American Horror Story: Privatized Government Terrorizes at Home and Abroad

American Horror Story plays out every day in the real lives of people at home in America and throughout the world.  Thomas Jefferson said:

“I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies.

If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.”

Thomas Jefferson was soooo right.  I’m beginning to think that the thing that makes America exceptional is the exceptional stupidity of the American people and how much they will allow themselves to be abused, raped, imprisoned, starved, poisoned and stripped of their wealth and well-being by predators who finance their elections.

According to The Guardian, Emma Thompson and Greg Wise have had enough of the fascist plutocratic rule by predator banks that coordinate their terrorist activities with world governments from their home base in the United States of America.

Excerpt:

Emma Thompson and Greg Wise in tax boycott over HSBC scandal

Actor says he and his wife refuse to pay ‘a penny more’ until tax evaders found among Swiss banking arm’s clients go to prison

Greg Wise, the actor married to Oscar winner Emma Thompson, has said he and his wife will refuse to pay tax until those involved in the HSBC scandal go to prison.

Wise spoke of his disgust with HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) and the bank after the Guardian and other news organisations published leaked details of 100,000 accounts held by HSBC’s Swiss arm which showed how the bank had helped clients to move cash out of the country.

“I want to stop paying tax, until everyone pays tax,” Wise told the Evening Standard. “I have actively loved paying tax, because I am a profound fucking socialist and I believe we are all in it together. But I am disgusted with HMRC. I am disgusted with HSBC. And I’m not paying a penny more until those evil bastards go to prison.”

Yes, the episode of American Horror Story that Greg Wise refers to is HSBC Bank laundering money for terrorists and drug cartels in the United States.  And who was the prosecutor that left HSBC off the hook with a little over a billion in fines, which amounted to about a month’s illegal profits?  Why it’s none other than Loretta Lynch, Obama’s nominee to be America’s top cop, Attorney General of United States of America.  From The Guardian:

Excerpt:

The secret bank files – obtained and examined in detail this week in a series of reports by the Guardian, CBS 60 Minutes and other media outlets – reveal that HSBC’s Swiss arm colluded with some high net-worth individuals to hide their assets from tax authorities across the world.

The new data, leaked by a whistleblower, was obtained by French tax authorities and shared with the US government in 2010, raising questions over why the Department of Justice has yet to take action against HSBC in the US.

US government officials have told the Guardian that investigations by the DoJ’s tax division have been continuing for five years and criminal charges against HSBC or its bankers remain a possibility.

Sounds like the U.S. Government, a wholly owned subsidiary of Goldman Sachs, is running out the clock on the statute of limitations.  HSBC isn’t even an American bank, so how is it that a foreign bank could aid in financing terrorists through their bank located in America?  From Rolling Stone:

Excerpt:

The deal was announced quietly, just before the holidays, almost like the government was hoping people were too busy hanging stockings by the fireplace to notice. Flooring politicians, lawyers and investigators all over the world, the U.S. Justice Department granted a total walk to executives of the British-based bank HSBC for the largest drug-and-terrorism money-laundering case ever.

Yes, they issued a fine – $1.9 billion, or about five weeks' profit – but they didn't extract so much as one dollar or one day in jail from any individual, despite a decade of stupefying abuses.

The behemoth Department of Homeland Security created after the 911 attacks is just a Potemkin village, a fake store front.

For at least half a decade, the storied British colonial banking power helped to wash hundreds of millions of dollars for drug mobs, including Mexico's Sinaloa drug cartel, suspected in tens of thousands of murders just in the past 10 years…

The bank also moved money for organizations linked to Al Qaeda and Hezbollah, and for Russian gangsters; helped countries like Iran, the Sudan and North Korea evade sanctions; and, in between helping murderers and terrorists and rogue states, aided countless common tax cheats in hiding their cash.

In a related episode of American Horror Story that I call The Greek Tragedy is currently playing out on the world stage. From Truthout:

Excerpt:

Swimming With Sharks: Goldman Sachs, Schools and Capital Appreciation Bonds

Remember when Goldman Sachs—dubbed by Matt Taibbi the Vampire Squid—sold derivatives to Greece so the government could conceal its debt, then bet against that debt, driving it up? It seems that the ubiquitous investment bank has also put the squeeze on California and its school districts.

Not that Goldman was alone in this; but the unscrupulous practices of the bank once called the undisputed king of the municipal bond business epitomize the culture of greed that has ensnared students and future generations in unrepayable debt….

In 2009, the lenders’ lobbying group then proposed and promoted AB1388, a California bill eliminating the debt ceiling requirement on long-term debt for school districts. After it passed, bankers traveled all over the state pushing something called “capital appreciation bonds” (CABs) as a tool to vault over legal debt limits. (Think Greece again.)

Also called payday loans for school districts, CABs have now been issued by more than 400 California districts, some with repayment obligations of up to 20 times the principal advanced (or 2000%)…

The controversial bonds came under increased scrutiny in August 2012, following a report that San Diego County’s Poway Unified would have to pay $982 million for a $105 million CAB it issued. Goldman Sachs made $1.6 million on a single capital appreciation deal with the San Diego Unified School District….

