The earth is kinda round. Nazis are evil. [NAZIS]

        I am going to say that the earth is kinda round because it isn’t exactly round. It’s an oblate spheroid. Close enough though. Most people could accept someone saying that the earth is round rather than kinda round. There are people even today that think the earth is flat. I’m just going to leave that alone.

        Now I don’t need to provide my sources for my knowledge about the earth. It’s like the sun coming up in the east and setting in the west. It’s just the way it is. I had some education, read me some books, paid attention in class and life. It was a pretty normal public school education. Graduated from college too. Went on the GI bill. Anyway that’s why I can say that the earth is kinda round without citing my sources.

        Nazis are evil. Now, I really thought that would be just as straightforward a statement as saying the earth is round; that people couldn’t argue with. It seemed to me that my thinking that the “Nazis are evil” statement would kind of fall in the same category as the earth being round, the sun coming up in the east and setting in the west kinda thing.

        Then along came Charlottesville. Whoa buddy! Turns out I was wrong. Turns out there’s a group of folks that have a lot of “but what about this” arguments before committing to, you know, condemning Nazis as being evil. There’s an even more surprising number of people defending Nazis. Yes, Nazis are evil but they’re with them anyway. One of the many arguments being that they had filled out the proper paperwork. Thank heavens for that or things could have gotten really ugly.

        But they did get ugly. A young woman was run down and died. Killed by a Nazi. Not an alleged Nazi. Not Nazi sympathizer. A Nazi. Others were injured. Two police officers lost their lives. They aren’t getting as much air time but their loss is just as real. The young woman was with the side that didn’t have the proper paperwork done ahead of time. Nazis blame her.

        This whole “But you’re erasing our heritage” argument should have disappeared along with the racist slave-owning Confederate traitor monuments when the Nazi plowed his car into people. These Confederate “heroes” were responsible for killing soldiers of the United States of America. Traitors. If you’re struggling to remember your heritage go to your local library, not some Nazi conspiracy theory website or handout, and read some books. It isn’t like pamphlets are being distributed at Confederate monuments talking about how evil slavery was and how many union soldiers were killed by the traitor that the monument is dedicated to.

        Seriously, grandma, grandpa, mom, dad, Uncle Nazi aren’t taking their kids to see these monuments of traitors on their pedestals astride magnificent steeds so that they can explain the evils of slavery. The children of our nation are watching and listening. Why are there monuments to traitors and not to their victims? The answer should be obvious to civilized humans. The war against slavery was fought and the south immediately started segregation to keep former slaves impoverished and under the rule of white supremacists. Then came the fight for civil rights and more deaths at the hands of the KKK and their supporters.

        Now the Confederates have again climbed back out of their holes and into the light. They have joined forces with their compadres the Nazis and once again are pushing their vile agenda. This is the culture that people don’t want erased. A culture of subjugation.

        How about this? Try having a beautiful bronze statue made now of Jane Fonda with an antiaircraft gun installed next to a Lee statue on government property. Then both can be celebrated as a part of our heritage. I feel reasonably safe in making the prediction that there are enough Viet Nam veterans still around to show up in some pretty good numbers to protest that. (Picture C4 and automatic weapons.)

        There aren’t any more Union veterans around and World War II veterans are dwindling in numbers. We have to speak for them. They are the ones who fought and died fighting against the evils that were the Confederacy and the 3^rd Reich. We have to speak for all the victims of the Confederacy. Union veterans fought against slavery and for humanity. We have to speak for them. We have to speak for the veterans that fought the tyranny of Nazis.

        There’s a full frontal attempt at misdirection and deflection underway. An attempt to bury the message that Nazis’ (The Alt Right, White Nationalists, White supremacists, Confederates, sympathizers, supporters, apologists, et al.) ideology is evil. There are all sort of ridiculous arguments, memes and comparisons being circulated. The Nazi news sites are even putting out drivel that they’re the victims and that even during WW2 they weren’t the bad people they’re made out to be.

