When I first posted this it was from my phone in bed. I am sorry I did not check but no link or story posted. Thankfully wonderful Ali jumped to the rescue and added the link. Thank you Ali. Hugs. Scottie
This is a repeat of history. 1930s German with an authoritarian leader with a compliant congress with a plan to take over the government functions to end rights and liberty for some people while making others a superior race. Damn it people wake up. We have seen this movie before. The fascist are the bad guys. We had to stop them then, we have to stop them now. They did not have permits yet they marched and paraded anyway. They vandalized public property, costing taxpayer money to repair. They threatened people, rule by violence, by gang thugs, brownshirts, tRump soldiers. Hugs. Scottie
For the second time in just nearly as many weeks, a hate group stationed themselves in downtown Nashville and passed out flyers against those who were Jewish and in the LGBTQ community.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — For the second time in just nearly as many weeks, a hate group stationed themselves in downtown Nashville and passed out flyers against those who were Jewish and in the LGBTQ community.
The group kept passing out flyers that labeled Jewish people as pedophiles and screaming that those who are LGBTQ needed to “get the f—k home.” Their shirts read “pro white” on the front. On the back of the shirt, it read “whites against replacement.” They stood alongside a Nazi flag and a sign that said Let’s Go Brandon, a moniker against President Joe Biden.
“Joe Biden’s cabinet is 80% Jewish,” one of the group told our camera crew.
Men in the group were raising their arms in the same salute as Nazi soldiers did to Adolf Hitler during his fascist rise of power in the 1930s and 1940s.
“The Holocaust never happened,” they told our camera crew.
Justice Kennedy/WTVF
A man holds a flyer in the face of another while a hate group stood at Third and Broadway in Nashville, Tenn., on July 14, 2024.
Those at Third and Broadway identified themselves as the Goyim Defense League, and they are defined as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. They are a group that primarily lends their hate to the Jewish community, though the group on Broadway was screaming about the Jewish, LGBTQ and the Black community.
“It’s time for white people to stand up for themselves,” the group told pedestrians walking by.
We captured a woman who was gay screaming at the group for being out there in front of her child. They screamed at her that she shouldn’t have any children.
“My daughter is scared of you!” the woman screamed, who said she had just come out of a restaurant.
Metro Nashville police officers were near the group on Lower Broadway.
The Jewish Federation of Greater Nashville posted on Sunday about hate groups continuing to hand out flyers that show hatred against Jewish people, including Saturday night in Nashville.
“The Jewish Federation of Greater Nashville is disgusted that once again our beloved city has been sullied by antisemitic instigators,” Jewish leaders said in a statement. “Last night, a group of roughly 15 Jew-haters handed out antisemitic literature in downtown while spewing loathsome rhetoric. We condemn this activity in the strongest possible way and denounce the perpetrators. Antisemitism — the irrational hatred of Jews — continues to escalate here in Middle Tennessee and around the country (and world). We are in constant contact with local law enforcement and thank them for their hard work and partnership in ensuring that the hateful words being espoused do not turn into violent actions against our community members or institutions.”
Previous hate groups in Nashville
The hate group the Patriot Front didn’t have a permit to march in the city, but they did so anyway last weekend.
The group went through the streets of downtown Nashville a “Reclaim America” banner, American flags, a Confederate flag and passing out flyers while chanting on their way to the front of the Capitol. Some also held red, white, and blue shields.
They also spray-painted their logo under the Woodland Street Bridge, which is vandalism.
In February, the group defaced the retaining wall in Brentwood on the side of Interstate 65. The Tennessee Department of Transportation had to paint over it.
Other racist flyers were passed out in downtown in February.
On Sunday, once again, a hate group put on a demonstration in downtown Nashville. This time, it was the neo-Nazi “Goyim Defense League,” shouting “Hitler was right!” and other vile words! 1/ pic.twitter.com/CcP59f7mIk
'They see Tennessee as a battleground.' New data points to dramatic rise of hate in Tennessee (From my “Hate Comes to Main Street” investigation) 3/3 https://t.co/23UouVF05H
JUST IN: Video of a fight in downtown Nashville involving the neo-Nazi Goyim Defense League. MNPD was on the scene. It’s unclear if any arrests were made. https://t.co/EOmA1VwGBvpic.twitter.com/PHJdaFYr7m
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The top United Nations court said Friday that Israel’s presence in the occupied Palestinian territories is unlawful and called on it to end, and for settlement construction to stop immediately, issuing an unprecedented, sweeping condemnation of Israel’s rule over the lands it captured 57 years ago.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu quickly denounced the nonbinding opinion issued by the 15-judge panel of the International Court of Justice, saying the territories are part of the Jewish people’s historic homeland. But the resounding breadth of the decision could impact international opinion and fuel moves for unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state.
