Did you catch the story about those dopes from Georgia who went on a two-day drunken hate-crime spree during which they waved the Confederate flag, pointed a shotgun at people of color, and threatened to kill them for…, well, for being people of color.
They yelled, among other things:
- “We’re going to kill some niggers today.”
- “We’ll blow the heads off the little bastards. We’ll kill all the little niggers.”
- “I’ll kill all of you niggers.”
They’d screeched those epithets at an outdoor birthday party for an eight-year-old. Some guests video’d the event.
For expressing such promises, two of the group of 13 — the gang had gathered in a pickup truck convoy to terrorize two counties — have been sentenced to lengthy prison terms. The two, a couple who live together, exploded into tears and sobs, the poor things, when their sentences were announced.
Apparently, the woman-half of the couple, Kayla Norton, is having second thoughts about the whole incident. In fact, before she was sentenced she told the court what a silly mistake she’d made. Oops!
Kayla, poor thing, fell back on today’s go-to alibi for assholish behavior. “I want you all to know,” she told the court, “that is not me.”
Not Her
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Just wondering: When did saying That’s not me become a hoped-for Get Out of Jail Free card? It doesn’t work in a court of law, of course, but drunk drivers, physical abusers, those unable to control their rage and hate, and other such slobs say it so much today that it must be fraught with some kind of magical self-excusing glitter.
Personal to all who feel compelled to say the line: It is you.
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Blood & Money
This week’s Big Talk might be the most important one yet. Journalist and author Doug Wissing joined me to discuss his three embeds with US Army troops in Afghanistan. Their — and Doug’s — take on this holy land’s longest war is a must-listen for anyone concerned about how we risk our soldiers’ lives, how we take the lives of Afghanis for granted, and how we’re pissing away at least hundreds of billions — Doug says it’s a trillion — bucks on a failed enterprise.
Afghani Pashtuns
[Image: Douglas Wissing]
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Here’s the link to yesterday’s feature on WFHB‘s Daily Local News. And here’s the link to the almost-unedited original interview with Doug. His new book, Hopeless but Optimistic: Journeying through America’s Endless War in Afghanistan, is on sale at your local bookseller now.
Big Talk is a regular Thursday feature of WFHB’s Daily Local News at 5pm.
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The people are Afghan; the currency is afghani.