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Best of the Web: Class dismissed: Identity politics without the identity - The white American working class

famous people Trump emperor Obama collage painting
"The goal of mainstream politicians of both parties should be to drive a wedge between the viciousness of white supremacy and people who are basically decent but tired of what they see as 'political correctness' that ignores the very considerable challenges faced by working-class whites while directing them to feel sorry for a whole range of other groups."

-Joan C. Williams, White Working Class - Overcoming Class Cluelessness in America

"We're voting with our middle finger."

-South Carolina Trump supporter

"There was no reason why the Left had to abandon its old blue collar base."

-Milo Yiannopoulos
My apologies to Ta Nehisi Coates and the "it's all about race" school of politics, but by now it should be clear to just about everyone that attempting to achieve a democratic majority by multiplying victim minorities is doomed to failure.

For the four decades we have seen neo-liberal economics at work, white working class fortunes have gone steadily down the drain while diversity enthusiasts aggressively demanded universal sympathy for a growing list of victim groups: the poor, blacks, Latinos, "native" Americans, Asians, the disabled, lesbians, gays, bisexuals, the transgendered, queers, non-binary people, the asexual, along with every possible "intersection" of these identities. Meanwhile, legitimate anger at the economic squeeze imposed on working people from outsourcing and mass immigration from the Third World has been written off as racism, sexism, nativism, and xenophobia. By 2016, the longstanding depression visible throughout rural America was a key factor in elevating Donald Trump to the presidency.

Comment: The left lost its way by betraying the genuine needs of the working class, and it is now chasing phantoms into fruitless and even dangerous territories. See also: Fascism came to America wrapped in a rainbow flag and wearing a pussyhat


Sheriff

Major crime crackdown in Guatemala as 80 raids lead to 60 arrests

Guatemala raids
© Twitter- @MPguatemalaSince July, a team of 720 police have conducted 81 raids in 14 of the nation’s 22 departments to dismantle the large-scale criminal ring.
Police report the people were behind a series of violent crimes including conspiracy, extortion, and murder.

After an extensive investigation across Guatemala, 43 of the 60 gang members arrested will be charged with extortion among other crimes, the public ministry said Wednesday.

Since July, a team of 720 police conducted 81 raids in 14 of the nation's 22 departments to dismantle the large-scale criminal ring, public ministry spokeswoman Julia Barrera said. Among the detainees arrested were 40 women and four adolescents.

"Our investigators documented in video and photography the movements of these extortionists, established where they live and their activities," said police spokesperson Pablo Castillo, who added that six lives were spared thanks to the investigation.

Comment: So nearly 1 out of every 2 violent crimes in Guatemala is drug-related. Reminds one of this recent story out of another Central American Country: 3,000 bodies found at Mexican drug cartel extermination site


No Entry

Geneva bans both burkinis and topless bathing at swimming pools

burkini poolside
© Fethi Belaid / AFP
Now ladies will have to unclad should they want to go to a swimming pool in Geneva, but not too much: the city lashed out at Muslim swimwear burkinis - and topless bathing, banning both.


Comment: We just can't have nice things.


Under the new rules voted in this week by the city authorities, women should wear "a one-piece or two-piece swimsuit," local La Tribune de Genève newspaper reported. Women who wish to swim in Geneva's pools have to wear swimsuits that should come down "no lower than knee level and keeps arms bare" and shouldn't be "a swim skirt or a dress," the legislation said.

Under the previous edition, swimmers were authorized to wear "any clothing that is specifically used for swimming," as the city authorities were more concerned with youngster coming for a dive in "street wear." That wording was, however, deemed "insufficient" and the standards received a "simple update."

The changes were criticized by a number of politicians, including Christian Democrat Alia Chaker Mangeat, who said the update "creates a new controversy" and may provoke extremists.


Comment: Who cares? Whatever happened to not negotiating with terrorists?


According to socialist councilor Sami Kanaan, the ruling constitutes the "denial of an open, multicultural and liberal Geneva."

Stock Down

Living the pre-Soviet dream! Latvian population has plunged 27% since 1991

latvia
In 2017 Latvia's population is 1.95 million. That is an incredible plunge of 27 percent since the 2.66 million high in 1989. The last time Latvia's population was under 2 million was before WWII, in 1935.

So at least in one way Latvia has accomplished the dream of erasing the 50 years of Soviet "occupation."

Perhaps it will be some consolation to Latvian nationalists that a big chunk of that decline has been ethnic Russians, who have gone from 0.9 million to 0.5 million. However, ethnic Latvians have likewise declined. There are just 60,000 more ethnic Latvians in Latvia today than there were in 1920.

Comment: The Baltics are still resentful over the Soviet Union. Unfortunately for them, they can't seem to make a distinction between modern Russia and the ex-Soviet Union. That results in nonsense like this: Have fun on the wrong side of history, Latvia. And keep watching out for those Russians. They're sure to invade any day now...


Star of David

Life under occupation in Hebron: Video shows Palestinian teachers and children being harassed by IDF outside elementary school

idf harassment
© btselem / YouTube
Footage shot in Hebron in occupied Palestinian territory shows Israeli soldiers routinely harassing teachers and schoolchildren on a number of occasions. Rights activists say it is part of a state policy aimed at forcing Palestinians to leave the city.

