This Week: Trump, Terror, and Speedy Ortiz

by Joshua B. Hoe Interesting week, wrote about Jimmy Iovine's odd roll-out of Apple Play for women, about the god-awful AMA's, and told the story of how I came to Paul's Boutique.

Trump + the So-Called News

I get very frustrated with television news.

I don't want to say that most of the news network anchors are not very smart, but um, most of the network news anchors are not very smart.

This week Donald Trump decided that he would justify his fascist anti-Muslim agenda by mentioning that he saw large-numbers of Muslims celebrating the Twin Towers falling in New Jersey on 9/11.

The news networks predictably went bat-shit on him, but for the wrong reason.

For the entire week, the news networks spent virtually all of their time questioning the veracity of Mr. Trump's claim.

Yes lying is bad, got it.

But that is not the real problem.

Perhaps I will have to spell it out for them so they can get it.

By focusing on the veracity of his statement, you legitimize his claim that he would be justified in suggesting Muslim registration and mosque surveillance if Muslim's had celebrated on 9/11.

In other words, and if I am moving too fast here Wolf Blitzer let me know, you are questioning the WRONG part of his claim.

Yes, he is probably full of shit, and like many others, mistook footage cherry picked from the Middle East with footage from New Jersey.

But WHO CARES.

1) Muslims who did not celebrate on 9/11 are not liable for those that did.

2) Last I checked, as distasteful as such celebration might be, it is not illegal in the United States to celebrate in poor taste. I seem to remember the police protecting the Klan as they marched through Skokie (a community made up of many Halocaust survivors). We have free speech in this country. The very 1st Amendment to the Constitution that you idiots talk about but seem to never understand.

3) The 1st Amendment also promises that the government cannot interfere with the free exercise of religion (not just Christian religion). So, even if you personally hate Muslims or blame them for something they most likely didn't personally do, you don't get to simply round them up and oppress them.

I have yet to see even one...even one of you “Guardians of Democracy” You idiots who will waste an hour of news time on a cat running up a flagpole. You idiots who will spend a week with wall to wall coverage of a plane being lost in the ocean. I have not seen one of you ask the right question of Donald Trump.

So what was the right question to ask? Here you go:

Mr. Trump (and I use that term loosely) why is it okay for you to persecute and register all Muslims simply because you saw some Muslims celebrating 9/11?

WE ALLOW FREE SPEECH IN THIS COUNTRY, Even speech in poor taste (otherwise your protection of free speech isn't really protecting much).

Shame on you. You are supposed to be the last wall of defense against fascism and you are too stupid to even see the actual problem he poses.

You are telling the "Trump is a liar" and not the "Trump is a fascist story."

Why?

Speedy Ortiz

I have been rushing to get my end of the year album rankings done.

I was watching a twitter stream and saw that some magazine was saying Speedy Ortiz "Foil Deer" was their album of the year.

I was a bit surprised, but mostly because it had been so long since I thought of, or listened to, that album.

I ran back and listened to it again.

Not sure it will be my album of the year, but it is really good. It will certainly end up in my top 20 list.

My bad, Mea Culpa.

Terror can be Domestic and Official

In the continuing coverage of Police killing people who pose them virtually no threat only because they meet the loosest definition of justification for the use of deadly force - this week, we got to see police shoot down a kid walking with a small knife but brandishing it at nobody.

The problem is not just “did this officer use deadly force correctly” it cuts to the core of official legitimacy.

When people representing local, state, or the national government use force in this manner, it makes citizens start to feel like they are the target of an unjust and out of control government.

People are losing faith in the justice of the system. Serious faith.

It is easy to sit in an Ivory Tower in a gated community and pretend this is absurd because you know only that the police are protecting your neighborhood from "the others."

People who have never want to feel what they have Is unfair, the natural inclination is to normalize the things protecting their privilege, to point the finger at everything but the culprits.

This is why Will Smith said that he rarely encounters racism recently. He is probably right, as one of the most recognizable and famous people in the world, he probably never does.

This is why Ben Carson is shocked that people don't follow the same path to safety that he did, hard work and a good library card.

This is why FOX News works so hard to protect the white Status-Quo.

The vast majority of their viewers benefit from the way power operates now. The neighborhoods they live in have great police protection. The neighborhoods they live in have great schools. The places they live don't have a militarized anti-drug force omnipresent. And the places they live do not have the majority of their male members imprisoned or jailed.

It speaks volumes that after nearly a year of video after video showing police acting about as badly as human being can act – we have seen virtually no reform and no legislation pending.

It is no wonder so many Black Activists almost ignore the kind words of politicians. As George RR Martin popularized, "Words are Wind."

Where is the reform?

Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful Holiday weekend!