The Baraboo Reflection

By Jeff Simpson

By now, you have probably heard that the children of Baraboo High school are public enemy #1, because of a picture they took at least Spring's prom.

Yes it appears, that most of the boys from the class of 2019 were giving the Nazi salute.  The photographer swears that he was telling the boys to say good bye to their parents, the camera, Scott Walker, their anonymity, or whatever the story is he is telling at the time.

One of the students who was there, and did not Heil to the camera, was Jordan Blue, whose memory is different from the photographers.

  "As soon as I heard the photographer say, 'Raise your hand,' I knew what was going to happen," senior Jordan Blue told CBS News correspondent Adriana Diaz. Blue, who is in the photo, refused to participate.
"Did he say anything to make it clear that it was raise your hand in this way as in this Nazi symbol?" Diaz asked.
"He did not say raise your hand in a Nazi symbol way. And I'm pretty sure my classmates just interpreted as raise your hand, let's do this as a joke," Blue said, adding that he thinks the others knew what the symbol represented.

The command to raise your hand, is almost automatically turned into a Nazi salute?  I wonder why that could possibly be,....

Maybe they watched the Republican National Convention, where one of the main speakers, Laura Ingraham spoke of nationalism....

Of course Ingraham has the highest rated show on Fox.  Ever since she came back from her suspension vacation after making fun of the parkland shooting survivors.     (Quick note - the Parkland Shooter - Nikolas Cruz - recently registered as a Republican.  I guess his long ties with the NRA makes this the logical next step. )

Maybe they attended a rally for the Donald in West Bend and one of their parents bought a Nazi flag as a Souvenir.

or ran across these guys there:

Or possibly worked for the Republican Paul Nehlen Campaign.  Yes, Nehlen did not come close to winning, but he was praised by The Donald for his "kind words". 

Or Maybe they caught Richard Spencer's speech:

What does the head of the Alt-Right movement Richard Spencer have to do with Wisconsin?  Well a student at UW-Madison wanted to start an alt-right movement on campus and was forced to go through many road blocks, which then led to Republicans Jesse Kremer and Robin Vos to pass a law that says if you disrupt a speaker at the University System you can be expelled. 

The student that Vos and Kremer were writing legislation for, was convicted of arson on black churches, which definitely led to his appeal with the WISGOP. 

What has the Alt-Right Movement really done, since they were also praised by the Donald as "having some really fine people " as part of their movement.    I mean we can overlook the Alt-Rights role in this, all they have done is hold a White Power rally in Charlottesville, NC and shoot up a synagogue in Pittsburgh.

FYI: the guy who keeps praising the Alt-Right movement, he won Wisconsin in the last Presidential vote.   Plus Wisconsin's Governor ,was the only elected official, to be a featured speaker at a White power rally in Florida and it barely made the Wisconsin Media blink.(Stormy Daniels was more exciting to cover).

Then there is far right hate radio that made fun of the whole topic:

Whew! It had been almost four days since the left had a good hand-wringing, virtue-signaling moral panic. Thank you, Baraboo High School kids, for bringing meaning to the lives of thousands of online social justice warriors!

— Dan O'Donnell (@DanODonnellShow) November 13, 2018

The list goes on and on.....

Did the photographer say raise your hand in a Nazi salute....I personally do not think so. 

Did the Photographer ask the kids to put their hand in the air and most of them used the Nazi salute for fun....I believe so.   

However, before we run to Baraboo with our Pitchforks in hand, maybe we should stop and look in the mirror first and realize all these kids are doing is modeling our behavior. 

Next time you look at that picture of the Baraboo Boys with the Nazi salute,  take a second look and you will see that it is just a reflection of our current society. 

Trustee Hendricks to Beloit College Students Of Color - Go Away!

By Jeff Simpson



We have covered Diane Hendricks numerous times here at CogDis.  She is the widow of Ken Hendricks of ABC Supply company in Beloit and one of the richest women in the world.  Ms. Hendricks is also a Trustee at Beloit College and also one of the top GOP funders in Wisconsin,.  Ms. Hendricks was also VP of the Trump victory fund.

