Adam Hochschild reviews two books on the Ku Klux Klan.

Most of us who grow up in the United States learn a reassuring narrative of ever-expanding tolerance. Yes, the country’s birth was tainted with the original sin of slavery, but Lincoln freed the slaves, the Supreme Court desegregated schools, and we finally elected a black president. The Founding Fathers may have all been men, but in their wisdom they created a constitution that would later allow women to gain the vote. And now the legal definition of marriage has broadened to include gays and lesbians. We are, it appears, an increasingly inclusive nation.

Some of us are, and others of us prefer Trumpworld.

But a parallel, much darker river runs

Originally a comment by Bruce Gorton on Efficiency drive.

It kind of reminds me of something I read on Cracked once, they were interviewing someone from the military who had to brief GW Bush on something.

What the guy found was that he had basically one sentence to give the information the president wanted, which he chalked up to the president having so much to do that he couldn’t afford to waste any time. The president was surprisingly sharp you see!

This in turn reminded of another report in which somebody was supposed to brief the president on tax and the president cut him down a peg or two – and this showed how smart Bush was. Nevermind that … Read the rest

The BBC on Islamists attacking mosques.

The intensity of this Friday’s attack in Sinai is unprecedented in modern Egyptian history – never before have so many people been killed in such a short time by any terrorist group.

Regrettably though, this is not the first time that a mosque has been targeted by radical extremists. Iraqis know this; Syrians know this; as do many other populations around the world.

The scourge of radical Islamist extremism has been felt far more by Muslims than any other population. Muslims, by far, are its most numerous victims. And Muslims, most of all, are the ones fighting it.

Donald Trump please note.

Until now, radical groups have been trying to recruit in Egypt,

Pete Souza: “Someone has a lot of catching up to do.”

Someone has a lot of catching up to do. #Repost @michelleandbarack ・・・ #MichelleAndBarack #Forever44 #BarackObama #MichelleObama #MaliaObama #SashaObama #Bo #Sunny #POTUS #FLOTUS #WhiteHouse #ObamaFoundation #ThankYouObama #TwoTerms #Hope #ComeBackBarack #MyPresidentWasBlack #NeverForget #Hawaii #Chicago #WashingtonDC #MakeAmericaGreatAgain

A post shared by Pete Souza (@petesouza) on Nov 25, 2017 at 12:51pm PST

… Read the rest

I saw this

Written by someone with a PhD: "I urge you to…demonstrate public support for Prof. Rambukkana and his brave stance against hate speech in the classroom."

These people have lost their minds.https://t.co/4JmITn6BDQ via @torontostar

— Lindsay Shepherd (@NewWorldHominin) November 26, 2017

So I read the letter. It does indeed show a mind gone astray.

Under the guise of protecting free speech, you published content that bullied Prof. Rambukkana, as well as the university at large, into apologizing for an act of intervention that was neither unfair nor unwarranted. Instead of taking a stand against hate speech, you have given dangerous credence to the views of (University of Toronto Prof.) Jordan Peterson and his supporters, flying in the

Meanwhile Trump and the Evil Republicans are going to be able to pack the courts because the ERs got away with cheating.

If conservatives get their way, President Trump will add twice as many lifetime members to the federal judiciary in the next 12 months (650) as Barack Obama named in eight years (325). American law will never be the same.

…In the final two years of Obama’s presidency, Senate Republicans engaged in tenacious obstruction to leave as many judicial vacancies unfilled as possible. The Garland-to-Gorsuch Supreme Court switch is the most visible example of this tactic but far from the only one: Due to GOP obstruction, “the number of [judicial] vacancies . . . on the table when [Trump]

So this is where we are.

This week’s controversy about Lindsay Shepherd, the Wilfrid Laurier TA who got in trouble for airing a Jordan Peterson clip in class, has opened up the same old tired debate around “freedom of speech.” This isn’t to say that such debates are of no importance, but they often tend to focus on the voices of white, cis-gender persons who already have a platform to speak from.

Ah. White, cis-gender persons who can grab a platform any time they feel like it. So much for all those efforts to get corporations and universities and politics and basically everything to stop excluding women – that was all a mistake, because [white] women are not being … Read the rest