Losers Gotta Lose

There are reports — I’m not sure they’ve been confirmed — that one person died in Charlottesville when a car plowed into counter-protesters. The video in this tweet is said to show some of what happened:

More about the car incident:

Brennan Gilmore, a 38-year-old Charlottesville resident who came Saturday to oppose the white nationalists, was filming his friends demonstrating three blocks away from the park when he noticed a gray car drive past.

Mr. Gilmore turned his camera in time to see the car slow as it approached the counterprotesters and then suddenly speed up, ramming into the car in front of it and the crowd itself.

“Bodies went flying — up onto the hood of the car and into the air,” Mr. Gilmore said. “It was horrifying.”

I haven’t been watching television, but I understand it’s all been very ugly — no surprise. And then there’s this —

I understand the original purpose of the White Losers Rally was to protest the removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee. So I can understand the Confederate flags. But I’d really like to hear that one fellow explain what the Nazi flag represents to him. For that matter, what’s with the all the replicas of German army helmets I’ve seen in so many photos? I believe the German army still uses that same basic helmet shape today, so that’s not just a Nazi thing. Does replicating the military garb of a foreign country mean something to these people? And why no Viking helmets?

(Speaking of Nazis — I don’t know that I announced it here, but I have a contract with a real publisher to write something about Buddhist history, and that got me delving into its origins in India. The Indo-Europeans called “Aryans” the Nazis were so proud of were, um, not people you’d really want to move into your neighborhood.  They were barbarians. They swept across Asia about 35 centuries ago burning, killing and looting everything. They smashed superior civilizations and made off with the livestock. It was centuries later before they had a written language or could build anything more complicated than a tool shed. They were actually way, way behind folks like the Chinese and Egyptians, civilization-wise. Well, come to think of it, maybe the losers are Aryans.)

Anyway– I’m sure we’ll get more details about what happened in Charlottesville in the next few days.  I’ve heard from several people that the police didn’t do enough to intervene until the loser mob got out of hand. If the losers try to pull off more mass rallies, there had better be plenty of National Guard standing by to keep order.

18 thoughts on “Losers Gotta Lose

  1. And why no Viking helmets?

    I think it’s because the cost of real natural horns has gone through the roof in the past millennium. And no self respecting warrior would want to be caught dead wearing some cheap plastic imitation horns.

  2. I recently looked up my Midwestern hometown high school, which I never attended. I’d left before that, leaving behind many middle school friends to move cross country to where my fathers job had gone. I’d lost all contact for decades, but now through the magic of the internet I was smiling at their senior pictures, and all their activities.

    I found a long lost friend on Facebook and we had a lengthy email exchange, mostly positive. Then they told me about how our old Brady Bunch / Happy Days neighborhood had over the years, turned black and dangerous. That once safe and innocent high school had become notorious for drugs and gang violence. That’s when happy memory time stopped.

    That person then told me they were now a “staunch conservative” and a strong supporter of Donald Trump. Bummer. I hadn’t known them as being mentally disabled.

    It was hard, but I could start to see their point of view and compare it with my own. They’d experienced rust belt white flight at the hands of Obama and “Turd Way socialists” who’d sold America out to atheist China and drug addled Mexico. I’d experienced west coast tech world gentrification of former ghetto areas and enjoyed the fruits of diversity.

    I’m currently trying to redirect their racist wingnut thinking to one which views all of us regular folks, regardless of race or politics, as victims of a kleptocratic con artistry (ala Koch brothers and their ilk) which is ruining America and turning us against each other out of helpless desperation. We’ll see how that goes.

  3. Three people confirmed dead by Virginia governor McAuliffe. President Trump, Senate Majority Leader McConnell, and House Majority Leader Ryan all condemn hatred without once mentioning white supremacism.

  4. “President Trump, Senate Majority Leader McConnell, and House Majority Leader Ryan all condemn hatred without once mentioning white supremacism”

    Why would they bite the hand? The GOP is a racist party, if they condemn white supremacy they will cease to exist. They use to be able to get away with half hearted condemnation but that was before Trump. Now the Racists are out of the closet and they are the very vocal base. Republican politicians won’t say a fucking word.

  5. In no way will I support suppression of free speech. The KKK and Nazis have a right to assembly. No group has a right to assemble to exert their right to free speech with guns. No group has the right to intimidate the press by dousing them with raw sewage. The media has a right and an obligation to cover public assemblies whether you want them there or not. Any group(s) whose assembly has been linked to violence should be warned that they will be under close scrutiny by law enforcement. That means if you show up a public assembly with a weapon, you will be detained. The weapon will be checked and you will be held while the police check for any warrants. It might take a while because the cops might decide you could be illegal and hold you until they get clearance from ICE. So sad – you will miss the rally. Assembly, yes – Free Speech, yes. Weapons, no. And if your group is associated with prior violence expect the cops on you like stink on shit..

