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RIGHT WING EXTREMISM

‘Racist Down to Its Rotten Core’: Schumer Blasts Tuberville’s ‘One-Man Mission to Defend White Nationalism’

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U.S. Senate Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer delivered strong criticism against Senator Tommy Tuberville on Tuesday, after the Republican from Alabama once again defended white nationalism, this time falsely claiming the belief is not inherently racist.

“The definition of white nationalism is not a matter of opinion,” Majority Leader Schumer reiterated on social media. “White nationalism—the ideology that white people are inherently superior, that people of color should be segregated, subjected, and relegated to second-class citizenship—is racist down to its rotten core.”

“GOP Senator Tuberville has been on a one-man mission to defend white nationalism and even suggest that white nationalism is ‘American,'” Leader Schumer also wrote. “To speculate about what white nationalism means as if it’s some fun little thought experiment is deeply disturbing.”

On the Senate floor, in rare remarks denouncing a sitting U.S. Senator, Leader Schumer blasted Tuberville, saying the Alabama Republican on Monday “suggested that no, white nationalists aren’t inherently racist, that yes, white nationalism is American, and that the definition of white nationalism is a matter of opinion.”

RELATED: ‘You Know, It Is What It Is’: GOP Senator Responsible for Marines Having No Leader Shrugs Off National Security Concerns

“It’s hard to believe that the senator from Alabama has to be corrected again,” Schumer added. “The senator from Alabama is wrong, wrong, wrong. The definition of white nationalism is not a matter of opinion. White nationalism, the ideology that one race is inherently superior to other people of color should be segregated, subjected and relegated to second class citizenship is racist, down to its rotten core. And for the senator from Alabama to obscure the basic nature of White Nationalism is indeed very, very dangerous.”

“These words have power and carry weight at the fringe of his constituency, just the fringe. But if that fringe listens to him, excusing, defending white nationalism, he is fanning the flames of bigotry and intolerance.”

“Last week, the gunman who killed 23 People in an El Paso Walmart was sentenced to 90 life terms in prison. He was a self-described white nationalist. The man who murdered 10 people at the Tops supermarket in my home state of New York in Buffalo was a white nationalist. And if those examples aren’t clear enough, let’s not forget Charlottesville, where neo-fascists, far-right radicals and far-right militias paraded through the streets carrying torches and chanting, ‘Jews will not replace us.’ Those who are white nationalists. This isn’t a joke. This is deadly serious stuff. And for a member of the United States Senate to speculate about what white nationalism means as if it’s some benign little thought experiment, is deeply disturbing. I urge my Republican colleagues to impress upon the senator from Alabama the destructive impact of his words, and urge him to apologize.”

Tuberville has a long and disturbing history of defending white nationalism.

In May he declared white nationalists are simply “Americans.”  He also said, “I look at a white nationalist as a, as a Trump Republican. That’s what we’re called all the time.”

Those claims came immediately after an NBC News reporter told Tuberville, “A white nationalist propagates Nazism, a white nationalist could be someone who doesn’t believe that Black and Brown people are equals…”

READ MORE: Republican Claims GOP’s ‘Whistleblower Witness’ Who Is Indicted but on the Run Is Being ‘Silenced’ by DOJ

Sen. Tuberville appeared on CNN Monday night and claimed that he is “totally” against racism, yet repeatedly defended white nationalism, telling anchor Kaitlan Collins (video below), “that’s your opinion” that it’s racist.

On Tuesday he argued with a reporter, who happened to be Black, when she asked him about his remarks from Monday night.

“Listen,” Sen. Tuberville told the reporter. “I’m totally against racism. If the Democrats want to say that white nationalists are racists, I’m totally against that, too.”

When the reporter tried to explain what a white nationalist was, Tuberville cut her off then said, “Well that’s your definition.”

Monday night the conversation on CNN was much longer, but little different.

“If people think that a white nationalist is racist. I agree with that,” Tuberville began, only to twist the definition moments later.

“A white nationalist is someone who believes that the white race is superior to other races,” Collins told the GOP Senator.

“Well, that’s some people’s opinion,” Tuberville replied

“What’s your opinion?” asked Collins.

“My opinion of a white nationalist,” Tuberville said, “to me is an American. It’s an American,” he repeated.

