Racist Maine Governor: 'Removing monuments to slavery is just like destroying 9/11 Memorial'

ThinkProgress

On the same morning President Trump unequivocally threw his support behind preserving monuments to treason and slavery, Maine Governor Paul LePage (R) equated removing Confederate monuments with destroying the 9/11 Memorial in New York City.

During an interview with a Maine radio station, LePage asserted those who want to remove Confederate monuments “don’t even know the history of this country.”

“Listen, whether we like it or not, this is what our history is,” he added, ignoring that the Confederacy was a different country altogether. “It’s just like going to New York City and taking down the monument to those who perished in 9/11 — it will come to that.”

You can listen to the audio here: [MORE]

The 9/11 Memorial is a tribute to the victims of the terror attacks that took place that day in 2001, whereas Confederate statutes honor traitors who fought for slavery. So LePage’s analogy would make more sense if the 9/11 Memorial featured a statue of Osama bin Laden.

During other parts of Thursday’s interview, LePage echoed Trump’s “both sides” criticism of not just the white supremacists who gathered in Virginia over the weekend, but also those who gathered to counterprotest.

“I condemn both sides. I think they’re disgusting — both sides,” LePage said. “They went there with the intent of inciting violence, and the thing that nobody wants to talk about is two law enforcement officers were trying to do their jobs and they didn’t get home that night to their families, as [well as] this young lady who was killed. That was disgusting — there’s not place for either of those groups in this country.”

LePage was referring to the deaths of two Virginia state police officers who died on Saturday when their helicopter, which was circling above the white supremacist rally and counterprotests in Charlottesville, crashed. There’s no evidence any foul play was involved.

On the other hand, the “young lady” LePage referred to was 32-year-old Heather Heyer. Heyer, who was in Charlottesville to demonstrate against white supremacy, was murdered by an alleged Nazi sympathizer who ran over a group of counterprotesters with his car.

Once Again, Rather Than Deleting Terrorist Propaganda, YouTube Deletes Evidence Of War Crimes

TechDirt

It really was just last week that we were discussing the problems of telling platforms like YouTube to remove videos concerning "violent extremism" because it's often tough to tell the difference between videos that many people think are okay and ones that those same people think are not. But in that post, we also linked back to a story from 2013 in which -- after getting pressure from then Senator Joe Lieberman -- YouTube started removing "terrorist" videos, and in the process deleted a channel of people documenting atrocities in Syria.

It appears that history is now repeating itself, because YouTube is getting some grief because (you guessed it), it's effort to keep extremist content off its platform has resulted in deleting a channel that was documenting evidence of war crimes in Syria.

YouTube is facing criticism after a new artificial intelligence program monitoring "extremist" content began flagging and removing masses of videos and blocking channels that document war crimes in the Middle East.

Middle East Eye, the monitoring organisation Airwars and the open-source investigations site Bellingcat are among a number of sites that have had videos removed for breaching YouTube's Community Guidelines.

This comes just days after YouTube announced it was expanding its program to remove "terror content" from its platform -- including better "accuracy." Oops.

Again, there are no easy answers here. You can certainly understand why no platform wants to host actual terrorism propaganda. And platforms should have the right to host or decline to host whatever content they want. The real issue is that we have more and more people -- including politicians -- demanding that these platforms must regulate, filter and moderate the content on their platform to remove "bad" speech. But in the over 4 years I've been asking this question since that last time we wrote about the shut down of the channel documenting atrocities, no one's explained to me how these platforms can distinguish videos celebrating atrocities from those documenting atrocities. And this gets even more complicated when you realize: sometimes those are the same videos. And sometimes, letting terrorists or others post the evidence of what they're doing, people are better able to stop that activity.

There is plenty of "bad" content out there, but the kneejerk reaction that we need to censor it and take it down ignores how frequently that is likely to backfire -- as it clearly did in this case.

HBO Show ‘Confederate’ Seems to be on Hold After Charlottesville, Tweets Issued Were Not Actually From Directors

ThinkProgress

In light of the violence that erupted in Charlottesville, Virginia after a white nationalist rally organized to protest the removal of a General Robert E. Lee statue, Game of Thrones showrunners D.B. Weiss and David Benioff — whose upcoming project Confederate, an alt-history exploring what America would look like if the South had won the Civil War, has sparked considerable controversy — released separate and thoughtful statements in response to recent news events.

