Box Turtle Bulletin

Pence Takes Over Trump’s Transition Team

Chris Christie is out as head of the transition team as Mike Pence asserts his control:

President-elect Donald Trump’s decision to empower his running mate Mike Pence to steer the presidential transition gives the soon-to-be vice president a powerful hand in shaping the incoming government and could foreshadow that he will play an outsized role in the White House.

Pence’s ascension is in line with a recent trend toward influential vice presidents and appears similar to the last vice president who was handed the keys to a presidential transition: Dick Cheney.

…It also gives the vice president a chance to put his own stamp on the administration. While Trump ran as a political outsider and was not shy in burning bridges to establishment Washington, Pence is a popular GOP figure who may opt to select longtime allies for key roles.

“Those who get new jobs may feel beholden to the vice president and feel responsive to him,” said Goldstein. “It’s a way of guaranteeing a degree of loyalty.”

Key social conservatives are already filling key roles in Trump’s transition team. Family Research Council’s Kenneth Blackwell is in charge of the team’s Domestic Policy. Pence, as governor of Indiana, oversaw that state’s passage of its right-to-discriminate law, the so-called Religious Freedom Restoration Act, in 2015. The law’s intent of allowing discrimination against gay people was so obvious that even Pence was unable to explain how discrimination wasn’t really discrimination.

WITNESS: Neo-Nazis, Florida, Villanova, Philadelphia, U. Penn, Michigan, Wellesley

"All Muslims are Terrorists."
"Deport them All"
"I Hate Muslims"

This truck is riding around Brooksville, FL scaring people to death. pic.twitter.com/ReXMUVJdun

— Shaun King (@ShaunKing) November 11, 2016

A disturbing pattern of assaults, vandalism and other threats has emerged following Donald Trump’s victory after a vicious campaign plagued by the candidate’s xenophobic, Islamophobic and racist comments. Alt-right web sites are encouraging attacks like some of the ones being reported. According to Newsweek:

The Daily Stormer’s home page features this image.

The Daily Stormer, a Neo-Nazi website, published a list of dozens of Twitter users who expressed sadness over the election outcome on Wednesday, urging its readers to target and harass them to the point of suicide.

The frontpage of the white supremacist website shows a large photo of President-elect Trump and his wife, Melania Trump, meeting with Speaker of the House Paul Ryan and Vice President-elect Mike Pence. “You should probably go ahead and be afraid now,” writes Andrew Anglin, the website’s publisher. The post suggests it’s readers “can troll these people and definitely get some of them to kill themselves.”

This is an excerpt from the end of the post:

You can troll these people and definitely get some of them to kill themselves.

Just be like “it’s the only way you can prove to the racists that Hillary was right all along.”

“Mass Suicides After Trump Victory” would be a headline the media would play up, but all it would do would demoralize the left even further.

GOGOGOGOGOGOGO!

Police are investigating harassment at Villanova:

Villanova University’s Department of Public Safety is investigating a reported incident in which a black female student was assaulted by white males as they ran toward her yelling, “Trump, Trump, Trump!”

According to a university source with knowledge of the event, it occurred Thursday night as the female student, who has not been identified, was walking through a SEPTA tunnel on campus.

There, she encountered multiple white males who allegedly ran toward her, shouting the name of the new president-elect. One male forcefully knocked her to the ground, causing her to hit her head, the source said.

And vandalism in Philadelphia:

…yet another vandal has maliciously damaged property in South Philadelphia, this time the car of a research psychologist at Drexel University.

On Friday night, at 18th and Reed Streets, Adrienne Juarascio discovered the following message carved into the passenger side of her parked Toyota Camry: “It’s our p—- now, B—h.”

…I’m not sure [why I was targeted],” Juarascio told PhillyVoice on Saturday morning, a few hours after she reported the incident to Philadelphia police. “I am a big HIllary supporter and had signs at my house. Maybe somebody saw me get out of my car going home.”

