Rep. Scott Rigell: Maverick GOP freshman in the eye of a political storm (via The Christian Science Monitor)
When President Obama touches down in Virginia Beach, Va., Thursday morning, he’ll be crossing electoral ground that is both well-traveled and crucial in the race for the White House. When Mitt Romney unveiled his vice presidential nominee, he did so just down the road in Norfolk, Va., where Rep.…
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CNN host of "United Shades of American," W. Kamau Bell and Jim Acosta discussed the continued attacks on people of color at the hands of police who shoot first and ask questions later.
Talking Sunday, the two talked about the "complete failure of the system," proven over and over that police shoot regardless of what someone does. In the case of the Virginia Army Medic, his hands were visible. He was calm and was able to talk to the officer rationally. It was the officer who was holding his gun like some kind of movie gangster.
In the case of Derek Chauvin, it was clear that George Floyd was handcuffed and on the ground. Why did he need to kneel on his neck when it was clear he was subdued? There was nothing to fear from Floyd.
Another child was shot in Chicago, and after police bodycam video showed the way in which Adam Toledo was gunned down in an ally, the public was furious. The officer demands he stop and put up his hands. So, he stopped, put his hands up in the air, and seconds later, the officer shot anyway, killing him.
The idea that it is a system-wide problem comes from claims that one bad apple doesn't spoil the bunch. Lately, however, it's become clear that the opposite is true, with officers covering for each other and refusing to speak out against their colleagues shooting people. In the 2006 case of former officer Cariol Hornecase of former officer Cariol Horne, her colleague was holding a handcuffed suspect in a chokehold. She tried to get him to stop. Because she worked to save the suspect's life, he didn't die. Still, she was fired, just one year shy of her retirement. It took five years of lawsuits for her to win her pension and back pay for unfair termination.
The Chauvin case is the first time Americans have seen other officers come forward and speak out against a colleague for going against his training and refusing to follow the rules.
"These happenings don't exist in a vacuum, as you know," said Acosta. "It is hundreds of years of history and those like Fox News' Tucker Carlson who continue to push dangerous and baseless conspiracies. Listen to how he recently talked about a 'replacement theory.' They're kinda the things you'd just see on fringe websites, and all of the sudden it's on Fox News."
After playing the clip of the infamous racist conspiracy from Carlson, Acosta asked Bell what concerns him the most about millions of Americans absorbing such racism.
"To me, as a member of media, I feel like the failure is on me, too," confessed Bell. "It is about the failure of the media, especially the news media to make sure we are trafficking in facts. We are living in an era of white supremacy. There is no Black spokesperson who gets that much media time as he is on television lying regularly and using his bully pulpit to put Black people in danger. I am one of those people who that happens to. Again, we're talking about system failures here. Until we admit that Tucker Carlson is bad for humanity, which he is, full stop until we admit that we are going to find ourselves in these same positions over and over again."
Acosta chucked at the comment before whole-heartedly agreeing.
"no lie there. W. Kamau Bell, thank you so much," Acosta closed.
See the video below:
Tucker the racist www.youtube.com
For America to reach "herd immunity" from the COVID-19 crisis 70 percent of Americans must be vaccinated. While many Americans are fighting to get their shot, conspiracy theorists are pushing anti-vaccine lies. One, is Louisiana Pastor Tony Spell, ironically of the Life Tabernacle Church.
The pastor isn't alone, the largest group of anti-vaccine people are far-right, white, evangelical Christians, which accounts for one-fourth of the United States. It's all being driven by distrust in the government, perpetuated by former President Donald Trump, who was vaccinated in January before leaving office.
"If anti-mask and anti-vaccine is anti-government then I guess I'm proud to be anti-government," said Spell as his church crowd cheered and danced. "Hallelujah, Jesus. You do not give me my rights, sir."
Speaking to former Vice-turned-CNN reporter Elle Reeve, Spell said that he would rather die free "than I had live on my knees (sic)."
"How is it living in your knees to take the vaccine," asked Reeve.
"Because you're vowing against your convictions," Spell said.
For others, whose convictions don't align with Spell, taking the vaccine is also a choice, but one they're gladly accepting. With Spell, it isn't an anti-doctor philosophy, it's merely an anti-vaccine policy.
"If you break your arm or something, would you go to the doctor?" asked Reeve.
