Category: America

Here’s the Rachel Maddow piece that the graphic above comes from:

The text of the tweet exchange:

Lauren Boebert: Vladimir Putin is basically calling Biden a senile old man, China rebuffed Anthony Blinken to his face & Kim Jong Un refuses to talk to anyone from the Biden regime… but it’s good to know that America is ReSpEcTeD AgAiN.

Brian Tyler Cohen: Yes, dictators loved Trump and hate Biden. This is not the flex you think it is.

Here’s an unsurprising response to the image above, which shows a more-accurate depiction of Jesus on the left, and the barista who works the evening shift at the Starbucks in Swede Hollow, Minnesota on the right:

When you see God as white, and people as being made in God’s image, it’s no surprise that non-whites are seen as a little less human, and it’s how you get ministers like Mike Huckabee.

Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas, political commentator on his own show, and combination Fox News contributor and Southern Baptist minister (which should not come as a surprise), posted the tweet above yesterday.

As the Arkansas Times noted, he chose Christianity’s most important holiday to post a racist gibe. Attacks against Asians are on the rise, and Huckabee’s greatest concern is that people he thinks of as lesser and not American are getting treated like equals and Americans.

Thankfully, a number of people have called him out, including Representative Ted Lieu of California’s 33rd congressional district in this tweet that captures my sentiments perfectly:

The odds that Huckabee will listen to Ted Lieu are pretty low. He did get called out by someone he does listen to — author and evangelist Beth Moore:

His response was to deny he did anything bad, which is the first step of the DARVO tactic — Deny. I expect to see the remaining phases, Attack and Reverse Victim and Offender soon enough:

More context on Huckabee’s tweet:

• USA Today: ‘Antithetical to the Gospel’: Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee’s tweet slammed as racist in MLB backlash
• Esquire: Mike Huckabee’s Outrageous Tweet Is a Perfect Example of Charles Barkley’s Comment about Divisive Politics
• NY Daily News: Mike Huckabee decides to ‘identify as Chinese’ in sarcastic tweet, gets ripped online
• Yahoo! News: Mike Huckabee says he’s going to identify as ‘Chinese’ in a tweet as anti-Asian hate crimes rise
• Business Insider: Mike Huckabee slammed for insulting Asian Americans with offensive tweet
• Huffington Post: Former Gov. Mike Huckabee Grotesquely Mocks Asian Americans In Tweet Amid Racist Violence
• Raw Story: ‘Racist much Mike?’: Huckabee slammed for anti-Asian and anti-Trans tweet amid rise in violent hate crimes
• Mediaite: Mike Huckabee Slammed for Crass Tweet Saying He’ll ‘Identify as Chinese’ Amid Anti-Asian Hate Crimes: ‘Straight Racism, No Chaser’
• The Wrap: Mike Huckabee Roasted for ‘Racist, Transphobic’ Joke About Corporate Critics of Georgia Voting Law

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At a time when anti-Asian attacks are on the rise…

…Huckabee’s statement shows his annoyance at a group of non-whites getting special attention because violence is being directed at them.

Some more context if you need it:

• NBC News: There were 3,800 anti-Asian racist incidents, mostly against women, in past year
• NBC New York: Man Wanted for Yelling Anti-Asian Slurs, Spitting at Mom and 3 Kids on Subway: NYPD
• Seattle KING 5: Rise in attacks on Asian Americans highlights history of tension and solidarity
• UC Berkeley News: The long history and present surge of anti-Asian violence
• The Daily Show: Hate Crimes Against Asian Americans Continue to Rise

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Huckabee’s complaints about Coke, Delta, and Major League Baseball are about their opposition to Georgia’s voting law, which appears to be designed to suppress voter participation, especially among minorities. Even the act of giving water to voters in line is now illegal in that state.

All of this was in response to results from the recent election, when Georgia, for the first time in a very long time, voted Democratic in both the presidential and senate elections. The new law is an attempt to make sure that such a thing never happens again, and thus preserve minority rule — a oligarchy of upper-class white people.

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Back in 2015, a couple of weeks before marrying an American, I wrote:

In less than a fortnight, I’m marrying an American. As the husband of a U.S. citizen, I would be eligible for a green card, and eventually, citizenship. I’m also the direct descendant of a U.S. citizen, but I’m told it’s easier to get it via my wife rather than my great-grandfather, James O’Hara. One option is to stay here in the subtropical climes of Accordion Bay, which may mean that someday, I might apply for citizenship.

I come here bearing goodwill, skills in the areas of technology, writing, and rock and roll accordion, cultural and language skills that surpass those of many of the locals (it’s Florida, man!), and a jacket (pictured) that cannot possible be any more American than it already is. I have what it takes to be American. But the question lingers in my mind: will Americans ever consider me to be one of them?

It would appear that the answer is: “Not yet.”

The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) was signed into law back in 1994. Since then, it’s awarded over $8 billion in grants to state and local governments and organizations so that they could develop initiatives, programs, and services to protect and support women who are undergoing or who have survived sexual assault, domestic violence, and stalking.

The law expired in February 2019, and until then, reauthorizing it was a formality. Then it changed.

H.R. 1585, also known as the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2019, had a provision to close the “Boyfriend Loophole”. Simply put, this loophole limited the ability of people convicted of abusing or stalking a non-spouse partner to get firearms. Previous versions of the Act applied this limit to abusers who’d lived with or had a child with the victim. (Despite what people will tell you, Christianity isn’t the majority religion here in the U.S.; it’s gun worship.)

The Act passed a vote in the House of Representatives (263–158), but got stalled in the Senate. The National Rifle Association (as I said: gun worship) warned Republicans that voting for it would affect their ratings (Yes, in a nightmare version of Yelp, they rate politicians, and provide them with campaign funds. Again, I say: gun worship.) One NRA spokesghoul described it as “a smokescreen for its real goal—banning firearms ownership”. Because of their actions, VAWA hasn’t been reauthorized since 2019 — until now.

A day after the Atlanta spa shootings (which I’ll write about later), the House of Representatives voted 244-172 to pass VAWA. That’s right, this time even more Republicans — 172 in total — voted to oppose the Violence Against Women Act.

Remember that.

Recommended reading

• The Independent — Outrage as 172 Republicans vote to oppose Violence Against Women Act
• GQ — Why Can’t the Senate Pass the Violence Against Women Act?
• Jezebel — The NRA Is Fighting Like Hell to Keep Stalkers and Abusers Armed