On Wednesday morning, police responded to a report of two swastikas spray-painted on the window of the former Meglio Furs building at 1300 South Broad Street, one of them a replacement for the “T” in Trump’s name. Later that afternoon, offcials reported two other acts of vandalism in South Philadelphia, including a racial message sprayed on a car (“Trump rules black b—h”) and another swastika painted on a utitlity box.

And racial threats at the University of Pennsylvania:

Several incidents in and around the University of Pennsylvania’s campus, including a video of people shouting “Build a Wall” and black students being added to a racist GroupMe called “N***** Lynching,” left many on the West Philadelphia campus visibly shaken Friday afternoon.

The disturbing events began with a video circulating on social media that shows people, who cannot be confirmed as Penn students, chanting “build the wall” as election results poured in early Wednesday morning. The scene unfolded at Smokey Joe’s, a popular bar adjacent to the school’s University City campus that dubs itself “a standby for UPenn students since 1933.”

…Calvary Rogers, a sophomore at Penn and the vice president of external affairs for the class of 2019, told PhillyVoice there’s implicit racism at the school that’s been fueled by this past presidential election. Though, he was completely shocked when he found out Friday that most of the the black members of the freshman class had been added to a GroupMe that he said was called “N***** Lynching,” a story originally reported by the university’s student newspaper, The Daily Pennsylvanian.

GroupMe is a mobile messaging app that makes it easy to talk to large groups of people. Members are added to GroupMe messages by using a name, phone number or email address. Rogers, who’s actively involved on campus, said he’s not even sure how to get access to that information.

Similars groups called “Mud Med” and “Trump is Love” were also created along with an event called “Daily Lynching.”

…In a statement,  University of Pennsylvania spokesperson said the GroupMe originated in Oklahoma and the situation was being investigated… This was later confirmed by University of Oklahoma President David Boren, who announced the temporary suspension of a student following a joint investigation by Penn Police and the FBI.

And a threatening note at Bay City, Michigan:

Kris Harris and Neil Wolicki on Thursday, Nov. 10, said they found a handwritten note in their mailbox that read: “Faggots Get Out! Trump Country!” The “O” of “Out” contained a backward swastika.

“We’re very saddened by this and hope it’s not going to become a trend, whether against gays, Muslims, or any other community and/or religious group,” Harris told MLive in a text message. He declined to further comment or be photographed for this story.

…Bay City Public Safety Director Michael J. Cecchini said the note was reported to Bay County Central Dispatch Thursday afternoon.

And at Wellesley College:

In the first incident, two men who were identified as Babson College students by school authorities drove through Wellesley College in a pickup Wednesday while waving a Trump flag, and uttered words and enagaged in actions that were “racially offensive and gender demeaning,” Babson officials said Thursday.

Wellesley student Sydney Robertson posted details to facebook, including a celebratory video posted to social media by the two students, identified as Parker Rand-Ricciardi and Edward Tomasso, both of Babson College

Rand-Ricciardi and Tomasso have both been expelled from Sigma Phil Epsilon, and the college says they face disciplinary action. Edward Tomasso has posted a lengthy apology.

WITNESS: Texas State University Campus Sees Flyers Calling For “Arrest and Torture” of “Deviant University Leaders”

Second page of the flyer. Click the image to enlarge. You can also see an image of the flyer’s third page here.

A flyer is circulating around Texas State University at San Marcos calling for tar-and-feather vigilante squads to “arrest and torture those deviant university leaders spouting off all this Diversity Garbage.” According to Austin’s KXAN:

The next page of the flyer begins with “Diversity?” The writer calls for predators, like snakes and piranhas, to be placed in the Rio Grande River to stop illegal immigrants. The message goes on to say “why not re-purpose our nuclear site radiation trash into the Mexican facing side of the wall to at least sterilize all those who try to dig under or climb over.”

Students are asked in the flyer to clog school toilets to send a message to university leaders. “Here’s what I think of your ‘diversity’ ideology —- overflowing all over your floor,” states the flyer.