         The conspiracy websites are in full production. They have been for over a couple of decades. They have had a disastrous effect on knowledge. This alternate view of the history of the Confederacy and Nazis took hold. The original “fake” history. They have been way too successful in normalizing hate and altering the perception of reality.

        The meme of the Statue of Liberty hiding asking if it’s safe to come out is a funny meme. Because obviously there’s a direct comparison to the Statue of Liberty and taking down monuments of traitors. A Nazi supporting right-wing evangelist even posited that the hymn “Amazing Grace” could be removed. (The author of the hymn was a former slave ship captain that found redemption and renounced slavery. He referred to himself as a wretch.)

        During WW2 there were Nazi sympathizers in this country. There was a mass round up and internment in camps of Japanese Americans. Ever wonder why there wasn’t a similar round up of German Americans?

        A common argument supported by the President along with a lot of other white people is that somehow other groups are just as much to blame. The most commonly referred to are BLM and Antifa. Black Lives Matter was formed as a response to the disparities in our justice system to people of color. Antifa are anti-fascists who believe, correctly, that people need protection from Nazis. (My dad was a part of the 6^th Armored Antifa Division back in the day.) The Anarchists are often confused with Antifa but they really aren’t the same, though they do both use violence. None of these nor any other group involved has remotely the same history, agenda and ideology as Nazis/Confederates et al.

        What can be done about the current situation? A lot of us are struggling with what is the appropriate response. Again, we fought 2 wars over these issues and now our “law” allows them to march in the streets, organize and gain converts. It is frustrating to those that care. It is even more frustrating that so many millions of Americans stand up for the “rights” of Nazis and Confederates.

         There are those that say “do nothing” and it’ll go away. It seems to me that looking the other way is how we got here. (The Nazis have been back to Charlottesville already.) The threat remains with us and whether we like it or not the White Supremacists rode in on the coattails of our current administration. Those stiff armed salutes that we were seeing at rallies were in fact stiff armed salutes from the White Supremacists. They recognized a kindred spirit and came out of their lairs to promote a Nazi/Confederate agenda. This time they rode in with the Republicans. Previously in history they rode in with the Democrats.

        How exactly do we fight back? For one thing we as a nation need to understand and come to grips with how serious a threat this is to our nation and the fundamental beliefs that we’re supposed to stand for. We need to not only acknowledge the evil of racism that exists but deal with the fact that it can’t be eliminated so the struggle against it has to be ongoing and generational.

        There’s a lot of talk about “free speech” and how we have to let the hate-mongers have their say. Let me leave you with two thoughts and a question about that. 1) Freedom of speech doesn’t mean freedom from the consequences that may follow such speech. 2) There’s a line past which free speech becomes sedition. Would we allow ISIS sympathizers to march in our streets and protect their free speech?

Amazing Grace [History/Politics]

        The hymn Amazing Grace was written in 1779 by John Newton, a former slave ship Captain. It is a powerful song.  These are lyrics from the song:  “Amazing grace! How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me! I once was lost, but now am found; Was blind, but now I see.” Wretch. He was a man who sought forgiveness for his wretched actions of trafficking in human beings.

        There has been a lot of press lately about cities removing Confederate monuments from public property. That is, property owned and maintained by municipal governments, paid for with our tax dollars – the tax dollars of each and every one of us: black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Native American and every other ethnicity you can name.

        Should we erect statues to human traffickers who tortured their victims? Are there “good” traffickers and “bad” traffickers?

        How about traitors to our nation? I mean actual traitors. Real traitors. Not make believe traitors. Traitors who actually fought against our nation? Should we erect statues to honor them?

        Should we ignore evil and those who supported it?

        No, I don’t think that we should rewrite the history of our nation. I believe it’s way past time to remember it. Especially since white supremacy is on the rise yet again. We need to acknowledge what happened and what is happening. Attempts are being made to rewrite history by white washing it; to cover it up and gloss it over like it really wasn’t so bad after all.

