What’s Wrong with McKinney TX is What’s Wrong with America.

All across the USA, people have been pointing judgemental fingers at McKinney, Texas: pointing at the town’s racism, pointing at the town’s homophobia, and pointing at the town’s police misconduct. All such fingers implying a certain superiority on the locale of those doing the pointing.

And those assumptions of superiority are, of course, misguided at best and lies at worst. Let’s take a few of McKinney’s recent “sins” and see how our states, cities, and neighborhoods stand up in comparison, shall we? Oh yes, yes we shall:

Homophobia: Kids who wore t-shirts supporting a bullied friend were harassed, publicly shamed, and otherwise penalized for having the words “Gay OK” on their shirts. The bullies were not, and have not, been punished. Think your town’s schools administrators are better? Probably not.

Racism: White people caused the recent dustup at that pool party, and let’s not pretend otherwise, OK? The white 911 caller was a racist (and has a criminal record), and the white woman who started the pool party fight is an obviously racist POS. Neither of them got so much as a glance from the idiot cop who pummeled an innocent black teen.
Think your town is better? Maybe it is, but probably not.

And let’s not even get STARTED on police misconduct, OK? Just check out the nationwide stats on skin-color-based differences in how law enforcement treats our citizens. No place is immune.

Yes, McKenney has racists, bigots, and crazy cops. So too does Ferguson. And, Staten Island. And, Cleveland. And so too does America as a whole: a wonderful, but deeply f***ed-up country. Until we realize that racism, homophobia, bigotry and other forms of hatred infest our nation from coast to coast and top to bottom, we’ll never get this place cleaned up.

Instead of pointing fingers at others, let’s put our digits to work. fixing our own problems.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

You are NOT a Conservative. Stop calling yourself one.

Unless you actually fit the definition of a “Conservative”:

noun
1: a person who believes in the value of established and traditional practices in politics and society : a person who is politically conservative.
2: a: one who adheres to traditional methods or views
b :a cautious or discreet person.

Sadly, most “conservative” Americans bear little or no resemblance to the agreed-upon meaning of the word. Some examples:

Number A: The “Reagan Revolution”. Helpful hint: there is no such thing as a “conservative revolutionary”. Real conservatives abominate the very idea of radical change. So all you NRA machine-gun nuts, anti-abortion screechers, morals policemen and theocrats are not one damned bit conservative.

Letter 2: Intentional ignorance is not at all “conservative”, because existing knowledge is something built up over history, and thus part of our intellectual tradition. People who pretend that facts are debatable are not conservative; they are radicalized f***wits.

Thirdly: real conservatives respect the Constitution and its amendments. They do not advocate sedition, the violent overthrow of the government, secession, or unconstitutional disenfranchisement and/or discrimination against women, LGBT citizens, or non-whites.

And shut up with the “words can mean something different to me than you” horses***. The word means what it means, and all the NeoCons are doing is rebranding themselves so that people won’t see them as the violent, hateful, extremist, treasonous scum that they are. By changing the meaning of the word, a’la Orwell, the Raging Righties in Their Tightie Whities are trying to (and succeeding at) conning the populace into supporting them as they slowly slice our government’s throat.It’s lying, propagandizing, anti-American crap.

The crowning irony of all this: it is the Liberals who are actually trying to stop the right-wing, libertarian, teabagging revolutionaries from burning down and blowing up our democracy. Yes. Liberals (along with the few true centrists and other antidisestablishmentarianists remaining) have become modern America’s true conservatives, because they fit the definition.

Ain’t that some f***ed-up s***? But not as f***ed as all the douchenozzles who lie when they call themselves “conservatives”.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

ISIS and “Christian” Extremists: Both of them are terrorist organizations.

Both groups want to murder millions of infidels so as to bring about the end of the world. Both groups cherry-pick their respective Scriptures to justify the evil acts they perpetrate upon others. Both are run by malevolent geniuses who are followed by  hateful, gullible, violent f***wits with room-temperature IQs. And both have useful idiots in the media who try to paint them as something other than what they are.