The Federal Reserve could have made virtually-interest-free loans available to local governments, as it did for banks. But the Fed (whose twelve branches are 100% owned by private banks) declined.

In the American Horror Story episode I call “The Pied Piper Lures Students into Slavery” students are saddled with trillions of dollars in predatory student loan debt that cannot be expunged through bankruptcy, disability or even death.  From The San Diego Free Press:

Excerpt:

Today’s students are being crushed with John Bunyan’s proverbial burden on their backs – student loan debt. Until relatively recently this debt could have been discharged in bankruptcy.

Then all that changed when Sallie Mae, the Student Loan Marketing Association, was privatized in 2004.  Albert Lord, the new CEO, and his lobbyists went to work to change the laws so that student loans could not be discharged in bankruptcy. Today the cumulative student loan debt is more than $1 trillion.

In Sallie Mae annual reports, CEO Albert Lord has boasted that the company’s extraordinary financial growth could be attributed to fees collected from defaulted loans, as well as loan origination growth.

Lord, who personally invested hundreds of thousands of dollars (on the books) in politicians and PACs involved with education legislation is probably the largest individual beneficiary of student loan privatization.

In 2001, US News reported that Mr. Lord’s compensation for the year 2000 had skyrocketed to over $33 million. From 1999-2004, Sallie Mae’s top two executives, Al Lord and Tom Fitzpatrick, received compensation worth $225 million and $245 million, respectively.

Both men have regularly topped Fortune Magazine’s list of highest paid CEO’s in the Washington D.C. Area….

While Albert Lord and others have profited handsomely from student loan privatization, many of the students themselves have been driven to despair after they graduate and payments on the loans become due….

Suicide is the dark side of the student lending crisis and, despite all the media attention to the issue of student loans, it’s been severely under-reported.

And then there was the episode of American Horror Story I call “Toll Road to Hell.”

Recent guests on C-Span’s Washington Journal were Blake Ellis and Melanie Hicken of CNN Money who collaborated on an article called “The secret world of government debt collection.”

  

Excerpt:

Government agencies across the country are hiring private debt collectors to go after millions of Americans over unpaid taxes, ancient parking tickets and even $1 tolls.

It’s a good deal for cash-strapped states, cities and other local governments. By outsourcing this dirty work and letting private companies charge debtors sky-high fees, government agencies can get these collection services free of charge.

And it's a great deal for debt collectors. In an industry already known for bad behavior, debt collectors that work for government agencies usually don’t have to work within the confines of consumer protection laws – opening the door for higher fees and even more aggressive tactics.

That’s right these debt collectors do not have to work within the confines of consumer protection laws, in other words they are like mafia hit men, predatory sharks with no need to obey the most basic of laws that protect American citizens from predatory lenders and unscrupulous debt collectors. 

And they use government agencies as muscle men that have the ability to garnish wages, withhold tax returns and even imprison people for not paying their exorbitant fees.

Their government bosses can give them the power to threaten debtors with the suspension of their driver’s license, garnishment of their wages, foreclosure and arrest to get them to pay up.

State lawmakers have even passed laws allowing private collectors to charge debtors steep fees. In Florida, for example, fees can be as high as 40% on top of the total bill, which includes not only what they already owe, but interest and government penalties as well.

In Texas, they can reach 30%. And in cases of unpaid toll violations, flat fees can effectively amount to more than 100%.  As a result, small unpaid tolls can easily balloon into hundreds of dollars, once government penalties and collection fees are tacked on….

One of the biggest players in this industry is law firm Linebarger Goggan Blair & Sampson…. Based in Texas, Linebarger works for 2,300 clients nationwide and collects $1 billion for its clients each year…

Despite decades of scandals over the way the firm gets business -- and even jail time for one of its top executives -- Linebarger still lands lucrative government contracts…

For one out-of-town driver who mistakenly failed to pay $7.50 in tolls on a Texas highway, these fees became a $157.50 bill in a matter of months. The toll road was due the original toll amount, plus $66 in administrative fees. Linebarger added $84 for itself…

Because the law so often lands on Linebarger’s side, consumers often end up in a black hole with little recourse….

And what’s in the hopper for an upcoming episode of American Horror Story?  Military Pensions and Tri Care for Life.  Seems the new “Proctor and Gamble Businessman Ashton Carter” is going to bring the business model of human life has no value to our veterans.  From Financial Buzz:

Excerpt:

On Sunday, Ashton Carter, Secretary of Defense, said that he was open to changes in the system of military retirement. But he would not be in favor of changes being imposed or forced upon the former or existing service members.

The Military Compensation and Retirement Modernization Commission employed by the Congress, submitted proposals in the previous month to save the funds of the Defense Department with respect to personnel expenses.

