murder

Ethnic cleansing in Ohio

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Nazi Lies in Vance’s America

By Timothy Snyder

In the schools and churches of Springfield, Ohio, people are making hasty preparations for a “large deportation” promised by the president. To all appearances, and according to local sources, the city is two or three days away from a federal ethnic cleansing, grounded in a hate campaign organized by the vice-president and American Nazis. The destined victims are ten thousand or more Haitians.

Two empty swings covered in snow in a park

Its origins are in racist fantasy. During the last presidential campaign, JD Vance, then the vice-presidential nominee, put the Haitians of Springfield at the center of national attention. Temporary Protected Status had been granted to non-citizen Haitians in the US after an earthquake in Haiti killed more than 200,000 people; it was extended after the Haitian president was assassinated. This allowed ten thousand or more Haitians to gather in Springfield, a small city between Dayton and Columbus, and to work. Vance heard about Haitians in Springfield, from a city manager who wanted federal assistance for housing. He turned a reasonable request into a racial crusade.

In a speech of 10 July 2024, Vance claimed that “Springfield, Ohio has been overwhelmed” by Haitian immigrants. Although there was certainly friction over schools and housing, there was no basis for such a judgement. In fact, Springfield was doing better economically than in any moment in Vance’s lifetime. In the months to follow, he would return to the theme, publishing a number of inflammatory claims about Haitians in Springfield, not a single one of which was true. As we will see, Vance’s goal was not so much to get individual lies on the record; it was rather to create a self-sustaining story, in which a real place and its real people could become the raw material for an alternative Nazi reality — I use the word advisedly. Vance had help in expanding his theme, and crucial helpers were Nazis.

In American terms, Haitians are Black; and the American group Blood Tribe are white-supremacist blood-obsessed Nazis. After Vance’s speech, Blood Tribe took its cue. Blood Tribe had marched in other cities in the previous two years, wearing masks, distinctive uniforms, and carrying banners with swastikas. These marches were unmistakably Nazi. Vance’s speech drew the attention of Blood Tribe to Springfield. On 10 August 2024, members of Blood Tribe carried out their usual performance in the city’s downtown, two of them carrying banners with swastikas and another two brandishing automatic rifles. Mayor Rob Rue called the march “an attempt to disrupt our community by an outside hate group.” Blood Tribe responded on social media: “We hear that you have a real problem with Haitian ‘refugees.’”

And from whom did they “hear” this? JD Vance.

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Return of my “fucking bitch”

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Katherine Needleman

When women don’t comply with a smile when cleaning up your shit

By Katherine Needleman

Before I go any further, I need to say something obvious: a huge proportion of women have been called “fucking bitch” by a seething man. Some of us are “lucky,” like me, in that the damage shows up as professional fallout—quiet, untraceable, and impossible to fully quantify in my lovely shitstain of a profession. Others are not lucky at all. Some end up dead, like Renee Nicole Good. We cannot underestimate the violence men perpetrate against women.

Just today, I heard from a woman and advised her to sneak out of her apartment with her baby in the middle of the night. That is the continuum we are talking about. “Fucking bitch” is violent language. It is not casual. It is not harmless. It is not expressive language. It should raise every red flag and hackle you have when you hear a man use it.

Yesterday, I had a brief comment interaction with a self-described musical instrument repairman named Art Gale. He came to my page to explain the oboe to me and tell me how to care for it. I thanked him, because apparently I do not know anything about the oboe or oboes cracking and this was all new information to me.

After a number of people pointed out that I did not, in fact, need an education about the oboe from him, he eventually seemed to get it. I told him not to worry—I wasn’t upset. I told him I was naming something, not reacting to it, because I am deeply used to this. I told him that every single day, men who are less qualified than I am explain things to me that I am expert in.

He asked if it was really only men. I said yes. He didn’t believe me. I told him to believe me. Then he got upset and said that women also do problematic things.

For the record: I cannot recall a single woman ever giving me unsolicited criticism about my oboe playing or instructing me on how to do something with an oboe without my asking first. Men do it constantly—especially every time I post something with an oboe in it. And in the same vein, it is only men who have ever called me a “fucking bitch” with the kind of vitriol I describe in the piece below. It has never been women.

“Fucking bitch” is not a figure of speech. It is what men say when they believe you may not be fully obedient—when they may just be beginning to smell that you are not the woman they need you to be.

I am so used to being called “fucking bitch.” And I am naming it now. I need to today.

Sometimes “fucking bitch” just ends in professional damage that can never be fully traced. Sometimes it ends in fear. Sometimes it ends in women quietly planning exits. And sometimes it ends in death.

What follows is a story from decades ago, but it is not old. The language hasn’t changed. The entitlement hasn’t changed. We are in a constant loop. And I am naming it today because I need to.

This morning, watching the video of Renee Good being shot and hearing the officer say “fucking bitch,” I felt physically ill. I wasn’t shocked or surprised. I was sick with recognition. I knew this moment exactly. Renee Good’s murderer simply carried something I’ve heard on repeat my entire life to its lethal end.

Watch the men who speak like this carefully.

Jen Psaki provides best video analysis on ICE killing of Minneapolis mom

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Just two days after the deadly ICE shooting of Renee Good in Minneapolis, several videos, shot from different perspectives have been released to the public, including video taken by the shooter, which many on the political right claim supports the argument that the ICE agent was defending himself when he shot and killed Good in her car. Jen Psaki synchronizes several videos for a closer analysis of what the shooter’s video actually shows, and what the videos tell us about what Good was doing when she was killed.