Overnight, two police officers in Des Moines, Iowa were shot and killed, ambush style. They likely never knew what hit them and died instantly. Now I read that the suspect has been captured. According to video on the Randi Rhodes live stream earlier, the suspect had been at some sort of high school athletic event and attempted to display the Confederate flag. He was asked to leave. Apparently, that is enough reason to kill police officers.
Sadly, this is not an isolated incident. More police officers have been shot in the line of duty in recent months than at any other time in our history. At the same time, police shootings of unarmed civilians are also at an all-time high.
We are an armed, scared society. Cops are scared of citizens; citizens are scared of cops, and people are dying.
Esteemed (!?) Iowa congressman, Steve King (R - Fuck Knob) has been ratcheting up the racist, vile rhetoric. This is a man supposedly elected to represent all Iowans (including the minority population of the Des Moines area). He proudly displays both a Confederate flag and the Gadsden Flag on his office desk.
As if Steve King wasn't bad enough, the candidate for the presidency of one of the major political machines in this country spouts every kind of bigotry you can think of on a daily basis. More astounding still is the fact that about half of us think he is not only qualified, but a better choice, to lead our nation.
What the fucking hell?
Donald Trump has normalized bigotry in our society. He doesn't talk about anything positive. Instead, he talks about fear of blacks, fear of Muslims, fear of gays/lesbians, fear of anything that isn't what he (and his deluded followers) considers "normal." He has been endorsed by the KKK and other white supremacist lunatics, anti-immigrant groups, anti-gay groups, and, surprisingly, evangelical Christians. Obviously, cheating on your current wife with your future wife, misogyny, and even sexual assault against women is now okay according to the church.
I am old enough to remember the unrest of the 1960s, when the Civil Rights Act became law. I remember the struggles of Black Americans for equal rights. I remember the Stonewall Riots and those who fought for equal rights for Gay Americans. I protested the Viet Nam war, and the war in Iraq. I have escorted patients at a women's health center, protecting them from anti-choice zealots who would deny women access to health care. I fought for marriage equality and inclusion for all of our citizens. I was arrested at the Mercury, Nevada Nuclear Test Site when I stood against the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
And then, I watched with pride and even shed happy tears in 2008 when we elected our first African-American President. I thought that all the hard work so many of did to advance society was finally coming to fruition. I was humbled and proud to see what we had done.
Almost immediately, all the racist shit that had been simmering under the surface broke through and became the new normal. Back in the 1970s, most of us felt that we were becoming a more inclusive, open, and free society. Conservatives have been dragging the rest of us backwards ever since. And yes, I blame the senile Ronald Reagan for starting a lot of it.
Now, conservatives are attempting to rewrite history. They say the Civil War was about states' rights. No, it wasn't. The Civil War was entirely about protecting the institution of slavery and nothing else. The Confederate Flag is not about "southern heritage," it is entirely about white supremacy. Rewriting history books will not change these facts.
If these backwards "values" are the sort of thing that you think are good for this nation, then fuck you. Just fuck you. Fuck you and your racist, homophobic, xenophobic, misogynistic bullshit.
We've seen this song and dance before. It was in Germany in the late 1930s. A politician promised to make Germany great again and get rid of the "others" that he felt were destroying society. Sound familiar? If you don't see the parallels between what is happening now and the rise of Nazism in German prior to World War II, then you are either not paying attention, or you are incredibly stupid.
I fear for our future.
