New Orleans Divided....

NOLA.COM ran a story titled, Take 'Em Down NOLA calls for widespread removal, renaming of 'symbols of White Supremacy' that was so over the top, I had to leave a comment. It was deleted.

Soooooo, for those who are interested, I'm  posting it here.

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~~ To those who are hostile to the artifacts of Confederate history and heritage
Especially, but not exclusively, to Take 'Em Down NOLA ~~

---From those who support and respect Confederate history and heritage

We believe your wrong-headed crusade to instigate a Stalin-style cultural cleansing of your city will not prevail.

We disagree that Confederate symbols mean what you say they mean.

We disagree with your truncated and selective interpretation of the Confederacy's history.

We highly disapprove of your efforts to demonize those whose view of the Confederacy is different from yours.

A great many of us no longer silently acquiesce to the evilization of our Southern forebears (who were no worse than anyone else, particularly those who made war on them) or the misbegotten efforts to deprive us and our descendants of our heritage.

We believe that your claim that these "public symbols ... demean and psychologically terrorize" members of Take 'Em Down NOLA, or anyone else, is exaggerated in the extreme.

The list of targets in the Times Picayune article dated March 23 and updated March 24 -- particularly street, school and hospital names -- underscore our skepticism of the claim of "demeaning and terrorizing," which is contradicted and neutralized by the long-standing and widely held view of New Orleans as "The Big Easy" and a cultural center blending unique cuisine, Mardi Gras, river cruises, Saints football and, yes, the still-felt influence of its vibrant, multi-faceted history. Targeting and removing any facet will deface the remainder, endangering the entire edifice, and your city's status as a visitor destination will shrivel, and tourist revenues will evaporate.

We think that residents of and visitors to New Orleans are far more likely to be demeaned and terrorized by the astronomical crime in your city. From Wikipedia: "In 2011 there were 16,761 crimes in New Orleans including 200 murders, 163 forcible rapes and 14,013 property crimes. With a murder rate of 57.6 per 100,000, New Orleans had the highest murder rate of any U.S. city with a population of 100,000 or more in 2011 and ranked 28th in the world in 2014." Thus, we think your time, efforts and funds would be far better spent addressing real crime in your city, not imaginary or mis-named white supremacy.

Telling It Like It Is

DeStroy's Desperation

This is in response to DeStroy's Desperation, found here:  http://restoringthehonor.blogspot.com/2017/03/the-sulser-files-sunday-june-28-2015.html

In the comments of my previous post here at Backsass, I noted that months ago, I challenged DeStroy to list all the events two fellows, Sulser and Durham, organized that the VaFlaggers attended and VaFlagger-sponsored events Sulser and Durham attended (NOT other people's events they both attended). The Flaggers have confirmed that, of over 700 events, Sulser attended perhaps three. THREE.

DeStroy forgot my challenge for months and months. Or ignored it. He'd put me off when I asked about it. But now he's been caught, pinned to the wall, and his desperation is showing in his post at the link above. He claims to have 2 gigs of data proving what he claimed, hahaha. Presumably, this is his first post of "proof."

Sez he: This rally took place on Sunday, June 28, 2015 in front of the Stafford County Courthouse. Although it is unclear who organized this rally, it is believed that it was organized by Dennis Durham, the Virginia State Chairman of the League of the South, a white nationalist hate group (Emphasis added.)

Unclear who organized it but it is believed????   UNCLEAR? BUT IT IS BELIEVED?  BELIEVED BY WHOM? YOU???? No, no, no, DeStroy. We're not looking for "unclear" and "believed" because that is not PROOF.

He continues: The Stafford Light Artillery SCV Camp shared Jason Sulser's photo, apparently taken at the June 28th event. According to tagging, Sulser had shared the same photo previously on the Virginia Flaggers Facebook page. It is unclear if Sulser attended the rally himself, or was simply sharing the photo. Due to the SCV Camp's comment under the post, we know that about 15 people attended the rally. (Emphasis added.)

Apparently taken June 28? APPARENTLY????? We don't want APPARENTLY, DeStroy. We want ABSOLUTE PROOF. That was the deal, remember? PROOF

Unclear? UNCLEAR???? You are unclear, again???? We aren't looking for unclarity, DeStroy. Why are you mentioning it? CLARITY is what we're after.

