hill.

But is that enough for Sarah Palin? Nooooo.

Civil Rights Museum turns Donald Trump away. Essentially because he is a belligerent rude asshole.

Courtesy of WFMY: 

The International Civil Rights Center and Museum was contacted by the Donald Trump campaign last weekend. Earl Jones, co-founder of the museum, says the campaign demanded certain things to make a visit by the GOP nominee possible. 

Jones says Trump's people were trying to plan a visit for Tuesday, the same day he spoke at High Point University. "We did not honor the request of the Donald Trump team because we thought they demonstrated, in their approach was disrespectful, so therefore we did not grant that request," said Jones. 

Jones says the Trump campaign was aggressive and rude to museum staff in making their request. 

He says Trump's people wanted the museum to be closed for at least 5 hours to accommodate Trump. 

Jones says the museum does not provide special treatment to anyone and says that is the main reason they denied the request. 

He said he also didn't feel like the request was sincere. 

"The approach, the type of disrespect, pretty much a demand and bullying us to use the museum in their manner and their way in their time, it was inappropriate and I think it's probably reflective of the type of insensitivity of civil rights and human rights that's reflective from Trump over the years," said Jones.

Oh damn! I think Mr. Earl Jones has Donald Trump's number.

Of course Trump's campaign thought they could bully their way into the museum, they're white!

And Mr. Jones is also right that Trump was not being sincere.

He was almost certainly doing it as some clumsy way to offset President Obama opening the Black History Museum in Washington, D.C..

Such an arrogant ass.

Hey, but here is a more lighthearted moment featuring that arrogant ass attempting to play beach volleyball.

According to the source this was back sometime before 1999.

Gee what an athlete.

Good thing he has money to convince women to look at him naked.

And yet it is still not enough to get him into the International Civil Rights Center and Museum.

Go figure.

The first African American President opens the Black History Museum. We are living in amazing times.

It appeared to me that the President had to wipe away a tear at one point.

And really who can blame him?

He sometimes must feel that he carries the weight of all of those black leaders who came before him, and that he needs to be the best President possible for all of those who will follow.

I think this just about sums it up.

this is a hell of a photo pic.twitter.com/w4MHW1f4XB

— Simon Maloy (@SimonMaloy) September 25, 2016

History is going to be very kind to President Obama. Very kind indeed.

According to Dinesh D’Souza Democrats are bad. Very, very bad.

Seriously, what in the hell was that?

Here is how D'Souza describes this movie on a Right Wing website that you should never ever visit: 

“The movie begins with ‘Stealing America,’ with my trial and confinement, and then it moves into ‘Hillary’s America,'” he said. “In the rest of the movie, I am out of confinement; I’m going in search of the story to uncover the secret history the Democratic Party wants to hide from voters.” 

The trailer contains dramatic scenes exposing the role of the Democratic Party in supporting slavery prior to the start of the Civil War, lynching during Reconstruction and racial segregation through much of the 20th century. 

D’Souza pointed out that the recent controversy whipped up by former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke’s endorsement of Donald Trump, shows the determination the modern Democratic Party has to pin a charge of racism on the modern GOP. 

“The Democrats try to bury their past,” D’Souza said. “But when forced to admit their true roots, the Democrats pretend as if the modern Democratic Party switched and became the good guys, while the modern GOP became the bad guys. My new movie explodes this switcheroo myth.” 

“Hillary’s America,” he said, shows the Democrats never switched. 

That's right it is not Donald Trump and the GOP that is racist, it's those damn tricky Democrats, with their social programs, work to improve the economy, and nominating of a black man to run for President.

The bastards!

Here is what Wonkette had to say about this "revelation": 

BREAKING NEWS, EVERYONE. Back during “history,” the Democrats really sucked. Although it is making us cry the sad tears to admit that, we must do so, because Wonkette strives daily to achieve Dinesh D’Souza’s journalism standards. 

Of course sometime around the passage of the Civil Rights Act, the Democrats and the Republicans switched places! The racist Democrats became the racist Republicans they are today, and yadda yadda yadda, anyone who is not a complete shit-swilling moron knows this.

Somehow we are guessing that part of “history” didn’t make it into Dinesh’s new “movie,” though. It’s probably on the cutting room floor somewhere, or maybe Dinesh destroyed it with one of the shivs he made out of a tampon applicator and a toothbrush, we don’t know. 

Funny. But also very true.

