Buffalopundit

Whoever is designing the literature for the Erie County Republicans is a white nationalist. Any candidate whom this propaganda is supposed to benefit should publicly reject and denounce it. 

This new alt-right “white nationalism” for which Donald Trump is the figurehead has now afflicted western New York like an aggressive cancer. Our region is segregated and racist enough as it is, so for one political party to deliberately and blatantly exploit that is worthy of nothing more than contempt. 

This racist anti-immigrant hysteria is the opiate of the WBEN listening masses. We’ve gone from wink-wink dog-whistles to something much bolder and more overt. Legislature candidate Ted Morton demagogues over welfare queens and makes sure his constituents know that his opponent is, in almost as many words, a ni**er-lover. The state GOP sends around lit about how a candidate for clerk, sheriff, and comptroller are magically going to protect you from black athletes kneeling during the national anthem to protest police killings and brutality. 

They have no record to run on, no positive agenda to give people a better or safer life. They aren’t even going after tax and spend liberals. Now? It’s all race-hate, all the time. They want you to know that the candidates for clerk, sheriff, and comptroller are going to protect you from those damn Messicans. 

Here’s the newest piece of literature. Remember how Donald Trump started his entire Presidential campaign by demonizing Mexicans and calling for the construction of a border wall? We’ll start with an unintentionally hilarious image of what appear to be migrants thwarting that wall by climbing it. 

The image is copyrighted by the Associated Press and shows Mexican immigrants climbing over a border wall in Tijuana in 1991. Hope they paid to use it!

The premise is that Trump’s border wall – a device obsolete before it’s even built – is going to protect a community 2,000 miles away that doesn’t have a big problem with illegal Mexican and Central American immigration. If anything, we complain about the decline in our population, and contrary to what WBEN and the Republicans tell you, there is no “invasion” of WNY by long-haired Mexican kids from 1991 who are going to come here and take those menial dishwashing and farm jobs your white kids in Lancaster covet. 

It also demagogues the issue of Erie County being a “sanctuary county”. As it stands, local, state, and county law enforcement are already prohibited from asking someone for their citizenship information. You’re not required to carry your passport around, and the only time a cop can ask to see your papers is when he has at least a reasonable suspicion that a crime has been committed, or it’s a traffic stop. Under neither circumstance is a regular cop empowered to detain anyone over immigration status. We leave that up to ICE and other Federal agencies. Convict/Sheriff Joe Arpaio tried to do it, and was shut down. 

Erie County (and Buffalo) is not a “sanctuary county”. Ted Morton introduced a resolution in the legislature, which died in committee, to preempt any attempt to turn Erie County into one. Sanctuary status would also allow undocumented immigrants to assist law enforcement with the investigation of crimes without fear of deportation or arrest. 

To put it bluntly, neither illegal immigration nor the presence of undocumented migrants is a pressing problem in Erie County. This is a non-issue that these people are bringing up in order to stoke anti-immigrant sentiment in a region that struggles with its post-industrial transition. 

So, literally no “liberals in County Hall” have proposed making Erie County a “sanctuary county”. Again – take a look at the WBFO article from last December: “Ted Morton aims to Ensure Erie County Maintains Non-Sanctuary Status“. Here’s what Legislator Pat Burke said in response to Morton’s proposed resolution: 

It’s awful. Everybody knows it’s awful. He used statistics cited from the Center for Immigration Studies, which was founded and funded by a white supremacist. It’s a disgrace, and it has no business in this body.

and 

Sanctuary cities are pronouncements from elected officials who are encouraging their law enforcement not to follow through on certain rules, but it’s not set policy. So you can’t have an anti-policy of a policy that doesn’t exist. Also it’s a resolution so it’s not binding. It literally makes no sense at all.

It’s just white supremacist propaganda. It’s bullshit. By the way, the “Center for Immigration Studies” was founded as a spin-off from a Holocaust denier. 

The Republicans’ white nationalist lit suggests that this non-existent liberal push to turn Erie County into a “sanctuary county” would lead to increased crime, loss of jobs, pressure on school districts, and an “explosion” (nice imagery) in costs of welfare and Medicaid. Them against us. Invasion. Crime. They took our jobs. They’re sending their kids to our schools. They’re going to collect welfare. This isn’t directed, by the way, at one subset of immigrants – this is an attack on all immigrants, regardless of visa status or country of origin. 

Again, I don’t know how Mickey Kearns is going to direct his file clerks and DMV workers to set federal immigration policy, and I don’t know how Stefan Mychajliw is going to comptrol these Mexicans away, but Sheriff Tim Howard has weighed in on this. When Governor Cuomo issued an Executive Order reiterating that state, county, and local police can’t inquire into someone’s immigration status, Howard said he would affirmatively and deliberately disobey the Governor’s order. The job of the sheriff is to enforce the law, not to set – or thwart – policy. A sheriff’s deputy has no authority to enforce federal immigration laws. Being in the country without proper documentation or visa is not a crime defined in any municipal or state statute; it is a violation of federal immigration law, and anyone apprehended by ICE goes to the immigration detention center in Batavia, not to the county lock-up. 

This is an issue where the sheriff has pledged to disobey the constitutional order of New York State, and our federalist system whereby Washington and its agents set and enforce immigration policy. 

But all of that is nuance. What’s really going on? The Republicans in this region are doubling down on the anti-immigrant sentiment and outright racism that Donald Trump stands for. If western New Yorkers reward this sort of behavior, we can take that “City of Good Neighbors” thing and relegate it to the nearest landfill. You flirt with this sort of white nationalism at your peril. 

It is a well known fact that those people who most want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it. To summarize the summary: anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job. – Douglas Adams, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

The reckoning is almost upon us, and local Republicans seem to be having trouble running on their records, or any coherent agenda. They are, instead, relying on the old standbys of culture war and resentment. 

