Tag Archives: Nazi

The Face Of Evil … Jeremy Joseph Christian

Posted on by under Social commentary

On Friday, 35-year-old Jeremy Joseph Christian, of north Portland, Oregon, boarded a light rail MAX train in Northeast Portland.  He apparently had a chip on his shoulder and, for no discernable reason, began berating two women, one of whom was wearing a hijab.  He began ranting and shouting, telling them to “Get off the bus, and get out of the country because you don’t pay taxes here”.  Fearing that his rants were escalating, at least three other passengers acted to try to calm Mr. Christian and protect the two women.  Two of the three men are now dead, the third is in the hospital being treated for non-life-threatening injuries, and Mr. Christian is being held without bond in police custody on two counts of aggravated murder, one count of attempted murder, two counts of intimidation in the second degree and one count of possession of a restricted weapon as a felon.

Jeremy-Christian

The face of evil – Jeremy Christian

A young woman on the train who wishes to remain anonymous said that when Christian got on the train, he was speaking on his cell phone:

“He was pretty upset, squinting his eyes, venting to his friend on the phone about some girl that just pepper-sprayed him. He was complaining about the city, complaining about Muslims, Christians, and it just got very violent very quick.”

After about 10 minutes, she apparently concluded that something was not right, and began recording him on her cell phone. To the best of my knowledge, that recording has not yet been released to the public.

Police say that his postings on social media sites typically relate to Nazis and political violence.  On his Facebook page, he expressed sympathy for Nazis and also for Timothy McVeigh, who bombed a federal building in Oklahoma City in 1995. And just last month, Christian attended a free speech march with a baseball bat to confront protesters but the bat was quickly confiscated by officers.

Jeremy-Christian-2.jpgIn an incident the night before the attack, Christian confronted a black woman at a light rail station.  He threw a Gatorade bottle at her, after which she sprayed him with mace.  Christian has a criminal record that includes a host of felonies going back to 2002, when he was convicted of first-degree robbery and second-degree kidnapping. He also has a conviction for carrying/using a dangerous weapon from 2002.

During an 8-year prison stint for robbery, Christian racked up a lengthy disciplinary record, according to Oregon Department of Corrections officials. Those violations included assault and disobedience. He moved around in the state’s prison system, serving time at four institutions in all.

Two of his Facebook postings:

JC-tweet-1

JC-tweet-2

Note that 8 people actually ‘liked’ the one about Norway!

JC-tweet-3

Donald Trump wants to ban immigrants who are of the Muslim faith, claiming that to let them come to the U.S. is opening the door for terrorism.  Guess what … terrorism isn’t coming from the Middle East, it is right here, right now, it has a face (see above), it has a name, Jeremy Christian, and there are thousands more just like him in this country.  These, folks, are the real terrorists.

This 35-year-old-man obviously had severe problems, had been in trouble with the law numerous times, and yet nobody picked up on it, or if they did, they shrugged their shoulders and … let Jeremy keep doing what Jeremy did.  Until Friday, when he robbed two good men of their lives.

“He’s been in prison. He’s always been spouting anti-establishment stuff. But he’s a nice person. I just can’t imagine.” – Mary Christian, Jeremy’s mother

I suppose that all parents have a bit of blindness when it comes to their children, but this goes beyond blindness.  To say, after everything he has done, that he is a ‘good person’, is simply delusional.

The victims:

BestRicky John Best of Happy Valley, Oregon, died at the scene.  Rick was a city of Portland employee, Army veteran and onetime candidate for Clackamas County commissioner. Best had three teenage sons and a 12-year-old daughter. Best retired from the Army as a platoon sergeant for Corps maintenance in 2012 after 23 years in the military.

Meche23-year-old Taliesin Myrddin Namkai Meche of southeast Portland, was pronounced dead at a local hospital. A friend said that Namkai-Meche died as he lived: Standing up for something he believed in, hoping his action would change the world for the better. He held a degree in economics, worked for a local construction firm, and had just purchased his first home.

Fletcher-hospital.png21-year-old Micah Fletcher, was treated for injuries police said were “not expected to be life-threatening”. Fletcher is an aspiring poet who won a 2013 poetry competition, the Verselandia poetry slam, with a poem condemning prejudices faced by Muslims. He is a student at Portland State University, and works at a pizza shop. A GoFundMe account was established two days ago and has already received $211,685 as of this writing!  There are still a lot of good people in this world.

Fletcher-mother

Micah Fletcher’s Mother With One Of The Girls He Helped Save On Friday

These three men acted without thought for their own safety, they simply jumped in and did what needed to be done.  As I write this, I feel deep sadness, particularly for the two gentlemen who lost their lives, but also for … all of us.

Micah Fletcher wrote this poem on Saturday, the day after he was stabbed:

“I, am alive,
I spat in the eye of hate and lived.
This is what we must do for one another
We must live for one another
We must fight for one another
We must die in the name of freedom if we have to.
Luckily it’s not my turn today”
Beautiful young man with a beautiful heart. 

I Beg of You … Please Read This!