READ MORE: ‘I Am Far Too Busy to Be Prosecuted’: Legal Experts Mock Trump’s Request for Indefinite Suspension of Trial

“Now, if that white nationalists is a racist, I’m totally against anything that they want to do, because I am 110% against racism. But I want somebody that’s in our military that strong that believes in this country, that’s an American that will fight along anybody, whether it’s a man or a woman, Black or white or red – it doesn’t make any difference.”

Then Tuberville again turned the conversation over, immediately attacking Democrats by implying opposing white nationalism is “identity politics.”

“And so I’m totally against identity politics. I think it’s ruining this country. And I think the Democrats ought to be ashamed for how they’re doing this, because it’s dividing this country and it’s making this country weaker every day.”

“But that’s not identity politics,” Collins said, pressing the Senator. “You said a white nationalist is an American.”

“It is identity politics,” Tuberville insisted.

“You said a white nationalist is an American but a white nationalist is someone who who believes horrific things. Do you really think that’s someone who should be serving in the military?” Collins asked.

“Well, that’s just a name that has been given,” Tuberville insisted, echoing his claim on Monday that the only difference between an acting Commandant of the Marines and a permanent, Senate-confirmed Commandant is “just the name.”

“It’s a real definition. There’s real concerns about extremism,” Collins argued.

That’s when Tuberville again turned there tables.

“So if you’re going to do away with most white people in this country out of the military, we got huge problems. We’ve got huge problems,” Tuberville declared.

“It’s not just people who are white, it’s white nationalists,” Collins shot back.

“That have a few probably different beliefs. That have a few different beliefs. Now, if racism is one of those beliefs, I’m totally against. I am totally against racism.”

“But a white nationalist is racist,” Collins again informed the Alabama Senator.

“Well, that’s your opinion. That’s your opinion. But if it’s racism, if it’s racism, I’m totally against it,” Tuberville claimed.

Watch the videos above or at this link.

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law

Arkansas Senator Files Bill to Abolish State Library, Give Education Department Control

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The right-wing war on knowledge continues as an Arkansas state senator filed a bill Thursday to abolish the State Library as well as the library board.

Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Jonesboro), along with State Rep. Wayne Long (R-Bradford), filed Senate Bill 536 on Thursday. The bill would not just remove all references to the State Library from existing laws, but also put the state’s other libraries under the control of the Arkansas Department of Education.

A previous version of the bill, SB184, would have also shuttered the Arkansas Educational Television Commission, which oversees the state’s PBS stations, according to the Arkansas Advocate.

READ MORE: Clean Up Alabama Wants State to Dump ‘Marxist’ American Library Association

The Arkansas State Library is not just a regular library. In addition to providing information to state agencies and lawmakers, it also distributes funding to the other libraries around the state. Under SB536, the Department of Education would take on all its responsibilities. The State Library is officially a part of the Department of Education already, but it operates as an independent organization.

While the proposal may sound like a shuffling-around of duties, the main thrust of the bill is to allow more direct control over the Arkansas library system by controlling the purse strings. The bill would keep libraries from distributing “age-inappropriate materials” to those under 17 years old and sex education materials from those under 12. Libraries would also have to set up a system where those in the community could request that certain items be banned for minors, according to KARK-TV. Those that don’t meet these restrictions will have state funding pulled.

Earlier legislation filed by Sullivan and passed into law includes Act 242, which ended the requirement for library directors to have a master’s degree in library science, the Advocate reported.  Sullivan, however, was unsuccessful with a proposed amendment to another bill that would strip funding from libraries affiliated with the American Library Association—meaning most, if not all of them. That amendment was rejected this week over concerns the language in it was too broad, according to the Advocate.

The ALA has been a target of right-wing politicians and activists upset with its free speech stance and fights against censorship. Sullivan in particular has objected to a provision in the ALA’s Library Bill of Rights protecting library access for all ages, the Advocate reported. He also called for the state’s chapter of the ALA to be defunded—despite the fact that it receives no state funding.

Image via Shutterstock

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BIGOTRY

Texas to Investigate Anonymous Complaint Teachers Used Trans Student’s Pronouns

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After a Moms for Liberty member claimed that teachers at a Texas high school used a trans student’s new name and proper pronouns, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott ordered an investigation.