Donald Trump’s campaign manager, Paul Manafort, and his trusty sidekick Richard Gates stand indicted, accused of “conspiracy against the United States”, tax evasion, conspiracy to launder money, and other crimes relating to their enrichment as representatives of Viktor Yanukovich, a corrupt Ukranian kleptocrat with close ties to Vladimir Putin. Another former Trump foreign policy aide, George Papadopolous, pled guilty in early October for lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russia during the Trump campaign. Papadopoulous was engaged in collusion to dig up Russian dirt on Hillary Clinton, including “emails”. Manafort’s patron, Yanukovych, was ousted in a 2014 revolution, and lives in exile in Russia under Putin’s protection. It was that overthrow, and the promised resulting hastening of Ukraine’s departure from Putin’s Russia’s sphere of influence into the waiting arms of NATO and the EU that led Putin to have his proxy army invade and occupy eastern Ukraine, shoot down a Malaysian airliner, and to concoct a sham plebiscite whereby the Crimean peninsula went from being Ukranian to Russian territory overnight.

It was, in turn, Russian aggression and its Anschluss of Ukranian territory that led the US and the EU to impose sanctions on Russia’s oligarchs to make it more difficult for them to spend their stolen fortunes in London, San Tropez, and New York. When combined with the Magnitsky Act, which specifically punishes a handful of corrupt Russian officials for the death of anti-corruption lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, you have the broad-brush outline of why it is that Putin’s Russia is busy trying to sow division and havoc in the US and EU. It begins to explain why Russia, and her agents and tools promoted Brexit, spent money on social media ads and useful idiots to deepen social and political divisions in the US, backed the Trump campaign and sought to destroy Hillary Clinton’s, recruited a naive Tonawandan to push a “Calexit” campaign, and other separatist movements elsewhere. 

While there may not yet be definitive proof that the Trump campaign colluded with Putin’s Russia to meddle in the 2016 campaign, the motive is crystal clear. The fact that Special Counsel Robert Mueller has a cooperating witness regarding the Trump campaign’s Russia outreach is also quite significant. Putin’s nobility can’t remain under economic stress forever. What’s the point of plundering Russia’s wealth if you can’t spend it? 

Against that backdrop, it bears repeating that Erie County’s Republican Committee is almost single-handedly responsible for the Presidency of Donald Trump. It began with a sub rosa effort to quash a proposed Jon Bon Jovi buyout of the Buffalo Bills, segued into an aborted 2013 attempt to convince Trump to run against Cuomo in 2014, and ended up with Clarence’s own Chris Collins coming out as the first sitting Congressman to endorse Trump’s candidacy. All this culminated in what we have today – a country at war with itself; half incensed that Puerto Ricans have been without electricity and clean water for over a month, and the other half offended by pre-game anthem etiquette. 

As we look, then, at the efforts that Republicans locally are mounting in various regional and countywide races of note, we find that nonsense has overtaken substance. Take these, for example. Here’s incumbent Erie County Legislator Ted Morton going after welfare recipients. 

Sure, there’s nothing easier than heaping scorn and derision against the poorest people in your community, but this recyclable claims that Morton is doing something to prevent welfare recipients from spending benefits on cigarettes, alcohol, and gambling. What, exactly, is he doing? Several quick Google searches of various terms including Morton’s name and welfare fraud turn up nothing. Not one news story or article exists highlighting the important work Mr. Morton has accomplished to stamp out welfare fraud. The most recent story I found involving welfare fraud in Erie County has to do with a criminal case. Morton hasn’t even press released anything having to do with this issue neither recently, nor in 2014, or 2015. This is Morton using class warfare and race hate to spur his suburban constituency, which probably pays scant attention to his legislative tenure, to turn out. Don’t believe me? Morton also thinks you’re innumerate or stupid. Here’s another piece of literature he’s sending out, slamming his opponent: 

So, the Grassroots political club endorsed Bruso. How was Bruso “bought off”? If we’re rejecting “politicians who are proud to be supported by organizations raided by the FBI”, someone should sit Mr. Morton down and tell him about Donald Trump’s campaign manager and, frankly, Chris Grant. This side of the mailer reads, “East Side” no fewer than three times – what do you think Morton is trying to convey here to his constituents? I think I know. Let’s flip it over. 

So, Grassroots endorsed Bruso on June 9th. The FBI raided Grassroots as part of the expanding Pigeon / Mazurek investigation on June 15th. I mean, I guess it’s true that Bruso was pleased with the support “within days”, but it was within a few days before the raid.

I would suggest that Morton lie better, but don’t forget that the FInancial Industries Regulatory Authority, or “FINRA”, the body charged with regulating stockbrokers and financial advisors, temporarily banned Morton from practicing his profession in August 2013 for borrowing over $300,000 from his customers and lying about it. His employer fired him over it. Morton may stand for the National Anthem and kick up some latent race hate over it, but he engaged in corruption before he was ever elected; just before he was first elected. 

Likewise, this piece of literature, generated by the New York State Republican Committee, has substituted dog-whistles for pretty blatant racism. 

Does it get much more obvious than this? Here you have the state Republicans touting two incumbents and one opportunistic Paladino “Democrat” running as a Republican, and instead of running on their respective records, accomplishments, or achievements, it opens with what can be generously described as an effort to manufacture outrage against black football players protesting police brutality, and setting these three white men up as the thing standing between you and Colin Kaepernick’s afro. What, precisely, does the controversy over kneeling have to do with issuing driver’s licenses, law enforcement, or being a fiscal watchdog? 

My favorite part of this pathetic effort to kick up a little good old-fashioned race hate is this line, from the back side of the mailer: “Are you tired of being convinced that you are narrow-minded because you are patriotic and believe in our traditional American values?” Yes, it really says, “being convinced“. Setting aside whether “Democratic Candidates think ‘taking a knee’ is acceptable”, this, too, is nothing more than an effort by Republicans to stoke white resentment and anti-black hatred in a very segregated area. It is incredible and unconscionable that this is the best the Republicans have to offer. Nothing about Trump or the Trump agenda, nothing about these candidates’ individual accomplishments or positions – just little more than, paraphrasing, ‘we share your hatred for uppity negroes’.