The Democratic party before the Civil Rights Movement is really NOT the Democratic party that we see today, And failing to recognize that, or rather REFUSING to recognize that, more or less undermines your entire attack against them, and against their nominee in 2016.

I imagine the ONLY audience for this movie are those on the Right Wing who are constantly seeking nourishment for their Hillary hate, and of course some of the younger folks who have been brainwashed into thinking that Hillary is the devil herself so that they would support her challenger in the primary.

Starting to really love the Liberal Redneck.

"Crazier than Michele Bachmann on bath salts."

Oh yeah, this guy's going places.

Sarah Palin is now accusing Planned Parenthood of targeting black women. Oh yeah, that should work.

Courtesy of Harriet Tugjob's Facebook page:

#BlackLivesMatter… Even in the Womb 

Planned Parenthood got caught. They're shocked that we're shocked at what is finally revealed. Dismembering babies, delivering them dead, and bartering the sale of baby body parts. 

Video records Planned Parenthood officials nibbling salad, sipping fruit of the vine, nonchalantly pondering where to spend their profits. More wine? Fast cars? These are horrifying videos, with many more to come, one recorded over a nice meal with a doctor sipping, explaining snipping, and cutting, and butchering babies so they can harvest the beating heart that was just snuffed out, the lungs, the liver... all in the most profitable manner. Just another day at the office. 

A civilized nation does not tolerate this. Even friends saying they may still be pro-choice are sickened by the abortion industry’s revelations. As one friend just emailed me, "This is not what we signed up for when told abortion would be safe, legal, and rare. I can not believe this is happening, selling baby parts." 

Can you imagine the outrage on the Left if these were puppy parts?

Okay well first off is anybody else tired of the puppy parts argument?

And secondly nobody believes that Palin has any pro-choice friends.  Anybody intelligent enough to understand the importance of women's reproductive rights would be too smart to ever befriend Sarah Palin.

This post is quite long, and chock full of ghostwritten mooseshit.

At one point Palin again attacks Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger as a racist, which we refuted back in May.

And then goes on to say this: 

Minority women are Planned Parenthood targets, and many want to give their child life. They need help doing so. Abortion deeply hurts the mothers and fathers involved.

Okay people do realize that women come to Planned Parenthood of their own volition right?

I mean it is not like PP is breaking into the homes of minority women and spiriting them away to have abortions against their will or anything.

And as for abortion "deeply hurting women" well that's just bullshit.

Palin is simply attempting to hijack the Black Lives Matter movement to further her own agenda here.

However Sarah Palin's racism has been well documented in several news articles and well researched books, so her attempts to re-imagine herself as some altruistic warrior for civil rights is simply not going to work. 

Besides, after you use an image like this on your Facebook page, that is a door that even your god will not be able to kick open for you lady.

P.S. It looks like Palin's pandering to the anti-choice crowd has finally earned her a return appearance on Fox News.

Wow, with Bill O'Reilly even. I wonder if he left his kid gloves at home?

Ben Carson is "irritated" by all of these gays wanting equal rights.

Courtesy of CNN:  

Ben Carson said Wednesday night that he was "irritated" by the comparison between the fight for same-sex marriage rights and the Civil Rights Movement because there's no overt segregation against gays. 

Speaking on Fox News' "Special Report", Carson elaborated on his remarks on CNN in March that he believes being gay is a choice because people "go into prison straight -- and when they come out, they're gay." 

The GOP presidential contender told host Brett Baier that he "shouldn't have allowed my emotions" into the conversation, but was reacting to CNN host Chris Cuomo's line of questioning on the issue. 

"I was a little bit irritated that he was equating the whole [gay marriage] issue with the Civil Rights movement. Because, quite frankly, I didn't remember any times when there were signs up that says, you know, 'everybody else here and gay people have to drink at this fountain,'" he said.

Do you know what irritates me about Ben Carson? Just about everything. 

I can hardly wait to see this jackass on the debate stage. He is going to crash and burn in a very spectacular manner, you just wait and see.

Iconic image of our President from Selma, Alabama.

Courtesy of Vox:  

This image from Saturday's commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday captures a moment that instantly became iconic: when the United States' first black president walked hand-in-hand with civl rights heroes whose demands for full equality for African-Americans he knows still haven't been met, even as he spoke to the incredible progress made. 