The last page delves further into the writer’s problem with diversity claiming it is a code word for “white genocide.” The message concludes saying “diversity is just another way of wanting someone else to give you something you don’t deserve — in this case by the color of your skin you are ‘entitled.’”

University police are investigating. A University spokesperson confirmed to the San Antonio Express that the flyers were ere hung up in “several” campus facilities and have been removed.

TSU president Denise M. Trauth issued a statement calling for “constructive dialogue” to “better understand that which causes divisions among us.”

TSU is located about halfway between Austin and San Antonio. Students had been protesting Trump’s election in a free speech zone on campus.

WITNESS: Michigan Junior High Students Formed “Wall” To Block Minorities

Students in DeWitt Junior High School, just north of Lansing, Michigan, formed a human wall to block minority students from getting to their destinations on Wednesday morning following the election:

DeWitt resident Corina Gonzalez told the State Journal that Maliah Gonzalez, her seventh-grade daughter, was targeted in the third incident.

“She attempted to get to her locker, and there were some boys blocking the locker,” she said. “And they were chanting things such as ‘Donald Trump for president; let’s build the wall; let’s make America great again; you need to go back to Mexico.'”

Corina Gonzalez said her daughter, who is Mexican-American, was with two or three Latino friends when the incident happened.

According to MLive:

Gonzalez says she met with school officials twice on Wednesday to discuss the incident involving her daughter, but is not happy with how the district has handled its investigation.

“You can never take back what’s been done to her. You can’t take back that she’s endured racism at the age of 12,” Gonzalez said.

During the meetings, Gonzalez says school officials confirmed they have identified some of the people who made racist comments to other students, but would not share with her what disciplinary actions have been taken.

Another parent of an Asian-America student reported that her daughter had been told that she should be deported. That parent told MLive that she hadn’t come come forward about her daughter’s experience because she didn’t think the school district would handle the situation properly. DeWitt Public Schools Superintendent John Deiter responded yesterday evening with a statement: “We plan to address them very specifically, and we will also address them broadly to prevent further incidents and to make sure that all of our students feel safe and accepted at school.”

White Nationalists Celebrate, KKK To Hold Trump Victory Parade in North Carolina

Screen shot of the KKK’s “Victory Klavalkade Klan Parade” announcement. (No link/Click to enlarge)

On November 2, the KKK officially endorsed Donald Trump, making its official newspaper one of just a tiny handful of papers to endorse him. The Trump campaign swiftly disavowed the endorsement, after having learned a lessen last February when The Donald demurrred when he was asked about former KKK leader David Duke’s endorsement.

Nevertheless, Trump’s race-bating messages and anti-immigrant/anti-Muslim sentiments have made him the darling of white nationalist groups across the country. And since Trump’s surprise win on Tuesday night, white nationalists have been dizzy with excitement. Duke tweeted, “Donald J. Trump now has the chance to become one of the greatest Americans to have ever lived – we have the moral high ground.” And Andrew Anglin wrote in his neo-Nazi website Daily Stormer, “This has been the best year and a half of my life. We have won so much. And it has led to the ultimate win. The battle is far from over. Much, much, much work to be done. But the White race is back in the game. And if we’re playing, no one can beat us..”

And now one Klan website has announced that it will be taking its victory lap to the streets:

Details on the rally celebrating Trump’s victory are scarce. It’s being held by The Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, which is based in Pelham – a small, unincorporated community about 45 minutes north of Burlington, near the Virginia border.

…According to the group’s website, a North Carolina rally will be held Dec. 3. However, the KKK has not yet publicly announced a location or time for the rally.

The website refers to it as a “Victory Klavalkade Klan Parade” and announces in all-caps that “Trump’s race united my people.”