 

Get rid of those pesky personnel expenses.  They are cutting into the military industrial complex exorbitant profits.

Changes were suggested to encourage troops to shift from the existing pension system that provides significant retirement money to the individuals who have served for 20 or more years. At the same time it gives nothing to those who have served for a lesser period of time.

So what is the panel that congress pays out of our taxpayer receipts suggesting to do to provide those who serve with a secure pension and the promise of medical care for life? 

Another recommendation made by the panel was that Tricare health insurance should be substituted with a variety of private source options.

Caaaching another win for banks and insurance companies and death sentence for Americans especially those sick and injured in service to OUR country.  Meanwhile, remember last year when the Ukrainian government was overthrown by the CIA and $3 billion in gold was shipped to the Federal Reserve Bank in New York?  

Well, that prompted the people of Crimea to throw their lot in with Russia much to the chagrin of the American Horror Story way of life.  From NewYork Times:

Excerpt:

Russia Raises Some Salaries and Pensions for Crimeans

MOSCOW — Moving quickly to envelop Crimea in the Russian bureaucracy and economy, the Kremlin said Monday that it had nearly doubled pensions paid to retirees on the peninsula, raising them to the average levels paid in Russia.

President Vladimir V. Putin signed a decree raising pensions and another increasing salaries for public sector workers like teachers and doctors, according to a statement posted on the Kremlin’s website.

Officials also announced a number of new investment plans and tax breaks for Crimea, which Russia seized from Ukraine two weeks ago after a rushed vote in the Crimean Legislature. The Crimeans even realigned the clock, moving theirs ahead two hours, to be identical with Moscow’s time zone.

No wonder the government in American Horror Story loathes Putin so much, if people of the world start to see a choice of American Horror Story or a legitimate government serving its people instead of its American Horror Story bankers, there’s bound to be an upheaval in the world against the tyranny of the billionaire banker oligarchs. 

When American Horror Story took its show on the road to Greece they destroyed the government and the way of life for its people.  First they bankrupted Greece through a combination of loans and hedge fund shakedowns, then they demanded crushing austerity for the people. 

Now the people of Greece have voted in a new government that promised to reverse course and concentrate on the needs of the people first.  The World Bank and the European Union are trying to stomp down on the necks of the Greeks with their heavy American Horror Story jackboots.  From Reuters:

Excerpt:

Euro zone backs Greek aid extension, seeks clearer reforms

In American Horror Story “clearer reforms” is code for starve your people or we will destroy you.

(Reuters) - Greece secured a four-month extension of its financial rescue on Tuesday when its euro zone partners approved a reform plan, as Athens backed away from some proposed measures and promised that spending to alleviate social distress would not derail its budget….

Don’t trust them Greece, you saw what they did to Ukraine when their government sought to alleviate social distress.

A Greek finance ministry official said the euro zone's most heavily indebted nation would start discussions immediately with its EU and IMF partners on meeting this year's financing shortfall.

When they say EU and IMF partners, they mean partners like when a mafia man comes and demands protection money or he will break your legs and torch your business.

Options included allowing Athens to issue more short-term T-bills and using ECB profits on Greek bonds, he said.

Gee, the European Central Bank will allow Athens to borrow from their profits they made bankrupting nations across the world.  Gee that sounds a lot like the California school bonds.  So what else must Greece do?

The Greek letter pledged not to reverse ongoing or completed privatizations, and to ensure that the fight against what the government calls the humanitarian crisis caused by bailout-driven austerity "has no negative fiscal effects".

So Greece is offered a death sentence of “humanitarian crises caused by bailout austerity.  In other words, no pensions, food or any kind of security for people and exorbitant billionaire payouts. 

So what is Greece to do in this episode of American Horror Story?  I know, let’s look at what the people of Iceland did.  Back in 2012 Iceland said, screw you to the banks.  From It Makes Sense Blog:

Excerpt:

Iceland Dismantles Corrupt Gov’t Then Arrests All Rothschild Bankers

Whoo whoo.  Iceland’s got a set of brass balls.

Since the 1900′s the vast majority of the American population has dreamed about saying “NO” to the Unconstitutional, corrupt, Rothschild/Rockefeller banking criminals, but no one has dared to do so. Why? If just half of our Nation, and the “1%”, who pay the majority of the taxes, just said NO MORE! Our Gov’t would literally change over night.

Hey sounds like Greg Wise and Emma Thompson are on to something.

Not only have they (Iceland) been successful, at overthrowing the corrupt Gov’t, they’ve drafted a Constitution, that will stop this from happening ever again. That’s not the best part… The best part, is that they have arrested ALL Rothschild/Rockefeller banking puppets, responsible for the Country’s economic Chaos and meltdown.

You go girl.

This quiet revolutionary process has its origins in 2008 when the Icelandic government decided to nationalise the three largest banks, Landsbanki, Kaupthing and Glitnir, whose clients were mainly British, and North and South American.

