The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age

    They want to help each other

    By artappraiser on Sat, 03/24/2018 - 4:14pm |

    Brought tears to my eyes. Berlin, today:

    from Photos From the ‘March for Our Lives’ Protests Around the World @ NYTimes.com.

    Along with the other photos, made me think of this, November 4, 1989, A demonstration is held with a million people protesting the wall in East Berlin:

     

    Comments

    I read several of the Washington Post's series of stories on gun violence involving children. "Children under Fire."

    I highly recommend them for anyone who needs convincing about not just stronger gun laws, but getting some of the guns already out there off the streets. Because laws won't stop a black market in the astounding number of guns that are already out there. The stories really get across the war-like trauma that survivors are living under and continue to live under, and how all the noise about the mental illness just doesn't matter as regarding the problem.

    It came across in particular in this piece about The South of Washington D.C.:

    ‘DID YOUR FATHER DIE?’

    For a second-grader, gunfire, school lockdowns, then the worst violence of all

    where today's main protest just happen to be taking place:
    The violence in Tyshaun’s neighborhood intensified in late February when six people were shot in seven days.
    CHRIS ALCANTARA/THE WASHINGTON POST:

    And this one, about Cleveland:

    Children under fire

    Almost two dozen kids are shot every day in the U.S. This 4-year-old was one of them.

    And this one, about a tiny rural town:

    Twelve seconds of gunfire

    In tiny Townville, S.C., first-graders are haunted by what they survived — and lost — on a school playground

    and

    Scarred by school shootings

    More than 187,000 students have been exposed to gun violence at school since Columbine, The Washington Post found.

    Many are never the same.

    and then thinking how kids like Tyshaun are born into war zones.

     


    by artappraiser on Sat, 03/24/2018 - 4:43pm

    George Soros must be broke paying all those demonstrators!  6 continents!

    Republicans notably absent from the events. Absolute silence. In hiding.

    The GOP is hoping these remarkable and gifted teens go away soon.....along with talk about gun control measures, and murder facilitators at the NRA.

    Republicans only care about their personal survival in their next election, and they fear "being primaried" by further right nutjobs. Not one of them cares about the never ending gun carnage.


    by NCD on Sat, 03/24/2018 - 6:14pm

    Well you've got to give it to George that he did bring down that wall! But in the end, look what that wrought: Putin!  Change: bad! Keep everything the same as 1950''s! wink


    by artappraiser on Sat, 03/24/2018 - 8:37pm

    After today, guns are officially uncool. It's gonna work some in reducing gun violence just for that reason. (And "Hollywood" and "Hip Hop World" should see the message and hop to it on changing the kind of pandering to the young male demographic they do or they are just going to be losing money...)


    by artappraiser on Sat, 03/24/2018 - 8:43pm

    I can't stress how much I believe that the uncool thing is important. We are not going to get rid of the will to violence because of anger and humiliation, and the feeling of power from victimizing others. But despite West Side Story, a knife fight just doesn't give the same bang (pun intended) for the buck in offing a homie that you have a grudge against, a bunch of bullies at school, your boss and co-employees that dissed you, or your wife that's threatening to leave with the kids. A knife fight is gory and personal and therefore requires incredible passion, not the same glory as a powerful military weapon or even a handgun. And bombs are for geeks with cold-hearted hatred, require too much planning and expertise, they already aren't cool.


    by artappraiser on Sat, 03/24/2018 - 10:00pm

    Emma said it all, with a perfect mix of words and silence.  I don't know why the sight of her just standing there, staring forward, while no one in the crowd knew what was going on - they tried to encourage her even as they weren't sure why - led me to tears.  I guess it was just the excruciating sound of silence ...

    And then there was the young lady who threw up onstage in front of the world and every camera in it, declaring immediately afterward that she felt great.  If there's such a thing as a perfectly honest moment, that was it.

    I know your thread isn't about what happened in DC specifically, but thanks for the being the only one to even mention the day.