Dennis Durham and Jason Sulser are listed as hosts on a Facebook event for a Confederate flag rally at the Stafford County Courthouse. 

Well, well, well ... so they are .... on a screenshot dated JULY 3, and said screen designates TOMORROW (July 4, 1 p.m. - 4 p.m.) as the date and time of the rally. Following the screenshot of the announcement for the July 4th rally, you post:

Only 5 days after this rally, Durham hosted another rally at the same location, Jason Sulser was listed on the event as the co-host. 

So you mentioned TWICE that Durham and Sulser are "hosts" for the Stafford County Courthouse rally July 4th....  Are you really so mixed up that you didn't realize you had mentioned it already? Or is this just a really, really failed attempt at obfuscation?

Dennis Durham shared two photographs taken at the event as seen above. Bill West and Gregory Randall are both tagged in Durham's post. West can clearly be seen in one of the photos, and although it isn't clear due to the low quality of the photograph, it appears as though Randall is in another. Randall, we learned later, is or was a member of the white nationalist hate group, the League of the South, just like suspected rally host Durham.

(Yawn.) You learned LATER? How MUCH later? AFTER you made the ridiculous claims? If so, it doesn't count. Is or was? Which is it?

UPDATED Tuesday, March 14, 2017, 6:06pm EST. The photos above were just located. It shows Dennis Durham, and what appears to be Gregory Randall holding a League of the South banner at the rally. Durham is wearing a League of the South polo shirt. This post now confirms that this was a League of the South led flag demonstration

Ridiculous. It confirms two guys, a banner and a couple of flags. So you think your post "now confirms" that this was League of the South led flag demonstration?  WHAT was a League led demonstration? I don't see a crowd being "led." I don't even see 15 people being "led."

But, FINALLY, by March 14, you think your frantic searching paid off, huh?

I also don't see a date stamp on the picture. Even if the pic was made at either the June 28 or the July 4th events, it doesn't prove either event was "League led."  It just proves that a couple of guys showed up at the courthouse in League shirts and posed for a photo with a League banner.

You're gonna have to do better, DeStroy. If this is a sample of your "2 gigs of data" you've got 2 gigs of worthless crap. Remember, "apparently" "unclear" "believed" and similar linguistic silliness are not PROOF. You are supposed to be supplying PROOF.

He Just Can't Stay Away....

At his XRoads blog, Brooks Simpson tells a commenter, "I’m noting this event because of the close association between this person and a Confederate heritage group."

This event is the sentencing of a man, Jason Sulser, for trafficking in child pornography. We know the Confederate heritage group Simpson is talking about can't be the Virginia Flaggers, because they do not have a close relationship with Sulser.

But in case that is who people think he's talking about, let me disabuse you of that idea right now. Simpson tells the commenter, "You might want to do a little research before you offer your opinion."  I also wrote a comment to leave at XRoads but Simpson has a long, long history of not posting comments he doesn't like, or that prove he is wrong -- especially mine -- so I'm addressing some of  my comments in this blog entry to him.

I might suggest that you might want to do a little research before you offer your opinion, Simpson, but, of course, we know that when it comes to Confederate heritage folks, and especially the Virginia Flaggers, you don't want to do that. What YOU want to do is join DeStroy in fomenting hatred for the Virginia Flaggers. That is why you have posted about them, or hosted comments about them, hundreds of times on your blog -- with the posts and comments almost always hostile and frequently deliberately untrue.

If the Virginia Flaggers are the "Confederate heritage group" you are talking about without naming, then read on and add this to your research.

Mr. Sulser has showed up for some events that the VaFlaggers also attended. He may have showed up for some Flagger events that were open to everyone (the Flaggers say he attended about 3 of over 700 events). He and the Flaggers have traded a tiny handful of comments on Facebook. Are you seriously claiming that constitutes a close association? If so, then the VaFlaggers have close relationships with hundreds, possibly thousands of people they've never even spoken to, but who attended events like the Tomato Festival and the Mechanicsville Christmas Parade, etc.

