[guest post by Dana]

Everyone is mad at Mitch McConnell after this weekend’s mass shootings:

Multiple Democrats, including Rep. Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Bernie Sanders, have been calling on McConnell to bring a vote to a gun control bill that was passed by Democrat-controlled House back in February. The Senate majority leader declined to bring forward the bill but said Monday that he’s willing to consider “bipartisan” solutions in the wake of the mass shootings as long as those measures don’t infringe “on Americans’ constitutional rights.”

Unfortunately, not everyone behaves rationally when angry:

Approximately 25 demonstrators stood on the sidewalk near McConnell’s Louisville home, shouting “No Trump, no KKK, no Fascist USA!” while others called him names like “Murder Turtle” and made loud noises by banging objects and dragging a shovel back and forth on the ground as a group of security personnel stood between the protestors and the home, WLKY reported.

“The b—- is home — we keep seeing the lights go on and off,” another protester can be heard shouting. “This h– really thought he was going to get ready to be at home after he hurt his little punk ass shoulder. B—-, don’t nobody give a f—! F–k your thoughts and prayers, Mitch. F— you, f— your wife, f— everything you stand for. ”

Louisville Metro Police told the New York Post that the demonstrators were “protesting peacefully.” The force added that they “are assisting Capitol Police.”

Team Mitch posted a video of the protests, which resulted in a suspension from Twitter:

After sharing a video of a profanity-laced protest outside of the Kentucky Republican’s home in Louisville, the campaign Twitter account, Team Mitch, has been locked out.

“This morning, Twitter locked our account for posting the video of real-world, violent threats made against Mitch McConnell. This is a problem with the speech police in America today,” McConnell campaign manager Kevin Golden told the Courier Journal. “The Lexington Herald-Leader can attack Mitch with cartoon tombstones of his opponents. But we can’t mock it.

“Twitter will allow the words of “Massacre Mitch” to trend nationally on their platform, but locks our account for posting actual threats against us,” Golden added. “We appealed and Twitter stood by their decision, saying our account will remain locked until we delete the video.”

The critical part of the video:

Black Lives Matter Louisville leader Chanelle Helm said in a live video of the protest that instead of falling and injuring his shoulder over the weekend, McConnell “should have broken his little raggedy, wrinkled-(expletive) neck.”

After a man makes a reference to a hypothetical McConnell voodoo doll, Helm replied, “Just stab the m—– f—– in the heart.”

Further:

“Everybody needs to show up wherever this ho is at and make him just regret his fucking life, period,” she added.

You can watch the relevant portion beginning at the :28 mark. Obviously, Twitter has taken down the original video:

This was Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey admitting last year that Twitter has a left-leaning bias:

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey said on Saturday that he “fully admit[s]” Twitter employees share a largely left-leaning bias after facing accusations that conservatives are discriminated against on the social media platform.

In an interview that aired Saturday on CNN, Dorsey said his company has a responsibility to be open about its political viewpoints, but to operate without bias when applying content policies to users.

“We need to constantly show that we are not adding our own bias, which I fully admit is … is more left-leaning,” Dorsey says.

It would be nice for users if Twitter at least made a pretense of consistency when meting out penalties. But I don’t think that’s going to happen.

Heh. Nothing to see, just a few protesters demonstrating…

(Cross-posted at The Jury Talks Back.)

–Dana

[Headline from DRJ]

Superior man charged with assaulting boy who was ‘disrespecting the national anthem’:

A 39-year-old Superior man was jailed this weekend for allegedly assaulting a 13-year-old boy he believed, according to one witness, had disrespected the national anthem.

Curt James Brockway was arrested by Mineral County Sheriff’s deputies around 11 p.m. Saturday. Montana Department of Justice records show he is registered as a violent offender. Brockway made his initial appearance in Mineral County Justice Court on Monday, and was scheduled to be released on his own recognizance on Tuesday.

***

“There was a little boy lying on the ground,” she said. “He was bleeding out of his ears, seizing on the ground, just not coherent.” She said she recognized the boy as a family member’s neighbor.

