During a radio interview Thursday, Gov. Paul LePage said he’s received death threats for his comments about what happened at the racist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, recently. “Hatred is alive and well in the United States of America,” the governor told the Portland-based WGAN during his regular appearance with friendly hosts. LePage said that he […]
Charlottesville
Moral values not in evidence
As follow-up in his response to the Charlottesville tragedy, President Donald Trump asserted that among those protesting the removal of the Confederate statue were some “very fine people … very fine people …” It made me and, I’m sure, many others wonder: Do very fine people walk in file with white supremacists proudly hoisting the […]
"Anti-fascists" to blame for death in Charlottesville, Gov. Paul LePage says
AUGUSTA — In his weekly radio address, Gov. Paul LePage appeared to pin the blame for the death of a young woman during the racist rally in Charlottesville on those who showed up to protest the white supremacist gathering. After condemning the Ku Klux Klan, neo-Nazis and racists who targeted the university city in Virginia […]
Donald Trump revisits Charlottesville comments in angry speech
PHOENIX (AP) — President Donald Trump opened his political rally in Phoenix with calls for unity and an assertion that “our movement is about love.” Then he erupted in anger. He blamed the media for the widespread condemnation of his response to violence at a Charlottesville, Virginia, protest organized by white supremacists. And he shouted […]
The baby and the bath water
Well-meaning people sometimes can’t tell the baby from the bath water, which is part of what happened last weekend in Charlottesville, Virginia. The brutality in that beautiful city might not have happened, at least not then and there, if folks in charge hadn’t repeated history by throwing out the baby with the bath water. A […]
GOP congressional hopeful blames both sides 'of the same hate-filled coin'
Bemoaning the violence that shook Charlottesville, Virginia, last week during a racist rally, Republican congressional candidate Mark Holbrook Friday denounced “fringe groups spewing anger and hatred.” But Holbrook laid blame for the mayhem on both the white supremacists who targeted Charlottesville for their largest rally in years and the counter-demonstrators who showed up to protest. […]
Republican leaders dance around Donald Trump's remarks
NEW YORK (AP) — One after another, the nation’s most powerful Republicans responded to President Donald Trump’s extraordinary remarks about white supremacists. Yet few mentioned the president. The Senate’s top Republican, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, condemned “hate and bigotry.” House Speaker Paul Ryan charged that, “White supremacy is repulsive.” Neither criticized the president’s insistence that […]
Chellie Pingree urges President Trump to fire three aides she calls bigots
Maine’s sole Democratic member of Congress said Wednesday that Republican President Donald Trump needs to fire several “bigoted, white supremacist sympathizers” who are among his top aides. “I never thought Congress would have to take the step of explicitly condemning white supremacists and asking the White House to do the same,” U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, […]
Donald Trump's denouncement disappoints, angers white nationalists
President Donald Trump’s condemnation of hate groups — two days after his initially equivocal response to a deadly attack at a rally in Virginia — disappointed and even angered some of the white nationalists, white supremacists and neo-Nazis who supported and felt emboldened by his presidential campaign. Trump initially blamed “many sides” after violent clashes […]
Deadly rally accelerates removal of Confederate statues
In Gainesville, Florida, workers hired by the Daughters of the Confederacy chipped away at a Confederate soldier’s statue, loaded it quietly on a truck and drove away with little fanfare. In Baltimore, Mayor Catherine Pugh said she’s ready to tear down all of her city’s Confederate statues, and the city council voted to have them […]