BTW, your alter-eg-- I mean, your buddy DeStroy said months ago he was going to compile a list of Virginia Flagger-sponsored events that Sulser attended -- dates, times, locations --  and events organized by Sulser that the Flaggers attended, and post them on his blog. Not events sponsored by others they both happened to attend, but THEIR events and HIS events. DeStroy has posted no such lists. We can only assume he hasn't because he can't, because he can't find and/or document any.

Simpson, I know you have a visceral desire to portray the Virginia Flaggers as racist evil-doers, but they are not and your longing to believe they are is both pathetic and contemptible. Let us not forget that you had among your blog followers a convicted pedophile and a convicted child porn trafficker. What is there about you that attracted these followers? And how many other of your followers are the same, but they just haven't been outed yet?

And what about your close association with the antifa commenters at XRoads. DeStroy is an antifa supporter, and probably antifa himself.. "Liberty Lamp" is antifa... Antifa are the folks who rioted and attacked people and injured many after Trump's election. They riot and burn buildings at college campuses to deprive certain speakers of their constitutional rights to appear and address audiences there. They have beaten up peaceful demonstrators; they've pepper sprayed old people, and destroyed property at otherwise peaceful gatherings from California to Virginia...

In the USA and in Europe, dressed in black, with black hoods and masks, they are the left's KKK, the storm troopers of the New World Order*.... and you have welcomed at least two to comment on your blog. What is there about you that attracts the KKK of the progressive left? Why have you not denounced the violent antifa?  Why leftist antifa, or their supporters, commented at your blog in the past? Why have you continued allowed them to comment at XRoads, most recently on March 11?

As I have challenged elsewhere, Find me ANYWHERE online a video where an innocent pedestrian or even a Flagger critic walking down the Boulevard in Richmond gets physically attacked, hit, punched, slapped, and kicked like the unfortunate protester in Berkeley who was beaten and kicked by antifa thugs. (See the video at the February 10th entry of this blog.)At most, critics on the Boulevard might find themselves videotaped... but not violently attacked -- not by the Virginia Flaggers, at any rate.

What we are seeing now is what we've seen all along. "Progressives" like Simpson and his followers are more offended by some people's words than they are other people's violence and thuggery.  And many times, the words they object to are not offensive in and of themselves. In that case, these critics assign meanings to words that they don't actually have, so they can condemn others, not for what they say, but for what critics say they mean.

Simpson has stepped up his attacks on Confederate heritage folks recently, after laying somewhat low for a good while, and letting his Restoring the Honor persona-- I mean, colleague, do the heavy lifting of heritage bashing. I'm not sure what happened lately to set him off... but with haters like that, you might never know....

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*ht to Baron Bodissy at The Gates of Vienna for the
designation, Storm Troopers of the New World Order.

The Douglasville 15, the "Justice" System and the Fake News Media....

The following is edited from posts and comments I recently made on Facebook following the sentencing of Jose Torres and Kayla Norton in Douglas County, Georgia...

 Some Troubling Aspects of the Douglasville 15 Case

I've touched on some of these aspects in other comments, but they can certainly bear repeating.

Maybe these defendants ARE white supes motivated by racial hatred, but the case presented by the justice system fails to show that. Claims to that effect are made by others, but actual evidence showing these defendants' statements and actions are far from conclusive. It's mostly just "they said..." claims. **

If actual evidence ever comes out that these people are haters misusing our ancestors' flag, I will have no qualms about acknowledging it and denouncing them.

But right now, I'm doubtful, for the following (and other) reasons.

Some of the judge's statements, as reported in the media, are troubling. And what the media "chose" to "report" about this incident reveals their lack of objectivity; it appears that they, and he, are trying to influence public opinion to hatred of the defendants.

>>>“Their actions were motivated by racial hatred,” the judge said.<<<

The judge is not a mind-reader. He cannot know this unless they told him that was what motivated them. I am deeply suspicious of this man's impartiality.

Although I haven't tried to verify this yet, I'm told that he is up for re-election. He's white. His opponent is black. Could his performance during this trial be currying favor with black voters? This seems to substantiate a comment I made in an earlier post that the excessive sentence for the defendants appeared to be politically motivated. Could he have sacrificed an impartial trial for these defendants on the altar of his political ambition?