  6. They had the right to go there and march, but with no control of time spent?( they started yesterday with torches and threatened a church full of counter protesters holding a service), they carried guns openly, they came with helmets and backpacks with plastic bottles of cement to throw and brought their own mace. Obviously they were not contained properly before it got out of hand. I saw some of the live coverage early in the day and there were no police in sight then. I am wanting to know what caused the crash of the police helicopter killing 2.

  7. “Ya’all Libtardz dont reespect mah KKKarefully thunk out opineeunz boutnmy white soupremassy.
    Ya’all Libtardz dont reespect mah store-bouht cammo owtfitz repremazentin hour Murkin freedumb n libertea!
    An ya’all Libtardz dont reespect mah semi-ottomatikkk long gun that I hawl round 2 sho how like a Minitman I am – mah wife sayz I’m more like a qwarter-minute man. Da beeeeyotch thinkz she funny….

    Mebbee ya-all Libtards will reespect duh front grill uv mah speedin otto, as it slams into yur fat Libtard assez n grindz yur bonez in 2 da KKKonKKKKreet!”

    What courage!
    How resourseful!!
    Even our Murkin patriot’s are exceptional!!!!
    (I’ll leave you to fill-out what they’re exceptional st.
    Me?
    I have a long list. Too long to list at this late (early?) hour.

  8. The mother of the man who allegedly plowed into a group of people protesting a white nationalist rally Saturday in Virginia said she knew her son was attending a rally — but she thought it was a rally for President Trump, not for white nationalists.

    Really? What’s the difference. It’s rather nuanced like the difference between brownshirts chanting Deutschland uber alles, and Trump supporters chanting Make America great again. Different words, same spirit.

  9. It’s interesting to watch republican politicians (Rubio, McCain, etc) who have benefited from 30+ years of GOP race baiting and minority voter suppression come out and chastise Trump for not calling out “white supremacists”. Whats worse a racist who denies that racism exists or one whosimply pretends he’s not part of it?
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWxhoeERMZU

  10. Nazis should be arrested on sight. Can’t our law makers draft a law out lawing Nazis ? WTF ?

  11. Why no Viking helmets?
    Actually, real Norsemen never wore horns on their helmets when they went viking. Horned helmet are impractical; an obvious vulnerability. Horned helmets were an operatic convention in the 19th century.

  12. Horned helmet are impractical
    Well, that’s debatable. You have to consider the psychological impact. Personally if I’m confronted some dude wearing a helmet with either horns or elk antlers attached to it..I’m gonna be heading in the opposite direction as fast as my feet will carry me..

  13. My never-was high school team was called the Vikings. The logo is still a stern looking blonde horned helmet guy, Minnesota style, even though it’s an almost all black school now. So I dunno, it’s always something…

  14. Between a rock and a hard place? Trump chose a path of not denouncing the Nazis and White supremacists. They love it and they are claiming Trump is on of them. Even the NY Post has criticized Trump’s lack of clarity. Emerging is a lack of ambiguity – Trump will NOT diss that portion of his base. But a big part of his base is NOT fascist or bigots. A big part of Trump’s supporters see no conflict between racial equality and conservative ideals. It’s becoming unmistakable that the president is either a pro-Nazi bigot or he’s embracing those groups as part of his base.

    Trump can’t win here. He’s waited too long to denounce the Nazis and KKK for it to be credible. The fascist groups claiming Trump’s statement is an endorsement of fascism is out there. Trump’s gonna take a hit in the polls – and that’s the basis of his power over the GOP management.

  15. David Duke and the Nazis really seem to like Donald Trump, Oliver observed, explaining, “Nazis are a lot like cats. If they like you, it’s probably because you are feeding them.”

    Exactly!

  16. I have been following the Gallup poll – Trump approval rating – since January. Gallup isn’t the only poll but it’s scientific and I don’t want to cherry-pick polls. For the first time, Trump’s approval rating is BELOW 35% and for the first time the disapproval rating is above 60%. It will rebound some, but I think the trend will continue. When it hits a steady 2 against Trump for every 1 in favor, he’s toast. (Impeachment) That’s 64-32 and today we are at 61-34 now.

    Trump made a pro-forma rejection of racism but it’s two days too late to escape the mantle of racist. Of particular significance is that the NY Post and Fox have been very critical as have mainstream republicans like Orin Hatch and Marco Rubio – even Ted Cruz. Republicans in power do not think they can be the party of overt racism and win.

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