— DRJ

[guest post by Dana]

First, Joaquin Castro tried to do some clean-up this morning while defending the release of his target list:

“My post was actually a lament. If you look at my language, I said that it’s sad that these folks, many of whom are prominent business owners in San Antonio, a city that’s about 65 percent Hispanic — their customers, the people that have made them wealthy, their employees, the people that have worked for them for years, many of those folks are Hispanic. And they’re giving their money to a guy who’s running ads talking about Hispanics invading this country.”

And then there was this admonishment:

“Unless you support the white nationalism and the racism that Donald Trump is paying for and fueling, then I hope you, as a person of good conscience, will think twice about contributing to his campaign,” said Castro.

Or else what?

Rep. Castro on his post with the names of Trump donors: "My post was actually a lament … many of those folks are Hispanic and they're giving their money to a guy who's running ads talking about Hispanics invading this country." https://t.co/4aHDvsKSeA pic.twitter.com/HhNJ3Znfha

— MSNBC (@MSNBC) August 7, 2019

Also, on MSNBC with Willie Geist, Castro said that he didn’t want anyone to be “harassed,” and that that had not been his “intention”:

MSNBC’s Willie Geist pointed out the risk during a Wednesday morning interview with Castro, who is the campaign chairman for his brother, 2020 presidential hopeful Julian Castro.

“What do you say to those people this morning who said I made a campaign donation and now I’m going to be harassed, I’m going to have people protesting outside my business or perhaps even my home … what do you want from them?” Geist asked.

Castro said his intention was not to put anyone in danger, claiming, “I don’t want anybody harassed.”

“But they will be because you put their names in public,” Geist said.

Castro again said, “That was not my intention,” and Geist again insisted, “But that’s what will happen.”

This exchange is *chef kiss*

Rep. Castro: “Look I don’t want anyone to be harassed or —“

Willie Geist: “Well they will be because you put their names out there.”

Rep. Castro: “That was not my intention —“

Willie Geist: “But that’s what will happen.”
pic.twitter.com/yTOwgiOlVi

— Calli Norton (@CalliNorton) August 7, 2019

If we give Castro the benefit of the doubt that he really didn’t intend for anyone to be harassed, why didn’t he consider the unintended consequences of his tactics before releasing his target list? How does anyone, let alone an elected official, *not* think about that? Castro may claim that it wasn’t his intention that individuals get harassed as a result of his stunt, but the angry Trump-hater who just needed a nudge to action really doesn’t really care about Castro’s “intentions”. By providing targets, Castro has made their task that much easier. And certainly the individuals on the list don’t care about Castro’s so-called “intentions”. All they know is that they are now in a vulnerable position because of him. Also, when weighing out Castro’s “intentions,” consider this: If the point of Castro’s tweet was to encourage boycotts of pro-Trump businesses, not personal threats, ask yourself why retirees were on there?

Yesterday I wondered whether Castro’s target list included any of his own supporters. It was confirmed today that, yes, it did:

One of those Trump donors even revealed he’s also been a supporter of local Democratic lawmakers—including Castro himself.

Wayne Harwell, the owner of a local real estate development company whose name appeared on the list Castro shared on Monday night, told Fox News…that he donated money to Castro’s congressional campaign. But he suggested that after Castro outed him in a bid to shame Trump supporters, he won’t be supporting Castro anymore.

“I was also on a list of people that gave to Castro and if he dislikes me enough that he wants to put my name out there against Trump, I’m not going to give money to him… Obviously Castro feels pretty strongly against me.”

According to Federal Election Commission records, Harwell donated $1,000 to Castro’s campaign in September 2011.

“I’m pretty independent, but I support Trump,” Harwell explained.

So Castro took a thousand dollar contribution from a Trump supporter. Does that make Castro a supporter of white supremacy??

Anyway, Castro, who is charged with representing everyone in his district, made one of his constituents who had donated to his campaign open to harassment. Castro should immediately return Harwell’s donation if the money is so tainted. I would also say he should also apologize to Harwell, but just the thought of suggesting it made me laugh.

(Cross-posted at The Jury Talks Back.)

–Dana

[Healing from DRJ]

Redskins to offer gambling-focused preseason telecast:

The Washington Redskins will become the first NFL team to have a gambling-focused telecast of their games, offering cash prizes to viewers who correctly predict in-game outcomes during the preseason.