     


    by barefooted on Sat, 03/24/2018 - 8:52pm

    The Parkland students point out that while their school is 25% minority, those students have not been given a voice in the media.

    https://www.theroot.com/parkland-student-says-media-didn-t-highlight-black-clas-1824045981

    During planning for the March Parkland students visited student of Chicago Public schools

    https://chicago.suntimes.com/chicago-politics/parkland-shooting-survivors-visit-cps-students-to-plan-chicago-gun-control-march/

    The speakers at the march were diverse. What happened today bodes well for the future.  The movement will be inclusive.


    by rmrd0000 on Sat, 03/24/2018 - 9:01pm

    Yes.  It was more than Parkland, more than schools, more than mass - it was about guns being used to kill and every way they do.


    by barefooted on Sat, 03/24/2018 - 9:18pm

    There is power in not separating into tribes. Focusing "like a laser beam" on one issue that can be solved with people power is a unifier.

    (Strikes me that the same could be done with Trump. Despite the electoral college, there is a majority that does not want him as president. Any attempt to remove him would fail if you go tribal, i.e., liberal reasons against Trump, Republican establishment reasons, racial reasons, paleo-conservative reasons....majority power means you have to maintain majority. One thing at a time with focus like a laser beam. Worked with the economy in the Clinton years, all my life until then I thought there would either be high inflation or high unemployment, and growing government debit, that it was not possible to do otherwise. All you had to do is make a majority believe that could change and it happened, rising tide lifted all boats.)


    by artappraiser on Sat, 03/24/2018 - 9:50pm

    We are not yet post-tribal. The students realized the way the media was behaving and took steps to correct the situation. Recognition of an unlevel playing field sets these students apart. When it came to adults, blacks and other minorities had to force themselves into the Women’s March, for example. Being tribal does not mean that we cannot work together. Recognizing the plight of the other is crucial. The initial push was assault weapons. Minorities are impacted by handguns. Both have to be addressed. Adults often get diverted by nonsense like identity politics. These students are impressive.


    by rmrd0000 on Sat, 03/24/2018 - 10:01pm

    I don't think minorities had to "force" themselves on the March - I think some just pointed out the gap and leaders adjusted to include them. I don't think every group of black women is looking to exclude whites, but there are lots of black settings where there aren't any white women around to include. Being inclusive often requires being extra active, breaking out of the box. When we talk about investment, how many times is their a piece showing black investors and any particular characteristics of their various investment patterns and how that relates to the overall financial market? We just don't do it. Same with Hispanics. We have a general line of discussion, it presumes one bubble or tribe, and we work from there. In the high school case, they're not in a unicultural bubble - they're hiding under desks, black, white, Hispanic, gay, straight, male, female, valedictorian and class buffoon. And any of those kids who've grown up in dangerous neighborhoods know how to draw a simple comparison from "freaky lunatic shooting" to "more common, everyday neighborhood shootings"


    by PeraclesPlease on Sat, 03/24/2018 - 10:19pm

    I think that it was clear that there was racial tension between black and white feminists. 

    https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2017/01/21/510859909/race-and-feminism-womens-march-recalls-the-touchy-history

    ​The impressive thing is that the Parkland students were aware of how the different tribes were being treated and did a much better job in being inclusive than their elders. It is a time to celebrate. They confronted the racial issue head on and did not go on the defensive. This was a good day.


    by rmrd0000 on Sat, 03/24/2018 - 11:23pm

    MSNBC as well as CNN have been reporting on these marches all day.

    And the big guns showed up on a Saturday including Chris Matthews and Lawrence.

    I even checked in on FOX and I saw similar coverage and the color folks did not attack the marchers?

     


    by Richard Day on Sat, 03/24/2018 - 9:19pm

    An end to hopelessness and normalization?

    The Constitution isn't supposed to be a suicide pact, but according to Marco Rubio it is.

    Protecting that sacrosanct misinterpreted 2nd Amendment is more important than hundreds of thousands of terminated lives and living in constant fear and danger - ll so Joe Sixpack can hunt birds or prevent a tyrranical government overthrow (never mind that the Russian co-option of of our government should have been something they were up in arms over. Idiots.) 


    by PeraclesPlease on Sat, 03/24/2018 - 10:42pm

    Peracles, in order to massacre the most birds at one time...

    I despise Rubio.

    And now I look for any relief from the GOP?

    There aint none except for Kasich.

    That does not mean I am in love with Kasich.

    But Kasich and Ohio survive.

    Kansas just sank for chrissakes.

    WHICH IS THE GOAL AFTER ALL!

    I know, this aint so funny.