Family Research Council’s Kenneth Blackwell To Lead Trump’s Domestic Policy Transition Team

Politico reports that it has obtained an organization chart outlining who’s doing what on Donald Trump’s transition team. According to Politico, Ken Blackwell, the former Ohio secretary of state and now the so-called Senior Fellow for Human Rights and Constitutional Governance at the Family Research Council, is the man in charge of charge of Donald Trump’s domestic policy transition team. Blackwell lobbied against the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, and has described homosexuality as “a compulsion.” He also called it “a lifestyle choice” comparable to kleptomaniacs:

The reality is, again…that I think we make choices all the time. And I think you make good choices and bad choices in terms of lifestyle. Our expectation is that one’s genetic makeup might make one more inclined to be an arsonist or might make one more inclined to be a kleptomaniac. Do I think that they can be changed? Yes

During the Family Research Council’s Values Voter Summit last September, Mandi Ancalle, the FRC’s general counsel for government affairs bragged about the FRC’s success in shaping the Republican Party’s platform, which has been described as “the Most Anti-LGBT Platform in the Party’s 162-Year History.” She also provided the FRC’s agenda for Trump’s first 100 days in office. That agenda includes rolling back President Barack Obama’s LGBT anti-discrimination protection measures, and to reverse U.S. foreign policies calling for the recognition of LGBT rights abroad.

True to Trump’s obsession with non-disclosure agreements, whatever Blackwell’s input on Trump’s domestic policy will be, it will remain strictly hush-hush:

Reached by the Enquirer on Thursday, Blackwell said he could not talk about his role and referred questions the Trump transition team.

“I’ve signed a non-disclosure statement that I do honor,” he said.

Newtown, Pa., School Plagued by Election-Related Bullying

WPVI reports an outbreak of election-related bullying at Council Rock North High School in Newtown, Pa.

In an extraordinary letter to parents, superintendent Dr. Robert J. Fraser cites several incidents resulting from the election of Donald Trump. According to WPVI:

Fraser says someone drew three swastikas, wrote a derogatory comment about people who are gay, along with the words “I Love Trump,” on a paper found hanging in the girls’ restroom.

In another girls’ restroom, Fraser says someone wrote, “If Trump wins, watch out!” directly onto a toilet paper dispenser.

In a boys’ restroom, two swastikas were reportedly drawn directly onto a restroom stall.

Fraser says a Latina student found that a note had been placed in her backpack telling her to return to Mexico.

There is a related report of inappropriate comments being made to Latino students as well, Fraser says.

Fraser warns parents that such actions will not be tolerated, and that they were reported to local police for investigation.

“We are better than this, and ours is a community that must be based upon a mutual respect for ALL people, and ALL of Council Rock,” Fraser said.

Election Fallout: Racist Graffiti, School Bullying, and Car Theft

CNN reports numerous incidents of prejudice-based violence as an outcome of Election Day 2016. Among the allegations:

Vandalism: 

New York University: “Trump!” written on a Muslim prayer-room door. The New York Police Department is investigating. Read more at NYU Local.

Maple Grove, Minn.: “Trump,” “Whites only,” and “White America” graffiti at a local high school. Read more at the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.

Durham, N.C.: “Black lives don’t matter and neither does your votes,” was spray-painted by pro-Trump vandals on a wall, according to WNCN.

University of Louisiana: Pro-Trump vandals chalked the messages “Trump,” “Build wall” and “[Expletive deleted] your safe space” outside the Lafayette campus library. Campus police are investigating. The Vermilion student newspaper tweeted photos of the messages.

Philadelphia: Pro-Nazi graffiti appeared at several locations around Philadelphia. According to Anti-Defamation League regional director Nancy K. Baron-Baer said an incident at an abandoned storefront was isolated — for now — but CNN says that the words “Trump Rules,” “Trump Rules Black [expletive]” and the letter “T” were also spray-painted on three vehicles and a house.

Assault and car theft:

San Diego: Two men allegedly targeted a Muslim woman, made comments about Trump and Muslims, then grabbed her backpack and stole her car. Read more at NBC San Diego.

