Donald Trump continues to be an inspiration to the worst people in the world. In Olympia, Washington last week, he evidently inspired one man to attack an interracial couple with a knife.
Here’s Salon’s account of the attack:
Daniel Rowe stabbed a black man in Olympia, the capital of Washington state, outside of a bar at around 8:30pm [Tuesday night] after seeing the black man kiss a white woman. … Rowe … yelled a racial slur and lunged with his knife, police say. The blade grazed the woman and went into the man’s hip, according to a news release from Olympia police.
After being arrested he admitted to stabbing the couple and told police that he was a white supremacist, according to a police department spokesman.
According to court documents cited by Salon, Rowe “took a blood oath to fight on the street, and [said] if he was let go tonight, he planned on heading down to the next Donald Trump rally and stomping out more of the Black Lives Matter group.”
Meanwhile, as Salon goes on to note, the case of a Florida teenager who was caught literally eating the face off of one of the two people he had just killed for no clear reason has gotten even weirder. Apparently the murderer-turned-cannibal was wearing a Trump “Make America Great Again” hat when he committed his crimes.
Given the bizarre nature of the crime, it seems rather unlikely that the young murderer was inspired by Trump, but it is creepy as hell.
@citizen Justin
Ok, so not a flick knife. It doesn’t make much difference.
I can has me a Theresa May official stun gun then.
Not an actual taser.
Still pretty lethal.
UK citizens.
Have you seen this story? What do you think?
There have been comments that the UK does not need a ‘Black Lives Matter’ campaign, as police brutality against black people apparently doesn’t happen over here. This is obviously untrue. Apparently, black people are three times more likely than white people to be tasered by police in the UK.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/aug/18/police-officers-investigated-over-dalian-atkinson-taser-death
I’m supposed to find common ground with cannibals and a White Supremecist Terrorist, Apollo assuming you’re not some drive by troll I’d really like to see your defense.
“Bath salts” is not a specific kind of drug. It’s when they convert certain kinds of drugs into a crystalline form (sometimes by adding other chemicals), label them “bath salts” to evade suspicion/detection, and then convert them back to their normal form before selling. Well, I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s the occasional idiot who uses or sells them in the crystalline form, but they’re not supposed to be.
@Handsome Jack – this is a serious thread, so stop making me laugh every time you post a comment.
@Sinkable John – I don’t like the term junkie either, for personal and political reasons. Ohlmann is awesome, so I assumed he didn’t mean it pejoratively 🙂
On a broader level, to everyone – I know that ‘unintentional’ doesn’t make it okay, but for me it makes a difference. This stems from the fact that some of my students frequently use terms that I hate, and if I respond with condemnation, and/or assume the worst, I’m not going to get very far. This is an ongoing issue for me, and I appreciate how much you peeps here at the Mammoth have helped me think about it.
Apologies for the OT ramble!
If someone has an urge to bite/eat someone, the face is generally uncovered by clothing and is usually conveniently close to one’s own mouth, so I can see why the face may be the first area that people may target.
Somewhat relevant to white Supremecism.
TW Sexual Assault and comparing taking wedding photos for a gay couple to sexual assault
http://townhall.com/columnists/mikeadams/2016/08/18/rape-wins-n2206755
At first I laughed because of the absurdity and how Poe it sounded, then I reread the part where the author entailed sexual assault between two friends, and says that taking photos was “spiritual rape.”
@Catalpa OK, that makes sense. God, all I can think of is ‘Shawn of the Dead’. “They were a bit bitey.”
Sinkable John and Catapla: Thanks for the explanations, I was wondering the same thing as Podkayne.
Podkayne: Thanks for the Shaun of the Dead reference! I love that movie and Simon Pegg and Nick Frost are some of my favourite actors. Yep, they indeed got a bit bitey! ? I am so creeped out right now!
I am very glad those poor people survived this horrific attack. I hope life goes back to normal for them soon. They must be so terrified of another attack by a racist Trump supporter, I know I would be! 🙁 I hope they get the support they need from family, loved ones and access to counselling to help then recover from this.
@Oogly: That article made me want to punch a wall. Then I scrolled down and read the comments, and it made me want to kick a wall.
For those who don’t want to read it: A person is writing the letter on behalf of a friend who is “afraid” that if she refuses to photograph her other “friend’s” same-sex wedding, he’ll sue her for being discriminatory, so she agreed to it out of “fear” of being sued, instead of putting on her Adult Pants and fucking saying “look, I don’t want to photograph your wedding because I don’t agree with it”. Some fucking “friend” she is.
