President Trump on Sunday declared that “hate has no place in our country” after a pair of back-to-back mass shootings over the weekend rocked the nation.
“Hate has no place in our country, and we’re going to take care of it,” Trump told reporters at Morristown Airport before departing for the White House after spending the weekend at his New Jersey golf resort.
If there’s no place, then where do you sleep, Donnie Dimwit? And, more puzzling, how?
Another day, another mass shooting. This time, at the U.S.-Mexico border town of El Paso, where at least 20 people died at a Walmart Superstore.
It’s inarguable this shit needs to stop — unless you’re a Trumpanzee. Don’t be surprised if Ted Cruz holds a gun rally in his home state, so in the NRA pocket lies he.
But we in the media are doing a piss-poor job of stemming the rising red tide. And our ineptitude was on full display today on the 24/7 news outlets. Namely, the way we danced around the suspect’s identity and the manifesto he posted an hour before the massacre. While they noted the shooter drove 635 miles to get to the slaughterhouse, for hours they kept his identity off the airwaves and headlines. That is, until the AP did some real reporting, talked to cops, and released his identity: Patrick Crusius, 21, of Allen, Texas.
Why so long? Because innumerable outlets have taken a cue from YouTube celebrity Ben Shapiro, a conservative blogger and editor of the right wing outlet The Daily Wire, an arm of the Trump propaganda machine. After the undeniable surge of mass shootings under Trump, Shapiro adopted a policy of not identifying mass shooters, supposedly out of concern for copycat killers. Uh huh. It also conveniently keeps his underwriting by the Koch brothers and their alt-right buddies flowing smoothly.
In truth, of course, it’s to mute outrage over mass shootings and easy public access to assault weapons. Don’t expect to see this chart from the FBI database in The Daily Wire:
Yet somehow, Shapiro’s social media popularity has swayed countless outlets who envy his success, even though the guy has a voice that sounds like Mickey Mouse on cocaine in a helium bouncy house. But I digress. He has successfully deflected criticism of Trump and “white nationalists,” who have pivoted to that term to escape their true identity: xenophobic homophobes. And for an entire day, they kept Crusius’ photo off the air, per the Shapiro rule of not offending conservative advertisers.
To hell with that. We at the HB have a policy: the only way we can battle villainy is to not fear identifying villains. Criminal anonymity is reserved for victims, not victimizers. So here’s Crusius, entering the Walmart:
Here’s the coward’s senior high school photo:
And here’s the picture that accompanied his manifesto:
And it’s that last element where we truly dropped the ball: the manifesto. The only quote CNN, FOX or MSNBC used was his initial greeting, “Hello FBI.” While it was a chillingly useful tidbit, they completely backed off quoting anything else in the manifesto, noting that the rant, posted on the right wing website Chan8, had been taken down. I guess that sufficed for reporting for them.
Not here. A simple reporting dive into Chan8 and its umbrella owners, Chan4, immediately located the letter. And because we believe truth equals power, I’m going to quote it here. Maybe outlets will find a spine and eventually do the same, but I’m not holding my breath. What’s so strange about the self-imposed embargo is that not only does the post shed light on that nut job; it also contains a silver lining that you’d think outlets would leap on to bring some hope to the day’s hopelessness.
The manifesto is broken up into six chapters: “About Me;” “Political Reasons;” “Economic Reasons;” “Gear;” “Reaction;” and “Personal Reasons and Thoughts.” It’s entitled “The Inconvenient Truth.”
It begins with this telling sentence: “In general, I support the Christchurch shooter and his manifesto.” It’s a reference to the two mosque shootings in New Zealand in March that left 51 people dead and 49 injured. That scumbag, Brenton Tarrant, 28, of Australia, video streamed the first slayings on Facebook Live and wrote a manifesto calling for ethnic purging. Lemme get this straight, CNN: you’ll rant until you’re blue in the face about what a racist Trump is, but won’t quote the terrorist note of one of his followers?
In the “Economic Reasons” section, Crusius writes “In short, immigration can only be detrimental to the future of America.” Sound like a president you know? Again, is this somehow too inflammatory for the American public to hear?
Under the section “Gear,” he writes “Main gun: AK47. I realized pretty quickly that this isn’t a great choice since it’s the civilian version of the ak47 (sic). It’s not designed to shoot rounds quickly, so it overheats massively after about 100 shots fired in quick succession. I’ll have to use a heat-resistant glove to get around this.”
