Shit that Pissed Me Off – 4/13/18

Black Teenager Asks for Directions and Almost Gets Shot

Post racist America is alive and well in Rochester Hills, Michigan.

14-year-old Brennan Walker (yes – you read that right – he’s fourteen) missed his bus and he got lost. Sounds pretty scary, right? Not compared to what happened next.

Next, he rang a doorbell to ask directions. The woman who answered the door freaked out and said he was trying to rob them. Because most robbers ring the doorbell.

Her husband grabbed a gun and that’s when Brennan ran. As he was running away, the dude shot at him. Fortunately, he missed or Brennan would be a statistic and his murderers would be claiming they were in fear for their lives to avoid going to jail.

And they probably were.

Because they are racist fucks who freaked out when a black kid came to their door. The guy who shot at Brennan (who was convinced he was a “good guy with a gun”) is facing charges but we all know he’s probably going to get away with it. Because a fourteen year old kid asking for directions was a credible threat.

Maybe if he’d been selling girl scout cookies, they wouldn’t have shot at him. Oh who am I kidding? They would have claimed he’d stolen them.

What’s sad is Brennan’s mom told him this could happen. She warned him that people would be afraid of him because he’s young and black. The warning probably saved his life because he ran away from the murdering racists before they could murder him.

Isn’t it great, though, that the mothers of black young men need to prepare them for situations like this? Because they actually happen?

Meme that Pissed me Off

Some memes just kind of jump right off the web as the kind of bullshit that makes you want to find who created them and revoke their internet privileges. Take this one.

So how about we unpack all the ways this meme is bullshit, OK?

First, Bibles are allowed in schools! I know this comes as a shock to many on the Christian right but if they want their kid to bring a Bible to school, it is completely OK! They can even read the Bible during lunch. Or during recess.

They can’t read it in math class, though. You know why?

Because they are supposed to use that time to learn math.

So the whole idea that crime is caused by the lack of Bible in schools ignores the fact that there are Bibles in schools. Hell, there are religious private schools where kids have to go to mass.

It sounds awful, by the way. But I never liked church in the first place.

There are Bibles in public schools. Just not official classes on Bible study. Because that’s endorsing a state religion and you don’t want that to happen just in case Christianity is not the biggest religion in the US.

Next – the relative population of Christians in prison is actually slightly higher than the relative population of Christians out of prison. So giving them a free Bible doesn’t seem like a solution since they were already reading one and it didn’t stop them from committing a crime.

Also, you know where kids can get a free Bible? In every single fucking hotel room in the world! Getting a free Bible isn’t a challenge. And since you can totally bring a Bible into school, you can bring that free Bible to school with you.

The idea that a Bible will keep you out of prison is as stupid as the idea being an atheist will increase the odds you’ll be in one.

Missouri Governor May Be Impeached for Raping/Threatening his “Mistress”

Missouri Governor Eric Grietens (R) had what he claimed was a consensual relationship with a woman who has testified that he forced himself on her and took pictures to blackmail her into silence.  Now I know there are some who feel we should wait until all the facts come out.

I hope they understand the facts have come out. She claims he forced himself on her and blackmailed her. He claims that they had “consensual sex.”

One of them is lying.

I know it’s easy to say it was the woman who was attacked and not the politician who would like to keep his job because that’s what a lot of people will say anyway.

Thing is, Grietens will probably get away with this because even though he represents the “family values” party, most voters don’t give a shit as long as he says he’s pro life. He admits to adultery but adultery is fine in the Republican party. So long as you are committing adultery with someone of the opposite gender.

To be fair, the preferred gender of these two elephants is not immediately obvious.

It bothers me a party that is so smugly moral doesn’t seem to blink when so many of their representatives are clearly not. It isn’t their politics I disagree with (although there is also that) nearly as much as it is the hypocrisy of claiming the moral high ground and then ignoring those who fail to actually carry though.

Unless they turn out to be gay. Because that shit just isn’t OK.

Trump Corner: Trump Pardons Scooter Libby

In his second pardon since becoming <gag> President Trump pardoned Dick Cheny’s former Chief of Staff who had been convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice. Former President Bush commuted Libby’s sentence but refused to pardon him.

Trump had no problem doing so. His statement is as comical as anything else Trump says because it clearly shows he doesn’t even give a shit what he’s talking about.

Basically, he said he didn’t know Libby but some people he trusts (right now) told him that Libby was a good guy and the whole thing was a miscarriage of justice so Trump was like “yeah, OK, I’ll pardon the guy because nobody knows pardoning better than me!”

He didn’t even consult with the Justice Department. He just pardoned Libby.

Every other President consulted with the Justice Department.

And I know that maybe don’t need to do things because they’ve always been done that way.

But here’s why Trump didn’t consult with the Justice Department and why he won’t do it next time either: He doesn’t give a fuck. He’ll pardon who he wants when he wants whether they are guilty or not.

Someone he trusts (right now) told him that Libby should be pardoned. And that was good enough.

I know that doesn’t seem like a big deal. Libby isn’t a national threat and his pardon ultimately won’t make a difference in the lives of anyone except him.

But keep in mind – if Trump makes this kind of uninformed snap decision on something that doesn’t really matter, he’s making the same kind of decision on things that really do matter. And that should scare the fuck out of all of us.