        First of all, there weren’t “good” slave owners and “bad” slave owners; there were bad slave owners and horrific slave owners. Owners trafficked human beings with one another. These were men and women who believed they had the right to own human beings. Slaves were punished. They were raped. They were bred. They were slaughtered. Their families were broken up. Children were worked. Slaves were tortured. They had horrible living conditions. They were property. They weren’t free.

        I see people saying that we need to research the civil war and its cause again. No, we don’t. We really don’t. We don’t need to search anew to validate what has been known in this nation since the Civil War was fought.

        Men like General Lee and Thomas Jefferson owned slaves. They owned human beings. They trafficked in human beings. Human. Beings. Just as we have traffickers today we had them then. There were tens of thousands directly involved in the human trafficking (slave) trade.

        I’m guessing that the overwhelming majority of people have never felt the lash of a whip. I was “accidentally” hit by one by my older brother when were kids. One hit. It felt like my leg was on fire. There was a red welt around my leg where it hit. Imagine being whipped with one until your skin was flayed open. Then think about having brine poured over all the open wounds. Slave owner Robert E. Lee did that. Does he really deserve the multiple statues erected to him? Why not just start erecting statues to serial killers because they’re a part of our history?

        One of the many points of contention is that these monuments and symbols of slavery are displayed at government buildings. If people want to display such items at in the private sector that is their right. They can keep their memories alive in their front yards with those black faced yard ornament greeters to celebrate the history of human traffickers along with their Confederate flags. You can call it what you want. I don’t call it patriotism and it isn’t the flag I served under.

        What of Confederate veterans of the Confederate States of America? They were entitled to a decent burial. Their graves should not be desecrated. Neither should their history be forgotten. But…they fought for the wrong side. They fought as traitors to our nation. They fought for slavery. They lost. They weren’t veterans of the United States of America. That’s the nation that they fought against.

        And after the traitors and human traffickers lost they continued to subjugate an entire race through segregation, into modern times. The KKK is still in existence though not as prevalent as it once was. Those that would enslave others still walk amongst us and in far greater numbers than we would like to imagine. They have their heroes. Heroes from the Civil War and up through today. Should government buildings have statues of Grand Dukes of the past of the KKK erected? They’re a part of the nation’s history too. They still threaten.

        How should we honor veterans of the United States of America that fought in the civil war? Does erecting statues to their enemies honor them? Not any more than erecting monuments to the generals and leaders of any other nation that we fought against would.

        Tear them down. Bulldoze them. Remove them to private property if you must. Instead, honor the veterans that fought for the United States of America and against slavery.

        I understand that there are veterans and even people of color who support signs of the Confederacy. That’s just the way it is in this country. People will go to great lengths to support, justify and rationalize their beliefs. That doesn’t mean that they’re right any more than the holocaust deniers or flat earth (seriously), the moon landing was a scam, the earth is only 6,000 years old, believers are right. (Throw in a host of other believers since the last election.) These people aren’t going to have their minds changed. They are true believers.

        There are also those that believe that since these monuments have been around so long it really doesn’t matter anymore; that people don’t care. That’s not just sad, it’s tragic. It just is. And it’s wrong. Lots of people do care; that’s why there has been such interest of late in removing them. We used to do things just because they were right and history is important; and now so are people like the mayor of New Orleans.

        Does it cost to tear them down? Yes. And that is too bad. This is usually where someone will present an either/or argument. Use the money to tear down a monument or feed children. Use the money to tear down a monument or take care of homeless veterans. This fallacy reduces government to only being about 2 things. Government and budgets are about thousands of things.

        I believe that Union veterans of the civil war said it best in 1903 when they successfully opposed a statue of Robert E. Lee being placed upon the battlefield at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. From that time: John Stewart of Chambersburg argued, “But what is to be gained by putting this statue of Lee on Gettysburg battlefield? If you want historical accuracy as your excuse, then place upon this field a statue of Lee holding in his hand the banner under which he fought, bearing the legend: ‘We wage this war against a government conceived in liberty and dedicated to humanity.”