“Let’s keep the battles and bloodshed over fallen generals to the fantasy shows. Be safe America,” Weiss tweeted. A few hours later, Benioff added: “We are saddened by what’s transpired and as artists we are going to take these recent events into consideration as we move forward with Confederate.”  

The pair later clarified their tweets in an interview with Vulture. “Let me be clear: what happened on Saturday couldn’t be further from what we are envisioning for our project,” Benioff said. “We want our show to encourage the heroes of today, not empathize with the villains of our past.”

These sentiments are bold, thoughtful, and unfortunately completely invented.

In reality, Weiss and Benioff — who don’t actually have Twitter accounts — have been noticeably silent in the wake of the Charlottesville protests. The two showrunners haven’t taken any steps to address how recent news developments might influence their upcoming project, which got a lot of pushback even before the events of last weekend.

“It’s at their own risk that they’re being so silent,” Jamie Broadnax, editor-in-chief of the pop culture website Black Girl Nerds and one of the critics leading the #NoConfederate hashtag that has caught on like wildfire, said in an interview with ThinkProgress.

Before neo-Nazis invaded Charlottesville, Weiss told Vulture, “One of the strengths of science fiction is that it can show us how this history is still with us in a way no strictly realistic drama ever could.” The irony in that now is astounding. Perhaps a realistic drama couldn’t scratch the surface, but reality certainly did.

“A lot of the storyline that their show, so far as what’s been reported — this alternate history of what the South would have looked like if it won — we’re seeing play out right before our eyes,” Broadnax said. “People have been joking on social media, but it’s really the truth, that we’ve already seen episode one of Confederate.”

HBO itself has only tepidly weighed in, releasing a statement to the New York Times on Monday that reiterated its support of the project.

“We support everybody’s right to express an opinion but the suggestion of irresponsibility on our part is simply undeserved,” the network said. “HBO has a long history of championing intelligent storytelling and we will approach this project with the same level of thoughtfulness that has always defined our programming. We recognize the sensitivity of this project and will treat it with the respect that it deserves. Our creative partners should be given time to develop the series rather than face prejudgment.” [MORE]

Black Congressman Sanford Bishop has ties to firm charged in federal corruption probe

AJC

A political consulting company that U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop hired to lead his re-election campaign in 2014 was charged by the Justice Department last week with conspiring to launder money.

 The Albany Democrat, who has represented Georgia’s 2nd U.S. House District for 24 years, spent more than $95,000 on the services of the Macon-based Positiventures Initiative LLC in 2014, according to federal campaign finance filings. Positiventures is an advocacy group formed to fight poverty in struggling west and middle Georgia communities.

Bishop said the group provided him with his campaign manager Kimberlyn Carter for the 2014 election cycle and also constructed and installed large wooden campaign signs throughout the district, which encompasses a 29-county swath of Southwest Georgia and includes portions of Macon.

The company was named in a federal corruption probe that drew big headlines in middle Georgia when it was announced last week. [MORE]

Merck CEO Ken Frazier: Application of Death Penalty Not "Fair and Consistent"

[DPIC]

Merck Chief Executive Officer Kenneth C. Frazier resigned from the president’s American Manufacturing Council on August 14, saying “[a]s CEO of Merck and as a matter of personal conscience, I feel a responsibility to take a stand against intolerance and extremism.” In a statement posted on Merck’s Twitter account, Frazier said: "Our country's strength stems from its diversity and the contributions made by men and women of different faiths, races, sexual orientations and political beliefs. America's leaders must honor our fundamental values by clearly rejecting expressions of hatred, bigotry and group supremacy, which run counter to the American ideal that all people are created equal." It was not the first time that Frazier, the only African-American CEO of a major pharmaceutical company, has spoken out on matters of social justice. Following his successful pro bono representation of James Willie "Bo" Cochran, a black, Alabama death-row prisoner wrongly convicted of the murder of a white grocery store manager, Frazier wrote that the case showed him that "there can be no fair and consistent application of the death penalty under the current system." Frazier undertook Cochran's representation while a partner at the Philadelphia law firm, Drinker, Biddle & Reath, and remained on the case after joining Merck. Cochran won a new trial after Frazier and his team showed that, in two prior trials, the prosecutor had systematically removed 31 of the 35 potential black jurors because he believed they were less "reliable" and more likely to acquit black defendants. Frazier initially doubted Cochran's proclamation of innocence: witnesses inside the store described the suspect as a black man and, as police converged on the scene, heard a gunshot coming from a nearby trailer park, less than one mile from where Cochran was found with a gun and cash. But Frazier discovered during the post-conviction proceedings that there was no physical evidence against his client, the only bullet recovered near the scene did not match Cochran's gun, and the fatal bullet could not be tested because police had cut it out of the victim's body and removed it before delivering the body to the medical examiner. "He was convicted," explains Frazier, "despite evidence suggesting an accidental police shooting and cover-up." Even though the state only had circumstantial evidence against him, Cochran was tried three separate times for the killing (the first time, there was a mistrial, and the second time his conviction was reversed on appeal). "Although some maintain the criminal justice system is color-blind," Frazier wrote, "the reality is that race plays a substantial role in the judicial process." In Cochran's retrial, a jury that Frazier says "was not selected primarily on the basis of race" acquitted him in less than an hour. 