I was adamant that having Ms, Hendricks serve on both, was incredibly bad for Beloit College's reputation around the world.

Diane Hendricks recently added another title to her resume - Nazi Sympathizer!

Last weekend, in Charlottesville, VA, an empowered far right wing full of Nazis, and white supremacists, grabbed their tiki torches and marched on the city screaming hate!    

While it turned the stomachs of most sane Americans, and many business people and community leaders started distancing themselves from these sickening events.

However it was pretty much widely accepted that the completely failed the humanity test, was elected Republicans.   From The Donald on down, no leaders stepped up in the Republican party to say - hey that is not who we are or what we want to be!    Most just ran from the questions.

With the outrage and disgust, still white hot among the country, The Donald tried to do damage control.   No not the kind where he truly denounced this hate, but the kind where he made sure the billionaires would still hand him unlimited money.    

Among this select group of far far right billionaires was Beloit, Wisconsin's own Diane Hendricks.   Ms. Hendricks let The Donald know that no amount of Nazi's and white supremacists would stop her from donating to the cause.

Of course we know the cause being, less taxes and regulations for billionaires and no chance of the working class to ever organize of stand up for themselves.

All for me, none for thee!

Ms. Hendricks, who lives in a city with approximately 25% people of color, let it be known that she sympathizes with the white power marchers!  

This is what she told The Donald was OK!  They might as well be giving free rein to David Duke.  

On August 21st, Beloit College welcomes its newest freshman class to town.   Maybe this is the video that their most famous Trustee might as well have helped produce this video:

Welcome to Beloit my white friends, the rest of you watch your step.

It is sad what has happened to America, it is even sadder to me that my College overlooks hate for the almighty dollar!

If you want to voice your displeasure that a Trustee of Beloit College is a Nazi sympathizer, here is the contact info:

Office of Development and Alumni Relations
Beloit College
700 College Street
Beloit, WI 53511

Toll-free Phone: 800-331-4943
Local Phone: 608-363-2656
FAX: 608-363-2459

Alumni: alumni@beloit.edu
Donors: gift@beloit.edu
Planned Giving: legacy@beloit.edu

@Beloit_College

Trump Tower In Trumptown

By Jeff Simpson

The incredible hold, The Donald has on his followers is awe-inspiring.   As he say, he can shoot someone on 5th avenue and not lose a single fan(except maybe the person he shoots).

We know he mocked a disabled reporter, but we see why he did not lose any support for that, because he mocks his own supporters blind faith, and they eat it up.

"Thank you sir, May I have another" takes on a whole new meaning.  While we were worried that America was entering a new Gilded Age, the reality is we are now knee deep in the midst of the John Blutarsky age!

How are we raising children and citizens, to not question someone who brags that they can commit murder and not lose a single voter?   Could the "Strict Constitutionalists" not be so strict and  so Constitutional after all?

It is not like we are following The Donald blindly because of his strong faith, since he does not even know what his faith is.

From behind his desk on the 26th floor, Trump faced the Celtic cross at the top of the steeple of Johnston's church, located a block south on Fifth Avenue. When Johnston pointed it out to Trump, the President-elect responded by marveling at the thick glass on the windows of his office -- bulletproof panels installed after the election.
It was clear that Trump was still preoccupied with his November victory, and pleased with his performance with one constituency in particular.
"I did very, very well with evangelicals in the polls," Trump interjected in the middle of the conversation -- previously unreported comments that were described to me by both pastors.
They gently reminded Trump that neither of them was an evangelical.
"Well, what are you then?" Trump asked.
They explained they were mainline Protestants, the same Christian tradition in which Trump, a self-described Presbyterian, was raised and claims membership. Like many mainline pastors, they told the President-elect, they lead diverse congregations.
Trump nodded along, then posed another question to the two men: "But you're all Christians?"
"Yes, we're all Christians."

Yet when at his rallies, he asks for loyalty pledges, his followers are very willing to oblige.

Nein!