Not to be outdone, Representative Chris Collins seems to be all but ready to announce his campaign to unseat Governor Cuomo by deliberately (?) mangling American history.

By way of background, Collins was one of only two New York Congressmen to vote in favor of Trump’s proposed tax reform plan, which would eliminate the deductions for mortgage interest, and what you pay in state or local property taxes. These are, simply put, key deductions upon which New Yorkers rely. Elimination of these deductions – even with a supposed hike in the standard deduction – would burden New York’s middle class homeowners, and utterly ruin housing values and everything these state and local taxes pay for, including public schools. This is nothing more than a massive tax cut for multimillionaires like Chris Collins, paid for by middle class folks already under stress from stagnant wages, Trump’s sabotage of the health insurance industry and Obamacare, and his corrupt, spendthrift administration. Of Collins’ betrayal of New York’s middle class, Cuomo said, “I think it’s modern treason against the state. I think they are the Benedict Arnolds of today. They voted against the interests of the people in their districts. Period.”

In an article Collins published in the right-wing New York Post, he compares Governor Cuomo to King George III, the tyrant against whom the American colonies rebelled in the 18th Century. Collins calls Cuomo an “imperial governor” who imposes “unjust” taxes on New Yorkers. 

The problem is twofold:

1. Americans rebelled against George III not just over taxes, but against “taxation without representation”. Given Mr. Collins’ repeated and reported attitudes towards constituents who do not share his views, it is he who shares George III’s imperial attitude; and 

2. Cuomo doesn’t tax or spend; that’s the legislature’s job, and Mr. Collins’ own party controls one-half of it.

It speaks volumes that Collins is waging this schoolyard battle in the pages of a downstate tabloid, and not here where his constituents live. He has no use for them, after all. He doesn’t hold town halls to seek out ideas or concerns. “I represent the 72% of people who voted for me. You didn’t vote for me.” Let’s expand that sentiment: 

I represent the white people who are angry at black athletes protesting police brutality. 

I represent the suburban folks who share my hatred and disgust for welfare recipients. 

I represent the people whom the new economy has left behind and need someone – or something – convenient to blame. 

New York Republicans have no platform or accomplishments on which to run, so it all boils down to class war, race war, and culture war. 

As Vice President Michael Pence parachutes into Buffalo to raise money for Congressman Chris Collins—then makes his hasty escape—consider where the money is going. 

By my count, in the most recent reporting quarter there are almost $163,000 in disbursements to Collins’s attorneys defending him against a facially valid set of ethical complaints. Assuming a conservative hourly DC partner rate of $400, that’s well over 400 billable hours of time on something you’re being told is a meritless witch hunt. 

By my count, that’s almost $163,000 in attorneys fees for Collins to address very serious ethical allegations, including apparent insider trading: 

…in late 2015 and early 2016, he may have engaged in “tipping” — using inside information that he knew about Innate to persuade investors to put more money down on the company.

In a December 2015 email, he provided Innate investors with information about clinical trials of Innate’s multiple sclerosis drug that the company had not made public, the ethics office said.

Collins provided more previously undisclosed information about those clinical trials in an email to investors in January 2016, the ethics office said. In addition, that email included previously unknown details about Innate’s plans to work with a large pharmaceutical company to produce its multiple sclerosis drug.

And in a June 1, 2016 email, Collins discussed Innate’s upcoming private stock offering before the company announced it.

Adding up the information in those three emails, the ethics office said: “Some information Representative Collins shared with Innate investors was likely nonpublic and may have been important to investors making a decision on whether to purchase Innate stock.”

Collins’s lawyers defend this communication of private, inside company information to induce people to invest, as well as other intervention from Congressman as, “nothing improper…constructed from whole cloth and are without validity…the result of a tortured interpretation of reality and also bespeaks a misunderstanding of the facts, the law, or both, and should be rejected.” Collins’s lawyer’s letter to the House Committee on Ethics cost $12,300 per page. 

tl;dr: $163,000 buys you a lawyer who uses “bespeak” in a filing. 

Collins calls it a “witch hunt.” The problem there is that the term “witch hunt” implies that the accusations lack merit or substance. Nevertheless, to paraphrase Gertrude Stein, there is a there there. 

It also bears mentioning that President Trump “joked” about how Pence wants to “hang” all gay people. So, that’s who’s coming to pump local Republicans for money. Have a nice lunch, assholes!

The reason why most homicidal jihadist maniacs in Europe use homemade bombs or mow pedestrians down with cars is that it is exceedingly difficult to obtain a gun in those countries. It’s not impossible –  nothing’s impossible – but it is very difficult. In fact, in some cases, the European attackers couldn’t even rent the bigger truck they really wanted to use to mow people down, and had to settle for renting a Ford Transit van. It’s like all the trite, jejune pro-gun retorts about banning cars come to life. 

Yes, I know Switzerland has a lot of guns. The Swiss also take responsibility, order, and discipline seriously. If you want to make us more like Switzerland, that’s a conversation with which I am totally cool. 

I have resigned myself to the reality that America lacks the foresight or political will to do a thing about mass shootings. The 2nd Amendment, as recently interpreted by the Supreme Court, guarantees an individual’s right to possess and own a firearm for hunting, sport, and protection. States can, however, impose restrictions on the ownership of certain types of firearms, and New York’s own SAFE Act passes Constitutional muster, despite what somebody’s lawn sign might say. 

Some random guy set up an arsenal of weapons in a casino hotel and then rained bullets and death at people below who just wanted to hear some music. Just under 60 people killed and over 500 injured, and for what? How is that “freedom”? 

How do you reconcile “liberty” with an inability to peacefully enjoy an outdoor concert? Why does the freedom to own an arsenal of weapons and ammunition trump a citizen’s freedom to listen to Jason Aldean without having to duck for cover or “get small“? Why does the freedom to outfit oneself with the ability to shoot thousands of bullets at innocent people over the course of 10 minutes outweigh the right of those concertgoers to not have bullets shot at them in such volume, at such rapid succession? Why did Adam Lanza’s right to bear those arms outweigh the rights of 20 first graders to see their next Christmas? Where was liberty and freedom for those kids and teachers? The kids’ parents? Are they more free? Would they be more free if they lived in a country where guns like that aren’t available, like the UK or Canada, but their kids were alive? 