The homophobes’ basis for thinking this? There was a trial in New Mexico where a woman asked a photographer to photograph her same-sex commencement ceremony, and the woman said no because it was an affront to God. So, the lesbian woman took her to court and won. And what a tragedy this is for freedom of speech! Poor straight people can’t even use their religion to discriminate against the gays!
Oh, and it gets better: this so-called “friend” who is writing the letter is upset that their “friend”, who the letter is addressed to, is too deep into LGBT activism and is being so awful for calling people out on Facebook for homophobia! He’s going too far! His poor, straight friends are too scared to say anything for fear of being called a bigot! Fear, I tell you! Won’t someone please think of the straights!
This poor gay man and his poor boyfriend needs new friends. Stat.
If the “letter” wasn’t fucking awful enough, the punk-ass cocktail weenies in the comments section sure as hell are.
It’s 90% MUH FREEDOMS and FREEZE PEACH and REVERSE BIGOTRY!!!! And the other 10% is “I served in the army, and this is bad! I didn’t serve in the army for decades so homos can get married!”, “Anyone who disagrees is a moron!” and “LIBERALS ARE THE SCUM OF THE EARTH FOR LETTING THIS HAPPEN! AMERICA USED TO BE GREAT!” and “Why can’t I say the gays are a blight upon God?! Why?! BIGOTRY!!!!”
I didn’t need this tonight. I didn’t. I had pizza for dinner. I have to pack shit tonight so I can move on Monday. I don’t need this shit.
@Ohlmann, Mish
I realize I’ve been a bit unfair, especially considering I’m an ESL speaker too. That word is the only one with that meaning that exists in both french and english, so it’s natural to go to that word first. I said that without even providing an alternative, so here goes.
You can use “drug user” instead : it doesn’t carry the meaning (or assumption) of chemical addiction or the general negative connotation. It’s akin to “consommateur” in french, just a neutral word.
@John : you weren’t that unfair to me, because “drug user” is a large group, of which 99% are more or less sane and reasonable. Some of them may be addicted to one of the drug they take, and it might impact badly on their life, but overall they aren’t entirely consumed by their high.
The very small subgroup that take bath salts or random chemical from China that can permanently turn you epileptic however are destroying their mind and body in short order, and as far as I know each and every of thoses users need immediate medical attention
In the same way, I would not use the term “alcohol user” for the people who make artisanal moonshine from antifreeze and go blind or worse from it, but at the very least alcoholic.
In other word, I wanted to not lump together people who take somewhat reasonable amount of marijuana, LSD, magic mushrooms, or even most cocaine / crack cocaine users with the very small subgroup who destroy themselves with krokodil, bath salts and the like.
And, yes, I think it’s a negative and problematic thing to be addicted to that last category of drugs. “hard” don’t describe them, and it’s closer to “suicidal drug” to me.
I guess another, better term would be “terminally desesperated”.
@Mary
Actually it kind of does. There are perfectly legitimate reasons for carrying a pocket knife but no legitimate reason for carrying a flick knife. Flick knives are designed to be very quick, easy and unobtrusive to go from being safe to stabby.
The laws on carrying knives in the UK are a bit odd in places but very clear on this matter. It’s (usually) OK to carry a folding knife with a non-locking blade under (I think) 3 inches in length but absolutely not to carry flick knives, butterfly knives etc exactly because they are intended for violence rather than DIY. There is some sense in making this distinction.
Not, of course, that the Trump knives are intended for the UK market, I’m just pointing out that it does matter a bit that it’s a folding knife rather than a flick knife.
Have I written about knives enough to make everyone worry yet?
I have seen such comments and utterly reject them. It’s not only about police brutality, either. It’s about the same old discriminations manifest in thousands of ways. It’s about black people in cars being stopped far more often than white people, especially if the car is expensive. It’s about peaceful protests concerning issues of race being policed more enthusiastically than other protests. It’s about – in short – systemic bias and assumption of guilt targeted at a large section of our community.
As for the tasering, we’re discovering that if we arm our police, people will get hurt where previously they wouldn’t have. My 7 year old niece worked this out for herself recently but apparently the amalgamated genius of our entire society couldn’t see the same thing. Talk about poking an elephant’s arse with a stick and pretending not to know what would happen.
