Call to action: Twitter needs to use its power to stop graphically abusive accounts

 

  Warning: Some of the images in this post are not safe for work. 

Twitter is an open forum for anyone who wants to tweet their mind. That's great. I partake in a big way. But when I get tweets-- daily, hourly, sometimes piling on one after the other-- that are abusive, insulting, viciously demeaning, hostile, and sometimes violent, then it's time to take action.

Twitter sure doesn't. I know that for a fact, because I've tried over and over again to convince them that in some cases, it stops being free speech and starts feeling like assault.

 [NOTE: This post is not about cyber bullies, although they, too, are abusive; I've been harassed and smeared for years by one "progressive" who many of you became aware of and have since avoided. This is about extremist trolls, who also happen to bully.]

I regularly hear from right wing extremists, tea partiers, and total nutcases (that's not hyperbole, there are some very sick people out there). When they're civil, I simply ignore or block them, and even debate them once in awhile. And yes, I admit to succumbing to occasional lapses of playing Whack a Troll just to share their ignorance with my followers, using as much snarky mockitude as I can muster up.

But then there are those who pop in repeatedly to suggest various activities that they want me to engage in-- with my own body or theirs-- and apply colorful words like c**t and suck my c**k, simply because they've read my tweets and don't agree with me. I don't know these people nor am I familiar with their accounts, but they get some kind of perverse pleasure out of following my threads and entering my stream with slurs, attacks, and irrational tirades.

Almost without exception, these trolls oppose me politically, and that's fine. But the intense hatred spewed by many of them is disruptive, highly offensive, and completely out of line.

There is a particularly rabid one who should be in jail or in a padded cell-- again, no hyperbole. If I were to post screen grabs of his avatars, messages, and profile photos, you'd literally want to gag. My own husband couldn't get through them. Unfortunately, catching sight of them is unavoidable when they're in my stream or when I go to block and report.

Imagine the most frantically vile, graphic images depicting blatant racism, anti-Semitism, misogyny, bigotry, and self-loathing. They include explicit close-up photos of defecation and the most hard-core XXX porn you can imagine, abominable references, every kind of debasement of women and young men, degrading photos of celebrities and our president and first lady, you name it.

And the crude, twisted tweets he sends me match the vulgar visuals. He has also opened accounts using my likeness (taken from my Twitter account), as well as those of other high-profile liberals like Rachel Maddow, Lizz Winstead, John Fugelsang, Bill Maher, and Rosie O'Donnell, among others.

In short, he is an obsessed, deranged, seething, hostile, psychologically impotent (and likely, physically) conservative coward who consistently targets progressives, mostly women. Here are semi-cleaned up, edited grabs of two of his tamer suspended accounts. Trust me when I say, they get much worse than these:

Here is one of his defunct profile pages

A tweet he sent out under my name and avi

This is one reason I stay anonymous. It started when a stalker came to close, sending me a Google map of my neighborhood, so that was that.

This person has been suspended well over 500 times. I've reported him to Twitter well over 100 times, and finally contacted my local authorities as well as the FBI more than once. But because he didn't threaten my life, they did nothing. As I type this, he's added at least three more Twitter accounts that I'm aware of.

I've endured this for years, literally. Because of this, I felt it was time to put out a call to action. Perhaps if enough of us demand more oversight from Twitter, especially those of us who are sick to death of being barraged with disgustingly offensive messages and photos, then maybe Twitter will take notice and do something.

It's unimaginable that they can't devise a better system to rid Twitter of such filth.

By the way, when I tried to fill out one of their complaint forms, I didn't have a link to the offending tweet, so the form wouldn't go through. I didn't have a link because I blocked him, and the account was immediately suspended so the tweet was no longer accessible. So I'm snail mailing them, and I'm including about two dozen graphic screen shots of 93 of the suspended profiles I've captured.

Here is the tweet:

"I'd like to take a 12 in figurine of a smiling G W. Bush and ram it up your stinking communist ass."