San Jose State University: A man yanked the head scarf off of a student — comparable to yanking the dress off of a Catholic nun — and then caused her to choke. Campus officials say they are investigating. Read more at The Mercury News.

Bullying and intimidation:

Students at Royal Oak Middle School in Michigan chanted, “Build the wall! Build the wall!” in the school cafeteria, scaring Mexican-American classmates. The incident was caught on video and shared on Facebook. The school district superintendent said personnel are addressing the incident, but parents say the response is inadequate, according to The Detroit News.

Canisius College: Students posted images of an African-American doll hanged from a dorm curtain rod on social media. College President John J. Hurley said students have been suspended and may be expelled. Read more at the college website.

Redding, Calif.: A student at Shasta High School tweeted a video of himself handing “deportation” letters to classmates of different ethnicities. According to the Redding Record Searchlight, students at another Redding school expressed ethnic slurs and held up offensive signs directed at a predominantly Hispanic boys basketball team earlier this year.

Buzzfeed is keeping a running list of incidents, including unconfirmed reports from social media.

Medium and Quartz have additional roundups of social-media incident claims.

Vato

Duke. Coyote. Vato. Sonny. Drill Pipe. Hot Dog Man. Each nickname had a story behind it, and Ricky collected stores like he collected nicknames. Somewhat physically disabled for the past 40 years, most of his stories about himself involved ninja moves or a plot line from a Spaghetti Western. “Ricky!” his mother would exclaim, “You’d climb a tree to tell a lie!” On September 10, he celebrated his 65th birthday. He passed away five days later. He didn’t want a funeral so there wasn’t one. He was just gone and that was that. So long, Vato.

— — —

I remained offline for much of the past three months for several reasons: family stuff, the campaign season was seriously messing with my headspace, I just needed a break.

Also: sometime in late August, my host provider upgraded its version of PHP in an attempt to speed up this web site’s load times. Doing so seemed to fix that problem, but for whatever reason the template that powers the site’s design stopped working correctly, which led to a host of other problems. So during the downtime, I contacted a friend of mine to see about possibly moving the blog to another host server and beginning again with a whole new design. We decided we’d tackle it sometime after the election was over.

But who knew that the country would lose its collective mind and elect the most dangerous, unstable, xenophobic, racist, misogynistic, homophobic and authoritarian ticket in our nation’s history. We are in for a very ugly four years, and the ugliness began almost immediately Tuesday night with right-wing nationalists, now fully legitimized by the incoming administration, crawling out of the woodwork and staking their claim to the mainstream.

So we don’t have time to wait until this precious little web site is all prettied up and restored to full functioning. I’m bringing BTB out of hiatus, and beginning today you are likely to see a couple of new contributors to the blog. The immediate priority is not to look good, but to do the good work of confronting the mess that is now before us.

So that means that the Daily Agendas will remain on hiatus for the next several days while we sort out a new design that should appear perhaps this weekend or sometime next week. Once the new design is up and running with the bugs worked out, then the Daily Agendas will make their reappearance. Along the way, we will fix the Twitter and Facebook integration so you can follow us wherever you are.

Life goes on. It’s time to roll up our sleeves and get to work.

Jubal

We were not good people just now: me, Chris and his older brother, Ricky. We were watching Cheaters: other peoples’ humiliations packaged for our entertainment. We were laughing and we were not ashamed of it because it was good to laugh. Now we’re watching Jubal. I looked it up: Jubal “was the father of all who play stringed instruments and pipes.” Also: “a steamy Western which stars Glenn Ford as an itinerant cowpoke.” Now, Ricky just dozed a bit, in and out of sleep, the chicken spaghetti laying heavily in his stomach. It was good to see him dozing. It was also good to see him eating. He doesn’t do that much. Small mercies. 