On February 13, Denise Bell of the right wing, anti-LGBTQ group Moms for Liberty, addressed the Houston Independent School Board. She read a statement that she said came from the parents of a trans student at Bellaire High School. The parents were upset that teachers used the student’s new name and pronouns, according to Erin in the Morning. The anonymous statement Bell read said that the change happened without parental consent, and “goes against our Christian faith, the advice of [their] therapist and quite frankly common sense.”

Bell then claimed that the school district was “purposely and secretively transitioning minors.”

READ MORE: GOP Candidate Complaining She Wasn’t Allowed to ‘Have Kids Laugh At’ Transgender Students in Viral Video Draws Rebuke

State Representative Steve Toth—who represents a different district than the school is in—informed Abbott of the complaint in a letter on February 26. Two weeks later, Abbott replied to Toth’s letter, revealing he told the Texas Education Agency to investigate the Bellaire High School, accusing the teachers of helping “to ‘socially transition’ a student—violating the express wishes of the child’s mother,” which Abbott called “inappropriate and potentially unlawful.”

Abbott directed the TEA to not just determine whether or not the teachers did indeed use the trans student’s name and pronouns, but also open a full investigation into the school. TEA was told to find out if the school had also violated “policies concerning sexual education curriculum, parental consent for communications with students, mental health services or guidance to students, and parent grievances”; if any school employees had “engaged in misconduct”; and whether any student “has been subjected to abuse or neglect.”

That last one has a footnote on “abuse or neglect,” referring to a statement from President Donald Trump’s March 4 speech in front of a joint session of Congress:

“A few years ago, January Littlejohn and her husband discovered that their daughter’s school had secretly socially transitioned their 13-year-old little girl. Teachers and administrators conspired to deceive January and her husband, while encouraging her daughter to use a new name and pronouns—‘they/them’ pronouns, actually—all without telling January, who is here tonight and is now a courageous advocate against this form of child abuse.”

This is not the first time Abbott and his administration have attacked the state’s trans community. In his “State of the State Address” this year, he said that teachers who discuss gender transition with students should be fired, according to KTRK-TV. Texas has also banned trans students from sports as well as the use of puberty blockers in cases of minors experiencing gender dysphoria, according to the Houston Chronicle.

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AMERICA FIRST?

Tim Walz: ‘Racism’ Motivates MAGA Movement to Pardon Derek Chauvin

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Minnesota Governor Tim Walz didn’t mince words when asked what the motivation was for the new movement among MAGA Republicans to convince President Donald Trump to pardon Derek Chauvin, the former police officer who killed George Floyd in 2020.

“Racism. It’s racist. OK? That’s what I believe,” Walz said in an interview with Semafor published Wednesday.

The calls to pardon Chauvin started with an online petition earlier this month, according to The Independent. The pardon push picked up steam this week when conservative commentator Ben Shapiro of the Daily Wire launched a webseries, “The Case of Derek Chauvin.” Shapiro claims the officer was convicted on “extraordinarily scanty evidence,” saying Floyd did not die from having Chauvin’s knee on his neck for over nine minutes, but rather from drugs in Floyd’s system and heart disease.

READ MORE: Derek Chauvin Sentenced to 22-and-a-Half Years for Murder of George Floyd – Less Than Maximum Possible Sentence

Walz, however, disputes this interpretation of events.

“This was a man who murdered George Floyd on TV,” Walz said, adding that a pardon “would undermine the faith in the system.”

The White House, however, has denied that a Chauvin pardon is in Trump’s plans. Earlier this month, Trump said he hadn’t even heard about a push to pardon Floyd’s killer, and on Wednesday, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt repeated that a pardon is “not something he’s considering at this time,” according to The Grio.

However, some commentators, like The Hill’s Juan Williams are skeptical, pointing out that Trump has pardoned two police officers convicted of killing a Black man in the first days of his second term.

In 2020, after the killing, Trump condemned Chauvin.

“We all saw what we saw. It’s hard to conceive anything other than what we did see. It should have never happened,” Trump said.

If Trump were to pardon Chauvin, it would be largely moot. Presidents can only pardon those convicted on federal charges. Chauvin was convicted on both federal and Minnesota state charges. In the event Trump cleared the federal charges, the main thing that would happen is that Chauvin would be moved from the federal prison in Big Spring, Texas to a Minnesota state prison.

Minnesota sentenced Chauvin to 22 and a half years for murder; on the federal level, he was sentenced to 21 years for violating Floyd’s civil rights. Barring a federal pardon, the two sentences are running concurrently, not consecutively.

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