Please share this post and contact Twitter. It's worth a shot to at least try to turn things around for once. I'm fed up with having to so much as glance at the malignancies that come my way.

Thank you.

Twitter contact information:

Twitter, Inc. 1355 Market St, Suite 900 San Francisco, CA 94103

And to Twitter users, some general contact info, not that it will do much good:

@Support

@Twitter

@Spam

To file a ticket, go here.

To report an abusive or offensive user, go here.

UPDATE: Here is a sample letter sent by one of my favorite commenters:

Twitter, Inc 1355 Market St., Suite 900 San Francisco CA 94103

Attn: Dick Costolo, CEO

Dear Sir:

I’ve become more and more alarmed by the threatening, harassing tweets bombarding people like GottaLaff and urge you to take them seriously. One man who sends one tweet after another threatening her, even sending her a map of her neighborhood, forced her to resort to using a pseudonym on Twitter and he still doesn’t stop.

Spam is bad enough but when one is verbally bashed and/or threatened it is not to Twitter’s benefit and such tweets should not be ignored. Just reporting or blocking them isn’t sufficient to stop their abuse; they simply open a new account under a different name - as you know.

Surely Twitter can trace an account back to an IP address and demand that they cease such dangerous behavior. I understand that tweets can be sent from IP addresses that are used by many people (at cafes, for instance) but there is such a thing as product liability. I’m urging you to hold the owners of such IP addresses responsible for the damage their users do. Even bar owners who serve people after they are drunk are held responsible for the damage their customers do.

I’ve enjoyed Twitter for a few years and want to continue to do so but such threatening behavior makes a pleasant experience completely abhorrent and there’s a limit to the amount of such behavior I, and others, will accept.

Please develop a policy to identify & ban such people from the Twitter feed.

VIDEO: Employment Non-Discrimination Act Will Allow VA To Molest Disabled Veterans

By GottaLaff

Andrea Lafferty and Matt Barber during a break out session at the Freedom Federation's "Awakening" conference:



Turn up the volume on your computer, the sound is very low. First, however, grab some Pepto and/or a receptacle.

These people are sick, wildly ignorant, and riddled by fear. They clearly need validation, or they wouldn't feel the need to push their utterly abhorrent message to anyone who will listen.

I don't know whether to cry, bang my head against the wall, or gag:

The Friday afternoon session of the Freedom Federation's "Awakening" conference has been dedicated to dozens of different breakout sessions, including one on "The LGBT Agenda" featuring Rena Lindevaldsen and Matt Barber of Liberty Counsel/Liberty University and Andrea Lafferty of the Traditional Values Coalition. [...]

The clip begin as Lafferty is discussing her claim that the Employment Non-Discrimination Act would "normalize the Dirty 30" - TVC's list of 30+ things like pedophilia, prostitution, bestiality, and cross-dressing that the group claims would be protected if ENDA passes.

Transcript here. It includes golden oldies like:

"You can be aroused by stumps of amputees."

And who can forget...

"Fecal matter. Their involvement with fecal matter. Or urine. Transvestism. The list goes on, I'm not naming all of them. Children. Animals. And so we really need to draw a line in the sand."

...and everyone's all-time fave:

"We're not saying "you're a deviant." We're saying "your sexual behavior is deviant."

Who doesn't remember that one?

To order your copy of "Homophobes' Greatest Hits", dial 1-800-BIGOT. Be one of the first 100 to call in and you'll receive the brand new bonus CD featuring Rena Lindevaldsen and Matt Barber singing their soon-to-be classic duet, "Porn in the U.S.A.".

Call now!

ClusterHuck: Huckabee compares same-sex marriage to incest, polygamy, drug use

By GottaLaff

ClusterHuck:

In discussing same-sex marriage, the Perspective reported, Huckabee said, "You don't go ahead and accommodate every behavioral pattern that is against the ideal. That would be like saying, well, there are a lot of people who like to use drugs, so let's go ahead and accommodate those who want who use drugs. There are some people who believe in incest, so we should accommodate them. There are people who believe in polygamy, so we should accommodate them."

