DIGGING FOR RACISM #Photoshop

A Couple of Timely Photoshops

Use if you like.

Harvey Weinstein's Ancestral DNA Test Surprises No One (#Photoshop)

Harvey Weinstein pictured next to one of his ancestors.

Colin Kaepernick Takes a Knee (#Photoshop)

I have been a strong 49ers fan for many years.  No more.  They and the rest of the NFL can go straight to hell.

Evil In Las Vegas: 58 Dead In Shooting Massacre, 500+ Wounded

Another monstrous psychopath has mass murdered a large number of people, this time in Las Vegas.  A man in the Mandalay Bay Hotel broke out two windows in his suite, stuck a rifle out the window and opened fire on a large crowd of people.  The people were attending a country music concert, and easy targets from the shooter's elevated perch.

ISIS, the Muslim terrorist group who specializes in murder of innocents, has stated that the shooter was a recent convert to Islam.  However, this has not been verified at this point.

The biggest question in my mind is this:  how long before the Democrats begin making political hay out of the tragedy?  I expect they will call for banning of guns, one of their favorite goals, and will find a way to blame the tragedy on Trump.

If it is found that Islam and Muslims were a factor, expect nothing to be done about it.  Guns may be banned, but Muslims will not be.

Caryl Chessman and Death Row

Caryl Chessman in the Gas Chamber

Back in 1960 I was very concerned with the fate of a convicted felon, one Caryl Chessman, who was awaiting execution in California's gas chamber at San Quentin Prison.  I was a freshman in high school, but I was hoping Chessman's sentence would be commuted to life imprisonment.  I had read his book, Cell 2455 Death Row, and was impressed with his writing and outlook.  The gritty details of life on death row were very compelling, the steady stream of prisoners walking past his cell on the way to the little green room, the gas chamber, while he waited his turn.

After numerous stays of execution, Chessman was finally executed on Monday, May 2, 1960.  Later that day, after school, my best friend Joe and I were shooting hoops at a nearby junior high school and expressing to each other our regrets over Chessman's death.

I recently reread parts of Cell 2455 Death Row, and am currently reading Chessman's second book, Trial by Ordeal.  These books have long been out of print, but the former is available for Kindle and the second can be obtained from second hand book dealers.  I received my copy of Trial by Ordeal, and its pages are browning with age and it has a slight musty smell.  Even though the book is 60 years plus of age, it is still a fascinating read.  Chessman was an intelligent and even sensitive man while on death row, but he hadn't always been that way.

Caryl Chessman had led a life as a petty criminal, stealing cars, robbing bordellos and gambling dens, and even assaulted a police officer.  However, he never killed anyone, or even seriously injured anyone.  He was accused of being "the Red Light Bandit" in 1948, a robber who would use a red spotlight (to simulate a police car) to pull cars over on the highway so he could rob the people inside.  The Red Light Bandit made two fatal mistakes, he robbed two cars in Lovers' Lane, then forced the female passengers out and into his own car a few yards away.  The female abductees were then forced at gunpoint to perform fellatio on the bandit.  He did not rape them, however, this was a disgusting and evil crime.

At that time, California had the "Little Lindbergh Law" in place, wherein a kidnapper could be given the death penalty.  The Red Light Bandit qualified, for moving his women victims a few yards away.  Chessman was arrested on suspicion of being the Red Light Bandit, and he probably was indeed that same criminal.  He was driving the same type of car when arrested, had a pen light in the glove compartment like ones used in the car robberies, and a knotted red handkerchief that could be fitted over the car's spotlight.  There was no gun present, but one was found near the car after the arrest, where it was probably thrown by Chessman.  The two women identified him at trial of being the perpetrator.

Chessman's attorney said he could make a deal with the courts, that Chessman would plead guilty in exchange for a life term with possible parole after seven years.  Chessman, however, swore he was innocent and was not the Red Light Bandit, and would settle for nothing less than a full acquittal.  So he took over his own case and acted as his own attorney, was found guilty and sentenced to death.  Chessman's life was a series of stupid errors, rotten judgment and thuggish behavior.  But did he deserve to die for it?  I think not.  The Little Lindbergh Law was revoked and every living prisoner convicted under it had their death sentences commuted.  Every prisoner, that is, except for Chessman.  He was executed for crimes that would not have carried the death penalty at the time of his execution.

Chessman has been dead now for 57 years, but his writing continues to impress.  I recommend his books.  After I finish Trial by Ordeal I will look for his last book,  The Face of Justice.

Is Trump Selling Us Out?

The United States of America is pretty screwed up.  President Trump appears to be selling out his base and reversing himelf on important campaign promises.  Illegal immigration will continue, no wall will be built, and we will stay in the Paris Climate agreement.  There is no real surprise, we are so used to getting screwed that it almost seems normal.

The Republican Party is utterly weak, ineffective, and without any purpose.  I don't know who I will vote for next time.  I will never vote for a Democrat, however.

Can America be saved?  I think not.  We are so very divided, and maybe it's time for states to secede and form new political unions.  Let the leftists have their own version of Venezuela or London or Paris. We need something approaching a revolution.

Hillary's New Book (Phtoshop) (Satire)

Confederate Kristallnacht

In November 1938, Jews were attacked throughout Germany in an event known as Kristallnacht, or Night of Broken Glass.  Jewish shop windows were broken, Synagogues trashed or burned, private homes ransacked, and people were murdered.  Oppression of Jews had been occurring in Germany for some time, but up until Kristallnacht, it had been nonviolent. Kristallnacht was the turning point from nonviolence to violence.  The safety of Jews in Germany went rapidly downhill from there.

For the past couple of years we have been witnessing our own cultural and ethnic cleansing, in what many are calling "Confederate Kristallnacht."  Confederate flags, Confederate monuments, any public depiction of a Confederate general or hero, all are being savagely repressed.  Monuments and statues are vandalized with paint and graffiti, and one was even torn down by a mob.  Even graveyards are not safe, as one had tombstones toppled and broken, and another had bodies dug up and the bones scattered.

Kristallnacht 1938

Kristallnacht 2017

The Washington National Cathedral will remove images of Lee and Stonewall Jackson from its stained glass windows this week, as the madness continues to spread.

What we are witnessing is a kind of hysteria, wherein differing opinions on history are not tolerated, and those who hold differing views are to be shamed, ostracized, even physically punished with beatings in the public square.  Comparing this outpouring of hate to Kristallnacht is not at all far-fetched.  Verbal insults have morphed into physical destruction and physical assaults.  When will the shooting start?

Don't reject the analogy of Kristallnacht out of hand.  Both involved irrational hatred of a scapegoat, expressed in violence and destruction.  The Confederate South has been an American scapegoat for years:  a scapegoat for slavery mainly, but also for modern day civil rights issues.

Crickets and Web Crawlers

A few days ago I checked my Statcounter record of visitors to this blog.  Since I have been neglecting the blog, I expected to see a very low number of "hits."  I was shocked to see my hits were 500 - 700 hits per day.  However, I wasn't seeing a ton of visitors on my Revolver Maps globe.  What was up?

I figured it must be web crawlers from Google and other search engines.  I was right:  Google was giving me a digital colonoscopy.  But why?  I think I know.

Google is a very leftwing organization, and dislikes conservative content.  So they are scouring conservative sites to see if they can't unearth some tie to fascism,, "racism," White Supremacy or other excuse for deleting blogs.  That's my theory, anyway.

Anyway, I fixed Statcounter so that it does not record web crawlers as "hits."  Today my hits are back to their pathetically low level.  Why Google would even bother is beyond me.