Daily Archives: 04/04/2013

(Community Matters) while he’s dogged about not saying I support same sex marriage, or marriage equality in any quotable forum (especially refusing to confirm to reporters), I do acknowledge & very much appreciate his posting of the statement below accompanied by the pic on his Facebook page. Thx u, Congressman Doggett.

“Even if the Court gets it wrong, I’ll keep working for this right.”

(Community Matters) WSJ: Deep in the Red of Texas, Republicans Fight the Blues

(Community Matters) So looking forward to this

(Community Matters) This has the potential to explode into a much bigger US scandal. 

(Community Matters) ADL blog on white supremacist activities

It’s true, I am becoming obsessed with this “story.” It feels like the wave of anger and violence I’ve been fearing as a result of the economic and cultural chasms in our country. Threatening storm: a simultaneous wave from disenfranchised, low income minorities who also suffer systemic underemployment and lessening opportunities. We’ve got to address issues which others prefer to ignore. Time to stir the pot – surface the dreg issues and address them.

(Community Matters) ADL: Denver Gunman Suspected to Have Had Links to White Supremacist Prison Gang

Denver, CO, March 22, 2013 … The suspected gunman in the shooting death of the executive director of the Colorado Department of Corrections reportedly had ties to a violent racist prison gang whose activities have been monitored by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) for many years.

(Community Matters) A Quinnipiac University poll: 56% of voters believe the US Constitution and not state laws should determine the legality of same-sex marriage. This overrides state lawmakers who say states should decide.

(Community Matters) Nice having Mayor Julian & Congressman Joaquin Castro in Austin this week. I didn’t get to see Joaquin but joined a Tuesday luncheon for the Mayor. The rising stars of Texas spent time in Austin to offer a nonradicalized perspective on healthcare for Texans, promote public education funding and to suggest universal background checks don’t threaten Texans’ right to carry concealed weapons. Looking forward to spending Saturday evening with the Mayor, Erica and friends in San Antonio.

(Community Matters) While reading the below Stratfor Report, I couldn’t help but draw the lines between how underemployed, angry men & women become radicalized white supremacists and how disenfranchised European Muslims become Jihadists.  Remembering a line from Kip Keller’s letter triggered discovery of the parallels:

he never, not once . . . . so much as hints that maybe, just maybe, structural, macroeconomic forces might have something to do with the unenviable lives of the “less fortunate.” A venture capital firm shut down your town’s factory and shipped the jobs to Vietnam? Well, you can all work as Walmart greeters instead—enjoy your new, fantastically reduced standard of living.

Stratfor – The Acute Jihadist Threat in Europe

                On March 26, the Belgian federal police’s counterterrorism force, or Special Units, conducted a felony car stop on Hakim Benladghem, a 39-year-old French citizen of Algerian extraction. When Benladghem reacted aggressively, he was shot and killed by the police attempting to arrest him. The Special Units chose to take Benladghem down in a car stop rather than arrest him at his home because it had intelligence indicating that he was heavily armed. The authorities also knew from their French counterparts that Benladghem had been trained as a paratrooper in the French Foreign Legion.

Continue reading →