There are some people who believe in bigotry, so should we accommodate them? No. Including Mike Huckabee.

Can we talk about ClusterHuck's record for a minute?

This is the same ordained Southern Baptist minister who joked about torturing the underpants bomber.

And who commuted the suspected Washington shooter's sentence years ago.

This from the fine soul who said, under President Obama's health care reform bill, Ted Kennedy would be told to "go home to take pain pills and die."

And endorses Rubio.

And called Judge Sonia Sotomayor "Maria".

This is who Mike Huckabee is. So when he makes despicable statements like the ones above, put it into context.

When you step back and look at the entire picture of what this small-minded stain of a man represents, I don't think this is anyone we would want to accommodate in any way whatsoever.

Gay student & developmentally disabled sent to fake prom

By GottaLaff

So many words come to mind after reading this: Cowards. Discrimination. Hate. Ignorance. Pain. Shame. Wrong. Segregation. Tears. Reprehensible. Deception. Sneaky. Bullies. And several others that are unprintable....

To avoid Constance McMillen bringing a female date to her prom, the teen was sent to a "fake prom" while the rest of her class partied at a secret location at an event organized by parents.

What must this be doing to Constance? I can't even imagine, even though I can actually relate somewhat, because I went through a lot of bullying when I was a teeny, skinny, shy teen. But she seems to be one strong kid, stronger than most:

McMillen tells The Advocate that a parent-organized prom happened behind her back — she and her date were sent to a Friday night event at a country club in Fulton, Miss., that attracted only five other students. Her school principal and teachers served as chaperones, but clearly there wasn't much to keep an eye on.

This next part will add to your current nausea:

Two students with learning difficulties were among the seven people at the country club event, McMillen recalls.

I work with special ed kids all the time. They are wonderful, sweet, and do nobody any harm. These are people, with feelings, who are being treated as if they have none, who are being looked on as less important, as something so offensive, so contemptible, that they have to be hidden away.

I can't imagine how "branded" these seven students must feel, and what an indelible imprint this has made, regardless of how courageous they may seem to us, or how big her smile is in that photo (go read the whole piece; Constance is an amazing, positive teen).

They hurt.

And I hurt for them.

H/t: BetseyB, Greg Ostravich

AUDIO/PhotOh! Hatred is alive and well in America

By GottaLaff

I woke up today to so much unpleasantness, all I can do is try to expose it, air out the airwaves and the Internets, and take a deep cleansing breath to rid myself of the poison.

It started with the ramblings of Sarah Palin at the Big Mesa Rally. Feel free to follow the link, if you have the stomach for it.

But compared to what's coming up next, that was nothing.

Hold on to your hats, grab some Pepto Bismol, get ready to write letters of protest, and join me as I share with you what has become a nasty, toxic state of affairs in this country.

Lizz Winstead linked me to this. As she worded it, "the worst thing I've ever seen". Judge for yourself:


That comes from ProteinWisdom dot com. I refuse to link. Here's some of her text:

Oh I know I’m going to get called names on this. But I’m not going to play that game anymore. [...]

I expect this will also flush out the usual Stockholm-syndrome “conservatives” who wring their hands and say “oh you can’t say that! People will take offense!”

Heck, I want to shake them up.

Some of the comments under it include:

Comment by sdferr on 3/23 @ 2:06 am #

He’s already out telling people how much she enjoyed it.

Comment by Mr. W on 3/23 @ 6:08 am #

Did you ever see one of those movies where the girl gets assaulted by the guy, but when the guy comes back for more she is ready, and she beats him into oblivion?

Yeah, it’s gonna be like that for Barry.