While banks and local and foreign authorities were desperately seeking economic solutions, the Icelandic people took to the streets and their persistent daily demonstrations outside parliament in Reykjavik prompted the resignation of the conservative Prime Minister Geir H. Haarde and his entire government.

Citizens demanded, in addition, to convene early elections, and they succeeded. In April a coalition government was elected, formed by the Social Democratic Alliance and the Left Green Movement, headed by a new Prime Minister, Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir.

Huh, imagine that a government of, by and for the people.  What a great idea.

Throughout 2009 the Icelandic economy continued to be in a precarious situation (at the end of the year the GDP had dropped by 7%) but, despite this, the Parliament proposed to repay the debt to Britain and the Netherlands with a payment of 3,500 million Euros, a sum to be paid every month by Icelandic families for 15 years at 5.5% interest.

The move sparked anger again in the Icelanders, who returned to the streets demanding that, at least, that decision was put to a referendum. Another big small victory for the street protests: in March 2010 that vote was held and an overwhelming 93% of the population refused to repay the debt, at least with those conditions.

This forced the creditors to rethink the deal and improve it, offering 3% interest and payment over 37 years. Not even that was enough. The current president, on seeing that Parliament approved the agreement by a narrow margin, decided last month not to approve it and to call on the Icelandic people to vote in a referendum so that they would have the last word….

Returning to the tense situation in 2010, while the Icelanders were refusing to pay a debt incurred by financial sharks without consultation, the coalition government had launched an investigation to determine legal responsibilities for the fatal economic crisis and had already arrested several bankers and top executives closely linked to high risk operations….

Man that’s ballsy.

….. instead of calling experts and politicians, Iceland decided to appeal directly to the people, after all they have sovereign power over the law. More than 500 Icelanders presented themselves as candidates to participate in this exercise in direct democracy and write a new constitution. 25 of them, without party affiliations, including lawyers, students, journalists, farmers and trade union representatives were elected.

Man oh man, sounds like the American Revolution.

Among other developments, this constitution will call for the protection, like no other, of freedom of information and expression in the so-called Icelandic Modern Media Initiative, in a bill that aims to make the country a safe haven for investigative journalism and freedom of information, where sources, journalists and Internet providers that host news reporting are protected.

So that was Iceland in 2012, so how did that work out?  From Der Spiegel:

Excerpt:

Out of the Abyss: Looking for Lessons in Iceland's Recovery

What should one expect from a country in which the sentence, "What an asshole!" is a compliment? Icelanders say "asshole," or "rassgat," when they tousle a child's hair or greet friends, and they mean it to be friendly.

While trudging through a lava field within view of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano, the guide says: "Iceland is the asshole of the world." That, too, is a positive statement. It's also a geological metaphor.

In Iceland, which lies on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and thus on the dividing line of the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates, the earth has a tendency to relieve itself through various geysers, volcanoes and hot springs.

Ha, ha I guess they are the asshole of the world.

The island, an unlikely geological accident, has existed for some 18 million years, but has only been inhabited for 1,100 years. A pile of lava pushed out of the Atlantic that could eventually disappear again, it's affectionately called "The Rock" by residents. Icelanders were traditionally fishermen and farmers until they decided to turn their country into a casino for global capital around the turn of the millennium.

What happened in Iceland from 2008 to 2011 is regarded as one of the worst financial crises in history. It seems likely that never before had a country managed to amass such great sums of money per capita, only to lose it again in a short period of time.

But Iceland, with a population of just 320,000, has also staged what appears to be the fastest recovery on record. Since 2011, the gross domestic product has been on the rise once again, most recently at 2 percent. What's more, salaries are rising, the national debt is sinking and the government has paid off part of the billions in loans it received in 2008 from the International Monetary Fund ahead of schedule.

So let’s write the last episode of American Horror Story, and maybe Greg Wise and Emma Thompson can play the lead roles.  Maybe we can call it “American Horror Story the Last Days: Iceland’s Revenge.”

By Patricia Baeten

Hate Crimes in America and the GOP

Was the heinous attack and murder of the three Chapel Hill, North Carolina Muslim students a hate crime?  Was it terrorism?  From CBS News:

            Excerpt:

Muslim groups demand federal hate-crime probe of N.C. slayings

RALEIGH, North Carolina -- Muslim groups planned to take their demands for a federal hate-crime investigation of three young Muslims slain in North Carolina to the White House on Friday….

Craig Stephen Hicks, 46, is charged with first-degree murder. Police say he shot 23-year-old Deah Shaddy Barakat; his 21-year-old wife, Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha; and her sister, 19-year-old Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha over a long-standing parking dispute in the condominium complex where he lived with the newlywed couple. But the families of the victims have said they were gunned down because of their religion.

"This has hate crime written all over it," the women's father, Mohammad Yousif Abu-Salha said….

Mohammad Yousif Abu-Salha reiterated to about 5,000 people attending a Thursday memorial service for the three victims that he wanted the FBI to investigate.

