Charlottesville and Racism

by Jack

Putting things into perspective….

It was not the first time a car was used as a battering ram. However, unlike prior incidents, this guy apparently drove right past many counter protestors walking in the street. They should have been easy targets to run down if mass murder was his intent. Instead, according to news reports, he angrily crashed his vehicle into parked cars that in turn crashed into a crowd of people.

Does this make the act any less stupid, hateful, bigoted or reckless? No, of course not, but it does give us an important insight to an element of guilt that will be raised in court.  It’s called mens rea, i.e., a guilty mind, wilfulness… and it something that is used most often in sentencing.

Next, President Trump is being widely criticized for being too weak in his condemnation of this incident.  So, what exactly did he say immediately following the car attack, do you know?

Well he opened with, “We are closely following the terrible events unfolding in Charlottesville… We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred and bigotry and violence… and on many sides.”

He is condemning in the strongest possible terms, but he also counters the hate and violence rhetoric with, “….We must come together with true affection.”  Come together? But, how will that get us partisan votes, how will that play out with the race-baiters and PC crowd?  Gosh, Trump is dumb, he’s letting a perfectly good tragedy go to waste and no self-respecting democrat would ever do that!  (said with all due sarcasm)

Here is the whole sentence so you can judge it’s context: “I just got off the phone with Gov. Terry McAuliffe and we agreed the hate and division must stop.” “We must come together, and I say this so strongly, with true affection for each other.”  Yes, come together folks, stop the hate and division and give renewed meaning to the message of brotherly love preached by Dr. Martin Luther King.

Predictably, the far left is outraged with Trumps response (but they were outraged before his response).  Now they and their minions are angrily criticizing President Trump.

Reasonable people have to ask themselves,  what is to be gained by upping the race rhetoric? Do we really need our president to pour more fuel on this fire?  No, we’ve seen that done before and it is not at all productive, in fact people died as a result.   I believe Trump’s immediate response was about right.   It was forceful, it was condemning of evil, but it was far more measured than what we might have seen coming from the last president, Barack Obama.  We’ve seen what Obama’s kind of hyperbole led too and personally i don’t want to go there again.   But, was it important for Trump to remind us ALL that we did not get to this racial division yesterday and that racism has not been promoted by entirely one side?  You tell me.

1 Mens Rea – As an element of criminal responsibility, a guilty mind; a guilty or wrongful purpose; a criminal intent. Guilty knowledge and wilfulness. A fundamental principle of Criminal Law is that a crime consists of both a mental and a physical element. Mens rea, a person’s awareness of the fact that his or her conduct is criminal, is the mental element, and actus reus, the act itself, is the physical element. The concept of mens rea developed in England during the latter part of the common-law era (about the year 1600) when judges began to hold that an act alone could not create criminal liability unless it was accompanied by a guilty state of mind. The degree of mens rea required for a particular common-law crime varied. Murder, for example, required a malicious state of mind, whereas Larceny required a felonious state of mind.
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16 Responses to Charlottesville and Racism

  1. Libby says:

    Really, really depressing …

  2. J. Soden says:

    While Charlottesville is a low point for “protestors” it’s interesting that there was a march by the white supremacists the evening before without any violence. Could it be that the antifa protestor/rioters are also partially at fault here?

    And it’s gonna get worse – http://dailycaller.com/2017/08/14/left-wing-agitators-call-for-escalated-tactics-in-response-to-charlottesville – until law enforcement quits standing aside and letting the rioters be in control.

    And once all the Confederate statues have been removed, who/what is the next target of the rioters?

  3. Chris says:

    Hm…I see where you’re coming from here, but this is a president who constantly complained about Obama not using the words “radical Islamic terrorist.” Why couldn’t he use the words “white supremacist” in his initial condemnation? He eventually did, but only after much criticism. Is it because he knows he gets support from these people? They seemed pretty happy with his initial statement. I am 100% sure Trump is not a white supremacist and does not hate minorities in the way these people do, but he does seem to play footsie with them a little too often. Steve Bannon continues to be one of his closest advisers despite bragging that he made Breitbart into a platform of the alt-right, and perhaps being an alt-righter himself. Bannon seems fixated on a book called “Camp of the Saints;” it’s worth looking at what this book preaches to understand Bannon’s frighteningly racist ideology.

    • Post Scripts says:

      If Trump had accused the Klan or the Nazi’s of the crime during his first press release some would have accused him of jumping to conclusions, it was too early to know that. He shouldn’t jump to conclusions, no president should. But, not saying this also held him up to criticism by an opposing group who want to hear that and more. Trump can’t win. No matter which way he turns, too much or too little, he is going to get it.

    • Tina says:

      Washington Times, “Eric Holder hit with Fort Hood ‘workplace violence’ mockery after Charlottesville remarks”

      Former Attorney General Eric Holder’s foray into a debate on Saturday’s violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, quickly elicited reminders of his early stance on convicted Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan.

      It wasn’t long after a white supremacist gathering Saturday turned deadly with the killing of Heather Heyer, 32, that former President Obama’s top cop pronounced the ordeal “domestic terrorism.” Mr. Holder’s assessment of 20-year-old suspect James Alex Fields — who careened his vehicle into a crowd of protesters — prompted backlash by those familiar with the Justice Department’s handling of the Nov. 5, 2009, Fort Hood massacre, which killed 13.