In Congress, concerned lawmakers bleat about “mental health” while pocketing blood money from the gun industry lobby. Yet when proposals are put before them to restrict gun sales to people who have been adjudicated to be mentally ill,  they reject them. When they are given an opportunity to ban gun sales to people on the FAA/DHS no fly list, they reject that. Objectively speaking, why isn’t that political suicide, to back the sale of literal arsenals of weaponry to the mentally ill or suspected terrorists? 

Here is some choice verbiage from our own Rep. Chris Collins, from just this week: 

At a closed-door meeting of House Republicans on Tuesday, there was talk about what happened Sunday in Las Vegas, but, according to several members, little was said about a legislative response.

“We all discussed the tragedy and certainly all of our thoughts and prayers go out to them, and that was pretty much the total extent of it,” said Rep. Chris Collins (R-N.Y.).

Thoughts and prayers, and let’s move on to financing a massive tax cut for millionaires by hiking taxes on the middle class. 

Collins added that Congress ought to focus on mental health rather than gun restrictions: “We are not going to knee-jerk react to every situation. The Democrats continue to want to say, when a mentally deranged person does what they do, it’s the gun’s fault, not the shooter’s fault. . . . People focused on mayhem and the kind of evil this person was — in their heart, you can’t stop them. They will do it one way or the other. You can’t stop a mentally deranged person.”

“You can’t stop a mentally deranged person”, except perhaps with universal access to mental health care and appropriate treatment and medication. They’ll do it one way or another, so let’s not restrict the number of available “ways”? Choosing to commit murder may not be something you can legislatively prevent, but limiting the extent of that murderous intent is. No one can perch 32 floors above a concert and in 11 minutes kill 60 people, wounding 500 with a knife, or even with a pistol. Pretending there’s nothing that can be done is stupid; restricting one’s response only to thoughts and/or prayers is depraved. 

After all, when Chris Collins is asked to guarantee universal health coverage to every American – including for mental health treatment and medication – he told the Batavian, 

The Democrats want universal health care, no if ands, or buts. Hillary Clinton wanted that. Barack Obama wanted that. They never could get there and that’s when we ended up with the abomination that I call Obamacare…The life I live is here now, and Republicans will never support universal health.

So, Congress should “focus on mental health” but will “never support universal health”. In other words, get yourself the psychiatric care you need, if you can afford it, and voila! No more mass shootings! 

Like it matters. 

Rep. Collins admits he wasn’t able to read entire health care bill and had to rely on staff https://t.co/5NN39ElZAj https://t.co/UmK3tuCfFC

— CNN (@CNN) May 4, 2017

Just as every civilized, 1st world country has seemingly figured out how to guarantee universal health coverage, every 1st world country has devised a way to prevent most mass shootings; after Dunblane, the UK acted.  After Port Arthur, Australia did more than just offer up a round of thoughts and prayers. There are horrific exceptions, obviously, but how many mass shootings has, e.g., Norway suffered since Anders Breivik? 

There is a way to reconcile the 2nd Amendment with the people’s right to attend concerts, clubs, or school without being massacred. 

One argument goes that restricting access to military arsenals won’t prevent bad people from shooting other people. While true, that is literally an argument against every law, ever. I mean, anti-homicide statutes don’t prevent people from murdering other people. Anti-drug laws don’t prevent pushers from selling or users from buying. Anti-DWI laws don’t prevent people from getting behind the wheel after one too many. This is among the sillier arguments. 

I have written more about this topic than I care to admit. The right to bear arms is not absolute; it is not unrestricted or unrestrictable. The 2nd Amendment doesn’t grant you to the right to arm yourself for civil war or insurrection, nor to water the tree of liberty with people’s blood. 

That tree is inundated. 

“Thoughts and prayers” are garbage – here’s audio Chris Smith and I did with Brad Riter on that subject for Trending Buffalo in 2013, after the Boston Marathon bombing. When a jihadist murders people, we don’t just think and pray, our current government tries to ban immigration and visitation of Muslim people. But when something like Las Vegas happens, Washington stands silent and still, waiting for the heat to blow over so they can get back to lifting restrictions on suppressors, or distracting us with culture wars about the National Anthem. 

Almost exactly two years ago, in October 2015, I wrote about our mass shooting leitmotif. Nothing has changed since then, reminding us of the anecdotal definition of insanity. In 2016, after Orlando, I wrote about how social media reactions generally suck.

After Orlando, Representative Chris Collins blasted President Obama and anyone else who suggested any tighter gun restrictions. 

“No…it’s actually quite shameful. Our president politicizes every tragedy with a suggestion to Americans that some sort of gun legislation to take away Americans’ second Amendment rights would stop this from happening, and that’s just not truthful. In fact, it’s an outright lie. When you think about it, this was a security guard who obviously had weapons, and it…anything that the President would have suggested, this person still would have had his weapons, and unfortunately the tragedy still would have occurred.  We should be focused on the root cause, which in this case is ISIS — it’s Islamic terrorism, it’s those who don’t respect America’s way of life, who hate women, who hate gays, and hate America.  And that’s the difference you saw yesterday — we need to identify the enemy — it is ISIS, we need to take the fight to them and we shouldn’t try to divide America, and especially suggesting that there’s some sort of law we could pass that would stop ISIS, whether this was a lone wolf or not, from attacking Americans. So, I was very … not pleased at all with the response of the President, Hillary Clinton, or Chuck Schumer, who yet again are politicizing tragedy.

I will say this — I think there’s a lot of Americans waking up this morning saying, who’s going to keep me safe? Who’s putting America first? And in fact that is Donald Trump, I think this could be a bit of a turning point as people are focused not only on jobs and the economy, but they’re focused on their own safety, and I think Americans know who the enemy is, and it’s not the Republican Party. So I was yet again disappointed, and that’s just a mild adjective, in the President, and certainly Hillary Clinton, but I wasn’t surprised…they politicize every tragedy, and it’s shameful. 