In it, Obama walks alongside Amelia Boynton Robinson, a key organizer of and participant in the march, who's now over 100 years old, Rep. John Lewis, a civil rights activist-turned-congressman, who's said he thought he was going to die on Bloody Sunday, and others who were brutally attacked by police as they attempted to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge in their march from Selma to Montgomery to demand voting rights for African-Americans, on March 7, 1965. 

On Obama's other side, a third generation — his two daughters — are marching, too. They are holding hands with their grandmother, Marian Shields Robinson, and their mom, First Lady Michelle Obama.

I thought we could all use a sense of pride this early Monday morning. 

And if that picture is not enough to accomplish that, perhaps this will do the trick.

The KKK comes out in support of Alabama's Chief Justice Roy Moore's attempts to stop the legalization of gay marriage. Well of course they did.

Courtesy of AOL:  

A Mississippi chapter of the Ku Klux Klan is supporting Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore's stand for state's rights and called for members to protest against the legalization of gay marriage. 

"The Mississippi Klan salutes Alabama's chief justice Roy Moore, for refusing to bow to the yoke of Federal tyranny," Brent Waller, the United Dixie White Knights' imperial wizard, wrote on Stormfront, the largest online white supremacist forum. "The Feds have no authority over individual States marriage laws."

Boy you know you're on the right side of history when the Klu Klux Klan gives you a big high five, don't you?

These guys always seem so pathetic in their desperate attempt to stop the inevitable. 

And Alabama seems to ALWAYS be the place that simply refuses to move forward until they have no other choice. How proud they must be of that legacy.

Map of marriage equality in America. Can you say "progress?"

I think in many ways this is a visual representation of how our country is moving toward liberal ideals.

Yes we still have a long way to go, but damn have we come a long way already.

(H/T to The New Civil Rights Movement.)

The Republicans are not only systematically dismantling a woman's right to choose, they are destroying women's rights in general.

The New York Times has an article out bemoaning the outcome of this last election and what the increased numbers of Republicans in public office will mean for women in this country.

In the article it lists some of the most egregious results from the passage of "personhood" amendments around the country, and how it has turned innocent women into convicted criminals.

Take a look:

In Iowa, a pregnant woman who fell down a flight of stairs was reported to the police after seeking help at a hospital. She was arrested for “attempted fetal homicide.” 

In Utah, a woman gave birth to twins; one was stillborn. Health care providers believed that the stillbirth was the result of the woman’s decision to delay having a cesarean. She was arrested on charges of fetal homicide. 

In Louisiana, a woman who went to the hospital for unexplained vaginal bleeding was locked up for over a year on charges of second-degree murder before medical records revealed she had suffered a miscarriage at 11 to 15 weeks of pregnancy. 

Florida has had a number of such cases. In one, a woman was held prisoner at a hospital to prevent her from going home while she appeared to be experiencing a miscarriage. She was forced to undergo a cesarean. Neither the detention nor the surgery prevented the pregnancy loss, but they did keep this mother from caring for her two small children at home. While a state court later found the detention unlawful, the opinion suggested that if the hospital had taken her prisoner later in her pregnancy, its actions might have been permissible. 

In another case, a woman who had been in labor at home was picked up by a sheriff, strapped down in the back of an ambulance, taken to a hospital, and forced to have a cesarean she did not want. When this mother later protested what had happened, a court concluded that the woman’s personal constitutional rights “clearly did not outweigh the interests of the State of Florida in preserving the life of the unborn child.” 

Anti-abortion reasoning has also provided the justification for arresting pregnant women who experience depression and have attempted suicide. A 22-year-old in South Carolina who was eight months pregnant attempted suicide by jumping out a window. She survived despite suffering severe injuries. Because she lost the pregnancy, she was arrested and jailed for the crime of homicide by child abuse. 

These are not isolated or rare cases. Last year, we published a peer-reviewed study documenting 413 arrests or equivalent actions depriving pregnant women of their physical liberty during the 32 years between 1973, when Roe v. Wade was decided, and 2005. In a majority of these cases, women who had no intention of ending a pregnancy went to term and gave birth to a healthy baby. This includes the many cases where the pregnant woman was alleged to have used some amount of alcohol or a criminalized drug. 

I found myself shocked that these are stories of what is happening to women right here in America.

So tell me again that there is no war on women.

There was a time when I thought there was a limit to how far conservatives would go to turn women back into breeding stock and take away their rights as equal human beings altogether.

I am no longer under any such illusions.  If the Republicans not stopped there may well come a time when women in this country are considered human beings, with all the same rights as men, ONLY up until they have  a fertilized egg within their womb. And after that they will be relegated to a human incubator and the rights of the zygote growing inside of them will supersede any rights they may have enjoyed before becoming impregnated.