"Let's stand up and be honest and see what these three children were martyred about. It was not about a parking spot," Abu-Salah said during the memorial service at North Carolina State University, which all three victims had attended.

So was this vicious, lethal attack against these young people a hate crime?  The women wore hijabs, the traditional head scarf and identifier of Muslims and the anger and hatred Mr. Hicks demonstrated toward Mr. Abu-Salha intensified when the women moved in.  According to Wikipedia Hate Crimes are described as:

Hate Crimes:

In both crime and law, hate crime (also known as bias-motivated crime) is a usually violent, prejudice motivated crime that occurs when a perpetrator targets a victim because of his or her perceived membership in a certain social group.

Examples of such groups include but are not limited to: ethnicity, gender identity, language, nationality, physical appearance, religion, or sexual orientation. [1][2]

By those definitions the crime does appear to be a hate crime, so what is the difference when it comes to prosecuting a hate crime as opposed to other types of crimes?

A hate crime law is a law intended to deter bias-motivated violence. Hate crime laws are distinct from laws against hate speech in that hate crime laws enhance the penalties associated with conduct that is already criminal under other laws, while hate speech laws criminalize a category of speech.

It is not as though there is no precedent for prosecuting hate crimes; the law was used to prosecute hate groups that promote bias-motivated crimes, such as the Ku Klux Klan.  From Fox News:  

Excerpt:

Ku Klux Klan Sued for $2.5 Million For Beating of Latin Teen

Published November 15, 2008 Associated Press

A white supremacist Ku Klux Klan group was ordered on Friday to pay $2.5 million in damages in a judgment that civil rights attorneys hope will bankrupt the chapter.

The Southern Poverty Law Center sued the nation's second-largest Klan outfit on behalf of a Latino teen severely beaten in 2006 by two Klan members. The Klansmen were convicted and served two years in prison.

A jury on Friday ordered Imperial Klans of America grand wizard Ron Edwards and two former lieutenants to pay 19-year-old Jordan Gruver $1.5 million for lost wages and medical expenses and Edwards to pay $1 million in punitive damages.

Morris Dees, the lead attorney for the center, said after the verdict he plans to seize Edwards' property in Dawson Springs that serves as Klan headquarters along with any other assets that can be found. It wasn't clear what the property is worth….

"It's all about the money. It's all about the money," said Morris Dees. "If you stop the money, you'll cut the organization off."

Morris Dees is right, to fight hate crimes or terrorism or any crime, you go after the money.  Money is mother’s milk for groups like the Klan, who support GOP candidates.  Back in 1992, the Klan had risen in Indiana to new highs.  From the New York Times:

Excerpt:

How the Klan Captured Indiana

IN "The Dragon and the Cross: The Rise and Fall of the Ku Klux Klan in Middle America," Richard K. Tucker offers an instructive, narrowly focused look at a short, dark time in Indiana history: the 1920's, when the Klan held sway over state politics, with its leader aspiring to the United States Senate and even the White House….

David Curtis Stephenson (1891-1966), a sometime printer and salesman, sensed around 1921 that his greed and political ambition might be rewarded if he joined the newly revitalized Ku Klux Klan. Rising quickly, Stephenson was given control of the Klan in Indiana in 1922. He was also handed the right to organize in 20 other states.

Soon he was a millionaire; he received a share of new members' initiation fees and sold members, at a good profit, their white sheets and hoods…

Stephenson also controlled a secret, autonomous society within the Indiana Klan, the Military Machine, which had a quarter-million members. And he had pervasive influence over the state government. In 1924, Mr. Tucker writes, the Klan captured the government of Indiana by helping to elect closet Klansmen or pro-Klan candidates to office on the municipal, county and state levels, including Gov. Ed Jackson, many members of the state legislature and all but one member of the state's Congressional delegation….

Yep, the new GOP same as the old GOP.  Is it Indiana in 1924 or is it Wisconsin 2015? 

Mr. Tucker, a freelance journalist who formerly worked for The Indianapolis News, has provided a good explanation of how and why the Klan enjoyed such popularity, no matter how briefly, in the early 1920's: hyper patriotism, religious bigotry, racism and nativism -- all of which have been part of our national character since the nation's founding -- swelled in the years after World War I.

Immigration, Red scares and Jazz Age profligacy fanned anxieties in small-town Middle America. Roman Catholics, Jews, blacks and foreigners were only the most obvious targets of the Klan's fear mongering; bootleggers and Charleston-dancing libertines were also the enemies of so-called real Americanism.

So what has the new GOP been up to with regard to hate crime laws?  From Town Hall:

Excerpt:

Congress Should Not Pass But Repeal Hate Crimes Laws

The U.S. Senate is preparing to vote any day on S. 909, a "hate crimes" bill that would grant special preferred government status to a select few citizens based on the behaviorally driven, fluid and undefined concepts of "sexual orientation" and "gender identity," while expressly excluding other citizens….