When a particular problem has a political, governmental set of solutions and nothing is done, that is already politicized. When you motherfuck the President and an opposition political figure to make a political point, you don’t get to whine about politicization. Who’s keeping us safe, Collins? Who’s putting “America” first?

Way back in early 2013 – soon after Sandy Hook, and around the time the New York legislature passed the SAFE Act, I wrote, “Fuck Your Gun,” and I incorporate its text here by reference. 

Why do the rights of the Orlando murderer or the Las Vegas shooter outweigh the rights of their victims to dance in peace? Just. Answer. That. 

In July 2017, Chris Collins proposed a law which would effectively abolish New York’s laws on firearms and require them to be no more restrictive than those found in the most permissive and ammo-liberal state in the Union. State’s rights matter only in the furtherance of a particular ammotastic political agenda. The people who most stridently oppose legislative action on guns enjoy mocking victims of gun violence, suggesting that the USS Gabby Giffords be nicknamed “grey matter splatter”. Then they’ll whine about “tone”, or kids holding picket signs that read, “f racism”.  

Our nation endured decades’ worth of armed airline hijackings, but it took 9/11 to install armored cockpit doors. What will be the gun equivalent to 9/11? Clearly, 59 killed and 500+ injured isn’t enough. Clearly, 20 1st graders wasn’t enough. What will be the gun law equivalent to armored cockpit doors? 

I don’t have any or all of the answers. But I know that the thoughtless repetition of sentiment and hypocritical, temporary attempts to demand that something be done about mental health aren’t enough. 

The victims of these ceaseless American mass shooting – and the victims of mass shootings yet to be – deserve more. 

President Donald Trump is worsening the NFL kneeling controversy for only one reason: he has to drive a wedge through Americans in order to distract from the extraordinary corruption, and catastrophic failure of his administration. What better way to change the subject from the federal government’s slow and inadequate response to the devastation in Puerto Rico than to use patriotism to stoke a culture war, and attempt to transform it into a race war, while he’s at it? 

There is no question now that Donald Trump is even worse than anyone could have reasonably expected. His administration isn’t making America great “again”; it is going out of its way to weaken it physically, mentally, financially, and morally. 

Query, then, why a Republican incumbent in the Erie County Legislature, of all places, would need to grab a bellows and stoke the culture/race war within the context of a county race? Ted Morton (LD-8) did just that, and our local media was all too ready to help him. That help was due either to a conscious effort to assist his campaign, or some serious attention deficit. 

On Friday, the official organ of the local Republican committee, WBEN, gave Morton over five solid minutes’ worth of free air time to publicize his planned giveaway of “proud to stand for the Anthem” bumper stickers. Featuring a blatant violation of the Flag Code, these bumper stickers would be handed out for free at a Majestic Pools location, and both Morton’s campaign and the pool store received free advertising during WBEN’s morning drive “news” show. 

How do we know this was a divisive campaign stunt and not legitimate news? 

Here’s an image that WBEN posted showing Morton getting ready to distribute bumper stickers. Note how his left index finger conspicuously covers up the bottom of that sticker. Could it be that this isn’t Morton personally handing out stickers to constituents? Is it paid for by his campaign? By someone else? 

Better. It’s paid for by the Erie County Republican Committee. 

Any media outlet that colluded with Morton – or was duped by him – to cover this important sticker “news” either wittingly or unwittingly participated in blatant electioneering on behalf of one candidate and one political party; an in-kind donation of free airtime or ink. If the “news” outlet didn’t make clear to its consumers that this was an election stunt, or in furtherance of a candidacy, it did the public a tremendous disservice. Looking at you, Buffalo News, WKBW, and WGRZ. 

WBEN is an FCC licensee, and any use of the public airwaves is a matter for federal law. The Communications Act of 1934 requires a broadcast radio station to offer equal time to Morton’s opponent for this blatant free advertising. WBEN’s operations director, Tim Wenger, argued that his station’s in-kind donation to “Friends of Ted Morton” were part of a “bona fide news interview” – one of the exceptions to the equal time rule. Specifically, he said: 

Morton is making news by distributing bumper stickers. Regardless of position on issue it’s of note and would be covered by wben. The end

— Tim Wenger (@TimWBEN) September 29, 2017

No. He’s distributing bumper stickers on a newsworthy issue. Happy to cover both sides of the legislative race when it’s forefront.

— Tim Wenger (@TimWBEN) September 29, 2017

Plain and simple. Coverage of a sticker being distributed on a major issue in the news. Someone else doing the same? Let me know.

— Tim Wenger (@TimWBEN) September 29, 2017

“Coverage of a sticker being distributed”. He really said that. Michael Caputo, sitting in for Sandy Beach on Friday, offered Morton another significant block of electioneering time during the second hour of his broadcast, and that interview touched on more issues than just important, late-breaking bumper sticker developments. The Buffalo News did it, by blindly regurgitating a portion of a press release that went out Friday morning. Here it is. It came not from Ted Morton’s legislative office, but from the Erie County Republican Committee. It’s not news any more than e.g., “Steve Cichon will be handing out lawn signs at his campaign HQ today” would be news. 

Morton’s and Nick Langworthy’s attempt to commandeer patriotism for divisive political purposes is pretty low. FCC licensee of public airwaves WBEN owes Ted Morton’s opponent, John Bruso, a significant block of free air time. If I owned a company that competes with Majestic Pools, I’d be on the phone with WBEN demanding free ad time. Tick tock on that happening. 

See the kid in that image holding that sign? Obviously, that’s someone’s kid.

Before I continue, please note that I have express permission from the person who took the image to use it, and from the kid’s parents to publish it, provided I pixellate the child’s face. 

The kid’s mom attended a protest relating to a fundraiser at a downtown restaurant that has been the subject of some recent controversy. 

