White nationalist plows into crowd, 3 dead, 30 injured, Trump silent

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/14/u...e-protest.html

Trump Condemns Violence in Charlottesville, Saying ‘Racism Is Evil’
By GLENN THRUSHAUG. 14, 2017

DONALD TRUMP By ASSOCIATED PRESS 1:02
Trump on Charlottesville: ‘Racism Is Evil’

After blaming violence from protests on “many sides” in Charlottesville, Va., on Saturday, President Trump condemned the K.K.K., neo-Nazis and white supremacists during a White House speech on Monday. By ASSOCIATED PRESS. Photo by Tom Brenner/The New York Times.

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump bowed on Monday to overwhelming pressure that he personally condemn white supremacists who incited bloody demonstrations in Charlottesville, Va., over the weekend, labeling their racists views “evil” after two days of equivocal statements.

“Racism is evil,” said Mr. Trump, delivering a statement from the White House at a hastily arranged appearance meant to halt the growing political threat posed by the situation. “And those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs, including the K.K.K., neo-Nazis, white supremacists and other hate groups that are repugnant to everything we hold dear as Americans.”

Yet even Mr. Trump’s allies worried that his measured remarks, delivered two days after dozens of public figures issued more forceful denunciations, came too late to reverse the self-inflicted damage on his moral standing as president. And they came on the heels of a snide remark by Mr. Trump on Twitter about the resignation of the head of the pharmaceuticals company Merck, who is black, for quitting an advisory board over the president’s initial failure to criticize white nationalists.

Several of Mr. Trump’s top advisers, including his new chief of staff, John F. Kelly, pressed Mr. Trump to issue a more forceful rebuke after his comment on Saturday that the violence in Charlottesville was initiated by “many sides,” prompting nearly universal criticism.

Even after a wave of disapproval that encompassed a majority of Senate Republicans — and stronger statements delivered by allies including Vice President Mike Pence and the president’s own daughter Ivanka — Mr. Trump seemed reluctant to tackle the issue head-on when he appeared before the cameras on Monday.


A Hate Crime? How the Charlottesville Car Attack May Become a Federal Case AUG. 13, 2017

Hurt and Angry, Charlottesville Tries to Regroup From Violence AUG. 13, 2017

He first offered a lengthy and seemingly out-of-place recitation of his accomplishments on the economy, trade and job creation. When he did address the violence in Charlottesville, he presented his corrective as an update on the Department of Justice civil rights investigation into the death of a woman who was allegedly hit by a car driven by an Ohio protester with ties to neo-Nazi groups.

“To anyone who acted criminally in this weekend’s racist violence, you will be held fully accountable. Justice will be delivered,” said Mr. Trump, who had just concluded a meeting with Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Christopher Wray, the F.B.I. director.

Mr. Trump has had a career-long pattern of delaying and muting his criticism of white nationalism. During the 2016 campaign he refused to immediately denounce David Duke, a former Klansman who supported his candidacy.

Some human rights activists, skeptical that his remarks represent a change in approach on the issue, called for him to fire the nationalists working in the West Wing, a group of hard-right populists led by Stephen K. Bannon, the White House chief strategist.

“The president should make sure that no one on his staff has ties to white supremacists,” Jonathan Greenblatt, chief executive officer of the Anti-Defamation League, said in a telephone briefing on Monday afternoon, adding, “nor should they be on the payroll of the American people.”

He said that the Department of Justice and the Office of Government Ethics should “do an investigation and make that determination” if anyone in the White House had ties to hate groups.

Mr. Trump and his staff have consistently denied any connection to such organizations, and the president called for racial harmony in his remarks on Monday.

“As I have said many times before, no matter the color of our skin, we all live under the same laws.” he said. “We all salute the same great flag, and we are all made by the same almighty God. We must love each other, show affection for each other and unite together in condemnation of hatred, bigotry and violence.”

As Mr. Trump was delivering the kind of statement his critics had demanded over the weekend, Fox News reported that the president is considering pardoning former Maricopa County, Arizona, Sheriff Joe Arpaio, a political ally accused of federal civil rights violations for allegedly mistreating prisoners, many of them black and Hispanic.