    Now, by the by, FOX is now attacking per NRA the billionaires who are funding all of 'this'?

    we must destroy the NRA

    (Although I still am in love with the National Relief Act.)

    the end

    Except I thought of this old song...

     

     


    by Richard Day on Sun, 03/25/2018 - 3:20pm

    Sorry, dyslexia kicking in, but thought we were protesting the National Association of Rocketry.


    by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 03/25/2018 - 4:04pm

    Boise, Idaho:


    by NCD on Sat, 03/24/2018 - 9:40pm

    Los Angeles California

    The most meaningful sign I saw was...

     

    ======
    ~OGD~


    by oldenGoldenDecoy on Sun, 03/25/2018 - 2:30am

    Quite a crowd in the pix!


    by artappraiser on Sun, 03/25/2018 - 4:01am

    Some kids who didn't get the message


    by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 03/25/2018 - 5:27am

    LOL 

    My cynical self is reminded of the 9-year old Arizona girl who was allowed to fire an Uzi at a gun range. She promptly fired the gun, killing the shooting instructor.

    https://www.cnn.com/2014/08/26/us/arizona-girl-fatal-shooting-accident/index.html


    by rmrd0000 on Sun, 03/25/2018 - 12:34pm

    The tone deaf NRA decided it was a good idea to mock the survivors of gun violence and the students who marched.

    https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/nra-march-for-our-lives_us_5ab75f39e4b0decad04ac4d4

    ​They continue to argue for more guns. 

    Edit to add:

    Marco Rubio criticizes the students and nite that some view them as a threat to the Second Amendment.

    https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/rubio-march-for-our-livs_us_5ab6f2a2e4b008c9e5f7e6ca


    by rmrd0000 on Sun, 03/25/2018 - 10:05am

    Killer Mike, a black political activist, appeared on NRATV with show host Colin Noir. Killer Mike is known mainly as a Bernie Sanders supporter. During his appearance on NRATV, Killer Mike expressed sympathy for those murdered by gun violence, but opposed rational gun laws. He also said that he did not agree with anti- bullying measures because children need to get punched in the face so they can learn how to defend themselves. Black Twitter responded negatively to Killer Mike’s comments. It will be interesting to see if there will be any long term repercussions on his ability to function as a political advocate.

    https://www.theroot.com/killer-mike-appeared-on-nratv-and-people-have-questions-1824054199


    by rmrd0000 on Sun, 03/25/2018 - 10:24am

    AM Joy has a segment discussing Killer Mike today. The guest panel points out that the NRA has been silent when unarmed black men are killed. The organization has ads that make men men a source of fear and need for increased white gun ownership. NRA was silent when a black legal gun owner Philando Castile was murdered by police.

    A recent Quinnipiac poll indicates that 80% of African-American view the NRA as an organization that is bad for America.

    https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/new-poll-suggests-the-nra-is-losing-support_us_5a957b9ee4b03a8f3a22e85e


    by rmrd0000 on Sun, 03/25/2018 - 12:12pm

    Good to file this one away for when Rubio next runs for president or senator.


    by AmericanDreamer on Sun, 03/25/2018 - 11:48am

    From the link:

    Parkland students wore orange price tags listed at $1.05, which is what they said they were worth to the senator. The $1.05 price tag represents the amount of money the NRA has donated to Rubio campaigns divided by the number of students in Florida, the demonstrators explained. 

    Assault weapons were banned for 10 years, from 1994-2004, when the GOP let the ban die.

    Libtardnazicommies did not take the ban as an opportunity to sweep up Real Americans and put them into Jade Helm FEMA re-education camps.  Nor did home invaders run rampant those years because semiautomatic battlefield weapons with a kill range of 15 football fields were not legal. There was no slippery slope except to eliminate that law and most other gun laws....by the Republicans.

    Some people think you can protect yourself with a 10 round clip on a hand gun, with a shotgun or hunting rifle.

    Like the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia who ruled with the SCOTUS in the 90's there is no 2nd Amendment right to own assault weapons.

    California and 5 other states ban them, why not Florida, why not all 50?


    by NCD on Sun, 03/25/2018 - 12:11pm

    Rick Santorum chimes in that students should spend their time learning CPR to revive the wounded rather than fight for gun control legislation

    https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/rick-santorum-says-kids-should-learn-cpr_us_5ab7cb36e4b008c9e5f87731

    ​The GOP is insane.