The sign speaks for itself, but let’s examine it anyway. It reads, “F Racism Im going to Lloyds” [sic]. The parents know that “Lloyd” is singular, but didn’t have the apostrophes needed to render the sign’s punctuation correct. When I first saw it, I thought the sign was hilarious, in part because a kid was holding it. It’s a great protest sign – not too rhetorically heavy, and all-American with its sanitized “f” word, a great anti-racism sentiment, and recognition of the patent choices that consumer capitalism grants us to choose where and how to spend our money. 

You don’t have to agree with the sign, or where it was being used to picket, but there is literally nothing wrong with the sentiment “f racism”.

Is there? 

Oh, the hand-wringing over this has been so epic, you’d have thought this was satan himself. 

The first person to chime in was the owner of the targeted business, who denigrated it as “child abuse” – a very serious allegation that is in no way true. 

Remember a few months ago some guy had the time to secure a ticket to a speech Governor Cuomo gave at UB, only to scream a steady stream of internet comments at him? He wrote about it, too. 

LOL “Coloncarz”, right? I mean, you see that the level of thought and discourse here is firmly planted in the 5th grade. 

To be clear – I was not at the protest. I had nothing whatsoever to do with the protest – didn’t attend, didn’t organize, am not a member of any group having anything to do with that protest, just so we’re all clear. That’s a lie. I had nothing to do with kids holding signs with “implied vulgarities” – a pretty hilarious way to make something benign seem sinister. “Thugs…keeping it real classy”, sort of like the unhinged threats that this guy hurled at people on the street? Threatening to “take your ass out, too”, and acting belligerently towards people? 

Full version is below. “Who would Jesus threaten” is a good line. 

Wow. that’s “classy”. This “thug” should have been arrested on the spot for disturbing the peace. 

This is a guy supposedly so worried about a kid holding a sign with an “implied vulgarity”, yet threatened to “take your ass out to” literally within the presence of that same kid. 

County Executive Mark Poloncarz weighed in on Twitter with, “Why is a girl that young holding that sign? That’s too much. Bring her to the protest but that’s not needed.” I replied that I didn’t have a problem with a 9 or 10 year old kid holding a sign that reads, “f racism”. Rightist commentator Michael Caputo agreed with Poloncarz, adding, “kudos to [Mark] for standing up to #Buffalo radicals’ profane use of children.”

Yeah, no. 

Forget the subject matter of the protest itself – set that aside for a moment. It’s “radical” to oppose racism? It’s “child abuse” to teach your kids to detest racism? It’s “profane” for a kid to hold a sign that reads, “f racism”? 

No, none of those things is true. 

Racism is the thing that is obscene, indecent, and profane. Racism is the thing that everyone should be piling on about, not some kid holding a sign with the express permission of her parents, who could do without the lecture from you, thank you very much. I’m a parent, and I’d have no problem whatsoever with my kid holding a sign that reads, “f racism”. I’d rather have my kid march in a rally denouncing racism than have one of them go down to Charlottesville to protest the long overdue eradication of monuments to slavery-fueled treason. 

Are you saying that you oppose the sentiment, “fuck racism”? Because that’s what the sign is about. It’s not a controversial thing, and this focus on its form – as opposed to its substance – is nothing more than a bunch of people with no standing tsk-tsking and substituting their morality for that of this girl’s parents. 

F that. 

Last week, the President of the United States of America took time out of his busy schedule of golf and watching Fox to hector black football players about exercising their 1st Amendment right to political seech. This resulted in the NFL’s highest ratings in a while, and a massive production increase in self-righteous right-wing hand-wringing about millionaire black athletes who should really be more “grateful” than to protest police shootings of black people. 

Personally, I will always stand for the national anthem, and the reasons why are none of your business. Well, that’s not completely true – like you, when it plays on TV before the start of a sports event, or during a medal ceremony, I stay firmly planted on the couch. But if an athlete takes a respectful knee during the anthem in order to make a political point, I respect that choice and hope the message being sent is being received. If you stand, but don’t recognize the right of others to sit or kneel, what is it, exactly, that you’re standing for? A flag? A flag is merely a symbol for our country and its Constitution. Compulsory show-patriotism is not what that flag stands for. 

I’m not a Bills superfan, I’ve never been to a game, don’t plan to, either. Not my thing; not my scene. But I am a fan of the Constitution. Politics are my thing. Freedom and liberty and respectful protest are my scene. Players kneeling during the National Anthem affects me in no way whatsoever, whether I agree with it or not; it is silent, respectful protest. It disturbs nothing. It is kneeling, which is arguably more respectful than standing. I may be a lightweight or fair weather football fan, but that’s better than being a lightweight or fair weather American, and people aren’t kneeling to disrespect the flag or the country or your momma or apple pie or Chevrolet; they kneel to protest systemic racism, and almost all of the criticism and hate boils down to – you’re too uppity (now repurposed as “ungrateful”); stand the fuck up. The hand-wringing over this from people who just a few weeks ago expressed their support for statues of men who fought to buy, sell, and own other people is astounding. It sickens me not that players kneel, but the phony patriot-show virtue signaling from people who exalt symbolism over substance.

One man made headlines in Buffalo over the weekend because he quit his seasonal part-time job working security for the Bills to protest a few of the athletes taking a knee. Erich Nikischer made it to Channel 2, Huffington Post, the New York Post, the Daily News, and countless other media because of his principled resignation. Mr. Nikischer has another job, though. He is a state employee earning $71,000 as a court officer, to be precise. His wife, Tammy, earns the same, also working for the state. 

You’ve no doubt see the carefully posed image of Mr. Nikischer outside the stadium just after he dramatically, “took off [his] shirt, threw [his] my Bills hat on the ground, walked out”. He continued that he could no longer, “work in a place where multi-millionaires cry that they are oppressed.” 