Let’s start with ISIS, (and let’s call them “Daesh”, because it is accurate, and because they hate being called by that name).
Here is an excellent article on them, worth the click. Pretty long piece, so here are a very few snippets:

The Islamic State, also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), follows a distinctive variety of Islam whose beliefs about the path to the Day of Judgment matter to its strategy, and can help the West know its enemy and predict its behavior. Its rise to power is less like the triumph of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt (a group whose leaders the Islamic State considers apostates) than like the realization of a dystopian alternate reality in which David Koresh or Jim Jones survived to wield absolute power over not just a few hundred people, but some 8 million.
Following takfiri doctrine, the Islamic State is committed to purifying the world by killing vast numbers of people. The lack of objective reporting from its territory makes the true extent of the slaughter unknowable, but social-media posts from the region suggest that individual executions happen more or less continually, and mass executions every few weeks.

Pretty gruesome, you’ll agree. But not all that different from various “Christian” Millenialist groups (we’ll call them “Teavangelicals”, because it is likewise accurate, and they also hate being called by that name).

Teavangelicals think they should rule the world as a theocracy. Just as Daesh does:

Kingdom Now theology states that althoughSatan has been in control of the world since the Fall, God is looking for people who will help him take back dominion. Those who yield themselves to the authority of God’s apostles and prophets will take control of the kingdoms of this world, being defined as all social institutions, the “kingdom” of education, the “kingdom” of science, the “kingdom” of the arts, etc.

Teavangelicals want to re-enslave people (Women, people of color, etc). Again, Daesh also believes in slavery. Check out this quote from a Fundie:

I’m not going to sugarcoat this article in an attempt not to offend anyone. Feminism is rebellion against God’s AUTHORITY! I don’t know where the term “feminazi” originated, but it accurately describes the Feminist Movement. So many pastors today are afraid to preach against the evils of feminism. The truth needs to be told!
America’s churches, marriages and homes are being destroyed by the vile feminist agenda. Women are now filing for divorce atTWICE the rate of men because of feminism. A godly man is a threat to the feminist’s agenda, because he believes that a woman’s place is still in the home—baking cookies, knitting, and caring for the children (1st Timothy 5:14). Of course, hen pecked husbands and sissies are exempt.

That’s what Teavangelicals say about women. As to POC? Here you go, straight from the horse’s ass mouth:

Collier also said that he and his followers believe that whites are “God’s chosen people.” While he denies that racism is at the heart of the event, he admits that some members and attendees are Ku Klux Klan (KKK) members (but membership in the Klan isn’t a requirement).

And this little bon mot:

WE BELIEVE the White, Anglo-Saxon, Germanic and kindred people to be God’s true, literal Children of Israel. Only this race fulfills every detail of Biblical Prophecy and World History concerning Israel and continues in these latter days to be heirs and possessors of the Covenants, Prophecies, Promises and Blessings YHVH God made to Israel. This chosen seedline making up the “Christian Nations” (Gen. 35:11; Isa. 62:2; Acts 11:26) of the earth stands far superior to all other peoples in their call as God’s servant race (Isa. 41:8, 44:21; Luke 1:54). Only these descendants of the 12 tribes of Israel scattered abroad (James 1:1; Deut. 4:27; Jer. 31:10; John 11:52) have carried God’s Word, the Bible, throughout the world (Gen. 28:14; Isa. 43:10-12, 59:21), have used His Laws in the establishment of their civil governments and are the “Christians” opposed by the Satanic Anti-Christ forces of this world who do not recognize the true and living God (John 5:23, 8:19, 16:2-3).

And are Teavangelicals violent like Daesh? Yep. Click here to get acquainted with the many “Christians” who behead, rape, bomb, torture and assassinate anyone their diseased “brains” tell them to. Here and abroad.

This writer certainly has no love for Daesh. They are lunatic mass-murderers, among other disgusting characteristics. We cannot, however, pretend that they are any different than the Teavangelicals. We have at least as big a problem with the supposed “followers” of Rebbe Yeshua bar Joseph as we do with those who pervert the teachings of Mohammed (peace be on him).

Any Christian who wants to pretend otherwise should remember this little quote from their professed Lord and Savior in Matthew 7:

3 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
4 Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?
5 Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.

All terrorists are evil. All of them, regardless of motivation or religion. Look at them with clear eyes, and you’ll see it.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

A uniform is just an outfit. It does NOT “deserve respect”.