When the House version of the bill, H.R. 1913, was being considered, Rep. Louie Gohmert, Texas Republican, and Rep. Steve King, Iowa Republican, attempted to curtail its inherently discriminatory nature and make it more inclusive by offering an amendment to add other identifiable groups such as veterans, the elderly and the homeless. The bill's sponsors inexplicably shot them down without explanation.

Yes, the GOP doesn’t want to end hate crime laws, they want to make them better, cover more people, they are just so nice.

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle - in Washington and around the country - should not only reject S. 909, but should also begin working toward repeal of all state and federal hate-crimes laws.

All violent crimes are "hate crimes." Ever known anyone cracked upside the head in love? There may have been a time when hate-crimes laws were temporarily necessary, but that time has come and gone. When the 1968 federal hate-crimes bill passed, there were multiple and verifiable cases of local prosecutors refusing to indict whites for violent crimes committed against blacks. This was the justification for the law at the time.

Rep. Louie Gohmert, Texas Republican, and Rep. Steve King, Iowa Republican truly are representative of the new GOP, same as the old GOP.  The views they espouse on hate crimes are not new for the GOP, that view was reiterated by 2000 Presidential candidate George W. Bush.

If you recall, during one of the debates between Al Gore and George W. Bush, the subject of hate crimes came up surrounding the prosecution of the murderers of James Byrd.  From the Texas Observer:

Excerpt:

Fifteen years ago, on a hot June night in the small East Texas city of Jasper, James Byrd Jr. left a party at a friend’s house and began the long walk to his home on the other side of town. Accustomed to catching rides with passing drivers, the 49-year-old African-American apparently didn’t hesitate when a pickup stopped and a white man he was acquainted with, Shawn Berry, offered to take him home.

Inside the truck were two other white men, Lawrence Brewer and John King, both of whom had ties to white supremacist groups in and out of prison. Byrd never made it home.

When the story of the abduction and murder of James Byrd Jr. hit the next day’s news, it was as if a bomb had exploded in the complacent consciousness of contemporary America. The details of the crime were almost too horrible to believe, but anyone familiar with the history of the American South could recognize the echoes of a not-so-distant past filled with arbitrary white-on-black brutality, mob justice, torture and lynchings.

Berry, Brewer and King had driven Byrd to a remote country road where they beat him and chained him to the back of the truck by his ankles. The men then dragged Byrd for three and a half miles. According to the autopsy report, Byrd was most likely conscious most of that time, right up to the moment his head was severed. Police found Byrd’s remains in 81 places along the road. By the end of the day after the crime, all three suspects were in custody.

What was candidate George W. Bush’s views on prosecuting the White Supremacist murder of James Byrd as a hate crime?  From On The Issues:

Ignored Byrd hate crime bill despite plea by Byrd’s family

The Gore campaign accused Bush of trying to deflect attention from his unwillingness to push for an enhanced 1999 hate crimes bill named for James Byrd that died in the State Senate. And Byrd’s daughter, Renee Mullins, who lobbied Bush in 1999 to help pass that bill, said in an interview today that the governor pointedly told her that he would not work to do so….

A Bush spokesman attributed the governor’s inaction on the Byrd bill in 1999 to several factors: It was not part of Bush’s own legislative package, and [strengthening penalties for one group] might weaken penalties under existing laws for [other groups which were not specified in the Byrd bill]. Advocates of the Byrd bill argued that the existing law was too vague.

Ah, yes.  The new GOP same as the old GOP.  And the GOP is busy rewriting history on the murder of the homosexual young man, Matthew Shepard who was murdered by white skinheads in Wyoming.  From The Guardian:

Excerpt:

For 15 years, Matthew Shepard’s unspeakably brutal murder on a lonely prairie in Wyoming has been a byword for the very worst of American anti-gay bigotry and a rallying cry for a more tolerant, more inclusive society.

The 21-year-old University of Wyoming student was found trussed to a fence post, bleeding and half-frozen to death, in a rocky field on the outskirts of Laramie. He had been pistol-whipped so severely that his brain stem was crushed. His killers even removed his shoes, on the off-chance he broke free of his bonds and tried to run to safety.

Shepard’s death inspired the play The Laramie Project – later turned into a television movie – countless songs, a foundation devoted to his memory and a political lobbying effort that pressed for, and eventually obtained, a new federal hate crimes statute named after him.

Instead, Jimenez makes a persuasive case – based on interviews with the murderers, their former girlfriends, friends of Shepard’s, and police investigators – that Shepard was already acquainted with his killers, Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson. That acquaintance hardly casts Shepard in the best light.

All three of them, Jimenez argues, were involved in Laramie’s crystal meth subculture, as users and dealers. McKinney and Shepard may also have had a casual sexual relationship.

No hate crime here, move on.  And there was the 1999 case of the Los Angeles attack on a Jewish Community Center shooting.  From Wikipedia:

Excerpt:

The 1999 Los Angeles Jewish Community Center shooting occurred on August 10, 1999, at around 10:50 a.m. local time, when white supremacist Buford O. Furrow, Jr. walked into the lobby of the North Valley Jewish Community Center in Granada Hills and opened fire with a semiautomatic weapon, firing 70 shots into the complex.