Comment by happyfeet on 3/23 @ 8:45 am #

The Barack Obama is a very rapey little dude I think. You know you love it he says.

There were others that were not offensive, to be fair.

Next, Joeyess linked me to a post he did over at DKos. He wrote, in part:

Give a listen to this radio spot. KMBZ claims they are forced by the federal government to run this ad. [...]

Their line-up includes such conservative luminaries as Mark Levin, Glen Beck, Limbaugh and an assorted local group of similar wannabees. [...]

The FCC should be notified. As well as the FBI and ATF about this organization.

Here is the audio:



Go here for more contact information.

There are a lot of very scared white people out there. They are feeling threatened, victimized (thank you Glenn Beck, et al. for fanning those flames), and now we're seeing an extreme backlash.

We've been transitioning from a white, male, Christian society to a more diverse one for decades. Some of the most worried among the dwindling majority are using the not whites as scapegoats.

There have been death threats against Democratic Congress members. Sarah Palin is posting maps on Facebook with Democrats in the crosshairs, using phrases like "reload".

And, sadly, we have more and more examples, like the ones in this post, and this one, of some of the worst offenders.

It has to stop before something tragic occurs... rather, even more tragic.

Barney Frank: GOP "decided apparently that they benefit from virulence, hatred, disruption"

By GottaLaff

Earlier, there were disruptive shouts of "Kill the bill!" from a protester in the House gallery. How did the GOP respond? They applauded, cheering him on. Aren't they the perfect role models for our youth?

Barney Frank had a thing or two to say about that embarrassing display:

“You have dozens of Republicans standing and applauding and cheering on a guy who was disrupting the proceedings and resisting court officers. It’s really disgraceful.” [...]

"These clowns are out there encouraging a violation of the law. They’ve decided apparently that they benefit from virulence, hatred, disruption."

Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), downplayed yesterday's Tea Tantrumers' racial and anti-gay slurs and their spitting on African American lawmakers.

Another fine American.

Barney Frank was none too thrilled with him, either:

“Any movement in which Steve King and Michele Bachmann are among the leaders is probably not going to meet high standards for civility or coherence,” Frank said.

VIDEO: Tea Party protesters mob Reps. Lewis, Carson, Cummings, shout slurs

By GottaLaff

UPDATE: Apologies if the title is misleading. It was meant to mean that there is a video, and more. The TEXT talks about the slurs. The video shows the protesters only, not the specific slurs mentioned in the text.



At today's rally, things got ugly... even uglier than usual:

A staffer for Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) told reporters that Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) had been spat on by a protestor. Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), a hero of the civil rights movement, was called a 'ni--er.' And Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) was called a "faggot," as protestors shouted at him with deliberately lisp-y screams. Frank, approached in the halls after the president's speech, shrugged off the incident.

But Clyburn was downright incredulous, saying he had not witnessed such treatment since he was leading civil rights protests in South Carolina in the 1960s.

Be proud, Tea Baggers. Family values, patriotism, compassion: all missing.

Bigotry, racism, hatred: all present and accounted for.

Iowa Family Policy Center: Gay marriage more destructive than smoking

By GottaLaff

There's this group, The Iowa Family Policy Center. They oppose stuff like, you know, equal marriage rights for same-sex couples, that kind of stuff.

They sound like a reasonable, open minded bunch, don't they? Of course they do. You can tell by this, from Chuck Hurley, their president:

“The Iowa Legislature outlawed smoking in an effort to improve health and reduce the medical costs that are often passed on to the state. [...] The secondhand impacts of certain homosexual acts are arguably more destructive, and potentially more costly to society than smoking. [...] Homosexual activity is certainly more dangerous for the individuals who engage in it than is smoking.”

There now, nothing wrong with that... if you're a small-minded, despicable little bigot.

Apparently, his "logic" stems from this report saying gay men have higher rates of HIV and syphilis.

Or from the fact that he's a small-minded, despicable little bigot. How're those family values goin' for you, Chuck?

