Shit that Pissed me Off – 9/1/2017

CA Restaurant Owner Blames “War on Whites” for Loss of Business

In case you missed it, a whole bunch of business owners were outed for their contributions to David Dukes failed Senate campaign, including here in my home state of Minnesota.

In California, a restaurateur has elected to close shop because he’s faced some flack over the fact he donated to one of the most prominent racists in the country who isn’t currently inhabiting the White House.

His response has been to complain about how all of this is a war on whites, which kind of explains why he chose to give money to David Duke’s campaign.  He even said David Duke supports “European American Civil Rights.”  In other words, the asshole is a white supremacist and screw him if he has to shut down his restaurant.

Here’s the problem that we face in all of this – I think it is great to out white supremacists.  I think it is great to let them know their philosophy is bullshit.

I worry, however, that there is a lot of collateral damage.  When the owner of Clubhouse Jager was outed as a Duke contributor, his employees announced they were quitting.  At least one of them was later accosted at a different bar* because they worked for racist asshole even though they weren’t aware he was a racist asshole.

Please note: the person who took this picture is not a white supremacist.

I’m fully in support of outing Nazis and white supremacists.  I think we should have full knowledge of who they are and then we should make our own informed decisions on whether or not to do business with them.

I just hope we don’t hurt people who aren’t white supremacists because they are unintentionally connected to racist assholes.  If they lose their jobs, that sucks. Even if they leave that job voluntarily.

If we are going to cost a Nazi their business, that’s fine.  But let’s not turn our backs on the people who are hurt when that business closes, OK?

*This report is from a reputable source but there is no news coverage of the incident.

Trump Corner: The Arpaio Pardon

Unless you love him, Donald Trump doesn’t give a fuck what you think.  That’s why he held a big ass campaign rally last week.  He needs constant reinforcement about how great he is.  He can only tell himself he is awesome so often before he needs someone else to do it for him.

Liking yourself that much is exhausting.

Sheriff Joe Arpaio is kind of famous for being a badass.  He’s legendary for treating criminals badly while they are incarcerated and he’s also legendary for profiling Hispanics.  Constantly.

Seems that kind of behavior is illegal.  Or so a court ruled.  They told him to cut it the fuck right out.

He didn’t.  So he was found in contempt.

If you are Donald Trump, that means he was just “doing his job” and the courts are preventing a good man from being racist.  Given that good man has been a vocal supporter of Donald Trump and he really likes people who really like him, Trump coughed up a pardon for Arpaio.

He can do that.  He’s the President.  Which is a fucking travesty.

But I digress.

Arpaio was told to cut something out by the courts. He is supposed to be a representative of the justice system and when he was told he was overstepping his bounds, the proper response would have been to do his job and abide by the court order.  Fight the ruling in court.  Try to prove you have a right to do it.

But cut it out until you win. And if you lose, accept you don’t get to do that shit any longer.

Or just say you love Trump.  And he’ll pardon you.

Utah Police Officer Arrests A Nurse for Doing her Job

The incident actually happened a little over a month ago but now there is a lawsuit and body cam footage.

I’m pretty sure people will be incensed not only because the victim in question was a nurse trying to do her job and follow established constitutional law but because she was white so there’s no way she could have possibly deserved to be treated that way.

What we have here is a police officer who felt that the law was getting in the way of his duty and rather than accept that the law is sometimes inconvenient, he arrested a nurse who knew more about it than he did.  Seems like the kind of guy Donald Trump would pardon.

I mean come on! He was just doing his job.

Not to worry, though, the cop still has a job!  I mean they moved him out of the blood draw unit so he can’t arrest nurses any longer but at least he’s still employed.

You watch the video and you will see someone who is trying to do their job get roughed up by a police officer who was clearly pissed that she wouldn’t break the law for his benefit.  He may not be hitting her with a night stick or bashing her head against the pavement but he is abusing his authority.

He should be fired.  He lost his temper and arrested someone who wasn’t breaking the law when he knew she was guilty of nothing except pissing him off.

Texas Secretary of State Turns Down Offer of Aid and asks for Prayers

I’m guessing Texas Secretary of State Rolando Pablos turned down the offer because it came from Canada and…um…I literally don’t know why that would be a problem.  They are super nice, I guess?

I mean we all know that Houston is in a world of hurt and will need all the help it can get.  We also know that help in the form of prayers is, generally, not nearly as useful as help in the form of – you know – help.

So it seems strange an elected official would turn down actual help in exchange for passive help.

Maybe he didn’t know what to do with the offer because things were happening pretty fast. Couldn’t he have said “here are a dozen charities that will be serving the people of Huston in the next several weeks and months.  Try contacting one of them to find out how your offer of aid could best be utilized.”

But he didn’t.  He asked for prayers.  Come on, Rolando!  If prayers are really important to you, why not accept the aid and say, “I’m praying it will arrive quickly?”

9 Non-Threatening Leadership Strategies for Women

This article is actually satire and it is pretty funny.  Right up to the point where it is depressing because it isn’t that far off the mark.

If you are a guy and you read this blog, please click through the link above.  And ask yourself if you’ve ever had a woman in a position of power do one of the “threatening” behaviors.  Has it ever “rubbed you the wrong way?”

Have you ever thought of a female supervisor as “bitchy” when the save behavior by a male supervisor would be seen as “strong leadership?”

Maybe you are the perfect guy and you’ve never thought such things.

This is, quite possibly, the most incorrect quote ever found outside of Trump’s Twitter feed.

And if you are that guy – go you.  For the rest of us (and yeah – I include me) we need to remember that when you put a woman in a position of power, her job is harder than yours.  She has to navigate sexist bullshit you can’t even imagine.

So please.  Read this article and laugh.  Because it is funny.

Then smile the next time a woman asks you to do something and just say “sure, I can do that” without rolling your eyes when she walks away.