There’s this thing called the “US Flag Code“.  It isn’t enforced because the 1st Amendment forbids it – this is a “free country”, so you’re free to pretty much do whatever you feel like with an American flag, and the government can’t do a thing about it. You can burn it, you can cut a hole it in and wear it as a poncho, you can even wear an Under Armour t-shirt that shows an American flag within the product logo. That’s what Mr. Nikischer is wearing in that now-iconic image, and that shirt violates the flag code’s prohibition on advertising, printing for temporary use, and “wearing apparel”. Why does Mr. Nikischer feel so strongly about black athletes kneeling before the flag during the anthem, but so flagrantly violates the code designed to ensure proper respect for our flag? Either way, I support Mr. Nikischer’s 1st Amendment right to disrespect the flag with his Under Armour shirt.

Mr. Nikischer has carefully santitized his Facebook timeline since he thrust himself into this controversy and made himself a public person for this issue, but yesterday he had posts up that he had shared from a page called “Fuck Sensitivity”. He gleefully posted that there’d be a civil war and one side had a lot of guns, while the other side wouldn’t know what bathroom to use, thus cleverly mixing bloodlust with transphobia. He had a large number of posts that could be summed up as, ‘fuck your feelings‘ – a favorite of Trump supporters. He had a post up that joked about murder, and this one was good, too: 

Someone sent me that screenshot – I didn’t take caps of the other posts, because I thought he’d be satisfied to keep them up. Incidentally, NASCAR has a big issue with its fans and confederate treason-slavery flags. Call me crazy, but waving the flag of a country that fought a war against the US for the right to maintain the right to keep, buy, and sell human beings as chattel is a lot more disrespectful to the US than kneeling during the National Anthem. 

My favorite part of Mr. Nikischer’s timeline was the juxtaposition of anti-Constitutional Convention, ‘don’t let Cuomo take my state pension’ posts with ‘fuck your feelings, #MAGA!’

Hey, Mr. Nikischer and “Easy Home Ideas”, schools in the US still recite the Pledge of Allegiance. 

Everything else has either been removed or stuck behind tightened privacy restrictions. 

I wish Mr. Nikischer well and certainly defend his right to express his deeply held political speech. It’s too bad that he can’t see past his own point of view to do the same for others. America stands for the right of people to stand, kneel, sit, or stretch during the National Anthem. If black athletes peacefully and silently protesting police brutality offends you, well, to paraphrase, 

Richard Hamilton, the owner of Deep South Taco, supports Sheriff Tim Howard. There’s nothing whatsoever wrong with that – he is free to support whomever he wants. 

In fact, he has hosted fundraisers for Howard in the past, and intends to host another one in the near future. He even cuts Howard a deal, with a $1,600 in-kind contribution for food showing up in Howard’s campaign coffers. 

There’s nothing whatsoever wrong with that – he is free to support whomever he wants. 

Hamilton is tight enough with the Howard that he became a “Reserve Deputy Sheriff”. I have no idea what that is, but there’s nothing whatsoever wrong with that – he is free to support whomever he wants. 

The Buffalo chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America is organizing a boycott of Deep South Taco because of Hamilton’s closeness with Howard. The DSA cites its vehement opposition to Howard in this viral Facebook post and similar Tweets: 

I represent the County in matters involving the Sheriff’s office, so I take no position whatsoever with respect to the DSA’s boycott of Deep South Taco. I have, however, been holding a one-family boycott of that place for a couple of years, but not proselytizing about it then or now. 

Back then, I followed Hamilton on Twitter and noticed him starting to Tweet some rather hateful, ignorant stuff, claiming that Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama hated America; real dense and stupid dittohead garbage. I called him out on it directly at the time, and he didn’t seem to get it. 

Maybe just stick to cooking? RT @rlhchef: @FoxNews Nope. But she wont care. She cares so little about America, its people or its laws

— Buffalopundit (@buffalopundit) March 25, 2015

He argued with me about it, and I paraphrased his outlook this way to him: “I’m opening three new restaurants. Also, did you know Hillary Clinton hates America?” and suggested that it isn’t a great motivator for Democrats to patronize his establishment(s). Of course, anyone else is free to use the owner’s political viewpoint as a reason to visit more. That’s the interesting thing about a business that holds itself out as open to the general public taking a strong partisan political viewpoint – you’re going to alienate some, but attract others. It’s a tricky equation, especially when you’re talking about a local chain of hipster neo-taco joints. 

Then last year, someone on Reddit tried to shame the owner of Jay’s Artisan Pizzeria (the best – only – true Neapolitan pizzeria in all of WNY) for Tweeting a negative review of Deep South Taco. I waded in the thread, noting that I had gone a few times but ultimately decided not to anymore because I don’t like the owner. Hamilton argued with me there, but the ultimate irony was his whinging about a negative review when he isn’t shy about offering his own. 

Someone noted that the owner of Jay’s is “kind of a dick“. I responded, with a “what’s your point” – that the owner of Deep South Taco was, too. Hamilton then replied to me, and you can see the thread here. 

These are the tweets that I showed him: 

Hamilton and I have had each other blocked on Twitter for a while, but this week, as this DSA thing came to a head, I noticed that Deep South Taco blocked me, too, merely because someone tagged me in a boycott Tweet that I had completely ignored. Again: I never, ever urged other people to not eat at Deep South Taco; when called out, I simply explained why I won’t: that’s it. Well, getting blocked triggered this “leftist”. Here’s what I tweeted about it: 

I guess the DSA boycott caused people to inundate Deep South with one-star Facebook reviews, and people began making “harassing” and “threatening” calls. Threatening and harassing people are crimes, and never acceptable. Well, last night this popped up in my Facebook feed: 

I did a bit of hunting to find out where this was coming from, because I follow and am friends with several of the principals at CBW and I know they don’t take partisan political stances, and would never call for a boycott or criticism of another business. Here’s what I found on the Facebook wall of Deep South’s owner. It’s down now, but was up for quite a while – every word of it either a lie or some #MAGA bullshit. 

I found others that were similar, and it caused people to leave one-star reviews on CBW’s Facebook for literally no reason – because of a lie that someone decided to vomit on the Facebook wall belonging to the owner of a local hipster taco stand who has a problem with “illegal” immigrants. 

One would suppose that Deep South would address the widespread criticism of its owner’s overt support of our controversial Sheriff with something more meaningful than, say, tacit approval of a boycott of a beer company, based on lies and defamation. 