“I am seriously considering a pardon for Sheriff Arpaio,” the president said in an interview Sunday — at the height of the controversy over Charlottesville — speaking to the network at his club in Bedminster, N.J. “He has done a lot in the fight against illegal immigration. He’s a great American patriot and I hate to see what has happened to him.”

Two themes — uniting the country while defending himself — collided on Mr. Trump’s Twitter feed earlier Monday.

Merck’s chief executive, Kenneth C. Frazier, resigned from the president’s American Manufacturing Council, saying he objected to the president’s statement on Saturday blaming violence that left one woman dead on “many sides.”

“America’s leaders must honor our fundamental views by clearly rejecting expressions of hatred, bigotry and group supremacy, which run counter to the American ideal that all people are created equal,” Mr. Frazier said in a tweet announcing he was stepping down from the panel. Mr. Frazier is one of just a handful of black chief executives of a Fortune 500 company.

[Twitter posts]

Mr. Trump’s shot at one of the country’s best-known black executives prompted an immediate outpouring of support for Mr. Frazier from major figures in business, media and politics. “Thanks @Merck Ken Frazier for strong leadership to stand up for the moral values that made this country what it is,” Paul Polman, the chief executive of Unilever, wrote on Twitter.

It’s not unusual for Mr. Trump to attack, via Twitter, any public figure who ridicules, criticizes or even mildly questions his actions. But his decision to take on Mr. Frazier, a self-made multimillionaire who rose from a modest childhood in Philadelphia to attend Harvard Law School, was extraordinary given the wide-ranging criticism he has faced from both parties for not forcefully denouncing the neo-Nazis and Klan sympathizers who rampaged in Charlottesville.

Mr. Frazier appeared next to Mr. Trump at the White House just last month to announce an agreement among drug makers that would create 1,000 jobs.

He is only the second African-American executive to lead a major pharmaceutical firm, and rose to prominence as Merck’s general counsel, when he successfully defended the company against class-action lawsuits stemming from complications involving the anti-inflammatory drug Vioxx.


“It took Trump 54 minutes to condemn Merck CEO Ken Frazier, but after several days he still has not condemned murdering white supremacists,” Keith Boykin, a former aide to President Bill Clinton who comments on politics and race for CNN, wrote in a tweet.

Mr. Frazier’s exit from the business council marks a mini-exodus of business leaders, resulting from the president’s stances on social issues and the environment. His recent decision to leave the Paris climate accord prompted Elon Musk of Tesla to resign, as did the chief executive of Disney, Bob Iger.

Correction: August 14, 2017
An earlier version of this article misquoted part of President Trump’s statement on the violence in Charlottesville, Va. He blamed “many sides,” not “all sides,” for the violence that left one woman dead.

Laurie Goodstein contributed reporting.

I don't like Trump, but in this case he is right. I was at the Berkeley riot and my impression is that the Left is slightly more uncivilized than the Right, but that both are intolerant hate groups who want nothing more than to kill each other. Decent religious people should just stay out of the way and let these two groups destroy each other.

Greetings and peace be with you fschmidt;

Decent religious people should just stay out of the way and let these two groups destroy each other.

Often religious people are people of peace, and the only way to be a peacemaker is to stand in the middle of conflict. The father of one of the victims, talked about forgiving the car driver..............

But the hatred espoused by white supremacists and others in Charlottesville this weekend must not be met with a response that's "twisted into something negative" in its own right, Mark Heyer told the local newspaper.

"People need to stop hating, and they need to forgive each other. And I include myself in that, in forgiving the guy that did this," he said. "He doesn't know no better.
http://www.npr.org/2017/08/14/543410...d-to-stop-hate

In the spirit of praying to a just and merciful God.

Eric

Mustafa16, do you disagree with anything Trump said?

For anyone interested, here is the original source:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cdr0d2iRkA8

Terrorists. They are all terrorists, anyone kills one innocent human is a terrorist and should be executed as such. Their race, their color, their religion doesn't make a difference, all are terrorists and lose the right of forgiveness. You kill 3 humans and injure 30, you are a terrorist period!. Being a white supremacist, claiming to be a christian doesn't entitle you to killing innocents and then being forgiven and not being called a terrorist anymore than if you claim to be a Muslim.