The gunfire wounded five people: three children, a teenage counselor, and an office worker. Shortly thereafter, Furrow murdered a mail carrier, fled the state, and finally surrendered to authorities.

On August 7, Furrow bought a used red Chevrolet van in Tacoma, Washington, and loaded it with five rifles, two pistols, 6,000 rounds of ammunition and a flak jacket. Furrow considered attacking three Jewish institutions: the Skirball Cultural Center, the American Jewish University and the Simon Wiesenthal Center's Museum of Tolerance, but security measures presented too much of a problem.[3][4]

Yes, hate crime laws have stuck in the craw of the GOP.  What was one of the first things George W. Bush did when he was installed as President by five GOP members of the Supreme Court?  Pack the bipartisan Civil Rights Commission with GOP members.  From Boston.com:

Excerpt:

WASHINGTON - The US Commission on Civil Rights, the nation's 50-year-old watchdog for racism and discrimination, has become a critic of school desegregation efforts and affirmative action ever since the Bush administration used a controversial maneuver to put the agency under conservative control.

Democrats say the move to create a conservative majority on the eight-member panel violated the spirit of a law requiring that no more than half the commission be of one party. Critics say Bush in effect installed a fifth and sixth Republican on the panel in December 2004, after two commissioners, both Republicans when appointed, reregistered as independents.

There’s more than one way to skin a cat.  Oh the GOP is so into civil rights and gun ownership, except when those civil rights are extended to minorities of a certain age group.  So what’s the GOP’s big solution to terrorism?  

Excerpt from The Intercept:

IS YOUR CHILD A TERRORIST? U.S. GOVERNMENT QUESTIONNAIRE RATES FAMILIES AT RISK FOR EXTREMISM

Are you, your family or your community at risk of turning to violent extremism? That’s the premise behind a rating system devised by the National Counterterrorism Center, according to a document marked For Official Use Only and obtained by The Intercept.

The document–and the rating system–is part of a wider strategy for Countering Violent Extremism, which calls for local community and religious leaders to work together with law enforcement and other government agencies. The White House has made this approach a centerpiece of its response to terrorist attacks around the world and in the wake of the Paris attacks, announced plans to host an international summit on Countering Violent Extremism on February 18th….

Gee what could go wrong there?

“The idea that the federal government would encourage local police, teachers, medical and social service employees to rate the communities, individuals and families they serve for their potential to become terrorists is abhorrent on its face,” said Mike German, a former FBI agent who is now with the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law. German called the criteria used for the ratings “subjective and specious.”

Subjective and specious, why that’s the new/old GOP.  The questionnaire dovetails nicely with this legislation being pushed by ex-GOP current Independent Michael Bloomberg sounds a tad racist.  From Brietbart.com:

Excerpt:

BLOOMBERG SUGGESTS BANNING YOUNG MINORITY MALES FROM GUN OWNERSHIP

Speaking to the Aspen Institute on February 6, Michael Bloomberg said cities should ban young minority males from owning guns, both as an effort to reduce crime and to keep those minority males “alive.”

Man that’s got GOP written all over it.  Hey what about the Second Amendment Rights??

According to The Aspen Times, Bloomberg addressed a variety of topics, and after commenting on poverty and education, he discussed guns. The Times reported that he said, “Cities need to get guns out of [the] … hands” of persons who are “male, minority, and between the ages of 15 and 25.”

He claimed that “95 percent of all murders fall into this category” and that taking guns away from them will not only reduce crime, but will “keep them alive.”

Bloomberg said male minorities from the ages of 15 to 25 do not have a good outlook on life and “think they’re going to get killed anyway because all their friends are getting killed.” He also said having a gun “is a joke” for them, that “it’s a joke to pull the trigger.”

Maybe anyone running for public office, especially in the GOP should have to fill out that questionnaire, because you could say that the attacks on Iraq, Iran, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Ukraine, Palestine, Gaza etc. could be considered hate crimes.   From Politicus USA:

Excerpt:

Cheney Bush War Crimes Torture

A top international official is calling for the criminal prosecution of top members of the Bush administration for torture and other war crimes.

United Nations Special Rapporteur on counter terrorism and human rights, Ben Emmerson called for prosecutions of former Bush administration officials at the highest levels,

It is now time to take action. The individuals responsible for the criminal conspiracy revealed in today’s report must be brought to justice, and must face criminal penalties commensurate with the gravity of their crimes.

The fact that the policies revealed in this report were authorised at a high level within the US Government provides no excuse whatsoever. Indeed, it reinforces the need for criminal accountability.

International law prohibits the granting of immunities to public officials who have engaged in acts of torture. This applies not only to the actual perpetrators but also to those senior officials within the US Government who devised, planned and authorised these crimes.