The telecasts on the regional cable network NBC Sports Washington will follow a formula established by the Redskins’ NBA neighbors, the Washington Wizards. The Wizards, however, offered the free-to-play contests during the regular season, while the Redskins will have them only during the four preseason games, when NBC Sports Washington has TV rights.

***

Starting the interactive telecasts now allows the network to be ready when legal online or mobile sports betting becomes available in its viewing area, Phillips said. The network in theory could accept real-time wagers on proposition bets offered during the telecast if it partnered with a sportsbook.

— DRJ

[guest post by Dana]

Which people would that be?

Before boarding Marine One for President Trump spoke to reporters:

Speaking before departing for El Paso and Dayton, Ohio, the site of another weekend mass shooting, Trump accused his opponents of “looking for political gain” by tying his comments to the shooting in Texas and insisted he would like to “stay out of the political fray” even as he sought to link the Dayton shooter to prominent Democrats.

“I don’t think my rhetoric does at all. I think my rhetoric brings people together. Our country is doing really well,” Trump said at the White House when asked by reporters if his comments contribute to violence.

Trump also told reporters:

“I am concerned about the rise of any group of hate. I don’t like it. Any group of hate — whether it’s white supremacy, whether it’s any other kind of supremacy, whether it’s Antifa” — a leftist group, he said. “And I’ll do something about it.”

We’ll see how well his rhetoric brings together the people of Dayton and El Paso today.

(Cross-posted at The Jury Talks Back.)

–Dana

[Headlines from DRJ]

Some skeptical as Trump heads to visit sites of shootings:

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump headed to El Paso and Dayton on Wednesday to offer a message of healing and unity, but he will be met by unusual hostility in both places by people who fault his own incendiary words as a contributing cause to the mass shootings .

The mayors of both cities are calling for Trump to change his rhetoric about immigrants. Multiple protests are planned. And Democratic presidential candidates continue to criticize him, including former Rep. Beto O’Rourke, who will hold a counter-rally in his hometown of El Paso during the president’s visit.

Trump was dismissive of the criticism, saying as he left the White House, “These are people that are looking for political gain.”

8chan owner called before Congress, as latest host drops site:

The House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee demanded that owner Jim Watkins, an American living in the Philippines, testify about 8chan’s efforts to tackle “the proliferation of extremist content, including white supremacist content.”

The committee’s Democratic chairman, Bennie Thompson, and Mike Rogers, its ranking Republican, sent a letter [tmsnrt.rs/2YuWNQ7] to Watkins to appear, calling the El Paso massacre “at least the third act of supremacist violence linked to your website this year.”

8chan was offline on Tuesday after Seattle-based Epik became the latest provider to cut ties. In a statement, Epik’s chief executive, Rob Monster, cited concerns about its inadequate enforcement and a greater possibility of violent radicalization.

— DRJ

[Headlines from DRJ]

China rare earths group supports counter-measures against U.S. ‘bullying’:

BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s rare earths association said it would support Chinese counter-measures in the escalating trade row with the United States, which it accused on Wednesday of “bullying”.

The Association of China Rare Earth Industry issued a statement after a special working meeting on Monday to discuss the “guidance” given by Chinese President Xi Jinping during a visit to a rare earth plant in Jiangxi in May.

Xi’s visit stoked fears China would use its dominance over production of rare earths, a group of 17 chemical elements prized for their use in consumer electronics and military equipment, in the escalating trade war, although no restrictions on supplies have so far been announced.

In an amazing coincidence, Real Donald Trump changes course today:

“Three more Central Banks cut rates.” Our problem is not China – We are stronger than ever, money is pouring into the U.S. while China is losing companies by the thousands to other countries, and their currency is under siege – Our problem is a Federal Reserve that is too…..

….proud to admit their mistake of acting too fast and tightening too much (and that I was right!). They must Cut Rates bigger and faster, and stop their ridiculous quantitative tightening NOW. Yield curve is at too wide a margin, and no inflation! Incompetence is a…..

….terrible thing to watch, especially when things could be taken care of sooo easily. We will WIN anyway, but it would be much easier if the Fed understood, which they don’t, that we are competing against other countries, all of whom want to do well at our expense!

7:46 AM · Aug 7, 2019

Everyone be sure to target the Fed, not China, from now on.

— DRJ