Individual people EARN respect by their actions, not by the clothes they wear.

This writer has friends who are decorated war heroes (one of them damned near died on Iwo Jima). There are other people in uniform who have committed war crimes. Are they equally deserving of respect? Of course not.

There is a cop of Cranky acquaintance who literally saved a child’s life by shooting a man who had a gun pointed at the kid’s head (no kidding, it really happened. The man’s a legend, and deservedly so). There are other cops who have taken bribes or committed crimes. Are they equally deserving of respect? Oh, Hell, no.

In days of yore, there were people, attired like hippie freaks, who went around helping the poor and feeding the hungry. The Manson “family” dressed the same way. Again: equally deserving of respect? Oh, f***ing HELL, no.

So to all whiny-assed, bullying crybabies among the NYPD who are going “waaah” about not being respected: shut the f***ing f*** up, you f***ing f***wits. There are some damned good cops in that town who have earned respect, and who give respect. Guess what? They will get the respect they deserve.

The bad cops will likewise get the respect THEY deserve. And not one bit more. The fabric that covers our bodies means little when compared to the actions of the humans who are covered by that cloth. A uniform, in and of itself, means exactly nothing.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

Attention White People: It is Time to Acknowledge our Ignorance.

Hate to say it, but far too many of us don’t seem to realize how little we know about being a person of color (POC) in America. You can tell it from the things that both well-meaning and malicious people are saying. Here is one example of the latter:

This is from an a**hole cop who is mocking the death of Mr. Garner, a POC who was choked to death by a white policeman in New York.  That is willful, vindictive, hateful ignorance, and it is all too common: here is another example.

This doesn’t mean that all white people are such evil motherf***ers: this writer is fully aware of his ignorance. Just because one has lived and worked among, say, Black and Hispanic friends and co-workers does not mean one fully appreciates their experiences, any more than a father fully understands what a mother goes through when she gives birth to their child.

Participation in an event does not necessarily mean equivalent understanding. Mrs. Blunt and Cranky doesn’t understand what a coronary bypass feels like, any more than your humble correspondent groks her labor pains. Some things you have to feel for yourself to fully grasp.

So here is the challenge to all of us white folks: be aware of our ignorance. It will make us look smarter. And if we listen to our brothers and sisters who are people of color, we might even become smarter.

Can’t hurt, and it just might help.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

You Know why I hate Bad Cops? Because of Good Cops.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky has always followed a two-career path: Music and/or the humble Microchip. One or both of the two have helped keep body and soul together since the 1970’s, and although the musical side is preferred from the standpoint of personal satisfaction, the IT Biz has most often provided the bulk of the family income. C’est le guerre. And as you’d expect, some of those manifold IT gigs have been more rewarding than others.

One of the best of those IT gigs has been working for Law Enforcement (yeah, I am sometimes surprised by that, too). On the first day on the job, the marching orders were given, and were simple: “Make sure the right people (guilty ones) go to jail, and the wrong people (innocent ones) don’t go to jail”. Said orders coming from a 30+ – year veteran cop who started off as a patrolman and worked his way up. And the criteria for who belonged in jail was simple: evidence and a conviction. A good attitude, and something an IT geek can help with.

In the course of that employ, a LOT of cops have been met and worked with. Ditto prosectors. Ditto-ditto other types of lawyers and support personnel, the vast majority of whom are on board with those same marching orders. Good cops, you’d call them.

A fair few crap cops have also been met, and they have provided some of the best opportunities to effect change. You see, if we improve the quality of, say DNA analysis, lab analysis, cameras and reporting software, it becomes harder for rogue cops to get away with their fascist, abusive, un-American bulls***. Because of efforts by this writer and thousands of others in and out of IT, many innocent people have been freed and lots of guilty motherf***ers (including some bad cops and their bosses)have been jailed.

It’s a nice warm fuzzy, sure, but the more important reward for your humble correspondent has been seeing how many good, honest, justice-loving people there are in Law Enforcement at local, State and Federal levels. From the blanket 70’s – era labeling of “Pigs” this and “Pigs” that, living in the belly of the beast has been a revelatory experience, one that showed that unique individuals exist everywhere, even in groups we love to heave stereotypes at.