(M. Terrill, “Amid corporate career, Merck CEO exonerated man on death row,” CNBC, Aug. 14, 2017; M. Harper, “What You Should Know About Ken Frazier, The CEO Who Just Quit A Trump Advisory Council,” Forbes, Aug. 14, 2017; K. Frazier, "Dying for Representation: Promoting Justice Through Pro Bono Participation," Univ. of Toledo Law Rev., Spring 2004.) See New Voices, Innocence, and Race.

Brooklyn Congresswoman Yvette Clarke Proposes to Re-Name Streets Named for Confederate Generals

Nydaily News

The push to rebrand a pair of Brooklyn streets named for Confederate generals is going to the House.

Brooklyn Congresswoman Yvette Clarke unveiled legislation on Friday that would require the Department of Defense to change the name of any military installation or other property currently named for individuals who fought against the U.S. during the Civil War.

The Democrat has led a recent effort to convince the Army to rename two streets — General Lee Ave. and Stonewall Jackson Drive — at Brooklyn’s Fort Hamilton, the city’s only active military post.

Both men served at Fort Hamilton before they became leaders in the Confederate Army. [MORE]

Sleeping Democrats lag far behind GOP in 2018 fundraising despite turmoil

AOL

Despite the turmoil that Republicans have faced over the past several months, some observers are speculating that the Democrats may still be at a disadvantage in the 2018 midterm elections due to significant gaps in fundraising. 

According to The Hill, the Democratic National Committee, or DNC, raised $38.2 million during the first six months of 2017 which is slightly more than half the amount the $75.4 million their Republican counterparts brought in. 

The report adds, “as of June 30, the RNC has almost $45 million in the bank, while the DNC has just under $7.5 million, along with $3 million in debt.”

There appear to be mounting frustrations as a result, with one Democratic donor telling the publication, “We really should be kicking their a***s. It shouldn’t even be close, considering all hell is breaking loose on their side.” 

The lag has, in part, been attributed to the DNC’s effort to rebuild after selecting new leaders in February. 

The Star-Tribune recently reported that one official, William Hailer, “found the DNC in shambles when he became a senior adviser to the party early this year. Staff levels were at an all-time low, with just three people involved in fundraising. Now the DNC has nearly 30 fundraisers, and [DNC Deputy Chairman, Representative Keith] Ellison and Hailer expect that will boost campaign contributions." [MORE]

Congressmen John Lewis spent millions while cruising to re-election

AJC

The money went to luxury fishing trips on the Chesapeake Bay, fundraisers at D.C.’s poshest restaurants and a 75th-birthday blowout at the Tabernacle in Atlanta.

There were also tickets to the Masters golf tournament and a hotel room in the Virgin Islands, not to mention a stable of high-level campaign and social media consultants.

Georgia’s U.S. House members faced only token opposition at the ballot box last year, but you wouldn’t be able to tell by the way they spent campaign money.

The state’s 13 incumbent representatives collectively spent more than $12.9 million in the two years leading up to last year’s election, according to an Atlanta Journal-Constitution analysis of federal campaign finance records. All of them cruised to re-election by at least 20 percentage points in November, some without any major-party opposition in the general election.

Since then, many of those lawmakers have kept their spending apace, even with their re-election bids more than a year away.

The granular details reported in public filings paint a vivid picture of Washington’s permanent campaign culture — the nonstop mixers, strategy sessions and message rollouts that keep D.C. churning. [MORE]

Black Congressional Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman Calls For Censure of Trump

NJ.com

I think of the lesson from Maya Angelou: "When people show you who they are - believe them the first time."

Enough is enough.