The judges pointed to a wide list of policies, including the building and expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, use of the area’s natural resources, the annexation and imposition of permanent control over lands and discriminatory policies against Palestinians, all of which it said violated international law.
The court said Israel had no right to sovereignty in the territories, was violating international laws against acquiring territory by force and was impeding Palestinians’ right to self-determination. It said other nations were obliged not to “render aid or assistance in maintaining” Israel’s presence in the territories. It said Israel must end settlement construction immediately and that existing settlements must be removed, according to a summary of the more than 80-page opinion read out by court President Nawaf Salam.
Israel’s “abuse of its status as the occupying power” renders its “presence in the occupied Palestinian territory unlawful,” the court said, saying its presence must be ended as “rapidly as possible.”
The court’s opinion, sought by the U.N. General Assembly after a Palestinian request, came against the backdrop of Israel’s devastating military assault on Gaza, which was triggered by the Hamas-led attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7. In a separate case, the International Court of Justice is considering a South African claim that Israel’s campaign in Gaza amounts to genocide, a claim that Israel vehemently denies.
The court said the General Assembly and Security Council — where staunch Israeli ally the United States holds a veto — should consider “the precise modalities” to end Israel’s presence in the territories.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will promptly transmit the advisory opinion to the 193-member world body and “it is for the General Assembly to decide how to proceed in the matter,” U.N. deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq said.
The secretary-general reiterates his call for Israel and the Palestinians to engage “on the long-delayed political path towards ending the occupation and resolving the conflict in line with international law, relevant U.N. resolutions and bilateral agreements,” the spokesperson said.
Guterres also stressed that a two-state solution is “the only viable path” to seeing Israel and “a fully independent, democratic, contiguous, viable and sovereign Palestinian state” living side by side in peace and security, Haq said.
Israel, which normally considers the United Nations and international tribunals as unfair and biased, didn’t send a legal team to the hearings. Instead, it submitted written comments, saying that the questions put to the court are prejudiced and fail to address Israeli security concerns. Israeli officials have said the court’s intervention could undermine the peace process, which has been stagnant for more than a decade.
“The Jewish people are not conquerors in their own land — not in our eternal capital Jerusalem and not in the land of our ancestors in Judea and Samaria,” Netanyahu said in a statement issued by his office, using the biblical terms for the West Bank. “No false decision in The Hague will distort this historical truth and likewise the legality of Israeli settlement in all the territories of our homeland cannot be contested.”
Speaking outside the court, Riad Malki, an adviser to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, called the opinion “a watershed moment for Palestine, for justice and for international law.”
He said other nations must now “uphold the clear obligations” outlined by the court. “No actions of any kind … to support Israel’s illegal occupation.”
Hamas welcomed the court’s decision and said in a statement that “serious steps on the ground” need to be taken in response.
Israel captured the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza Strip in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians seek all three areas for an independent state.
Israel considers the West Bank to be disputed territory, the future of which should be decided in negotiations, while it has moved populations there in settlements to solidify its hold. It has annexed east Jerusalem in a move that isn’t internationally recognized, while it withdrew from Gaza in 2005 but maintained a blockade of the territory after Hamas took power in 2007. The international community generally considers all three areas to be occupied territory.
The court’s decision strikes at the heart of the ambiguity of Israel’s administration of the territories. Israel hasn’t annexed the West Bank — though settler groups have pressed it to do so — but it calls it part of its homeland and has effectively treated it as an extension of the nation. Along with the settlements, it has appropriated large swaths of the territory as “state lands.” At the same time, Netanyahu’s government has repeatedly rejected the creation of any Palestinian state. Abbas’ Palestinian Authority has been restricted to control over divided enclaves scattered around the West Bank.