Newsflash: Heteros spread disease too. In fact, you're spreading some nasty stuff yourself, there, Sparky.

Here's an idea: How about addressing the STD issue rather than condemning your fellow man. Shouldn't you be loving them or something?

It is your hateful attitude that is "more dangerous than is smoking". And just as costly.

People matter. Who they love is none of your damn business, and comparing people who love each other to death sticks makes me want to... offer you a cigarette.

Anti Glenn Beck activist gets Twitter death threats, slurs

By GottaLaff

This is what it's like for activist StopBeck when he tries to "stop" Beck (click on images to enlarge):

One:


Two:


For the record, @vatopdog also started harassing me today, but I blocked him immediately. He called a few of us "self-hating haters", whatever that means, which was so laughable that I didn't take him seriously...

... until StopBeck contacted me with these tweets.

Twitter would not delete the account, even after StopBeck lodged a formal complaint. They said it wasn't "specific enough".

The level of hostility and hatred is out of hand. It started to rev up over the summer with the gun-toting, screaming, out of control Tea Tantrumers at town hall meetings. It has crescendoed ever since.

How can there be any expectation of achieving any sort of rational communication when wingnuts such as @vatopdog persist in drowning out civil discourse with outright threats, slurs, bigotry, hate speech, racism, and extremism?

StopBeck asked my advice. Here is what I told him: I've had some degree of success by calling these nutcases out, exposing them, and letting as many people as possible see what and who they are. If we turn our backs, they will continue their despicable behavior unabated.

He agreed.

We have try to to put the fire out, or at least control it, or it will continue to spread.

Teabaggers attack Rachel Maddow on Twitter, use "D" word

By GottaLaff

Gee, maybe all these tweets are just satire. That would excuse them, right? Just ask R-Word McCribNotes:

It seems that the Tea Bag party members object to Maddow using the term “Teabaggers” to describe them. [...]

[Y]esterday on Twitter they attempted a pathetic attack on Maddow.

The offended Teabaggers wrote:

WeThePeople1st: RT @victoria_29: RT @RhodesNews: If @RachelMaddow insists on calling us “Tea Baggers,” is she thus gving us implicit permission 2 call her “dyke”? #p2 #tcot 1 day ago from TweetDeck

victoria_29: RT @RhodesNews: If @RachelMaddow insists on calling us “Tea Baggers,” is she thus gving us implicit permission 2 call her “dyke”? #p2 #tcot

CoachDB18: MadCow! Nuf' said! @RhodesNews @RachelMaddow calling us “Tea Baggers,” …thus giving us permission to call her “dyke”? #p2 #tcot #lcot

nana49: RT @RhodesNews: If @RachelMaddow insists on calling us “Tea Baggers,” is she thus giving us implicit permission to call her “dyke”? #p2 #tcot #lcot

WeThePeople1st: RT @RhodesNews: If @RachelMaddow insists on calling us “Tea Baggers,” is she thus giving us implicit permission to call her “dyke”? #p2 #tcot #lcot

RhodesNews: If @RachelMaddow insists on calling us “Tea Baggers,” is she thus giving us implicit permission to call her “dyke”? #p2 #tcot #lcot

Dyke is a pejorative term that people have used to attack the LBQ community both verbally and physically. Women have been called dykes by people who have stabbed them, raped them, killed them. There is no comparison between calling someone a Teabagger and calling someone a dyke.

There's that. And there's this. Ahem:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

The Tea Tantrumers apparently can't tell the difference between offensive, insulting, bigoted name-calling and quoting directly from their own gang of ignorami.

Welcome to the 2010/2012 elections.

Now, if you would, please go read this to see how their sick message gets perpetuated.

VIDEO- Boston Legal's Alan Shore: "Enough of this Freedom of Religion Crap"

By GottaLaff

This was tweeted to me in response to my previous post, Christians claim Matthew Shepard hate crimes law "criminalizes the Bible":



You can't "license persecution":

Alan Shore (James Spader) of Boston Legal argues to cut down on freedom of religion.