I live in rural England. There have been exactly two seriously violent incidents in our village in the last decade. That’s two too many but there was no danger to police officers on either occasion. So why are they walking around the village dressed (and acting) like fucking Robocop?
As for Theresa May, she’s exceedingly dangerous (even though she has been virtually silent since becoming PM, which is kind of worrying in itself). Her support for the Snooper’s Charter has been….. consistent. She’s ordered enquiry after enquiry until one came up with the result she wanted, which is that the government should be totally allowed to spy on absolutely everyone absolutely all the time. Even David Cameron has backed away a little from some of the more horrifying implications of the Charter. Not May. She has all the hallmarks of a career politician rather than an idealist. I think I’d prefer an idealist.
Why are you guys calling switchblades flick knives? Is that a regional thing?
@handsome jack
Yes, it’s English.
@Ohlmann
Nope. Don’t
That’s not what alcoholism is, and that’s not how methanol blindness works
I’m pretty sure this is precisely the kinda judgmental nonsense John and Mish were trying to avoid
I’m damn sure this is precisely the kinda judgmental nonsense John and Mish were trying to avoid
*rolling eyes*
No, it’s not. Going back to your original post, ‘drug users’, ‘drug abusers’, ‘drug addicts’, or just ‘people’ would all have been acceptable choices (iffy on ‘abusers’, but at least it’s in the DSM5)
Your argument seems to be ‘i call them junkies, cos they’re bad/doing a bad thing. Bad people/those who do this bad thing should be called a bad thing. I’m fit to judge the morality of the thing and, thus, those who do it. Most importantly, I’d like to make a distinction between drug use/addiction I approve of/don’t mind and use/addiction I don’t approve of/do mind. Also, I think the fact that the people I’ve decided are bad are also small in number somehow justifies this view’
Perhaps that ain’t what you’re tryna say, but that’s what you’re saying. Don’t say that
That’s blunt, Axe.
(GET IT !?)
No but to be honest, thanks for that. That post was actually a lot more problematic than the original issue I had with the word “junkie”, and I didn’t know how to express that. Bonus points for touching on alcoholism which is something I generally manage to make fun of as a way to deal with it – just not when people get judgmental about it. Same thing about deciding which substances are/are not acceptable, especially when there seems to be some ignorance about their effects and danger.
@John
Yeah, I get it 😀
You’re welcome. The indignant ‘I should be allowed to say this, even tho I’ve been asked nicely to stop’ posts are always the worst. You’ve mentioned your acholism (which oddly autocorrects to ‘schools’) before, so it’s doubly boneheaded
Anyway, at the risk of sounding like a concerned parent, how’s the sleeping going?
@Axe
I’ve managed to get in two “normal” nights in a row so far :3
Yeah it’s kinda like keeping score. Here’s hoping I can keep this up for a while more, because starting tomorrow I’m gonna have a full week of various appointments, most of them pretty far from here – come September I’m getting into some sort of “school” for people who didn’t (or failed to, in my case) graduate, and that’s in another town so I need to prep for the move. I’m relying almost entirely on social services for this since I have literally zero monies, hence all the appointments (also, they only decided to call it France after they realized that Red Tape Land, while true, didn’t sound that cool).
Since the sleep issue is pretty much what caused me to fail in school in the first place*, I’m a bit anxious about this move. It’s aptly named “Second Chance School” and operates with the understanding that not everyone starts on equal footing, so there’s that.
*Along with depression. I failed the graduation tests by attending the Philosophy one (the most important in my study branch) after three days without sleep, restarted the final year in high school, then got kicked out after depression-fueled antics like going on a two week long trip hitching rides all over the country to clear my head and breathe some fresh air.
Good times.
@John
Ah, so kinda sorta like a GED in Murica. But a whole government program instead of just a test. That’s great! Best possible luck <3
@Axe
Thanks ! Will try not to rely on luck too much though, heh. Didn’t work that well last time.
@Axe : I dislike your post, because of how it lump everything together. And then after that you try to throw back to me that I lump everything together, which is specifically what you do and not I. Also, I think you either feel too righteous for your own good, or don’t actually know what is going on with theses drugs.
No, you can’t put the guys who do krokodils, bath salt and other ultra-impure, alway changing drugs together with the guy who do marijuana – or even crack – anymore than you can put together people who take 25 cup of coffee a day and alcoholics. Doing that remove important differences. It’s also exactly the kind of bullcrap the war on drug served us for years, and ironically thoses ultra-dangerous drugs are the end result of crap like that.