Gone are the excuses that we need to give this president the "benefit of the doubt."

What we saw in Charlottesville this weekend was more reminiscent of scenes of attack dogs and fire hoses from 1960's civil rights movement than we should expect in 2017. What we saw in Charlottesville was nothing short of disgusting and a stark reminder that our sordid past is not so far gone.

Donald Trump's continued false equivalence following the Charlottesville attacks is dangerous. His remarks on Wednesday from Trump Tower should have been as simple as "racism has no place in this country" -- full stop.

He couldn't even bring himself to that. Instead, Trump has reaffirmed his true sentiments. Congress, as a co-equal branch of government, must stand on the right side of this seminal moment.

Our choice is clear: Congress must censure this president. That is why today, I, along with my colleagues Reps. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) and Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) introduced a resolution of censure against President Donald Trump for excusing the violent behavior of white nationalists, Klansmen and Neo-Nazis and what they represent.

His remarks re-asserting that "both sides" were to blame for the violence in Charlottesville has no place in the White House.

Donald Trump's history of stoking racial animosity is as long as it is clear. Donald Trump was sued in the 1970's by the Department of Justice for discriminating against black tenants. Donald Trump called for executing black teenagers for a crime for which they were ultimately exonerated, and maintained his position after they were cleared by DNA evidence. Donald Trump rose to political prominence himself by leading the racist birther conspiracy theories about President Obama that continued into his 2016 presidential campaign. He kicked off his presidential campaign by calling Mexicans rapists and drug dealers.

Despite this disgusting rhetoric, elected officials have disregarded these moral shortcomings, whether for craven political calculation, fear of backlash from the Trump base, or in simple disbelief. [MORE]

"Fight Supremacy" Counter Protest Today in Boston

Bustle

A "free speech" rally is set to take place in Boston on Saturday, and given the recent violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, the city is on high alert. The mayor has urged residents to stay away from the area during demonstrations, and given that several right-wing media figures are scheduled to speak  — one of whom was recently charged with felony weapon possession — it's not too surprising that a counter-protest called 'Fight Supremacy' is being planned for the same day.

"On Saturday, August 19th, White Nationalists are converging on Boston Common to reinforce their white supremacist ideology and attempt to intimidate queer and BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, POC) communities," Fight Supremacy's organizers wrote on Facebook.

The organizers of Boston Free Speech deny that the event is white supremacist in nature, writing on Facebook that they "denounce the politics of supremacy and violence" and "will not be offering our platform to racism or bigotry." However, one of the scheduled speakers is Kyle Chapman, who was charged Friday with felony weapon possession in connection with an "alt-right" protest in Berkeley earlier in the year. Video of the event showed Chapman striking counter-protesters over the head with a wooden stick; he has since become a hero in the "alt-right," which gave him the nickname "Based Stickman."

This is the second "free speech" rally Boston will host this year. The last one took place in May, and according to WBUR, it attracted a relatively small crowd. Nevertheless, one attendee wearing a Make America Great Again that was filmed punching a counter-protester, and was promptly arrested. [MORE]

Advocates Urge the release of Francisco Rodriguez, MIT Janitor & father of four, Snatched by ICE Cops

MassLive

The ACLU of Massachusetts is urging federal court officials to release a detained MIT janitor who was denied his fifth request to renew the stay of removal after living in Boston for a decade.

Francisco Rodriguez Guardado was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement last month. After being denied his stay of removal, Rodriguez reported to ICE with a plane ticket, but was taken into custody anyway, according to the ACLU.

The group, with the law firm Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, filed amicus brief on Thursday in support of Rodriguez, who is a father of four US-citizen children, including a newborn son, and an active member of the community in Chelsea.

"Immigration detention power cannot be used to merely hurt people, families and communities," said Carol Rose, executive director of ACLU of Massachusetts. "In this particular case, ICE detained a man who was fully compliant, tore him from his family, and threw him into a jail cell without any regard for the wellbeing of his children and community, and for no legitimate immigration enforcement purpose."

The amicus brief claims that there is no legal authority for Rodriguez's detention. The ACLU believes Rodriguez's detention is not constitutional because he has cooperated with ICE and because his detention is not related to the purposes of preventing flight or protecting the community. [MORE]

Michael Jordan may create #BlackLivesMatter Air Jordans

NewsObserver

Charlotte Hornets majority owner Michael Jordan headlined the sneaker world news again this week after one of his Jordan Brand employees unveiled a pair of black Air Jordan 1 High sneakers sporting “#BLACKLIVESMATTER.”