Bad cops suck, and they need to be treated as the corrupt/disrespectful/murdering/lying filth that they are. Lock the f***ers up and throw away the key. Both because they deserve censure and punishment, and because of the pain they cause to good cops, and the damage they cause to the fabric of society.

Some good cops out bad cops, and get punished for doing the right thing. (Serpico is but one example of many.) Other good cops try to avoid bad cops, or even cover for them, to save their own skins or out of a misguided sense of loyalty. Some good cops quit in disgust at the way bad cops have perverted the institutions of justice. All of these are tragedies that hurt us all, by damaging the rule of law that our nation was founded upon. And all of them are the fault of bad cops.

Today in America, there are a lot of stories about bad cops in the media. Other bad cops and numbnuts among Right-Wing, Teavangelical, “Republicans” are trying to shut the discussion down before we can clean up the mess and sweep out the garbage from the Law Enforcement community (a cleanup that is already long overdue).

Some on the Left and Right Wingtips would like you believe that all cops are bad. This is also bulls***. There are good and bad people in blue uniforms, like there are in every occupation. The good need rewarded and the bad need spanked. It does no good to punish the innocent along with the guilty: all it does is encourage lawless behavior.

Remember those marching orders? The bad cops (guilty ones) need punished, and the good cops (innocent ones) need to not be punished. Hammer the bad cops and praise the good cops. That, friends is true justice: the same justice for the police as for the rest of us.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

“Old Selfish White People”

Gentle Reader, here is a magnificent bit of prose from musician/artist/awesome dude Bob Ray Starker. Read and become enlightened, as did my cranky self:

Okay, I started out today trying to be civil and constructive, but all anyone wants to do is throw mud at each other… so what the hell, let’s get into this…

I am a 50 year old white american straight man and here is what I know for sure: Black people have never messed with me. Gay people have never messed with me. Asians, Hispanics, Native Americans, poor people, none of them have ever messed with me. 

Which group of people have repeatedly made my life harder than it had to be for no good reason at all? White people with more money than me. 

They have laid me off, closed companies I worked for, made a lot of money by underpaying me for the work I did in their employ, bought elections when I could only afford to vote in them, and, perhaps most infuriating of all, they have relentlessly messed with my non-white, non-straight, non-wealthy friends. And they continue to do it because their world is ending and they are afraid of losing control as the human race slowly evolves beyond their limited scope of understanding.

So who am I most worried about when I lay in bed awake at night? Old selfish rich white people. All in all, I could have done without them.

Well said by the Saxman. Nailed it to a tree, he did.

All y’all, googlize this fine young man. Read his words, buy his art, attend his shows: but first and foremost, read what he said today. Read, reflect, and act.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

Clarence “Uncle” Thomas Doesn’t want other Blacks to have Voting Rights

He and his fellow racist, bigoted, partisan, Ayn-Rand-worshiping , Teabagging “Republican” Supreme Court “Justices” pretty obviously want to disenfranchise every person of color who does not sit on the high court. Yesterday’s “f*** those poor black voters” ruling is just the latest example:

“Tens of thousands of North Carolina voters, especially African-American voters, have relied on same-day registration, as well as the counting of ballots that were cast out of precinct, for years,” Barber said in a statement. “As the appeals court correctly concluded, eliminating these measures will cause irreparable harm of denying citizens their right to vote in the November election – a right that, once lost, can never be restored.”

Despite the Supreme Court ruling, Barber said, the NAACP and other organizations plan to make “sure that, county by county, as many votes as possible are counted despite the barriers posed by the Supreme Court’s ruling.”

Prior rulings in Ohio and indeed, nationwide, demonstrate that the Roberts Court has a 100% racist agenda when it comes to voting. The “conservatives” ALWAYS vote to f*** people of color. Even when they themselves are POC, people like Clarence “Uncle” Thomas do all they can to oppress and abuse others.

And the most disgusting aspect of this loathesome man, beyond his massive hypocrisy, is his near-sociopathic greed, lust, and lack of concern about anyone but himself. He has been a huge beneficiary of Affirmative Action, but wants no one else to get those benefits. He has profited greatly by Civil Rights laws, but wishes to deny those benefits  to anyone else.