H/t: Nanotyrnns

Christians claim Matthew Shepard hate crimes law "criminalizes the Bible"

By GottaLaff

:sdrawkcab denmad os era elpoep esehT

A Christian group in Michigan has filed a lawsuit alleging that a package of hate crimes laws named after murder victim Matthew Shepard is an affront to their religious freedom.

Conversely, Shepard's murder was an affront to his, you know, life.

Filed by the Thomas More Law Center -- which bills itself as the religious answer to the American Civil Liberties Union -- the complaint claims that protecting gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people "is an effort to eradicate religious beliefs opposing the homosexual agenda from the marketplace of ideas by demonizing, vilifying, and criminalizing such beliefs as a matter of federal law and policy."

Thomas More chief counsel Richard Thompson:

"Of the 1.38 million violent crimes reported in the U.S. by the FBI in 2008, only 243 were considered as motivated by the victim’s sexual orientation," he wrote on the group's Web site. "The sole purpose of this law is to criminalize the Bible and use the threat of federal prosecutions and long jail sentences to silence Christians from expressing their Biblically-based religious belief that homosexual conduct is a sin."

So... silencing a life because of sexual orientation is okay. Laws making that illegal aren't. .sdrawkcaB

However, the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act clearly stipulates that it does not apply to constitutionally protected speech.

See, what the actual act stipulates doesn't matter. Legalities don't matter. Justice doesn't matter. Bigotry, hatred, homophobia, and "belief" trumps law, decency, and ethics.

It's the naciremA yaw.

Unspeakable

By GottaLaff

UPDATE, GOOD NEWS: Looks like since I started writing this post and reported them, it's been taken down by Facebook.

Screen Grab, reluctantly. I am only posting this because it will disappear, and I must preserve a record of it. I'll drop the image down to the bottom of the post. Do not scroll down if you are offended by disgusting, hate-filled, racist, altered images of our president.

And yes, I reported them.

Previous posts about this group here.

The small print:

Added by Adolf Haitier
to the group "Fuck The Haiti Earthquake"

Comments: (Check out the last one... some things are NOT funny)

3 people like this.

Josh TheKoolkid

ur my hero :D

Yesterday at 4:41pm · Report

Nicolas Chevallier

joshh ur gayy men !!

4 hours ago · Report

Adolf Haitier

lol you guys think its offensive i voted for obama its just a parody learn to laugh

23 minutes ago · Report

H/t: EileenLeft

Justice Department Intervenes In Gay Rights Suit For First Time In A Decade

By GottaLaff

This is a good example of why it matters who you support/vote for in any election, and why it is vital that you vote, period:

Yesterday, for the first time in a decade, the Justice Department intervened in a gay rights suit. In August, an openly gay 14-year-old student named Jacob — with the help of the ACLU — sued the Mohawk Central School District in upstate New York because officials “did not appropriately respond to relentless harassment, physical abuse and threats of violence” that Jacob received because of his sexual orientation. NPR reported on some of the harassment to which Jacob alleges he was subjected.

The heartbreaking details are here.

So are the heartening ones, including:

Under Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder, the Justice Department has had a dramatically different focus than it did during President Bush’s terms. While the Bush Justice Department was focused on installing political cronies, going after mythical voter fraud cases, and the suppression of minority voters while looking out for the voter disenfranchisement of whites. The Obama Justice Department, by contrast, recently announced that it would also start aggressively going after “banks and mortgage brokers suspected of discriminating against minority applicants in lending.”

"It doesn't matter if I vote. The candidates are interchangeable. Someone else will cancel out my vote anyway." Wrong.

This boy's life was changed because of who Americans elected. He knows the ObamAdministration is looking out for him. He won't feel quite as alone and helpless any more.