Crusius likely meant to call it the civilian version of an M16, since that’s what it is. He goes on to mention the bullets he’ll bring, “8m3,” along with an AR15 for good measure. And he concludes the “Gear” section with a note that news outlets, particularly those that call for gun background checks, should be taken to the woodshed for omitting:
“I didn’t spend much time at all preparing for this attack. Maybe a month, probably less. I have to do this before I lose my nerve. I figured that an under-prepared attack and a meh manifesto is better than no attack and no manifesto.” To all media claiming to care about gun violence, you should hang your heads in shame. Again, why the omission, you cowering invertebrates? Does that not trend enough for you on Twitter?
Most infuriating, though, is a throwaway line in the middle of the manifesto that at least offers a glimmer of optimism: The shooting did not end the way Casius envisioned — or wanted.
“My death is likely inevitable. If I’m not killed by the police, then I’ll probably be gunned down by one of the invaders. Capture in this case if (sic) far worse than dying during the shooting because I’ll get the death penalty anyway. Worse still is that I would live knowing that my family despises me. This is why I’m not going to surrender even if I run out of ammo. If I’m captured, it will be because I was subdued somehow.”
Asshole was captured. He was subdued somehow. And I’m sure that we’ll be Johnny on the spot to attend the press conference hailing the real heroes of the killings, along with the hundreds of El Paso residents who circled the block in Texas summer heat to donate blood. And they deserve our praise and admiration.
What they don’t deserve, though, is media coverage that lessens the monstrosity of today. Cloaking his ID, his photo, his rambling screed, is an utter public disservice. You are my brothers and sisters, fellow journalists. But fuck you.
And please, spare me any commentaries on how Crusius should get the death penalty. Wrong. Death row inmates get their own cell 23 hours a day, with one hour of “yard time,” which is also inmate-free.
Instead, convict him for 20 life sentences to run consecutively. Place him in the general populace. Let him learn real racial equality in a shower.
Bob Mueller’s Congressional testimony has not yet begun, but I can tell you how it will end:
With Dems walking away with squadoosh.
I should know. I’ve been holding Mueller hearings since high school. Only in my case, god is the investigative target, not Donald Trump.
But what Dems can’t seem to accept is that making a case against Trump is exactly like making a case against the lord (sorry, that mass murderer doesn’t deserve capitalization — just like Trump).
You see, it won’t matter what Bob testifies to, regardless of his investigation’s findings, just as it won’t matter what you tell a “believer.” Sure, the evidence of hoax is overwhelming. But GOPers, like evangelicals, believe what they want to hear, not what empirical facts tell them.
In truth, for Republicans, Trump is god. Don’t believe it? Just YouTube Trump rally videos, particularly as his slackwit crowds chant their version of John 3:16, “Send them back! Send them back!” If that ain’t a contemporary version of speaking in tongues, there ain’t one. And don’t give me this shit that Republicans love to spew — “I’m a Republican, but I don’t like Trump.” That’s as hypocritical as those who belch “I’m socially liberal, but fiscally conservative.” Yeah? Then why do you support candidates who have helped run the federal deficit to $779 billion and counting?
The pussy-grabber-in-chief will likely win reelection on those hypocrisies alone, to the delight of the right, who dare not blaspheme against his atrocities, from caging toddlers to raping women. Ask Bob Corker or Jeff Flake what reasonable skepticism got them. Or John McCain’s wife.
The atheist-versus-believer debate will play out in full bloom following the hearing, as MSNBC runs interminably damning clips and FOX holds up its bible, in this case a teleprompter script that chants “No obstruction, no collusion!” Atheists are going to be taken to the woodshed on the power of faith alone. Coming from a family of churchgoers, I can tell you: The woodshed sucks. But just as I had to accept dismissal and defeat, so too will never Trumpers. The LA Times actually ran an op-ed piece today with the headline “Congress Should Take Mueller’s Testimony as a Call to Action.”
How quaint. As opposed to every other treasonous day in Donnie’s stint on the job?
Instead of fighting low tide, howzabout this: Drop the Mueller questioning, drop impeachment talk and pass bills on the House floor that will surely die in the Senate (if it even appears there), but may resonate with voters? Like paying women as much as men, or punishing big pharma for price gouging, or protecting racial and sexual minorities from the real witch hunts that rot the nation’s core.
Sure, you’re gonna fall on your own sword in the attempt. But we’re all going to die. At least do so with your head held up.
Lemme get this straight, CNN: you’ll rant until you’re blue in the face about what a racist Trump is, but won’t quote the terrorist note of one of his followers?