Someone on Twitter wrote this to me after my rant the other day: 

@DeepSouthTaco i live in hamburg and have never visited your store. now, thanks to @buffalopundit tweets, i look forward to visiting soon.

— SamDell (@samdell5555) September 19, 2017

and I responded with this: 

And you know what? I am completely fine with that. Good for you. (Not a store, but a restaurant, but whatever.) Enjoy your taco! https://t.co/sojtgdtYPk

— Buffalopundit (@buffalopundit) September 19, 2017

So, never let it be said that I ever urged anyone not to eat at Deep South Taco.

The owner has defended himself against the recent criticism by suggesting that he’s not in business to reject anyone who wants to rent out his spot for an event, including the Sheriff. That’s fine, but it wouldn’t be a big deal (or as big of a deal) if his restaurant was merely being hired out for a fundraiser at whatever the market rate is. Our taco man, however, gave over $1600 in free food & drink donations to the campaign in question, and this shows up in the sheriff’s disclosures. 

This isn’t about a business simply renting out the space and providing paid-for drinks and food – there is a significant donation here to the campaign, which is the same as cutting a check for that amount.  

A business is free to discriminate against someone for their political views, but it’s generally a stupid thing to do, so it doesn’t come up much. Being black or a woman or Latino is not something a person can change, and that’s why the law treats certain minorities as a “protected class” against whom a business that’s otherwise open to everyone cannot discriminate. There is a pending case right now on a similar topic arising out of a bakery’s refusal to make a cake for a same sex wedding. 

It’s not that the campaign selected this restaurant and is enjoying all the same food and service that would also be available to any other member of the general public, but instead that the restaurant is friendly with the campaign and cutting a deal for them. Otherwise, there’d be calls to boycott every place that campaign held every fundraiser, and I don’t see that (yet).

So, owners of businesses are free to hold whatever political views they want, and consumers have a concomitant right to choose whether to factor those politics into their decisions about spending money. I certainly don’t urge anyone to boycott Deep South Taco or – God forbid – Community Beer Works. On the contrary, consumers should be free to make those decisions on their own. But I do object to businesses – when called out on their overt and vocal support – tacitly promoting boycotts against other businesses that are built wholly on lies and falsehoods. I also object to businesses defending themselves with facts that are either inaccurate, or which omit key facts. 

Happy spending! 

Someday, Republican / Conservative Fusion Party candidate for County Clerk Michael “Mickey” Kearns will tell you he’s a Democrat. 

When that day comes, show him this. 

Ask “Mickey” Kearns which Democratic values he holds. 

Ask him about a woman’s right to choose. Ask him about same-sex marriage. Ask him about whether he’d allow unfettered ownership and possession of any and all firearms by any person present in the United States. Ask him to cite the jurisdiciction, law, statute, or regulation enabling a county clerk to have anything whatsoever to do with “illegal immigration” or abortion rights. 

With this one flyer, Kearns has forever and completely foreclosed for himself the right to call himself a Democrat – centrist, liberal, or otherwise. He’s just a craven opportunist. 

It was a sleepy primary election night, except for one thing: This is the way Pigeonism ends. Not with a bang but a whimper.

Buffalo Mayor

Byron Brown cruised to victory Tuesday night, easily defeating challenges from Mark Schroeder and Betty Jean Grant. Only about 26,000 Buffalo Democrats decided the whole thing for the remaining 90% of city residents. It’s almost comical to call that an election. In the end, because things are, generally, speaking, better in Buffalo since Byron Brown became Mayor over a decade ago, the challengers’ criticisms simply weren’t compelling enough for 10% of Buffalonians to make a dramatic change. Mayor Brown won with 13,346 votes or 51% of the vote. Schroeder received 36% and Betty Jean Grant received 13%. Expect, as they say, more of the same. 

2nd Legislative District

Newcomer April Baskin, the endorsed Democrat, defeated former Buffalo at-large councilman Charley Fisher, newcomer David Martinez, and the Buffalo News’ endorsee, Duncan Kirkwood. Baskin pulled in 34% in that 4-way race to replace Betty Jean Grant in the Erie County Legislature. Politically speaking, Martinez and Fisher both had support from what’s left of the Steve Pigeon club. Literature the two campaigns sent out in the last few weeks was almost identical in form and content – identical, too, to literature that their star Kristy Mazurek sent out last year. You can see images here. There was an effort in LD-2 to turn not just Baskin, but Democratic HQ and Jeremy Zellner, into losers. It failed pretty miserably – their game didn’t work. Baskin, like Mayor Brown, will be unopposed in November. 

Cheektowaga

In a 4-way race for three available town council seats, former local Bernie Sanders organizer Brian Nowak was the top vote-getter; an impressive rookie outing for a newcomer. Nowak worked hard on a shoestring and his message evidently resonated with the electorate. Deputy Supervisor Timothy Meyers received the 2nd-largest vote tally, with incumbent Jim Rogowski rounding out the top three. The big loser was incumbent Alice Magierski, who received about 44 fewer votes than Rogowski. It’s possible that 203 outstanding absentee ballots may swing some more votes to Ms. Magierski, but the absentee margin usually mirrors that of the election day total, making it unlikely that she’ll return to the town council. Magierski was stung by a negative mailer in the waning days of the campaign that outed her for “double-dipping”, receiving a state pension in addition to her councilmember salary. As it did in LD-2, Magierski’s loss deals yet another blow to what’s left of the Pigeonistas and Frank Max acolytes. 

Hamburg

Jim Shaw won the Democratic primary for town supervisor, defeating Dennis Gaughan, who already has the Republican and Conservative fusion lines. 

Republicans

Republicans seldom do primaries. By and large, they do whatever Nick Langworthy tells them to do, including last night in Amherst, where Langworthy’s wife will be on the November ballot for town council. The Republicans rely instead on getting themselves on the Independence and Conservative lines, and honestly who cares. These minor party lines exist to dole out jobs to their memberships and nothing more, acting politically as appendages or puppets of the Republican committee.