He may even feel optimistic that change is in the air, no matter how incrementally, and that there's reason for hope... all because enough people exercised their right to vote.

As frustrated as some of us may be with Obama, this is one time we can come together and unite behind him.

Rightie uproar over Best Buy’s ‘Happy Eid al-Adha’ wish to Muslims

By GottaLaff

Best Buy had the nerve--the nerve!-- to wish Muslims a public “Happy Eid al-Adha” in one of its circulars. And in such a conspicuously large font too! Why, one can nearly read that without the aid of a magnifying glass! How dare they!

Spreading cheer like that should be outlawed! Outlawed, I say!

And now the Twin Cities-based retailer is facing a boycott by commenters at the rightwing Free Republic forum. [...]

Now Wonkette reports that Freepers are incensed that the company would give a holiday shout-out to members of the globe’s second-largest religion.

Aw come on, to think that people of the Freepitude ilk would ever get incensed about something so holiday cheery is preposterous! Oh, wait.

It's good to know that they only share good tidings with those who fall in line with their own narrow beliefs. That's the spirit! Way to make this a small world after all.

Yes, nothing says love thy neighbor like jamming Best Buy's customer forums, as well as their own Freeper free-for-alls. Examples:

To: UB355

Time to hit the best buy weekly ad forum:

http://www.forums.bestbuy.com/t5/Weekly-Sales/bd-p/Sales

Let them know how you feel.

***

To: DataDink

I hope Drudge picks this up. Then the story will go mainstream.

And:

Commenter “wally_bert” writes: “BB is a Mpls company. Mpls is overrun with ragheads.”

Other commenters were more open-minded.

Happy freakin' holidays.

That Marine reservist who beat a Greek priest? Here's the racy sequel

By GottaLaff

Is it hot in here or is it just Jasen? (Original post here)

Check these out. Here's a sample:

Is that a tire iron, or are you just happy to see me? Whew! Semper fi, indeed.

Too bad he's a violent, racist thug.

H/t, or should I say "hot" tip: Joeyess and TPM

Marine reservist beat Greek priest; thought he was Arab terrorist

By GottaLaff

Tampa's Welcome Wagon

UPDATE: Racy sequel here.

Have you heard the one about the priest and the tire iron? The ClusterFoxers would be proud.

TAMPA — A Marine reservist armed with a tire iron beat and chased a man he thought was an Arab terrorist and even called 911 to say he was detaining the man, police said. [...]

That's why police arrested reservist Jasen D. Bruce on a charge of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.

Police said they're also investigating whether Bruce, 28, committed a hate crime.

The priest was on his way to bless another retired Greek priest, but got lost. He asked Jasen for help, but...

Instead of offering help, Bruce struck the priest on the head with a tire iron, police said.

Isn't that just like a good citizen? I wonder if he's a Glenn Beck fan.

He called 911 and told them that an Arabic man tried to rob him, and that-- check this out-- he was going to take the priest into custody. When the police showed up, Tire Iron Jasen told them the priest was a terrorist.

Then officers went to Bruce's apartment to speak to the reservist again. But he already had an attorney with him and refused to speak, police said.

Yep, Brucie pre-emptively lawyered himself all up. Isn't that just like an innocent man?

Moral: Always jump to conclusions. All foreigners are terrorists. And all foreigners should be beaten with tire irons. Hold all questions until later.

It's the American way.

H/t: Joeyess

Guess what? My friend is an American hating terror-enabler!

By GottaLaff

UPDATE: I am now on equal airhead footing as Larisa. I wear that as a badge of honor, and am proud to be associated with my fellow comprehension-challenged pal, Larisa.

I posted something earlier by my pal Larisa Alexandrovna about not jumping to conclusions and condemning an entire group of people, in this case Muslim bashing. I found her to be very reasonable and quite clear in that post. I wholeheartedly agreed with her.

I remember a quote from it, in fact, designed to address those who would be, shall we say, less agreeable:

Extremism happens in all religions and political views. [...]