The Palestinians presented arguments at hearings in February, along with 49 other nations and three international organizations. In the hearings, Malki accused Israel of apartheid and urged the United Nations’ top court to declare that Israel’s occupation of lands sought by the Palestinians is illegal and must end immediately and unconditionally for any hope for a two-state future to survive.
Erwin van Veen, a senior research fellow at the Clingendael think tank in The Hague, said before the decision that a ruling that Israel’s policies breach international law would “isolate Israel further internationally, at least from a legal point of view.”
He said such a ruling would remove “any kind of legal, political, philosophical underpinning of the Israeli expansion project.” It could also increase the number of countries that recognize a Palestinian state, in particular in the Western world, following the recent example of Spain, Norway and Ireland, he said.
It’s not the first time the ICJ has been asked to give its legal opinion on Israeli policies. Two decades ago, the court ruled that Israel’s West Bank separation barrier was “contrary to international law.” Israel boycotted those proceedings, saying they were politically motivated.
Israel says the barrier is a security measure. Palestinians say the structure amounts to a massive land grab, because it frequently dips into the West Bank.
The court said that Israel’s construction of settlements in the West Bank violated international laws prohibiting countries from moving their population into territories they occupy.
Israel has built well over 100 settlements, according to the anti-settlement monitoring group Peace Now. The West Bank settler population has grown by more than 15% in the past five years to more than 500,000 Israelis, according to a pro-settler group. Their residents are Israeli citizens governed by domestic law and served by government ministries, services, banks and other businesses — effectively integrating them into Israel.
Israel also has annexed east Jerusalem and considers the entire city to be its capital. An additional 200,000 Israelis live in settlements built in east Jerusalem that Israel considers to be neighborhoods of its capital. Palestinian residents of the city face systematic discrimination, making it difficult for them to build new homes or expand existing ones.
The international community considers all settlements to be illegal or obstacles to peace since they are built on lands sought by the Palestinians for their state.
Netanyahu’s hard-line government is dominated by settlers and their political supporters. Netanyahu has given his Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich, a former settler leader, unprecedented authority over settlement policy. Smotrich has used this position to cement Israel’s control over the West Bank by pushing forward plans to build more settlement homes and to legalize outposts.
They will not accept defeat. Listen to them talk at the republican convention. The talk like they are a super majority. Hulk Hogan even gave a speech saying what are all you criminals, child abusers, … a bunch of insulting terms they use for democrats, what you going to do when tRump and maga troops come after you. Threats of violence. They used phrases like everyone wanted tRump, everyone agrees with republicans, the country wants a return to Christianity, they said things like our country, we need to take back our country. Hogan said all real Americans will be called tRumpiets. The rest of us that don’t want tRump are not Americans, we don’t love the USA. Every thing to make it seem that there is no way they can lose because there are so many of them and so little of everyone else. I hate it. The democrats need to project confidence instead we are eating our own candidate. How can we win if we can not stick together and show we know we are going to win. Hugs. Scottie
Mr. Trump’s allies have followed a two-pronged approach: restricting voting for partisan advantage ahead of Election Day and short-circuiting the process of ratifying the winner afterward, if Mr. Trump loses. The latter strategy involves an ambitious — and legally dubious — attempt to reimagine decades of settled law dictating how results are officially certified in the weeks before the transfer of power.
The legal campaign, which has come into focus as Republicans prepare to nominate Mr. Trump at their convention next week, has been quietly playing out in courts, statehouses and county boards for months, and is concentrated in critical battlegrounds.
The effort involves a sprawling network of groups and includes some people that worked to overturn the results in 2020 — a campaign that led to federal and state criminal charges against Mr. Trump and several of his associates.
In the movie “Recount” Tom Wilkerson, playing lead counsel James Baker for Team Bush, said, “This is a street fight, boys.” It’s high time Democrats recognize that’s the way Rethugs always play and fight back accordingly, unlike Team Gore.
Ukrainian authorities say the number of children abducted by Russia since the start of the war, stands at more than 19-thousand. Few have made it back home. DW went to Ukraine to speak to one of those who did.
Donald Trump has chosen J.D. Vance as his running mate, the former president announced on Monday.