If God forbid, this was a self-proclaimed Muslim...the media would have been in a frenzy.

But since white people did this, look at all this talk about forgiving. Hypocrites. You think they even know the word forgiveness and understanding when it's a terrorist who claims to be Muslim, oh no logic goes out the window then. It isn't just a black sheep, a lonewolf then but representative of the whole Muslim world. But look here, wow wow, this terrorist doesn't represent all whites and he is just alone and he MIGHT have some point and needs to be forgiven. It's sickening how much hypocrisy is in American media and islamophobes. My God, they are saying the terrorist might have a reason for killing innocents and spreading this terror? for jobs? what kind of sick person would justify this brutality and terrorism? Only a terrorist shows support to terrorists.

Love the hypocrisy. Look at the biggest racist of them all Donald Trump.

I can't believe these same people have the audacity to speak about right and wrong then. Just disgusting.

Incidents like these and the reactions afterwards show crystal clear the oppression and racism that is against Muslims. It is okay to kill and injure several people and you even deserve forgiveness if you are a white supremacist and you are just a lonewolf not representative of all white people and not even a terrorist but if you grow a beard and claim to be a Muslim, oh no boy, you done did wrong and you are not alone but representative of people who hate you just as much and you suddenly pose a threat to whole countries alone.

Racist hypocrites.

It is like walking a straight path, but the far-right groups claim they are walking the straight path and the far-left groups claim they are walking the straight path.

However if you disagree with the far-right groups, they hate you and if you disagree with the far-left group, they hate you even more. I do NOT agree with homosexuality, however that being my opinion those far-left groups will try to make my life miserable, while they try to brand themselves "people of freedom". Such brainwashed group this has become.

In the past we all agreed that far-right groups had something missing in heir upper chamber (and still have), but the far-left groups have become on #1 when it comes down missing something in their upper chamber.

This so called "freedom of the west" (fake), is catching up. Destruction of society is near, because EVEN IF Trump leaves office, the far left groups simply is not satisfied. LGBT is one of the BIGGEST causes of destruction of society. Not because they associate themselves to be of one of the groups within the LGBT, but they force others to like them and to even change biological facts for the sake of not hurting somebody's feelings because they psychologically have problems not being happy and content. We cannot change words according to biology FACTS like (Man/Woman), however this exactly is what they are trying to do. When the center of what society is anchored on is removed the society will drift easily away, one day being here and other day being there. A civil war also in US is inevitable...just matter of time. Trump is not the cause of it (do remember i am not a Trump fan whatsoever that guy is like a child playing with a gun). But truth is truth.

So indeed religious people should stay out of it..not only out of it, actively run away from both of them as none of the groups really or actively pursue the path of the Creator made clear for us to walk on. Let them destroy one another we have nothing to do with their mentality.

format_quote Originally Posted by PRND

I just hope that good, innocent, random white people don't suffer because of this. White supremacists are incredibly rare, the vast majority of white people are perfectly nice, and did you know that white people mostly kill other white people? I'm not sure why I'm pointing that out, but it may have something to do with casting white people as victims.

Most importantly though, we must all make a point of telling everyone that it's Not All White People. No one suggested that it was, but we still need to tell them.

And finally, white supremacism has absolutely nothing to do with the white race. As a matter of fact, it has nothing to do with white people. If white people are super violent for racial reasons, they aren't really white people. I'm sure they went their whole lives being white people right up to a certain point, but as soon as you make the news for racially motivated violence, you no longer count as a white person. It doesn't matter if they think they're white, that's just their opinion. They don't count as white people, and it's very important to exclude them in order to maintain that this has absolutely nothing to do with white people.

Oh, one more thing. This was a terrible tragedy and all, but if we really want a solution to this sort of problem, all we need to do is identify what these people want and give it to them. They aren't really guilty of anything if they feel very strongly that they have a legitimate grievance. It would also probably help if they all get much better jobs, and if the unemployed get great employment. I have a strong feeling this is really a jobs issue, that plus meeting their demands is the real answer to this type of problem. I mean, whoever it was that made them mad- aren't they the real racists? (Implied answer- yes of course, we discovered the stealth racists, now ignore the obvious racists).

