Everyday Erinyes #67

Experts in autocracies have pointed out that it is, unfortunately, easy to slip into normalizing the tyrant, hence it is important to hang on to outrage.  These incidents which seem to call for the efforts of the Greek Furies (Erinyes) to come and deal with them will, I hope, help with that.  Even though there are many more which I can't include.  As a reminder, though no one really knows how many there were supposed to be, the three names we have are Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone. These roughly translate as "unceasing," "grudging," and "vengeful destruction."

I assume everyone has heard of the white supremacist who took a bus to New York City for the express purpose of killing one or more black men, and who did in fact kill one, Timothy Caughman, by stabbing, in the "Hell's Kitchen" neighborhood, with a short sword.  The white supremacist then apparently turned himself in, asking to be arrested lest he kill again.  In a nation where we are still arguing about whether Michael Brown deserved to die (spoiler: he didn't.  At least, not if you are an actual human being with a grain of empathy), it probably will not be a surprise that the reporting of this incident in the MSM left something to be desired.

FAIR.org (the acronym stands for Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting) addresses that poor reporting in the linked article.  OK, I grant you it's easy to pick on the New York Daily News – for one thing, it has "a history of smearing black suspects simply on the say-so of the NYPD."  But, even so, Mr. Caughman was not a suspect; he was the VICTIM, for heaven's sake.  What does ANY prior record have to do with the story?  He was not stabbed to death because of his record; he was stabbed to death because he was black.  The stabber said so.

Coughman [sic] lived in transitional housing on West 36th Street that serves people with HIV/AIDS. Praxis Housing Initiatives holds a contract with the city. He has 11 prior arrests, including for marijuana, assault, resisting arrest and menacing. 

Just for the records, the "transitional housing" is transitional NOW, but Caughman had lived there for twenty years.  That's hardly "transitional."  And, of course, anywhere between one and eleven of the eleven prior arrests could easily have been in reality for walking whie black or breathing while black.  No attempt seems to have been made to determine whether any arrests led to charges, let alone (gasp!) conviction.

As bad as the News reporting is, the New York Post managed to go one better, turning "eleven prior arrests" into "careeer criminal."

Katie Halper, writing for Raw Story, took the trouble to look up Caughman's Twitter account.  Yes, he has one.  Yes, he supported himself by gathering and redeeming bottles and cans, but he was literate, and perceptive, by his tweets.  He loved America.  He loved the Obamas.  He – well, he didn't exactly love Donald John Trump.  He tweeted about art, and about BLack History Month.  You can go to the link to read these tweets, or, if you are on Twitter, his name there is @timrock715.  Was @timrock715.  The stream is so vibrant, I forgot for a second.  Megaera, I think grudgingness is going on here.  If that's a word.  I'm sure you understand.

I'm sure everyone also remembers the Saffron Stalin's second attempt at a Muslim Ban, which was issued on Ash Wednesday, and blocked the same day, just before it actually went into effect, by U. S. District Judge Derrick Watson in Hawaii.  Is is a surprise that this patriot and national hero is receiving death threats?  Surely not.  The size of the threat, measured by the response to it, may, however lift an eyebrow or two. 

The U. S. Marshals Service "will do a critical risk assessment, look at the threat, make an analysis, and determine the level of protection needed," they say.  In this case, the level of protection needed is about a dozen deputies to provide 24/7 protection.

Unrelated really, but it's interesting that the journalist reporting this on Daily Kos is Walter Einenkel, whose own life was threatened (to the point of him having to be hospitalized for, I believe it was a week.)  Niemöller's quote still rings true, doesn't it?  We are all at risk.  Tisiphone, please help protect Judge Watson.  He is desperately needed.

Now, THIS is a surprise, although maybe it shouldn't be, given what we all know about Seven Mountains Dominionism, and other mock-Christian forms of Shari'a Law.

You can call it a God Squad.

An Alabama megachurch is seeking to establish its own police department — and a bill that would green light the force is already moving through the state senate. 

Because Sandy Hook.

Seriously.

It's only a false flag when they can't find some way to profit from it.

The legislation has a powerful sponsor — Senate Majority Leader J.T. "Jabo" Waggoner, who represents the area and is one of the longest-serving members of the Alabama Legislature.

The ACLU of Alabama is urging Waggoner and other lawmakers to vote no to the Briarwood police force — and no to another bill called The Alabama Church Protection Act that would enable to churches to tap gun-toting congregants for security and provide them with legal protections if they shoot anybody.

The ACLU realizes that this legislation would be unconstitutional

Sgt. Jack Self of the Sheriff's Department of Jefferson County (one of the two County Sheriff's Departments already responsible for policing the church campus) says he's never before heard of a church having its own police force, except maybe the Vatican.  But, Alecto, I think this is one to stop BEFORE it gets started and becomes unceasing.

In parting, I just want to quickly mention that anyone who is hoping for the Mango Mussolini's connections to Russia, or to organized crime, or any kind of perversion, extortion, rape, murder, pillaging you can think of, will bring him down, you may want to rethink that, if only for the sake of your own blood pressure.  The linked article's chart in particular probably deserves more than a brief mention, but the Furies are busy enough for one week.  We'll need to digest it ourselves.   (Or not.  Got your barf bags handy?)

The Furies and I will be back.

Cross posted to Care2 at http://www.care2.com/news/member/101612212/4044209