Drug addicts would not work in that a lot of people on them aren’t addicted, and the problems thoses drugs aren’t really problems of addictions. The fact you feel like declaring all thoses guy addicts is actually the main part of your post that make me feel you like a too-righteous crusader and/or that you know about nothing about drugs in general and thoses problematic drugs in particular.
I talked of “terminal desesperation” because, even more than for “hard” drugs, a lot of the people are doing it out of desesperation. Not out of an experiment that left them dependant, not because they want a recreational drug, not because it’s hype, but because they feel it’s the only way to have a bit of happiness, even they perfectly know the kind of side effect it can have.
“I’m pretty sure this is precisely the kinda judgmental nonsense John and Mish were trying to avoid”
Losing limbs, getting permanent cerebral problem, dying within one year for the worse one is objectively a negative thing to me. “Destroying oneself” with thoses specific drugs isn’t a figure of speech, it’s a litteral description of the side effects of putting random, often harmful chemical in your body, who in addition is often due to chemical totally unrelated to the one giving the actual mental states the user seek.
What you miss is that the dangerous part of thoses drugs isn’t that they are drugs. It’s that they are a dangerous mix of various poisons, with a small bit of actual drug in it, sold by people unscrupulous by drug traffic standard. You act like taking thoses is a way of life, which I accept as a valid position for most drugs, even for actual pure desomorphine, but *not* for taking thoses. The people who fall to it are under immediate and dire danger, and they need something else than the “all drugs are equivalent” or “he made his choice” bullshit.
And drug users also desesperatly need to be seen differently from the people that need immediate medical attention because residual phosphorus rotted their bones. Because drug users being jobless thanks to employers lumping together all drugs and thinking you’re gonna die soon with horrific skin scarring is a real problem, and it’s a problem you’re enabling.
@Ohlmann
Okay, just, please, stop. I’m not gonna try to adress the problematic stuff in your post, because at this point I’d have to use the language I normally reserve for trolls and you’re not a troll.
But Axe didn’t do any “lumping together” or really any of what you accuse him of. Read the post again, then your own last post, and you’ll see.
On a lighter note :
There’s overlap here. Just had my 12th cup, and this is one of the good days – I actually refrained from drinking too much coffee today. Gonna grab my daily 130cl of 9° beer now.
@Ohlmann
Aight, 1st of all:
Don’t pull this ‘virtue signalling’ bullshit. What kinda fool ass fuckery are you playin at? Like I don’t know. I ain’t the one. 2nd of all:
OK, muffuga. Imma spell it out. You called people who do ‘bath salts’ junkies. That is not an indictment of drug policy. It is not critique of the manufacturers of those drugs, nor of the drugs themselves. You are damning the users. You wanna know what the worst thing about the drug war is? That people who use or are addicted to drugs aren’t seen as people. They aren’t even seen as an issue of health. They’re just junkies. Ya know how they are. They’re stupid and lazy and they take advantage of the state. We should drug test welfare recipients and take away their assistance if they fail (happening all across Murica)
Ya know that ‘terminal’ word you keep throwing around. It means ‘the end’. When you say that these people are terminal, you’re saying there’s no point in helping them. Just watch em die. Don’t send addicts into programs that might help them deal with their condition. Just send em to jail, get em outta the way, and, hey, prisoners keel over all the time. No biggie
Alcoholism is not diagnosed based on damage to the body. Methanol can cause blindness in very tiny amounts. A seizure as a result of poisoning is not epileptic. You said/implied each of those things. In 1 post. But I’m the one who doesn’t understand. 3rd of all:
http://big.assets.huffingtonpost.com/growingapart3414.gif
Everything else is waffle. Here’s your problem. Not just here, but elsewhere on this blog. Mish (accurately, imo) stated that intent matters. It does. How the fuck ever, that assumes that I think your intent is worth some slack. I don’t. On multiple occasions, your response to ‘please don’t say that, it’s hurtful’ has been ‘yeah, but I don’t think it is. Lemme explain to you why what I decide is acceptable language is right’. Intent matters, but it would seem like basic compassion is pretty low on the list of your intentions. And I’m about done excusing your nonsense on account of your English skills
How’s that for blunt ?
@John
I don’t mean to, uhm… You said you were having trouble sleeping… I was just thinking… Nevermind 🙂