Not All White People! Don't forget.

No Muslim, at least a vast majority, would not have an opposite opinion on the white people to what you wrote in that post. There are even white Muslims. So your sarcasm makes no sense.

format_quote Originally Posted by STN

I don't know why it's tried to be shown as a far left or right argument, it isn't. Almost like they are hiding the elephant in the room.

A terrorist came and killed and injured several people. That's what it is. And it just so happens to be a white supremacist so they're reluctant to slap the word terrorist to him.

But make no mistake, this was a terror attack by a white terrorist.

By definition indeed this is a (terror)ist, however you know media, they ONLY use this word when it is foreign people against them. But let them be, let them twist things as much as they want to, they are by following this path more and more, taking away any chance for themselves to reach paradise. Let them dig their grave deeper and deeper because death will reach every one of them that are aware of what they are doing..choosing falsehood above truth for a small financial gain.

Btw, to me he was NOT a terrorist, because he does not cause terror in my heart. Only when somebody causes terror in your heart is one logically be branded as a terrorist. Rather a criminal/murderer, just like any other person killing a innocent person.

Greetings and peace be with you STN;

Being a white supremacist, claiming to be a christian doesn't entitle you to killing innocents

I agree with you, whether he is white and a Christian, the man who drove his car at a crowd of people is a terrorist.

all are terrorists and lose the right of forgiveness.

But since white people did this, look at all this talk about forgiving. Hypocrites.

The story I posted earlier, was only about one man who is asking that the terrorist be forgiven. That man is probably the only man who has the right to forgive, he is the father of a lady killed by a terrorist.

If you fight evil with more evil, then there will be more deaths. When angry people say a life for a life, they don't seem to worried as to who dies, often it is more innocent people.

Forgiveness and mercy comes from God. The Father does not want to see any more parents grieving for more deaths, he wants the killing to stop.

In the spirit of praying to a just and merciful God.

Eric

format_quote Originally Posted by Mustafa16

actually many people, including right wing republican politicians, referred to it as a 'terror attack' and what does LGBT have to do with it? they were protesting the removal of a statue of a general who led the Southern Confederacy during the american civil war, when southern provinces (or states, as they call them in the US), declared their independence so that they can continue to practice slavery. and many leftist counterprotestors came.

Again referring to "terror-attack", i do not care what people call this or that anymore. A criminal/murderer is a criminal/murder. I go by Islamic definitions..anyways. About the LGBT, just saying about how general the far left has become that has lost many principles down the way. As these people for the sake of not being alienated by the masses, they agree to whatever the LGBT-community says. To give you even another example of the far-left, they THEMSELVES believe in democracy, however when according to democracy they lost to Trump, suddenly they were unhappy =_=!. You cannot first agree to certain rulings and if you lost, that you suddenly disagree with the system. It doesn't work like that. Just don't vote at all and THEN you have a valid argument of saying the system is corrupt so to say. But again, going a bit off topic.

Carry on the topic.

Btw, know that they started to act to the far-right (because they don't like certain things), know when they are done with them, they will look at other things (ie religion and religious teaching). "Ex-religious people" will present themselves as victims of the religion, instead of culture/people. Which they will unite to fight against religion. Off course politicians sell their soul for the sake of votes..which they will agree to ban religious scriptures and ban associating yourself with any religion..even saying you are a Muslim/Christians/religious may end up in prison for having such thoughts. This even makes sense if one thinks about it, as we know Islam for example will go back to being something strange and we also know that ONLY in 3 cases a Muslim is permitted to lie..to say he is not a Muslim so the oppressor does not kill him. Why would such a thing exist if it never would come to such a phase right?

greetings and peace be with you STN;

i was angry how it's being portrayed and the reactions of Trump to it. It's hard to control our emotions when things like these happen.

I think Trump is the most terrifying person in this world, and he is possibly the most powerful person in the world.

Forgiveness indeed is far better!.

Forgiveness comes from God, when you reflect on the 99 names of Allah, forgiveness is mentioned three times.

Forgiveness seems to go against human nature. The immediate reaction is the call for justice which can often get mixed up with revenge.

In the spirit of praying to a just and merciful God.
Eric