Vance, a first-term Republican senator from Ohio, was widely expected to be Trump’s vice presidential pick as the pool of potential hopefuls narrowed earlier in the day. Just hours before the announcement, several outlets reported that Gov. Doug Burgum (R-N.D.) and U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) were informed by the Trump campaign that they would not be on the 2024 ticket. Others previously thought to be on Trump’s short list included Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), U.S. House Rep. Elise Stefanink (R-N.Y.), and former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson.
In a post on his own tech platform, Truth Social, Trump lauded Vance as the “person best suited to assume the position of Vice President of the United States.”
“J.D. honorably served our Country in the Marine Corps, graduated from Ohio State University in two years, Summa Cum Laude, and is a Yale Law School Graduate, where he was Editor of The Yale Law Journal, and President of the Yale Law Veterans Association,” he said, adding that he “will be strongly focused on the people he fought so brilliantly for, the American Workers and Farmers in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Minnesota, and far beyond.”
The choice of Vance, who rose to fame as the author of the controversial memoir Hillbilly Elegy, was likely intended to help Trump shore up support among white, lower-income voters in the Midwest, where President Joe Biden is considered vulnerable in the 2024 race. According to poll averages from FiveThirtyEight, Trump leads Biden by more than nine points in Vance’s home state of Ohio, and Biden also trails in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Biden would likely need to win all three of the latter states to stave off a second Trump term, with swing states like Arizona, Georgia, and Nevada also looking vulnerable in 2024.
A former critic of Trump who recast himself as a politician in the MAGA model, Vance’s LGBTQ+ record differs very little from the man at the top of his ticket. During his two years in the U.S. Senate, Vance opposed the Respect for Marriage Act, which codified federal same-sex marriage rights in the event that Obergefell v. Hodges, the 2004 ruling legalizing marriage equality, is repealed by the Supreme Court. He also authored the Protect Children’s Innocence Act, which would make it a class C felony, punishable by up to 15 years in prison, to provide gender-affirming surgery to trans minors. (This despite the fact that transition surgeries are rarely offered to patients under the age of 18 and only in cases of extreme medical need.)
Additionally, Vance is a supporter of the so-called “parent’s rights” movement, which advocates that LGBTQ+ students be outed to their parents and seeks to remove queer-affirming resources from classrooms. He has repeatedly referred to opponents of those actions as “groomers,” such as in an April 2022 post on X. “I’ll stop calling people ‘groomers’ when they stop freaking out about bills that prevent the sexualization of my children,” he wrote at the time.
The 39-year-old politician has also opposed diversity and inclusion in the U.S. armed forces, suggesting that he is likely to support re-banning trans servicemembers from the military should Trump be elected. “American political leaders should stop using America’s military as a social justice side project,” his 2022 campaign site reads. “Troops don’t need to focus on diversity or equity or any other progressive buzzword; they need to focus on fighting and winning America’s wars.” The removal of trans troops from the military is a major component of Project 2025, a set of far-right policy proposals shaped and promoted by the anti-LGBTQ+ Heritage Foundation, which Trump has sought to distance himself from in recent days.
Vance’s anti-LGBTQ+ background also includes claiming that Biden supports Ukraine because Russian President Vladimir Putin is anti-trans and blaming the “childless left” for America’s decline, specifically citing U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg. Furthermore, he once accused U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) of making up the term “Two-Spirit,” which is broadly embraced by LGBTQ+ Native Americans to describe their identities. “Would love if progressives just stopped inventing words,” Vance posted on X in February 2021.
In repeatedly opposing LGBTQ+ equality, Vance has found a perfect match in Trump, whose administration was responsible for more than 200 attacks on queer rights in four years, according to GLAAD. These assaults included repealing protections for trans students, removing resources for LGBTQ+ Americans from federal websites, decimating funding for global HIV/AIDS prevention, and appointing a record-number of judges opposed to LGBTQ+ equality. His administration also made it harder for marginally housed people to find safe shelter and opposed workplace protections for LGBTQ+ employees.
Trump, whose own supporters threatened to kill his last vice president for refusing to support Trump’s 2020 bid to remain in office, is likely to resume many of those policies if reelected in November.
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Scottie's Playtime 