Once again let express my dismay that any woman in this country votes Republican. It is like a cow giving a positive Yelp review to a slaughterhouse.

Citizen journalist gets thrown out of GOP rally in Georgia after capturing speaker making disparaging remarks about the Democratic Senate candidate.

Citizen journalist Nydia Tisdale with Attorney General Sam Olens at start of event.

Courtesy of AJC: It began with a speech by state Insurance Commissioner Ralph Hudgens, who has earned local renown for speaking off the cuff. Last August, Hudgens became a video star on Democratic websites, when he declared himself an Obamacare “obstructionist.” 

But on Saturday, Hudgens’ target was Democrat Michelle Nunn, the U.S. Senate candidate, and her recent debate performance with Republican David Perdue. “I thought I was going to absolutely puke,” the state insurance commissioner said to much laughter. 

And then he looked at Tisdale, who was on the same front row as Gov. Nathan Deal and his wife. “I don’t know why you’re videotaping,” Hudgens said. 

Organizers of the event said they had barred Democratic trackers and their cameras – which they could, given that it was on private property. But Tisdale is not a tracker. “I don’t sell my work. I put it up on YouTube,” she would later explain. 

It doesn’t make sense, but if a political rally is to be conducted within a secret Cone of Silence, then the polite and sane thing to do is for someone in authority to go to the microphone and announce the policy – and apply it to everyone with a smart phone. 

From all we can learn, this did not happen. Instead, organizers targeted the woman with the camera in the front row. Brian Pritchard, a capitalist-journalist with fetchyournews.com, sat in the second row. He was not approached. Pritchard kept his voice recorder on and his camera snapping. 

Which is how we know what happened next. Clint Bearden, a local attorney and former Dawson County GOP chairman – and one of the organizers, asked Tisdale to stop her videography. She declined, pointing out that she had been invited to attend. 

A county deputy was summoned. As we said, Tisdale is driven. She did not go quietly. Her screams punctuated the event.

During the struggle Tisdale struggled, elbowing the officer in the face and kicking him in a shin. This got her charged with obstructing an officer, as well as for trespassing.  

Chairman of the Dawson Country GOP, Linda Clary Umberger, had this to say:  

“I watched as a woman was bent over the counter on her face, with an officer over her,” Umberger said. “If I had been her, I would have elbowed him in the face, too. 

“I was so upset at how they handled it – I walked out,” said the county GOP chairman. It was one of those seminal events, she said, likely to split relationships and end friendships. The arresting officer, fetchyournews.com would report Wednesday, has been suspended pending an internal investigation.

Here is the entire video that Tisdale posted a few days ago.

The remark about Michelle Nunn starts ate the 5:50 mark and the attack on Tisdale's civil rights begins at the 14:17 mark. 

I myself am a citizen journalist, who has also been thrown out of public venues, so I take this kind of thing personally.

This woman was well within her rights to film the event, especially since there was another person behind her doing the very same thing. 

The overreaction by some in attendance changed this from a ho-hum story to one that is now getting national attention.

If the whole country were gay President Obama would probably get elected President for Life.

Just a reminder to the trolls that this is not supposed to be taken literally.

Courtesy of AP:  

A year after the Supreme Court struck down a law barring federal recognition of gay marriages, the Obama administration granted an array of new benefits Friday to same-sex couples, including those who live in states where gay marriage is against the law. 

The new measures range from Social Security and veterans benefits to work leave for caring for sick spouses. They are part of President Barack Obama's efforts to expand whatever protections he can offer to gays and lesbians even though more than half of the states don't recognize gay marriage. That effort has been confounded by laws that say some benefits should be conferred only to couples whose marriages are recognized by the states where they live, rather than the states where they were married. 

Aiming to circumvent that issue, the Veterans Affairs Department will start letting gay people who tell the government they are married to a veteran to be buried alongside them in a national cemetery, drawing on the VA's authority to waive the usual marriage requirement. 

In a similar move, the Social Security Administration will start processing some survivor and death benefits for those in same-sex relationships who live in states that don't recognize gay marriage. Nineteen states plus the District of Columbia currently recognize gay marriage, although court challenges to gay marriage bans are pending in many states.

My daughter says that some of her friends are disappointed in the President over the NSA spying and sending troops back into Iraq, but her gay friends think that he is the best thing since sliced bread.