Thoughts on the Shooting in Alexandria on Wednesday

Shooting victim Steve Scalise at a white supremacist gathering.

To avoid any misunderstanding, I am utterly opposed to the use of violence to solve political differences.  Thus, I abhor the shooting of Congressman Scalise this morning along with two members of the Capitol police and several Congressional staffers.   The gunman, whom authorities have identified him as James T. Hodgkinson, 66, from Belleville, Ill., a suburb of St. Louis, obviously should not have been allowed to possess an automatic rifle given his checkered history of violence, including misuse of firearms and violence against women.  Nonetheless, Hodgkinson reportedly had acquired and owned the weapons involved legally.   So who has championed unrestricted gun ownership?  Congressional Republicans, of course.  Today, they got a taste of the results of their self-prostitution to gun manufacturers.  Despite this Republican drive to abolish common sense gun control laws - a hearing had been set for today to loosen restrictions on buying gun silencers - many on the right are blaming the shooting on too much anger among Democrats and the media.  The hypocrisy is stunning for several reasons. First, Steve Scalise of all people has not standing to complain about fanning hatred.  As I reported more than two years ago, Scalise has an ugly history of supporting white supremacist groups.  And then there is the mushrooming of right wing hate that has been legitimized by Der Trumpenführer. For Republicans to whine about fanning hatred and gun violence is to ignore their role in fostering the atmosphere for violence and unlimited guns in the hands of those who should not have them.  A piece in Think Progress looks at the GOP hypocrisy.  Here are excerpts:

Republicans in Congress and the White House have been attacking the media all year, but one House member just tried to pin the blame for a mass shooting on the fourth estate.

Rep. Jack Bergman (R-MI) told Fox News Wednesday afternoon that “the media is complicit” in acts of violence like the mass shooting targeting members of Congress “if they keep inciting, as opposed to informing.”

Fox News anchor Melissa Francis then played a clip from Rep. Rodney Davis (R-IL) who said some of his best friends are Democrats and that the House passes a lot of bipartisan legislation, “but it’s the major issues that lead to political discourse that has in my opinion, led to such an uptick in just hateful, hateful rhetoric of all sides, and I stand here today and say stop. We have to stop.”

Bergman was attempting to pin the blame for the shooting on the media without offering much proof. The media, as a group, has been abused and demonized by Bergman’s party.

Greg Gianforte, who will still join Bergman’s caucus despite the fact he pled guilty to physically assaulting a journalist the day before, is the latest and most direct example of politicians attacking the media for doing their jobs. 

Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R) joked about shooting reporters at a gun range last month. Rep. Rodney Davis (R-IL) traced the violence that happened on Wednesday in another Fox News interview to “political rhetorical terrorism.”

Before and after becoming president, Donald Trump has used rallies to deliver brutal attacks on the media. He has baselessly accused the media of purposely covering up extremism attacks it didn’t want people to know about. He’s attacked them as his “opposition party,” and at rallies, directed the overflowing rage of his supporters at the media pen, causing some journalists to get direct threats. Trump’s Twitter attacks targeting journalists like Megyn Kelly and Katie Tur resulted in death threats. He defended his then-campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, when he was arrested for simple battery of a Breitbart reporter. The NRA, of all groups, has recently mimicked Trump’s rhetoric, telling members its job is to give “the media the big fat black eye it so often richly deserves.”

It is most ironic that these remarks were made to Fox News, a purveyor of lies, alt-right misinformation and fake news.   As I said above, perhaps the Republican Party is reaping the fruits of what it has sown for many years now and since the beginning of the Trump campaign in particular.  My best wishes to the staffers and police who were injured.  Perhaps the staffers may want to reconsider who and what they are working for.