Chris and I are in Abilene watching a man who is dying. He doesn’t know it, but he’s teaching me something about grace. He’s not religious, he’s not well read, he’s had a rough life. If you wanted to talk to him about grace, you wouldn’t get very far before he starts telling you about the time he and his buddies in San Angelo skipped school to go all the way to Abilene to see Easy Rider, and then split a six pack for the drive back to San Angelo. (Or some such story. He always has a story.) He didn’t learn grace, he just has it. We argue over who gets the Coke and who gets the water. “Whichever one you want.”  “No, Ricky, I bought them: it’s whichever one you want.” See what I mean? He has it. I don’t. 

How can someone in so much pain refuse to complain? How can someone suffer for, what? — one year, maybe two, and not say anything? How can someone spin out yet another of his tall tales — he has a million of them; he can’t tell a story without stretching it past its breaking point — and end it with his trademark, “If I’m lying’, I’m dyin’!” — except this time he adds with a sly smile, “well, I am pretty sick” — while sweat drips from his brow? I will remember him as he has lived and as he’s still living now, and that will always be a good thing.

Another Temporary Hiatus

Sorry for this blog going so quiet this week.  There’s a lot going on right now in the our household, and it’s only going to get worse now that a family member has entered hospice care. This suspension will likely last at least another week or so. I’ll keep you posted. 

Federal Judge Blocks UNC From Enforcing North Carolina’s “Bathroom Bill”

The University of North Carolina is barred from enforcing the portion of North Carolina’s HB2 which would require transgender people to use public restrooms based on the gender marked on their birth certificates:

U.S. District Judge Thomas Schroeder, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, issued the 83-page injunction late Friday on the basis the law, House Bill 2, likely violates Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972.

“The University of North Carolina, its officers, agents, servants, employees, and attorneys, and all other persons acting in concert or participation with them are hereby enjoined from enforcing Part I of HB2 against the individual transgender plaintiffs until further order of the court,” Schroeder writes.

However, Schroeder writes plaintiffs in the case “have not made a clear showing” they’re likely to succeed in their challenge against the law on the basis it violates the right to equal protection under the U.S. Constitution. Further, the court, Schoroder writes, will reserve ruling on due process claims pending further briefing from the parties.

The judge based his injunction on a Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals case involving Gavin Grimm, a transgender student who is suing his Virginia school district for preventing him from using male rest rooms. That decision was stayed by the U.S. Supreme Court pending an expected an appeal to the high court.

UNC had already said that they would not be enforcing HB2 on campus, and would comply with the injunction. The full trial  is set for November 14.

Georgia Pastor Who Praised Orlando Shooting Arrested for Child Molestation

Kenneth Adkins, a prominent pastor in Brunswick, Georgia, just outside of Jacksonville, Florida, has been arrested on charges of aggravated child molestation and child molestation based on allegations made by a young male church member:

Stacy Carson, special agent in charge of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s Kingsland office, said District Attorney Jackie Johnson asked the GBI on Aug. 12 to assist the Brunswick Police Department in the investigation. It focused on suspected molestation in several locations in the Brunswick area including at Adkins’ church, a vehicle and a victim’s home, Carson said.

The incidents possibly occurred in 2010 and would have had to involve someone younger than 16 for child molestation charges to be brought.

Adkins’s wife countered that the accuser has mental health issues:

“This young man was part of our teen ministry,” she said. “Ken and I have treated him like family, as has our church. He is a deeply troubled young man, to be sure, but our thoughts and prayers remain with him even now.”

Two days after the Orlando attack, Jackson sent out a series of tweets, including one saying: “been through so much with these Jacksonville Homosexuals that I don’t see none of them as victims. I see them as getting what they deserve!!” His twitter account has since been locked down in protected mode and is available only to vetted followers.

Maine’s Governor Is the Epitome Of What’s Wrong In The Republican Party

Goldwater, then Reagan, made the Republican Party a party of ideals. Whatever you may think of those ideals is another matter altogether, but at the core of everything they fought for and everything they did stood a set of principles that anchored their positions.