I am not excusing what the shooter did by any measure.

See how reasonable and clear she is?

Want to know what happened after she posted that? Here's what happened:

[A]ccording to professor of political science and professional fighter of 'teh Communistofascists' Don Douglas:

"And in response, Larisa Alexandrovna, who is one of the left's biggest race-baiting smear-merchants on the web - and now obviously an America-bashing terror-enabler - is excoriating those who are rightfully outraged at Obama's inappropriate nonchalance in a crisis deserving the deepest solemnity, "3, 2, 1... Attack Obama Over the Fort Hood Shooting" [...]

Yep, had to get the racist allegations in there. It's all about "race" and "hatred" with the Obama administration's apologists. Iran's going nuclear, unemployment's soaring past 10 percent, and this administration's own Department of Homeland Security -- as well as other federal officials and Army personnel -- knew of Nidal Malik Hasan's pyschological infirmities, and of his solidarity with Islamist suicide bombers. But for Larisa Alexandrovna, it's all about racist right-wing opportunism in attacking poor Obambi!"

How mature.

I see he read Larisa's piece carefully, thoughtfully, and then proceeded to process it as any 4-year-old narrow-minded, ill-tempered, dim-bulb tantrumer would.

I bet he's a swell debater. Anyone can see he really listens and has the patience and understanding to examine both sides of any issue.

Larisa responds:

The reaction to condemn all Muslims for this shooting is a reaction based in bigotry, not fact. That is what I am calling racist, not people outraged over the shooting - which would include me. But Douglas does not end with simply misleading what I wrote - once again - and basically calling me a terrorist. He also seems happy to show off his homophobia in an attack on right-wing, NON-glue sniffer Charles Johnson:

"Airhead" Alexandrovna joins her gay-flame man-crush buddy Charles Johnson in the radical left's terror-enabling hall of shame. See, "Charles Johnson Silent on Jihadi Evidence in Fort Hood Murder Rampage."

Wow. Seriously, Douglas is a professor of something? I don't know if Johnson is gay or not as I don't even know Johnson. [...] No my dear Don Douglas, the hall of shame on all counts is and continues to be yours.

This is pretty typical of the extreme shrillitude we have to contend with now. Larisa can easily fend for herself, but I couldn't ignore this.

America is overdue for a psychological tune-up.

Shallow Thoughts: What religion was practiced by the Orlando shooter?

By GottaLaff

Today's Shallow Thought:

As our pal Wolfe Tone of A Bodenstown Perspective noted, will the media will go out of their media way to point out that this shooter is probably a Catholic?

Pfft, nah. As Wolfe said, "He's just another crazy person, because he's NOT a Muslim."

That was today's Shallow Thought. Thank you for wading in.

Fort Hood: a tragedy, not Islamic Jihad...

By GottaLaff



Once again, my buddy Larisa Alexandrovna nails it:

The drooling, knuckle-dragging racists calling themselves Americans are busy bashing Muslims and Islam over the Fort Hood shooting. It appears, however, that the shooter - who joined the military BEFORE 9/11 - right out of high school - was being harassed by the other soldiers. Indeed, we also now know that he was an American soldier, born and bred in the USA. He did not recently convert to Islam as some faux-news outlets are claiming. He was always a Muslim. So what made him suddenly go postal?

We are also now learning that he was allegedly afraid to be deployed because of the horrors of war and because he was afraid to go overseas with his harassers. The motive for the shooting seems to be that he simply went postal as a result of war and harassment. Yet the people who are busy bashing Muslims in reaction to the Fort Hood shooting are the exact type of people who harassed this man into a mental breakdown.

I am a Jew. But I have friends who are Muslim. I will always defend Muslims against this kind of hate as I would expect others to defend Jews against this type of hate. Extremism happens in all religions and political views. [...]

I am not excusing what the shooter did by any measure.

Please read the whole post here.