Virginia GOP House of Representatives Candidate Shares His Love For “Amateur Anal” Porn

click image to enlarge

While Republicans and their Christofascists supporters continue their hysteria over transgender restroom use and anti-LGBT agenda and anti-sex agenda, Mike Webb, a Republican candidate in Virginia’s 8th District has underscored the hypocrisy of the GOP by posted a photo on Twitter that accidentally includes a glimpse of his pornography tastes.  Once again we are reminded that it is almost always those most concerned about what happens in other peoples lives and bedrooms who are the ones that you most need to worry about and/or who are flocking to online porn sites.  The Daily Caller looks at this case of another "family values" Republican.  Here are excerpts:

Mike Webb initially ran as a Republican for the 8th District seat, which covers Arlington and Alexandria and is considered safely Democratic. He lost the nomination, though, and is now running as an independent, though he is, to say the least, unlikely to win.

Webb published a post on his campaign page Monday that included a screenshot of his computer desktop. And as it happened, Webb hadn’t bothered to close his pornography tabs when he took his screen grab.

“IVONE SEXY AMATEUR” may have a completely innocent meaning, but a quick Google search indicates the video is featured on RedTube and other very X-rated websites. Similarly, Layla Rivera is a porn star. Something about her is apparently tight, and it probably isn’t her relationship with her father.

Interestingly, even though Webb’s pornography gaffe was spotted within a few minutes of the picture going up, as of press time the post remains active an unedited.

One truly cannot make up stuff this good!

Headed to Washington, D.C., for a Family Wedding

One of my nephews is getting married this weekend in the Washington, D.C. area.   The bride and groom to be are pictured above.  Both the wedding and where the boyfriend and I will be staying are in Alexandria, but I am sure we will venture into the District to enjoy some of the gay night spots and attractions.  Fortunately, one of the boyfriend's long time clients and one of our personal friends (she and her husband are the friends who hosted us back in February at their beautiful home in Lighthouse Point, Florida) will be loaning us her town house in Old Town Alexandria for the weekend.   The wedding itself will be at River Farm, formerly a portion of the Mt. Vernon estate, which is owned by the American Horticultural Society and overlooks the Potomac River.  It is a popular wedding venue in the Washington, D.C., area.  Photos of River farm are set out below.  It will be nice to see family members, including my nephew who is in the Peace Corps in Panama but back for the wedding.

While we are gone, the boyfriend's dad will baby sit the dogs the Terry McAuliffe staffer who we are housing for the coming months will look after the house.  In terms of blogging, I will put up as much material as time allows.

For history buffs, here is information via Wikipedia:

The River Farm property was established in 1653-54 by Giles Brent and his wife, a princess of the Piscataway tribe, who received a grant of 1,800 acres (7.3 km²) named Piscataway Neck. In 1739 the land was passed from George Brent to brother-in-law, William Clifton who renamed the property Clifton's Neck. In 1757 Clifton completed the brick house that now serves as AHS headquarters. Following financial difficulties, Clifton sold the land to neighbor George Washington, who obtained the property for £1,210 through a bankruptcy sale in 1760. Washington changed the name of Clifton's Neck to River Farm and leased the property to tenant farmers. River Farm was passed down through two immediate generations of Washingtons and later sold with 652 arces of Washington's original land to the Snowden brothers of New Jersey. The property was home to numerous owners including Malcolm Matheson, who bought the property in 1919. Matheson placed the property on the market in 1971 and received an offer from the Soviet Embassy who planned to use the land as a retreat or dacha for its staff. The public opposed this purchase which resulted in the AHS acquisition of the property.

And for those who read the first post of the day, yes, I am doing better.

 

Monument to Isis Lifted from Cleopatra's Underwater City

The history lover in me could not pass up this story on a new artifact raised from areas of ancient Alexandria, Egypt, now beneath the harbor of modern day Alexandria as the result of earth quakes in the 4th century. The area of the ancient city involved include the palace and temple complexes of the Ptolemies who ruled Egypt for roughly 300 years - well longer than the period of time the USA has existed. The object retrieved is from the temple of Isis complex and consists of a pylon, which once stood at the entrance to a temple of Isis. In many ways, the cult of Isis with its theme of death and resurrection was a precursor to the underlying theme of Christianity - something that like would appall the Christo-fascists in the USA who seek to restrain knowledge and rewrite history to fit their own ignorant beliefs. First, some highlights from Yahoo News on the discovery, then more on Isis:

