An LGBTQ-friendly taco shop in D.C., Taqueria Del Barrio, is under police protection after receiving dozens of homophobic calls a day threatening to burn the restaurant down and kill staffers because the venue hosts a drag brunch. “Check out the Loyal White Knights or punch in KKK into your search engine for the Klan’s fight for white supremacy,” a male voice said in one recorded call obtained by Washington City Paper. The voice goes on to provide dial-in information for some sort of conference call on Monday. Then the caller signs off with, “If you’re white and proud, join the crowd for white power.” The Loyal White Knights is one of the largest and most active Klan groups in the U.S. They’re known for participating in rallies and distributing racist, anti-Semitic, anti-immigrant, homophobic, and Islamophobic propaganda. Owner Anna Bran Leis says she has been pleased with their response, especially from MPD’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Liaison Unit. “To have something like this happen, it’s like someone kicked me in the stomach,” Bran Leis told WCP. “It didn’t happen to other business owners on the block.”
After receiving a lot of backlash for declaring white supremacy in America to be a “hoax,” Fox News’ Tucker Carlson announced last night that he will be taking a vacation.
How convenient…
CNN contacted Fox News spokesperson about the trip and was told it had been in the works before Carlson had made his incendiary remarks.
According to the spokesperson, Carlson will return to his show on August 19.
But, as CNN points out, there is a long history of Fox hosts going on vacation amid controversy:
• Laura Ingraham was suddenly absent in March 2018 after mocking Parkland survivor and gun control activist David Hogg.
• Sean Hannity conveniently took personal time in May 2017 after losing advertisers for promoting the Seth Rich conspiracy theory.
• Jesse Watters made for the hills in April 2017 after making a comment widely criticized as lewd about Ivanka Trump.
• And who can forget Bill O’Reilly, who left and never returned from vacay in April 2017 after the New York Times reported he had settled five sexual harassment allegations for millions of dollars?
In a fiery and blunt speech slamming the tenor, tone and words of President Trump as the nation reels from white nationalist domestic terrorism, former vice president Joe Biden reminded all of us of what a presidential president sounds like.
His words were stirring. His delivery was passionate. And they were befitting a man who kicked off his campaign with a video decrying Trump’s shameful response to Charlottesville.
From Biden’s speech:
How far is it from Trump’s saying this “is an invasion” to the shooter in El Paso declaring, quote, “this attack is in response to the Hispanic invasion of Texas”? How far apart are those comments?
How far is it from white supremacists and Neo-Nazis in Charlottesville — Trump’s “very fine people” — chanting “You will [not] replace us” – to the shooter at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh saying, “we’re committing genocide” — Jews are committing genocide — on his people. I don’t think it’s that far at all.
It’s both clear language and in code, this president has fanned the flames of white supremacy in this nation.
Biden notes similarities between El Paso shooter’s manifesto & Trump’s rhetoric, says Trump “has fanned flames of white supremacy in this nation.”
“His vacant-eyed mouthing of the words written for him condemning white supremacists this week I don’t believe fooled anyone.” pic.twitter.com/tt8nBcBzhY
BIDEN: “We have a problem with this rising tide of white supremacy in America. And we have a president who encourages and emboldens it … He says that guns are not the problem in mass shootings. That the issue is mental health. It’s a dodge. Hatred isn’t a mental health issue.” pic.twitter.com/JylC3D2uxE
Fox News host Tucker Carlson told his TV audience last night that white supremacy is “actually not a real problem in America.”
“This is a hoax, just like the Russia hoax,” he added. “It’s a conspiracy theory used to divide the country and keep a hold on power.”
Saying “the whole thing is a lie,” Carlson downplayed the threat by saying, “The combined membership of every white supremacist organization in this country would be able to fit inside a college football stadium.”
As CNN reports, the point is that men like the suspect in the El Paso shooting aren’t “members” of an “organization.”
The suspect made clear in the manifesto he left behind that he wanted to kill as many Mexicans as possible.
But Tucker Carlson says white supremacy is not a real problem in America.
Tucker Carlson: White supremacy is “actually not a real problem in America.” Calling white supremacy and issue is “a hoax” and “a conspiracy theory used to divide the country” pic.twitter.com/ydzmJ0L7UI
I have something to tell Tucker Carlson. My parents were white supremacists. Their hate was not a hoax. They wanted what’s happening now. I ran from everything they believed. But their vile beliefs were real. Dangerous. And shared by too many. We can’t pretend otherwise.