The incidents shown in the video were recorded in October and November by activists attached to B'Tselem, an Israel-based human rights group, near the Ziad Hamuda Jaber Elementary School for Boys, where some 300 pupils are educated. The facility is located in the Wadi al-Nasarah neighborhood of Hebron. Around 50 meters from the neighborhood is a road leading to the Jewish settlement of Kiryat Arba - the first that was established in Hebron after the city was occupied by Israel.

A metal gate has been installed some 30 meters from the school, which has to be passed by teachers and pupils. Occasionally, IDF soldiers are deployed at the gate and have been seen to conduct random searches, harass or arrest the Palestinian teachers and schoolchildren, B'Tselem reported.

One part of the video shows a pair of soldiers pushing a student against a wall, who appears to be in his early teens. On another occasion, a soldier confronts a B'Tselem activist who is filming him on camera, trying to physically stop her, and telling her to go stand "behind the dumpster with all the garbage." In another part, a soldier confronts a young man, approaching him aggressively before being warned by another soldier that he is being filmed.

House

Almost half of subsidized 'Right to Buy' homes now rented out to make money from Britain's low-income families

UK homes
© Reuters/ Russell BoyceMore than 40 per cent of Right to Buy homes now rented out.
Tens of thousands of council-provided homes bought by working-class families in Britain are now being rented out by private landlords - a consequence of Margaret Thatcher's iconic Right-to-Buy scheme, which was introduced almost four decades ago.

More than 40 percent of properties purchased under the Conservative program are now being rented out to the very communities they were designed to help, decades ago.

Low-income families are given the chance to purchase their home and get on the property ladder under Right to Buy. The stock of homes has not been replenished, however, meaning that the next generation of families in need have had to turn to landlords renting out those very same houses, which were bought at a massive discount.

New research has highlighted how the properties have gone full circle and are now being rented to people who cannot afford to buy their own home. At the same time, there is a dramatic shortage of council homes.

Heart - Black

Woman bullied by social justice warriors online for comments about gay colleague hangs herself

august ames
© Youtube/Natalia Powel
Mercedes Grabowski (known as August Ames) died of asphyxia due to hanging, the Ventura Health Care Agency reported.

The porn starlet, August Ames, who suffered from chronic depression, passed away at the age of 23 in Camarillo, California. Her friends' fears that she could have taken her own life, confirmed. While the medical examiner has announced news of her suicide by hanging, toxicology tests are still underway. August Ames killed herself following a backlash over statements she made about shooting a scene with an actor who had been filmed in gay pornography.

"Omg, I can't believe she's dead," wrote friend Anikka Albright. "You people should have known better than to berate her over her personal thoughts! Shame on all you for beating it into the ground. Online harassment is a real thing & it claimed another life. Someone who I liked & would have even called a friend!"

Sheriff

Arizona cop found not guilty of murdering innocent unarmed dad begging for his life (VIDEO)

police shoot man
In March of 2016, Mesa Police Officer Philip Brailsford was charged with second-degree murder for gunning down Daniel Shaver, an innocent husband, and father of two. The shooting was captured on body cam footage, part of which was released the following May. On Thursday, a jury, apparently blinded by the badge delivered a verdict of not guilty and the rest of the body camera footage was released-showing a cold-blooded murder.

In October, Brailsford's defense claimed that the prosecution showing the jury the body cam during opening statements would be unfair to the killer cop. Apparently, this strategy worked.

Jurors deliberated less than six hours and despite the horrifying body camera showing Brailsford execute Shaver, they somehow returned a not guilty verdict. This is a travesty of justice and a testament to the system that protects killers who wear badges.

Last year, an Arizona judge announced that they would be releasing the body camera footage showing Brailsford murder Shaver. When they did release it, however, the city released two videos, both of which were clearly edited and portions redacted.

Now that he's been acquitted, the full body camera footage was released showing Shaver being entirely compliant with police. Shaver was on his knees, crying and begging police not to shoot him when the coward opened fire on him, firing five times-killing him instantly.

Heart - Black

Woman miscarries after being tased by violent cops

police tase woman
When Martini Smith got enough courage to fight back against her abusive boyfriend, she never thought it would end up with her being locked in a cage and tortured by police with a taser. However, that is exactly what happened and the horrifying moment that subsequently led to her losing her unborn baby was captured on video.

Smith was half-naked, standing in a concrete cell in Franklin County Jail when corporal Matthew Stice shot her in her chest with his taser. Her crime? She couldn't remove her tongue ring fast enough.

"Take the tongue ring out," Deputy Shawnda Arnold said. However, Smith was struggling as her hands had been cuffed behind her for six hours and her numb fingers couldn't grip the stud to unscrew it. She pleaded with police to get her a paper towel so she could get traction on the ring, but they refused.

"I will tase you!" barked Stice.

"I just want to go to sleep," Smith cried.

Instead of getting the helpless pregnant woman a paper towel to help her remove the tongue ring, Stice barked his warning again and then shot the taser directly into Smith's bare chest.

Document

Increased standard deductions means millions would stop itemizing mortgage and gift write-offs under U.S. tax bill

Tax Cuts and Jobs Act
Millions of households would no longer benefit from federal tax deductions for charity donations, mortgage interest payments and property tax under Republican tax plans being debated in the U.S. Congress, a think tank said on Thursday.

The left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy said that up to 29 million U.S. households now writing off donations, home loan interest and state and local property tax payments would no longer be able to do so under either of the two plans.

While all three deductions are maintained in some form in one or both of the rival Senate and House of Representatives bills, far fewer taxpayers could take advantage of them because of other proposed changes, said the Washington-based group.