*
ALEXANDRIA, Egypt – Archaeologists on Thursday hoisted a 9-ton temple pylon from the waters of the Mediterranean that was part of the palace complex of the fabled Cleopatra before it became submerged for centuries in the harbor of Alexandria.
*
The pylon, which once stood at the entrance to a temple of Isis, is to be the centerpiece of an ambitious underwater museum planned by Egypt to showcase the sunken city, believed to have been toppled into the sea by earthquakes in the 4th century.
*
The pylon is the first major artifact extracted from the harbor since 2002, when authorities banned further removal of major artifacts from the sea for fear it would damage them.
*
"The tower is unique among Alexandria's antiquities. We believe it was part of the complex surrounding Cleopatra's palace," Hawass said, as the crane gently placed the pylon on the harbor bank. "This is an important part of Alexandria's history and it brings us closer to knowing more about the ancient city."
*
Hawass has already launched another high-profile dig connected to Cleopatra. In April, he said he hopes to find the long-lost tomb of Antony and Cleopatra — and that he believes it may be inside a temple of Osiris located about 30 miles (50 kilometers) west of Alexandria.
*
Having read "Alexander's Tomb," which recounts efforts to find the tomb of Alexander the Great but is in many ways a history of Alexandria, the find is of huge importance and may lead to other amazing finds. As for Isis, here are some details that suggest the Christian resurrection belief certainly had existing precedents:

*
In later myths about Isis, she had a brother, Osiris, who became her husband, and she then was said to have conceived Horus. Isis was instrumental in the resurrection of Osiris when he was murdered by Set. Her magical skills restored his body to life after she gathered the body parts that had been strewn about the earth by Set. This myth became very important in later Egyptian religious beliefs. . . The worship of Isis eventually spread throughout the Greco-Roman world, continuing until the suppression of paganism in the Christian era.
*
Roman perspectives on cults were syncretic, seeing in new deities, merely local aspects of a familiar one. For many Romans, Egyptian Isis was an aspect of Phrygian Cybele, whose orgiastic rites were long-naturalized at Rome, indeed, she was known as Isis of Ten Thousand Names. Among these names of Roman Isis, Queen of Heaven is outstanding for its long and continuous history. Herodotus identified Isis with the Greek and Roman goddesses of agriculture, Demeter and Ceres. In later years, Isis also had temples throughout Europe, Britain, Africa and Asia. An alabaster statue of Isis from the 3rd century BC, found in Ohrid, in the Republic of Macedonia, is depicted on the obverse of the Macedonian 10 denars banknote, issued in 1996.

Wingnuts Slam Funding for for Gay Domestic Violence Counseling

I have written before about domestic abuse and violence in same sex relations - in fact I was once in a relationship that eventual progressed to physical violence before I ended it. No one should have to live in fear in their own home and those who use violence against purported loved ones do indeed need counseling. The City of Alexandria, Virginia - one of the most progressive in Virginia in contrast to places like Martinsville, Virginia where an anti-gay Neanderthal mentality still flourishes - recognized the reality of domestic violence in LGBT relationships and wisely allocated money to support a Gay domestic violence program. Needless to say, this prompted gay haters to foam at the mouth and do what they do best: make hate filled anti-gay statements and act as if LGBT individuals are not citizens like everyone else. Here are some from The Edge on the matter (NOTE: abuse need not be physical):

*

Federal dollars continue to be earmarked for a wide array of uses in an ongoing attempt to jump-start the economy. But political pundits on the right have been eager to point to federal dollars going to controversial arts programs or, in the case of a domestic violence program in Alexandria, Virginia, services that benefit GLBT Americans. Right-wing news outlet CNS.com reported in an Aug. 6 article that the city of Alexandria--where CNS News is based--would receive federal stimulus money to "train staff who work with sexual/domestic violence victims who identify themselves as member of the gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender community."