Those kinds of people still exist in the Republican Party today. But those kinds of people have largely been shunted aside in favor of a party that is now driven but pure, unmediated rage. It might be tempting to feel sorry for the principled wing of the Republican Party if it weren’t for that fact that the principled wing — now dismissed as “the establishment” — is in large measure responsible for the pure screaming id that is now at the top of the GOP ticket. By courting the Tea Party and nurturing it from one manufactured outrage to the next, as a deliberately obstructive tactic against the past eight years of the Obama presidency. The party of ideas in Congress spent the last six years in an internal battle with itself, against the emerging party of “no” — it’s perhaps more accurately described as the party of “gaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!!!!”

Trump is the “gaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!!!!’s” standard bearer, but he’s really a johnny-come-lately to the scream-till-you-turn-blue wing. Maine Gov. Paul LePage, on the other hand, is something of an éminence grise of the tantrum set. Since his successful 2010 run for governor, LePaul has gone from one head-scratching outrage to the next. It’s hard to know how to rank the latest outrage against the others — there were have been so many that his Wikipedia page could probably be used as a useful diagnostic guide to identify political batshitism in its sufferers. But what’s particularly noteworthy about his latest remarks is how it perfectly illustrates the mindset of the Republican Party’s new establishment. Here is LePage’s message he left as a voicemail to State Rep. Drew Gattine:

Mr. Gattine, this is Governor Paul Richard LePage. I would like to talk to you about your comments about my being a racist, you cocksucker. I want to talk to you. I want you to prove that I’m a racist. I’ve spent my life helping black people and you little son-of-a-bitch, socialist cocksucker. You, I need you to, just freakin’, I want you to record this and make it public because I am after you. Thank you.”

LePage was apparently proud of his soliloquy:

LePage later invited a Portland Press Herald reporter and a two-person television crew from WMTW to the Blaine House, where during a 30-minute interview the governor described his anger with Gattine and others, told them he had left the phone message and said he wished he and the lawmaker could engage in an armed duel to settle the matter.

“When a snot-nosed little guy from Westbrook calls me a racist, now I’d like him to come up here because, tell you right now, I wish it were 1825,” LePage said. “And we would have a duel, that’s how angry I am, and I would not put my gun in the air, I guarantee you, I would not be (Alexander) Hamilton. I would point it right between his eyes, because he is a snot-nosed little runt and he has not done a damn thing since he’s been in this Legislature to help move the state forward.”

The ironic fact that LePage used a homophobic slur to argue that he’s not racist isn’t, in itself, being commented on very much. Comments lean more to wow, LePage really is a truly awful person, which kind of misses the point when in a political culture where being a truly awful person is a badge of honor and hailed as a substitute for “strength.” He also doubled down on the racially explosive comments that Gattine had criticized:

In a State House press conference, the governor restated previous comments about the numbers of black and Hispanic drug dealers who are bringing heroin into Maine and likened them to the enemy in a war.

“Look, the bad guy is the bad guy, I don’t care what color he is,” LePage said. “When you go to war, if you know the enemy and the enemy dresses in red and you dress in blue, then you shoot at red.”

LePage then turned to House Minority Leader Ken Fredette, R-Newport, an officer who serves as a military lawyer in the Maine Air National Guard and sat in on the press conference. “Don’t you – Ken (Fredette) you’ve been in uniform? You shoot at the enemy. You try to identify the enemy and the enemy right now, the overwhelming majority of people coming in, are people of color or people of Hispanic origin.”

The governor met with reporters to explain statements he has made about drugs and race dating back to January, when he said in a town hall meeting in Bridgton that dealers from Connecticut and New York bring drugs to Maine and “impregnate a young white girl before they leave.”

LePage was the second sitting governor, after New Jersey’s Chris Christie, to endorse Trump last February. LePage is now being condemned by Democrats and Republicans alike, both locally and nationally. But don’t expect that to mean much. He won’t resign, and why would he? He’s a hero to his die-hard supporters. And besides, his remarks aren’t any more incendiary that those uttered by his own hero, the man sitting at the very top of his party’s ticket.

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