Oh, dear.  But hate crimes committed by our government, especially the GOP will never be prosecuted in America, as long as hate is a daily staple of talk radio and TV cable shows. From Joe Conason of the Observer:

Rush’s Defenders Ignore His Venom

By Joe Conason | 12/02/02 12:00am

The legend of the liberal media is finally dead. When the mightiest voices of the mainstream gang up on Tom Daschle with Rush Limbaugh, who can believe in that old myth anymore?

The historic rumble started after the Senate Democratic leader compared the shrill radio host to foreign fanatics, and complained that he and his family receive threats when Mr. Limbaugh airs a diatribe against him.

“What happens when Rush Limbaugh attacks those of us in public life is that people aren’t satisfied just to listen, they want to act because they get emotionally invested,” Mr. Daschle said. “And so, you know, the threats to those of us in public life go up.”

After the discovery of anthrax in his office mail, Mr. Daschle deserves sympathy as well as the best possible protection..

Yet Mr. Limbaugh’s friends and fans in the mainstream media, from Fox News to NBC to The Washington Post, weren’t content to scold Mr. Daschle. They behaved as if Mr. Limbaugh is a paragon of respectability whose listeners would never, ever threaten anyone.

It isn’t so far-fetched, however, that a loony or two or a dozen among the millions who listen to Mr. Limbaugh every day might threaten Mr. Daschle. Why? Because of what Mr. Limbaugh has actually said about Mr. Daschle-and because a serious physical threat has already occurred at least once as a direct result of irresponsible broadcasts by Mr. Limbaugh and others.

On May 11, 1999, Hardball host Chris Matthews coaxed Kathleen Willey into naming Cody Shearer, a longtime Clinton friend, as the man who had allegedly used threats to silence her.

That this was a wholly false (and easily disproved) assertion didn’t matter to Mr. Limbaugh, who repeated the inflammatory slander the following day and even spelled out Mr. Shearer’s surname on the air. Several days later, Mr. Shearer started to receive death threats.

Then on a Sunday afternoon, Hank Buchanan, a brother of Pat and Bay, decided to visit Mr. Shearer’s Washington home. He broke into the garage, slashed the tires of two cars and threatened three other people with a handgun before fleeing.

Hank Buchanan was apprehended and sent to a mental institution…   And while that was the end of the matter, the assault by the deranged Buchanan showed that ugly broadcasts may have tragic consequences.

And don’t forget Bill O’Reilly’s attacks on Dr. Tiller the late term abortion physician that was assassinated in his church after O’Reilly repeatedly stoked up hatred for the doctor calling him Doctor Tiller the Baby Killer.

And protecting minorities by denying them the right to bear arms is only one GOP great idea to control black on black crime, don’t forget GOPer Bill Bennett’s solution to solve black crime.  From Media Matters:

Excerpt:

Addressing a caller's suggestion that the "lost revenue from the people who have been aborted in the last 30 years" would be enough to preserve Social Security's solvency, radio host and former Reagan administration Secretary of Education Bill Bennett dismissed such "far-reaching, extensive extrapolations" by declaring that if "you wanted to reduce crime ... if that were your sole purpose, you could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down."

Bennett conceded that aborting all African-American babies "would be an impossible, ridiculous, and morally reprehensible thing to do," then added again, "but the crime rate would go down."

The FBI must conduct an investigation into the murder of these remarkable young people in North Carolina as a hate crime.  From The Intercept:

Excerpt:

HOW THE CHAPEL HILL VICTIMS DESERVE TO BE MOURNED

BY MOUSTAFA BAYOUMI

The personalities that come through from the testimonies of friends and family, the record of the efforts and achievements of these young people, and the photographs that radiate such joy and life are all too familiar to miss.

Yusor, Deah and Razan — may they rest in peace — are like so many young American Muslims I know. These are hard-working, well-meaning, family-oriented people. Muslim communities around the country are full of Yusors, Deahs and Razans, and they are the ones who are out there, inspiring the older generation out of their despair at the state of the world by their actions.

These young American Muslims are the ones who think deeply about inequality at home and injustice abroad, and act on both. They are the ones who will volunteer to deliver food (or dental supplies) to the needy while organizing assistance for Syrian refugees abroad.

They are the people who are never searching for outside recognition for their efforts but who are acting out of their moral commitment to doing the right thing. They are the ones who take school very seriously, and their careers seriously, but who will always find time for others at the drop of a text….

What’s infuriating about the murder of the three young people in North Carolina is not only their tragic deaths, but also the speed by which the motive of the shooter has been labeled a “parking dispute” by the authorities and the press, as if that explains anything and as if a hate crime or a political crime could not also have a catalyzing event. The question is not whether this was either a hate crime or parking rage. It can be both.

When it comes to hate crimes in America and the GOP it seems there isn’t a whole lot of daylight.  The GOP is always throwing some faux allegations of a war on Christmas, a war on white people, black on black crime, when will they see hate crimes for what they are.  The systematic incitement of hatred against people who look different from them. 

By Patricia Baeten