*

The sum of lucre in question to be used for a service that might save lives? Less than $37,000--out of nearly $42 million total that the city is slated to receive, a sum that includes nearly a quarter of a million dollars for dental services for the poor and more than $800,000 for new public transit buses.

*

Domestic violence is about one partner in an intimate relationship exerting control over the other in a variety of ways, some involving brute force and some relying on emotional or psychological manipulation. The nature of domestic violence and its dynamics are the same in mixed-gender and same-gender relationships, as an Aug. 3 report on the phenomenon at EDGE reported.

*

"Threats are often used to control behavior or denigrate a person’s identity. That makes it a particularly insidious form of violence" that extends the influence of the batterer into the personal sphere of the victim by seeking "control over who you can see, talk to, what you can wear; even what kind of medications you can take."The differences may be subtle, but they do exist, and a sensitivity to the needs of a battered partner reaching out for help is also worth honing, given that shame can be a batterer’s weapon of choice.

*

Religious-right Web site Culture Campaign reported on the CNS story in an Aug. 6 story that appeared under a headline reading, "Obama Stimulates Homosexual Violence Counseling." Elsewhere on the site, an article about Christian support for health care reform referred to people of faith who back the proposed overhaul as "Christians," in quotation marks.Both the CNS News and the Culture Campaign articles about the $37,000 set to use for the training noted that marriage equality is denied to gay and lesbian families in the state of Virginia.

*

It is a sad reality, but these Christianists and far right extremists in many cases believe that LGBT Americans deserve whatever abuse and misfortune befalls them. They are indeed NOT true Christians.

LGBT Employment Protections Remain Few And Far Between in Virginia

The Boston Edge has a story on the City of Arlington, Virginia's move to adopt a resolution calling for statewide employment non-discrimination legislation that would protect LGBT employees. While I welcome every baby step that brings Virginia into the modern age - kicking and fighting progress all the way, typically - the current patchwork of protections in a relatively small number of municipalities just doesn't cut it. Governor Kaine's Executive Order 1 (2006) appears worthless, although an appeal may reverse a circuit court ruling that found the Executive Order gave no protections to a fired gay employee, so government employees at the moment can only look for protection on a city by city basis. Norfolk STILL has no city ordinance that protects LGBT city employees. Virginia Beach and Williamsburg do have such policies, but again they only protect city employees. Most Virginians continue to have NO protection. One things is interesting to note, however: municipalities with such protections are more attractive sites for progressive businesses to relocate than backward municipalities such as Martinsville which has a 20% unemployment rate. Here are some highlights from the story:

*
In an unanimous vote on June 23, Alexandria became the latest Virginia municipality to pass a resolution to urge state lawmakers to pass ban anti-LGBT discrimination in the workplace. Jeanne Niebauer, director of the Alexandria Office of Human Rights, notes her city passed its Human Rights Code in 1975 that included protections against workplace discrimination. Sexual orientation was added in 1988. Neighboring Arlington and Blacksburg in the southwestern part of the state have passed similar resolutions
*
A July 28 email sent by Equality Virginia called for other local state governments to "sign a resolution supporting workplace non-discrimination." The group further noted "there are still many municipalities and cities in Virginia that we need to have formally state that they value being a diverse and inclusive community." Noting he feels the lack of a statewide non-discrimination law impacts everyone, Equality Virginia chief operating officer John Blair pointed out the state’s patchwork of non-discrimination laws protect different people in different ways.
*
"Some are protected a little, some not at all," he said. "The important thing about non discrimination legislation is it needs to be comprehensive." Niebauer pointed out her city’s action was taken specifically to help facilitate the codification of statewide law in 2010. "The resolution was brought about by the mayor and the city council mainly because Adam Ebbin (a member of the Virginia legislature) introduced a non discrimination bill pertaining to all state and local workers in Virginia," she said. "The bill did not pass, so jurisdictions like Alexandria approved resolutions to show their support."
*
Of course even if such a bill passes the General Assembly next year, private sector workers will continue to have absolutely no employment protections.