    Edit to add:

    Santorum often cites his Catholicism as the basis for his positions. In this case Santorum is at odds with the Pope who supports the students call for gun control. The Pope notes that older generations have often tired to silence the young.

    http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2018/3/25/144014/944


    by rmrd0000 on Sun, 03/25/2018 - 4:30pm

    Child's logic. Any need to embellish?


    by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 03/25/2018 - 5:13pm

    Students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School stand
    together onstage with other young victims of gun violence at
    the conclusion of the March for Our Lives rally on Saturday
    in Washington. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

    “Tomorrow Is the Beginning of Democracy”

    The Parkland generation has a plan to solve our gun violence crisis. But that’s just the beginning.

    @ Slate.com, March 25, 4:48 PM


    by artappraiser on Sun, 03/25/2018 - 9:31pm

    The beauty was that the Parkland students automatically created an inclusive event. Even the 9–year old granddaughter of Martin Luther King Jr. spoke.

    https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/24/us/martin-luther-king-granddaughter-trnd/index.html


    by rmrd0000 on Sun, 03/25/2018 - 9:49pm

    This has been a very professional display of Soros powered astroturfing especially the pic from Berlin of identical signs in Germany but written in English for the US audience. The commie agitators are hearding the young useful idiots into the snowflake party voting pens where they will be mistreated and discarded after the election.

    by Peter (not verified) on Sun, 03/25/2018 - 10:00pm

    I hope you continue to promote this nonsense. The NRA, Rubio, Santorum, etc. run the same line. This will help the Democrats win in November.


    by rmrd0000 on Sun, 03/25/2018 - 10:19pm

    Peter I'm going to assume that mentioning Soros isn´t anti semitism on your behalf.  If I 'm wrong  let me know. Or  more to the point. Then just go away, please,

    You go on to allude to  the commie agitators. Reminds me of a bit of US political history.In 36  FDR supported the primary opponent of  democratic  Senator George (of Georgia!) Unsuccessfully. Later chatting in the cloak room someone remarked ¨ FDR´s  his own worst enemy.¨   ¨ Not while I m alive , he isn´t¨ ,George replied.

    Soros is the Communists worst enemy and  vice versa.  Have you some particular basis for thinking that on this occasion  the  ¨commies ¨ are working with him.?

    In fact, while I m at it , have  you any particular basis for supporting Trump?  Certainly you must have been against all of Obama 's policies . We get that, 

    But what do you think that Trump will actually do that you'd like ? Stop immigration? Raise tariffs? Prevent abortions? Bomb Iran ? Just curious.

    But, as I started : if you are an anti semite don´t bother answering, Just go away.Please.

     

     


    by Flavius on Sun, 03/25/2018 - 11:13pm

    It's mighty white of you to assume anything about me with no real evidence except the name Soros. This is either virtue signaling or just petty diversion from the Soros coloured astroturfing. George is a megalomaniac commie and a core member of the Club of Rome whose sole purpose is to bring about an appointed collectivist world government.

    by Peter (not verified) on Mon, 03/26/2018 - 9:47am

    So why did he spend so much money to help East Europe transition out of communism (when America was tired and just wanted its post-Wall peace dividend)? Pretty fucking bullshit accusation that his "sole purpose" as an investor and trader is a "collectivist world government". Go check your programming - I think someone screwed up an if/then clause somewhere.


    by PeraclesPlease on Mon, 03/26/2018 - 11:31am

    He is parroting the Briebart obsession with Soros who have dubbed him the arch enemy of national identity.
    Being an "internationalist" makes him a communist by default. The logic makes no sense if you know his history as a capitalist but whatever....


    by moat on Mon, 03/26/2018 - 12:03pm

    You're just displaying your gross ignorance with comments like this. The Club of Rome, Soros and many other Marxist agitators have been working for decades on their Stalinist one world government. Briebart is very recent and I think gets some of its rhetoric from my comments at other sites. Soros is not hiding his long time desire to centralize power that can rule over nations by mandate not democracy. I don't know what you mean by internationalist but Soros and most of his fellow travelers are Globalists who use the wealth they gained through capitalism to undermine it wanting only state and crony capitalism in their collective.

