Posted on 10/05/2013 11:08:30 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
The US government shutdown enters its fifth day, a week after the horrific carnage by a mentally ill African-American man in which he kills a dozen people before he is cut down by police. An emotionally unstable African-American woman crashes a security fence near the White House and leads a hair-trigger alert cops on a high-speed car chase before she is mowed down by cops using overwhelming force.
On Friday, another man, also African-American, pours gasoline on himself in front of the Capitol sets fire to himself in a rare attempt at self-immolation in the United States. It is not clear if the effort, foiled by passers-by, is related to the shutdown, but a visitor from more turbulent parts of the globe may well think the US is going the way of the Third World, given the kind of unrest that is roiling Washington DC.
It is no coincidence that all three incidents, regardless of their connection to the shutdown, involve African-Americans. Decades after achieving civil rights and enjoying affirmative action, African-Americans in the US continue to be disadvantaged, suffering some of the highest unemployment and incarceration rates for minorities anywhere in the world.
In many ways, the current shutdown is part of a proxy fight between deeply conservative white lawmakers who see the Obama administration's agenda as favoring blacks and minorities versus liberal legislators trying to set right historical and contemporary imbalances. While it is commonly acknowledged that African-Americans are greatly dependent on government subsidies and dole (in the same way as India's minorities are), the small cabal of Tea Party lawmakers represent a mostly-white constituency in Middle America that resents against any government role — such as the mandatory enforcement of health insurance through Obamacare — in their life.
This is the broad background to the government shutdown that has now entered its fifth day and first weekend with no sign of resolution. The effects of the shutdown are now being felt gradually across the country. While administrative activities are starting to stall in some areas where government exercises a regulatory role, it was believed that private enterprise would not be particularly affected by the shutdown.
But stories of mishaps and hardships are now starting to trickle in from private domain. For instance, many weddings, anniversaries, and parties planned in and around national parks and monuments (which are run by the federal Department of Interior) have had to be cancelled or postponed. From Yellowstone to Yosemite, from Grand Canyon to Grand Coulee, tourism and hospitality business are taking a hit as towns whose local economies depend on it are feeling the heat of the shutdown. In fact, there are reports of some states and town defying the center to keep parks open so that the local economy is not hit.
Meantime, the wrangling in Washington continues with both parties seeking to extract political mileage out of the impasse. Polls show Republicans are taking a greater hit, but the deeply conservative lawmakers who are holding the more moderate wing of the party hostage are in safe, unshakeable seats — the last white redoubts in America where Democrats are seen as villains.
On Friday, the White House had to reel back comments attributed to an unnamed senior administration official in which he boasted, "We are winning ... It doesn't really matter to us how long the shutdown lasts because what matters is the end result." White House spokesman Jay Carney's take: "It is categorically our position that the government should be reopened today, now, in half an hour."
But for the weekend at least, the metaphorical lights are still off in Washington DC. The man who tried to immolate himself near the air and space museum close to the Capitol is out of danger, thanks to joggers in the mall area who ripped off their t-shirts to put out the fire even as another person was reported to be filming him. It was still not clear what possessed him to try self-immolation. It was just another strange day at a strange time in the US capital.
Yes, and the Maoists that recently took over Nepal have been growing in influence of late as well. If the Islamists get more violent in that country, it’ll give the Maoists the upper hand.
Shades of Charles Manson and “Helter Skelter”.
Given this writer’s use of English and turn of phrase and colloquialisms, I would guess he or she has been in the US for some time; long enough to swallow the liberal and leftist line.
Considering that the Indian Caste System is based upon skin colour - this is a subject an Indian by birth would do well to stay away from. imo
No. Black violence has always been horrific. Usually to each other, but it has branched out lately.
The author adheres so closely to the democratically biased point of view, there were times when I thought he was being sarcastic and ironic, but his groupthink may not be an act. I did learn something useful from this article, that the “Burning Man” was black. I thought so, when no description was forthcoming.
He died, by the way. And yes, I never heard he was black, either.
He’s using the same angle as the present marxist obama administration.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/man-sets-fire-national-mall-report-article-1.1476755
images in article
Well, it appears Chidanand got that wrong, too:
The man who tried to immolate himself near the air and space museum close to the Capitol is out of danger, thanks to joggers in the mall area who ripped off their t-shirts to put out the fire even as another person was reported to be filming him. It was still not clear what possessed him to try self-immolation. It was just another strange day at a strange time in the US capital.
According to the NY Daily News:
The unidentified man — who was airlifted Friday to a Washington hospital after the 4:20 p.m. self-immolation — died later that evening, said Officer Araz Alali of the District of Columbia police.
The shutdown isn’t about black vs. white. It is about the economic destruction of the nation via obamadeath.
Ashame this leftist ahole didn’t get his facts straight. The man who set himself on fire, DIED. A small detail, I’ll admit, but a relevant one in the world of hate-America journalism.
The comment about Soviet propaganda and India rings very true as one of their papers, Blitz, if I recall right, was a KGB operation used to print anti-American propaganda in the 1980s.
The head of the Soviet/KGB front, the World Peace Council, was Romesh Chandra, a leading member of the Communist Party of India (Central Committee/National Council), and Nehru had a lot of reds helping him promote anti-American feelings.
One of the communists’ goals has been to pit one race against another in the US, as well as the “working class” against the “bourgeois” (today, the 1 Percenters and Wall Street barons).
Now, an alternative view of this article is that the writer is taking all the “talking points” of the Democrats and rewriting them as his own observations/conclusions.
I love the use of the phrase “the small cabal of Tea Party lawmakers” holding the moderate Republicans as hostages. Right out of the White House, the DNC, and Chrissy Matthews, among others.
I would give this writer a D- in journalism, and a red star (not gold) for his abysmal knowledge of American politics. Rowan and Martin would give him the Flying Fickle Finger of Fate award for being a total asshole.
Other than that, it was a pretty good article. Yeah right!
Well, it is news to me, not reported elsewhere in the USA, that the first 3 Citizen Casualties of the Obamacare War are African-Americans.
They elected him! So, why are they now offing themselves to celebrate?
The communist DemocRATS claim they are “winning”. Therefore, the American people must be losing.
What disturbs me is the name of the police spokesmuslim.
Here in DC, we knew that the Navy Yard killer was a black person after several hours, but nothing was mentioned in the original reports.
The woman who was killed in her car was not identified by any racial description for more than 5-8 hours. Only when they had her name and where she lived, did they post a photograph.
Heard zip about the man who burned himself. If it weren’t for the photos, nobody would have known for days.
Let’s just say that our general TV news sucks big time; the Wash. Post sucks big, big time, and the leftist cable shows CNN & MSNBC “suck the big one” as we used to say when we were kids.
A lot of AP wireservice stories never tell you the race of killers in the initial stories, if at all. People here at FR, including myself, often point this out.
The mainstream media bias to telling the whole story and the truth is as great as I’ve ever seen it, and I was a card-carrying journalist/reporter for many years.
Yeah. It's been non-stop for four years and nine months.
Oh, you mean the other one.
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