The other four “Justices” who routinely vote to turn non-white American citizens back into slaves (Alito, Scalia, Roberts, and Kennedy) are, of course, white, so their racism, classism, and discriminatory actions are to be expected from scum such as they. But for a black man to oppress other black people, and to do so with such consistency and enthusiasm, is truly inhuman and borders on the demonic.

And what is the quickest and best way to turn people of color back into second-class citizens? Why, taking away their access to the polls, of course. Clarence “Uncle” Thomas knows this, and that is why he rules as he does. Take away the voting rights from black citizens, and they won’t truly be citizens any longer.

People of color need to vote. They need to vote for politicians who don’t hate minorities, so that future Supreme Court jurists are worthy of being called “Justices”. Without the scarequotes.

Because “Republicans” put that bastard Uncle Thomas on the court. Given the chance, they’ll put more black-hating motherf***ers up there with him. Vote, while you still can. Against the racist Republican  motherf***ers like “Uncle” Thomas.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky
“

Want to change things? Ferguson shows us the way: VOTE, God-F***ing-Dammit.

We won’t get change by rioting. Nor by shooting unarmed citizens. Those are both s***ty ideas. Instead let’s look at one of the first actions taken after the deplorable murder of Mr. Michael Brown: a voter-registration tent.

Yes, that is correct. The majority of Ferguson is black, but due to various disenfranchisement measures, only 12% of that community votes. On the other hand, lots and lots of white people vote, so guess who gets represented in city government? Yep, the people who vote.

That being the case, people are registering black voters (and anyone else too, of course) in order to use the ballot box to change how things are done in that town. If enough of the majority residents of Ferguson turn out and vote, they can get a government that actually represents, you know, the majority of the people. The way democracy is SUPPOSED to work.

The response to these voter registration efforts has been sadly predictable: racist Repubs hate it, and everybody else supports it. Repubs as a rule oppose increasing the voter pool, because they know it doesn’t work for them: higher turnout favors Dems.

We all need to do what people in Ferguson are doing: register to vote, and then vote. Use our power to get the government we want and deserve.

Register. Vote. Every election, every year.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

The Ferguson protesters are a lot like our Founding Fathers:

They are upset about oppression, a non-responsive and discriminatory government, and taxation without representation. Yes, that is correct. The good people of Ferguson we see out there picketing and marching may not be dressed like, say, George Washington, John Adams or Thomas Jefferson; but their complaints are eerily like the ones identified in the Declaration of Independence.

Here is a good article on the matter. Ferguson is making up for revenue shortfalls by levying burdensome taxes and fees upon the populace; said charges not having the consent of the governed:

Traffic fines are the St. Louis suburb’s second-largest source of revenue and just about the only one that is growing appreciably. Municipal court fines, most of which arise from motor vehicle violations, accounted for 21 percent of general fund revenue and at $2.63 million last year, were the equivalent of more than 81 percent of police salaries before overtime.

And the fees are applied in a discriminatory manner, much like what King George did back in the 1770’s:

“If you’re black, they’re going to stop you,” the study quoted one traffic defendant as saying.

In 2013, 86 percent of all Ferguson police traffic stops involved black drivers, the largest share since the Missouri Attorney General’s Office began tracking the data in 2000. According to 2010 U.S. Census data, the city is 63 percent black and 34 percent white.

Got it? The local government is a minority oppressing the majority, and doing so via corrupt, discriminatory and violent means. Just like what sparked the American Revolution. The differences are minor when compared with the similarities.

And just like the American colonists, the people of Ferguson aren’t asking for anything unreasonable: to be treated fairly, have their rights respected, and to have a voice in how they are taxed by the government. Unfortunately, the local administration is likewise resembling its historical counterpart and therefore refusing to change its corrupt and mendacious ways. No way this is gonna end well.

If you repeat the mistakes of the past, you’ll repeat the consequences of those past mistakes. There may not be many powdered wigs to be seen on the streets of Ferguson: but then, when s*** was getting real back in 1776, not many of the American Revolutionaries were wearing them out in the streets, either.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky (whose ancestors were here before the revolution in 1776)