    by Peter (not verified) on Mon, 03/26/2018 - 6:49pm

    Yes, the rhetoric predates the appearance of Briebart. It is particularly lame when it tries to explain how capitalism is being used to undermine capitalism. Feel free to link to your best argument for it since you suggest you are an important source for the narrative.


    by moat on Mon, 03/26/2018 - 7:22pm

    You kinda missed the point there moat. I think it's important to acknowledge peter's quite humble claim that the folks at Breitbart have been reading the comments and have singled peter out as the person to follow. Kudos to peter for supplying the rhetoric to Breitbart.


    by ocean-kat on Mon, 03/26/2018 - 7:44pm

    Well, I am always blundering into situations where I brush close to important people in an awkward fashion.
    It is like that time in New Mexico when I was hitchhiking and Jessica Lange drove by.
    She didn't pick me up.


    by moat on Mon, 03/26/2018 - 8:13pm

    Well, she once got picked up by a big apish goon - maybe left a bad taste in her mouth. Don't take it personally - she coulda run you over.


    by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 03/27/2018 - 8:54am

    A simple example you might understand is evident when you look at China. They have a totalitarian Marxist government regime with a state and crony capitalism economy. They choose winners and losers not the market and they use their power to dump things such as steel to undermine US market capitalism industries.

    by Peter (not verified) on Mon, 03/26/2018 - 8:36pm

    Planned economies have a significant potential to become corrupt oligarchies. That observation has been explored by Hayek, who argued that open markets were the only way to counter this tendency. Hayek's argument is a "globalist" point of view. Perhaps you have an argument with Hayek to make regarding the efficacy of the market as a guarantor of political outcomes.
    Hayek did not address the problem of "cronies" in his work other than to see capitalism as a means of natural association based upon successful cooperation. Perhaps you could explain how the stakeholders in different political formations are tied to something other than their personal gain. Your champion in the White House has failed to illuminate us on the matter.


    by moat on Mon, 03/26/2018 - 9:23pm

    I just want to say I love this line of yours:Your champion in the White House has failed to illuminate us on the matter. And to add that his cronies ain't talking much so far either.


    by artappraiser on Tue, 03/27/2018 - 12:19am

    In their defense, it is difficult to say much when you are constantly out of breath from running to the baseboards every time the door is opened and you cannot recall any events that happened more than 4 weeks in the past.


    by moat on Tue, 03/27/2018 - 9:28am

    They choose winners and cronies like the two Kushners.in the current White House.


    by artappraiser on Tue, 03/27/2018 - 12:33am

    And comes to mind that fatherTrump has no problem with the president for life thing. Why should he? Deals are more ironclad that way. You gotta love a crony club where everyone will be around a long time.


    by artappraiser on Tue, 03/27/2018 - 12:56am

    A fake photo of Emma González went viral on the far right, where Parkland teens are villains

    By Alex Horton @ WashingtonPost.com, March 25

    [....] A doctored animation of González tearing the U.S. Constitution in half circulated on social media during the rally, after it was lifted from a Teen Vogue story about teenage activists. In the real image, González is ripping apart a gun-range target.

    The doctored image mushrooming across social media appeared to confirm the belief among Second Amendment absolutists that calls for stricter gun-control measures are transgressive, destroying the very foundation of the United States. The animation bounced around conservative Twitter before it received a signal boost Saturday from actor Adam Baldwin.

    He tweeted to a quarter of a million followers with a hashtag reading “#Vorwärts!,” the German word for “forward” and an apparent reference to the Hitler Youth, whose march song included the word [.....]


    by artappraiser on Mon, 03/26/2018 - 3:47am

    It's getting hard to tell what's real news and what's not.


    by PeraclesPlease on Mon, 03/26/2018 - 5:54am

    Santorum suggest CPR to treat bullet wounds is real but seems like an onion story.


    by rmrd0000 on Mon, 03/26/2018 - 8:51am

    Hmmm...Adam with a little brother complex maybe?  (you're not the only one around here who practices without a license)


    by AmericanDreamer on Tue, 03/27/2018 - 3:57pm

    The second picture was taken in Prague, it's showing Czech protesters and it's flipped horizontally in your Blog entry.

    Looking at all the people in the far distance, there are probably more than 500,000 people.


    by A reader (not verified) on Thu, 07/19/2018 - 10:24pm

    thank you.


    by artappraiser on Thu, 07/19/2018 - 10:37pm