      “If ISIS rammed a car into a crowd this would be labeled quickly & logically. Charlottesville — call it what it is, domestic terrorism,” Mr. Holder tweeted Saturday night.

      Jay Caruso of The Dallas Morning News, among many others, rhetorically fired back as Mr. Holder’s words spread across social media.

      “Seriously. It’s not like some guy shot up a military base and people tried to call it ‘workplace violence.’ Oh, wait,” the writer tweeted Sunday.

      “Maybe you should sit this one out, Mr. Workplace Violence,” added the popular social media pundit David Burge, aka Iowa Hawk.

      “Kind of like you calling the Ft.Hood shooting ‘work place violence’? Take a seat, you’re dismissed,” added another.

      Hasan was eventually convicted Aug. 23, 2013, on 13 charges of premeditated murder and 32 of attempted murder.

      President Trump condemned white supremacist groups Monday while speaking to reporters at the White House.

      “Racism is evil and those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs, including the KKK, neo-Nazis, white supremacists and other hate groups that are repugnant to everything we hold dear as Americans,” Mr. Trump said.

      President Trump was asked to comment on the violence in Charlottesville early, before any investigation was done. His remarks were more appropriate at that early hour, the condemnation of all violence by anyone, than were Obama’s early, “cops acted stupidly” comment.

      A double standard continues. A destructive agenda, rather than strongly held ideals, drive the lefts rhetoric. They’re destroying themselves with radical, ridiculous foolishness.

  4. Rick Clements says:

    This whole mess was NOT Donald Trump’s fault. PERIOD. The media consisting of the cable news networks, the print media, such as the Washington Post and New York Times, talk radio; and the main stream media of CBS, ABC, and NBC are solely responsible and the reason that has caused all this divisive behavior our Country currently suffers from. The Progressive Far Left base were the first political party to hijack the Democratic Party and use it’s brand to grow and start a partisan war between the Republican and Democratic politicians serving in Washington D.C.

    Obama convinced the Democrats to abandon the Blue Collar middle class voters; and to organize instead all the minority voters whose numbers would clearly outweigh the Blue Collar middle class voters. Obama supported a policy of victimizing racial minorities by the white man’s ruling class as a way to organize his and George Soros’ dream of turning America into a “Socialism” government. His Obamacare legislation, was intentionally created to punish any and all corporations who employed workers at 40 hours per week and forced them into a 30 hour part-time work week status which created thousands of layoffs and prevented millions from paying their bills. Having achieved this, it forced millions onto government subsistence, AND, making sure voters were dependent upon and forced to keep the Progressive (Socialism) politicians in power in order for their families to survive financially. Obama, Hillary, Susan Rice, Valerie Jarrett, and the rest of the upper level Obama administration officials intentionally politicized the FBI, the CIA, the State Department, the DOJ, and finally their biggest weapon of retaliation, the IRS.
    I once said that the Far Left Progressives created and guaranteed Trump’s election victory because the Progressives overlooked one thing. The majority of Americans are decent, hardworking, and honest citizens. They have watched with their own eyes as the Democratic Party became, under Obama, the most corrupted and dishonest party ever.
    That is why the Dems have lost thousands of seats of power both local, state, and national elections. The only real power the Progressives have left is the “fake news” media. They are in charge of what America sees and hears. They have to get rid of Trump because they can’t control him. The real racism and bigotry that created Charlottesville was the fake news’, non-objective, totally biased and completely dishonest reporting. Obama never called out the “radical extremist Islamic religion” by it’s name publicly but he did allow Susan Rice earning a $174,000 a year salary to be worth $50,000,000 in 8 years of corrupt government service. You do the numbers because as science has taught us all, mathematics IS a perfect science

    • Chris says:

      Obama never called out the “radical extremist Islamic religion” by it’s name publicly but he did allow Susan Rice earning a $174,000 a year salary to be worth $50,000,000 in 8 years of corrupt government service.

      How much do you have to drink to believe these two ideas are in any way connected to one another?

  5. J. Soden says:

    http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/aug/14/durham-nc-protesters-topple-confederate-memorial-s/

    Not a dime’s bit of difference between ISIS’ destruction of historic sites and the current crop of social justice/revisionist history jihadsts.

    And TheDonald could invent the wheel, discover fire, walk on water, cure cancer, split the atom and fix our debt problem all at the same time and the LunaticLeftie presstitutes would still complain!

    • Libby says:

      “Not a dime’s bit of difference between ISIS’ ….”

      You know, I was thinking that very thing about the murdering, and admittedly white nationalist, truck driver.

      J … vandalism is not murder. Driving vehicles into people is not pulling down statues. Talk about a lack of perspective.

      • Chris says:

        Be fair, Libby. J. specifically said tearing down Confederate monuments was just like ISIS destroying historic sites, he did not say it was like ISIS murdering people.

        The argument is still flawed–ISIS is destroying those icons for the explicit purpose of destroying and rewriting history, whereas those protesting the Confederate monuments still want those people taught about, they just don’t want them glorified.

      • Tina says:

        “I was thinking that very thing about the murdering…Talk about a lack of perspective.”

        Like the “lack of perspective” shown by lefties regarding conservative speakers, voters, and President Trump…or, for that matter, the MURDERED police officers in Dallas…and the murderous INTENT of the man who mowed down Republican Rep. Steve Scalise!

        You keep missing the salient points in all of this. I suspect you are more than aware of your biases and double standard!

        “Giggle”

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