The media reports:

>>>Just a month after Dylann Roof shot down nine African-American worshipers in a Charleston, S.C., church, Jose Ismael Torres and Kayla Rae Norton gathered with 13 other friends to make a statement about the Confederate battle flag.<<<

Roof and Charleston are irrelevant to this case. Bringing them up is a blatant attempt to falsely associate the defendants with Roof, and to equate their alleged actions with his crime .

>>>Roof had championed it and said he wanted to start a race war.<<<

Roof did not "champion" the Confederate battle flag. He had his picture made with it a few times, but he didn't even mention it in his manifesto, which is where it would need to be if he was "championing" it. If you are confused about this, compare his behavior to that of the Virginia Flaggers. THEY are champions of the battle flag.

>>>Over two days in July 2015, Norton and Torres’ group, which called itself “Respect the Flag,” decorated their convoy of pickup trucks and went on what authorities described as a drunken rampage through Paulding and Douglas counties.<<<

How do we know this description by "authorities" is accurate when there is very little elaboration on it or substantiation of it? A news report includes this:

>>>“Many good people in Paulding County saw you for what you are,” McClain said before he handed down the sentences. “Everywhere you went, 911 call centers were flooded with calls.”<<<

How many good people, Judge? How many 911 calls were there? "Flooded with calls" is blatantly nonspecific. Intentionally so? How many is a flood? Three? Thirty? Three hundred? This needs to be clarified. Calls to 911 are archived. It should be possible, and relatively easy, to get a precise number of the calls, rather than resort to the loaded word, "flooded."

>>>As the defendants wept uncontrollably, Douglas County Superior Court Judge William McClain castigated Norton, 25, and Torres, 26, for perpetrating what he called a hate crime. He sentenced Torres to 20 years, with 13 to serve in prison; Norton was given 15 years, with six to serve. Upon their release, they will be banished from Douglas County, McClain said.<<<

On top of these grossly excessive sentences, they are to be banished from the county? How medieval can this judge get?

There are many other things about this case, about how it has been handled from the beginning, about the trial and about the way it has all been reported in the media that are extremely troubling.

Yes, the defendants did something wrong and they should be held accountable for it. If the incident with the gun is being accurately reported, they *especially* deserve to be held accountable for that.

But there are too many troubling things about this case that makes me deeply suspicious that serving justice was not the point for the "authorities".

***** 1. The involvement of the Southern Poverty Law Center since the very beginning ... From the SPLC's website:

"The SPLC launched an investigation immediately after the July 25 incident and turned over videos and other evidence to Douglasville District Attorney Brian K. Fortner. SPLC attorneys also brought witnesses to the prosecutor and have been representing some of the people at the party."

We need to know what videos and "other evidence" the SPLC gave to the DA. We need to see the videos and other evidence ourselves.  We need the identity of the SPLC-provided witnesses, and what information/testimony they provided. We need copies of any depositions they gave.

***** 2. The repeated references to Dylann Roof and Charleston by the press.

If there was any actual connection whatsoever between Roof and this group, that connection needs to be presented in detail. If there is no actual connection -- if it is some mysterious "link" imagined in the press due to their prejudices about the Confederate battle flag -- they need to remove all references to Roof and Charleston from their reports about this Georgia incident.

***** 3. This incident needs to bring into sharp focus Georgia's "gang terrorism" law. Citizens of the state need to understand just how dangerous this law is, how it could endanger innocent people, or authorize cruel and unusual punishment for those convicted of crimes under its authority.

That's just a start on the troubling aspects of this case.

I believe there is waaaaaay more here than meets the eye.

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** The only video I've seen of the incident as it occurred (and it was winding down, as the trucks were leaving at that time), is a snippet of less than a minute. I note that 1.) no threats or racial slurs are discernible in the audio from those in the trucks, 2.) the party-goers do not appear to be the least bit terrorized or traumatized; they appear to be infuriated, at least one of them mindlessly so; 3.) there are no guns visible in the snnippet; 4.) there are no swastika flags, as some people claimed.