The hashtag appears in all-white lettering on the ankle straps.

Jordan Brand employee Frank Cooker posted a picture of the sneakers on Instagram along with the comment: “… and so does standing up for peace, harmony, equality and justice for ALL!”

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/sports/article167936387.html#storylink=cpy

“The latest Air Jordan to surface is a timely pair with a social message,” sneaker magazine Sole Collector.com reported. 

“Is this sneaker releasing at retail?” the magazine asked. “There’s no indication at the moment, but Cooker, who works in energy design for Jordan, often posts samples and one-offs that never make it to the public.”

Jordan Brand has released Black History Month sneakers in the past, the magazine noted, “but has never expressly come out in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.”

Jordan, however, has become more outspoken about police relations with minorities. In July 2016, he said he was giving $1 million each to two organizations he said were working to build trust between blacks and law enforcement: the Institute for Community-Police Relations, started by the International Association of Chiefs of Police, and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. [MORE]

The ACLU will no longer represent armed protesters

Vice

If you want to bring guns to a protest, don’t expect the American Civil Liberties Union to represent you.

The 97-year-old civil rights organization, which has been the Trump administration’s No. 1 adversary in the courts, announced the policy late Thursday, in the wake of last weekend’s violence in Charlottesville. The ACLU team in Virginia had worked with the white supremacist organizers of the “Unite the Right” protest to secure the permit necessary for a legal gathering. Many of the attendees were carrying guns, there were violent clashes with counterprotesters, and one person was killed when an alleged white-supremacist attendee plowed his car into the crowd. 

“If a protest group insists, ‘No, we want to be able to carry loaded firearms,’ well, we don’t have to represent them. They can find someone else,” ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero told the Wall Street Journal. Historically, the organization has represented and defended the rights of groups across the political spectrum, including some on the far-left and Nazis.

In the past week, critics have gone after the ACLU for both its representation of the white supremacists in Virginia and for suing the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority over banned ads, on behalf of a group that includes far-right provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos. [MORE]

Kevin Durant to reject Donald Trump invite to White House

Independent

The Golden State Warriors are set to snub President Trump and reject an invitation to visit the White House following their NBA championship success, according to Finals MVP Kevin Durant.

Despite hailing from Washington, 28-year-old Durant will not take up any invitation from President Trump as he does not “respect” him following a string of controversial comments in the public domain.

President Trump has been criticised for defending individuals in the “Unite the Right” march, which saw white supremacists, neo-Nazis and Ku Klux Klan members gather in Charlottesville and led to the death of one counter-protester.

It is common for the President of the United States to invite America’s championship-winning teams across basketball, American football, baseball and ice hockey to visit the White House, but President Trump’s reign in office has led to some sportsmen rejecting the invitation and Durant confirmed he will be one of those.

“Nah, I won’t do that,” Durant told ESPN. “I don’t respect who’s in office right now.

“I don’t agree with what he agrees with, so my voice is going to be heard by not doing that.” [MORE]

Jamaica pays tribute to Marcus Garvey

MagneticMedia

The Government and people of Jamaica on Thursday (August 17) honoured the life and legacy of the country’s first National Hero, the Rt. Excellent Marcus Garvey, with a floral tribute at National Heroes Park in Kingston.   The function, which included the laying of floral arrangements at Garvey’s shrine, was to commemorate the 130th anniversary of his birth.

Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, Hon. Olivia Grange, who represented Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, hailed Garvey as a champion for social justice and education.   She said that for Garvey, education was a “powerful weapon” in improving the condition of people of African descent throughout the world.

“He taught us that the way to achieve black power and black prosperity was through education and not bullets,” she pointed out.

Ms. Grange noted that Garvey hosted educational programmes at Liberty Hall in Kingston for scores of persons who later influenced national life.

The two-storey building, acquired in 1923 to serve as the centre of activities for the Kingston division of the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), was the first meeting hall in Jamaica that was fully owned and operated by blacks.

Minister Grange lauded the Rastafarian movement for keeping the legacy of Mr. Garvey alive.   She said the ceremony served as an opportunity to reflect on the life of a man who made it his life purpose to offer the people of the African diaspora a direction, hope and vision.

“Marcus Garvey lived a life with a mission. He… inspired black people to set high goals for themselves, and would have been proud to see the achievers of today,” she said. [MORE]