They Are NOT Eating Cats A New Kind of Blood Libel

Last week we saw just how insidious the right wing noise machine and the new voice of the Republican party truly is.  A self-proclaimed white nationalist made up a story about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, OH were stealing pets and eating them.  They pointed to an early story in Ohio from Columbus were a mentally ill woman, American born, appeared to be eating a cat.  Then a flurry of images, one of a man cleaning up a dead goose, one of what looked like poultry on a grill, and one of what looked like a weird ritual came out.  None were from Springfield, none seemed to Haitian immigrants and none were confirmed to be illicit.  Yet it was an anti-immigration story and it had legs.  

Then Donald Trump repeated this crazy thing during the recent debate.  He was fact checked in real time and didn't back down.  He has since repeated it over and over.  The city of Springfield has said it isn't happening.  The person who started the viral spread of the story said she had no evidence.  But then people came out of the woodwork saying the heard it from someone. Sometimes getting more fantastical than the last time.  Trump now says that he will send ICE into Springfield to deport all the illegals there.  But the Haitian immigrants are not in the country illegally, the city sees them as good citizens, and the community is rallying around them.  

But since the elevation of the story we have seen bomb threats at municipal buildings and schools.  Threats of violence against Haitians from many online.  And the Proud Boys, the white nationalist supporters of Donald Trump who helped lead the attack on democracy on January 6th, marched through the streets of Springfield.  If not deescalated I am sure blood will be shed.  But today, Sunday, September 15th, 5 days after Trump and his Vice-Presidential nominee started the fire of hate and fed the flames with nonsense and bigotry, Vance went on national television and said in reference to this "Dana, the evidence is the firsthand account of my constituents who are telling me that this happened… The American media totally ignored this stuff until Donald Trump and I started talking about cat memes. If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that’s what I’m going to do, Dana, because you guys are completely letting Kamala Harris coast." So he admitted the story is false, he knew it was false, he promoted it even though it was false and not the Haitian community, a community he says are illegal, they are not, is being terrorized.  I would say this is something new but it isn't.

For centuries we have seen this kind of thing said about the Jewish community.  Jews have been called outsiders, agitators, and of course accused of killing Christian children for their blood.  Throughout Europe in the middle ages through today on the same internet channels that promoted this false story we still see this and echoes of it.  The results of these kinds of made-up lies about the Jewish community led to pogroms where entire communities were devastated by angry mobs of people who believed the "first hand accounts" that turned out to be false.  When I heard the Proud Boys were coming to town I worried this is the start of something not the end.  As JD Vance, a Senator, a candidate to be a heartbeat away from the Presidency, told the American people he is willing to make things up about and entire community to rile up the hate in others I can't for the life of me think what kind of person would continue to support such vile people.  This isn't about immigration policy, Trump certainly doesn't care about that, it is about attacking a group of people who have no real voice to gin up that hate.  To give people someone to blame for their own situation in life.  This cannot be what a major political party in our country stands for and should not be something that is lauded.  

Donald Trump and JD Vance appear to be comfortable lying about groups of people who were embraced by a community that need a work force to grow or simply sustain themselves.  I am happy to see Republicans in Ohio, including the government and the local government push back on this nonsense.  But history tells up that it is no laughing matter as so many have taken to making it.  Donald Trump and JD Vance are toying with embracing crimes against humanity.  You can join them or stand against them.  You have a choice.  Choose wisely.  

The Eclipse Is Bringing Back Memories of My Dad

In less than a day Indianapolis will be in the path of totality for a solar eclipse.  There has been a great deal of hype for this around here.  Well deserved hype as it is rare to be in the center of this amazing astronomical event.  Eclipses have been important to humanity since we first looked up at the sky.  In ancient times it was seen as a bad omen by some.  It sparked curiosity in early scientists that helped thinkers develop a better understanding of the movement of celestial bodies.  While we understand and can predict these and so many other movements today, there are still some people who try to link it to the supernatural.  A certain member of Congress and her propagandist boyfriend have both said it is a sign of God punishing us.  These, of course, are not serious people but do have a following.  I hope the eclipse brings out the best in people as they observe the moon pass between the earth and the sun and we have a few minutes of night in the middle of tomorrow afternoon.  I honestly can't wait.  

When I was young, like many small children in the late 60s, I was obsessed with space.  Rockets that eventually took humans to moon, satellites, and of course the mainstream science fiction has me thinking by the time I was going to be the age I am now we would be colonizing the moon and maybe Mars.  So in the spring of 1970 when an eclipse was happening that crossed New York State I really wanted to see it.  I honestly can't remember how much of it would be seen by us in Ogdensburg as I believe the center of the event would be over New York City almost 400 miles away.  So I have no recollection of the day of the event, I do know I missed seeing it.  However, one night not long after the eclipse my dad came to me in my bed, he had the cardboard with the hole punched in, a flashlight and piece of paper to project onto and showed me what I would have seen if I could see the eclipse.  I can't recall all the details of that evening, but the fact that he did that left an indelible mark on my memory and nearly 50 years later I still remember that he did that.  I lost my dad when I was not yet 13 years old.  All of my memories of him a childhood memories.  Some good, some bad and some just natural family stuff.  I remember that day we got cable in our house for the first time and my dad sitting in front of the TV watching his Yankees on WPIX with Phil Rizzuto, The Scooter.  I remember him in the kitchen making dozens of loaves of bread as he ended his army career in the mess cooking for the troops, I still have his fry cake maker an invention that you poured the batter in and it made round blobs that seized up when it hit the hot oil to make doughnuts.  But the memory of the eclipse lives with me because it felt like a one-on-one.  My brothers and sisters were not involved.  I am sure they all have similar moments and being older, maybe even more.  But what I have is a special memory I will always have. 

On Monday, as I look to the sky, I will be amazed by the apparent swallowing of the light of the sun.  I will watch through the special glasses and will likely also make a little cardboard device to see the projection.  At totality when we remove the glasses for those brief seconds and see the sun's corona, (if there isn't a lot of cloud cover) I don't know what other people will be thinking, but I will be thinking of my dad, and I will certainly make that memory a blessing.