They not only oblige they completely degrade themselves in the process!

It amazes me that, in the year 2016, people were so upset that we had an African American president that they would compromise their values, and what our Country was founded on to make the White House, white again.

But wait! There is more!

It is not bad enough that rallies filled with hundreds of white people pledge their allegiance to Hair Trump, but his whole Cabinet, in their first Cabinet meeting, completely disparaged themselves!

The point of a Cabinet meeting under normal circumstances is to catch up on what is going on in the country and work on solutions to problems.   The point of a Trump cabinet meeting is to pledge loyalty and tell him how amazing he is!  

Truth is scarier than fiction!

The person at the front of the line was, The Donald's Chief of Staff,  Wisconsin's own Reince Priebus!

Apparently Reince Priebus is doing performance art, and recreating the Robert Downey character of Julian from Less than Zero.

To be fair, addiction can be a very hard thing to overcome!

My only advice to Reince is, when he sees Steve Bannon buying Flavor-Aid in bulk, stay away!  The aftertaste is deadly!

To all of our "tea party" friends on the right, please never speak again of your Love of our country and Patriotic tendencies!  

Laura Ingraham

 

By Jeff Simpson 

An interesting tidbit from Charles Pierce on Laura Ingraham:

  CLEVELAND, OHIO—It says something about the crowd gathered here that Laura Ingraham, a famous radio terror, was invited to speak at the Republican National Convention, and that she got a wild ovation at the beginning and at the end of her remarks. Her theme was "Respect." She told a touching story about watching TV back in the 1970s at her Momma's knee and asking why people were burning the American flag."Honey," said Momma Ingraham, "that's because their parents didn't teach them about respect."
"Respect."
When she was at Dartmouth, she edited the Dartmouth Review, during which time she arranged to surreptitiously record a meeting of the campus gay students association. She then outed the members in her magazine and sent the tapes to their parents. She later changed because one of her brothers came out, but fck that, too.
"Respect."
Back in 1995, in a truly embarrassing piece in The New York Times Magazine, there was this darling anecdote about Ingraham's evening in some DC bar.
As we sat in the bar of the Tabard Inn knocking back big glasses of Sambuca ("Should we all sing 'Kumbaya'?" suggested Ingraham), she entertained us with stories of her adventures in El Salvador during the mid-80's. What was she doing there? I asked. "Subjugating third-world nations," she said with a dry laugh.
In the course of the proxy wars launched illegally and luxuriously financed by everybody's hero, Saint Ronnie Reagan, some 20,000 Salvadorans were killed. Archbishop Oscar Romero was gunned down while saying Mass. Four American nuns were raped and slaughtered.
"Subjugating third-world nations."
"Respect."
Yeah, right.

She has a career in politics because why exactly?  Is there anyone on the right with an actual moral compass?

By the way this is how Ms. Ingraham ended her speech last night!

'Nuff Said

I Will Not Give You Healthcare Sam I Am...

By Jeff Simpson

 "This is like taking a history class from Abbott and Costello." - Charlie Pierce on Cruz's "filibuster".

Tonight, Ted Cruz is taking part in an historic fake filibuster.  It is as fake as the grassroots portion of "tea" party.  The Canadian Cowboy is so adamanat that you do not have healthcare, that he has labeled anyone who thinks that Obamacare should not be defunded(most of the nation) as "nazi appeasers".

This is the guy that the really far right wing of the republican party holds up as some sort of Canadian super hero:

 


Check out what minor league right wing talk show host Tony Katz had to say about Mr. Canada:

Tony Katz

We are witnessing our Republic in action. Thoughtful questions, honest answers, total transparency. No wonder @joanwalsh hates it. #DefundIt

I know your curious as to the wonder, that Northstar was giving the nation:

 Yes the hero to the right, is reading a story written by a true progressive about the idiocy of someone who is so stubborn all he can do is say no.

"Every time Ted Cruz talks about Christianity an angel coughs up blood."  John Fugelsang

 John Stewart couldn't pass up a shot at Cruz either:

At least John McCain likes him!  So does Peter King.