"Sure I'd go to the doctor and get it set and wear a cast," the pastor said.
"At some level, you trust some doctors," Reeve said.
"Yes, we do," Spell said, speaking of himself in the third person. When Reeve asked where the line was, Spell said that the virus has been "a scam" since the beginning. Ironically, his parents both purported to have the virus and his grandfather confessed to getting the vaccine. Spell said he opposes it.
"There is a tendency within white Christian nationalism to want to believe these kinds of conspiracies," explained University of Oklahoma sociologist Samuel Perry."It reinforces us versus them. The problem is, the people who are feeding that fear have an incentive to keep stoking that fear because people keep clicking and people keep listening."
"Is the appeal of your sermon that the pandemic is scary, the virus is scary, and so you're telling scared people, you don't have to worry about any of that stuff, like come to my church and God will make sure you don't get this virus?" asked Reeve.
"Why are you giving them false hope?" she asked.
"That's not false hope," the pastor claimed. "What's false is our lying politicians."
If someone at Pastor Spell's church gets COVID-19 or dies of COVID-19, it's unclear if that person could sue him. It could become a key problem for Christian Nationalist pastors in the coming months.
See the rest of the interview below:
Christian NAtionalist pastor spreads vaccine lies www.youtube.com
A Republican lawmaker from Texas was the recipient of a furious response on Twitter Sunday after he used the first reports of a shooting in Austin to promote a bill in the legislature that would make it easier for anyone to carry a gun.
State Rep. Jared L. Patterson (R) took to Twitter and first promoted House Bill 1927 that would allow handguns to be carried without a permit before extending his sympathy to the victims of America's latest gun-relatedmultiple homicide.
According to Patterson, "Evil exists in this world. HB 1927 gives law-abiding citizens the ability to fight back, to protect themselves and their families w/out being restricted by the govt. God bless and comfort those killed and affected by the shooting in Austin today. It's time for us to fight back."
Patterson's comments before police had even released details of the shooting that resulted in at least three dead, set off a flurry of criticism as you can see below:
@JaredLPatterson Fight back? I just want to LIVE. I shouldn’t have to fight back. You’re part of the evil that exists in this world.— Myndi Luevanos (@Myndi Luevanos)1618768826.0
@JaredLPatterson Texans don’t want to live like this. https://t.co/uutu4XETKT— Liz Hanks, J.D. (@Liz Hanks, J.D.)1618768056.0
@JaredLPatterson Your response is appalling, uncaring and frankly, an insult to the thousands of #Texans who've los… https://t.co/STuISuqbQE— Brody Andrew Mulligan (@Brody Andrew Mulligan)1618769838.0
@JaredLPatterson 40 yr GOP voter here: the good guys aren't winning this epidemic & we aren't going forward in tryi… https://t.co/p7BeQZpfl3— Brendajurgens 🛹🛹 (@Brendajurgens 🛹🛹)1618771699.0
@JaredLPatterson ‘Christ follower’. “Shoot them all and let Dad sort them out!” Jesus H. Christ Is that how you see it?— robert (@robert)1618769593.0
@moderatemama @JaredLPatterson @MomsDemand More guns, fewer restrictions, MORE DEATH. You tried it, it doesn’t work.— Liz Hanks, J.D. (@Liz Hanks, J.D.)1618768338.0
@clubJAGZ @JaredLPatterson He's a willfully ignorant Christian. There is no way to penetrate that dense stupidity.— Lee Allman (@Lee Allman)1618771885.0
@JaredLPatterson Protect you from what, exactly? Seems the only thing Texans need is protection from politicians like you.— Renee (@Renee)1618769546.0
@JaredLPatterson “Hello I’m Rep. Patterson. Even though I’m Christian and pro-life my God given right to own a gun… https://t.co/lqqycc703n— Who am I? (@Who am I?)1618770405.0
@JaredLPatterson I ALWAYS think of the rights of the freshly dead when the NRA and their sheep demand their ‘right’… https://t.co/zoZGxhGWxm— BVau (@BVau)1618772189.0
@JaredLPatterson You want to turn Texas into the OK Corral. A society ruled by laws doesn't work like that— Txmombee (@Txmombee)1618768823.0
@JaredLPatterson Texas has the most guns per capita in the US with already lax laws and we have very high gun homic… https://t.co/DHkdWas0rR— Evan Brot (@Evan Brot)1618769925.0
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