Posted on by under Political commentary, Rants, Social commentary

Okay folks, now I am mad!  And when Filosofa gets mad, let the sparks fly.

  • At a campaign event in Birmingham, Ala., on Saturday, Nov. 21 2015, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump demands the removal of a well-known activist Mercutio Southall Jr. after he shouts, “Black lives matter!” (Reuters) Trump’s response: “maybe he should have been roughed up.” At one point, Southall fell to the ground and was surrounded by several white men who appeared to be kicking and punching him, according to video captured by CNN.  Southall was apparently shouting “black lives matter” and “dump the Trump” amidst the crowd, and was wearing a BLM (Black Lives Matter) shirt.
  • Donald Trump supporters shout racial slurs, Nazi salute at protester in Las Vegas rally: ‘It felt like a mob’. (New York Times, Dec. 15, 2015) As the guards drag the heckler out, protesters are heard yelling “Shoot him!” and “Kick his a–!”  One man caught on camera barks the Nazi salute, “Sieg heil!” and appears to shoot his right hand into the air.

In neither of these cases did Trump do or say anything to stop the brutality, nor did he express regret or remorse.

Where did the First Amendment Freedom of Speech get de-railed?  Southall was protesting Donald Trump, a political candidate who has exhibited racism, bigotry and pure hatred in the past.  Whether you are a Trump supporter or not, whether you support the #Black Lives Matter movement or not, is all irrelevant for the purposes of this conversation.  The only things that matter here are the facts.  The facts are that Mr. Southall and others were protesting, peacefully, and he was beaten and cursed, actions which were lauded by the candidate Trump and his supporters.

In the 1930’s, Adolph Hitler, an unlikely candidate, a racist and a bigot, rose to the highest power in the German nation.  The main reason he was able to do so was because the German people were sick and tired of the status quo.  War bonds that had been sold to the German people to finance the war were now worthless.  Food and other resources had been diverted to the war effort.  Germany was struggling under the burden of war debt, and then came the Treaty of Versailles.  Harsh reparations had been imposed on the nation for its role in World War I and the German people were suffering greatly as a result.  Jobs were scarce, food was scarce.  In addition, there was a worldwide economic depression.  The German people had lost confidence in their government, the Weimar Republic, to be able to help them through these times.  The environment was fertile for the rise in power of the Nazi party. Although not particularly well-educated, Hitler’s oratory skills and anti-Semitism gained him the spotlight where he caught the eye of the DAP, the German Worker’s Party.  He attracted large numbers of Germans who were disenchanted and desperate for change … any change from the status quo.  The Nazis appealed especially to the young, unemployed and members of the lower middle class.  To make a long story short, because this is a blog post and not a history book, Hitler rode the wave of popular support to the Chancellorship of the German nation.  Was there opposition to his bigotry, his anti-Semitism?  Sure, but they were not successful, as they were rapidly silenced by Hitler’s thugs, his bodyguards, the thugs known as the Stormtroopers or Brown Shirts, who got their start defending his rallies.  They “roughed up” people who protested or disagreed with Hitler, they pushed, shoved and threw out his rivals.

Does some of this sound familiar?  Hitler believed in the superiority of white-skinned nationalists, just as does Trump. Hitler was actually a more polished speaker than Trump, but the message was basically the same.  Hitler swore to restore Germany to its previous glory, as Trump is promising to do for the U.S. today, and Hitler brooked no resistance, no protests, tolerated nobody who disagreed with his policies and methods, just as Trump today.  In 1930’s Germany, the people were tired, they were angry, they wanted change … any change and seemingly at any cost, just as the American people of the 21st century.  Hitler was a bigot, a racist and a cruel dictator.  Donald trump is no different.  The difference is that we will be holding free elections in just under ten months and we have the freedom to choose.  If you think that the Constitution and our democratic system of government will prevent Donald Trump from becoming the ruthless dictator that Adolph Hitler became some 83 years ago, think again.  Donald Trump does not want to be the president of a democratic nation where he works in conjunction with two other branches of government to implement policies for the good of the nation.  Donald Trump intends to rule the nation with an iron fist and if the people of the United States do not wake up and realize the danger this man poses, he may get the opportunity to do just that.

It started with Mr. Southall, or even before him, but unless We The People put a stop to it, it will not end there. I am waiting for Mr. Trump to come to my city.  I will be there, I will be wearing my BLM shirt, and I will not be quiet.  Let Mr. T sic his thugs on me, and the next day let the headlines read “65 year-old woman brutally beaten by Trump bodyguards as Trump says “she probably deserved it, crazy old bitch”!  I will have gone down fighting for what I actually believe in, fighting for what is right.  Some things are worth fighting for, worth giving your life for, and if we forget that, then yes, we deserve what we get.

The Saga Continues: Affluenza, Part II

Posted on by under Social commentary

Lately it seems that all I ever write about is gun regulation, Donald Trump, or the presidential race in general.  I am tired of these topics, but they just won’t go away … every day there is something else that my conscience won’t let me leave alone.  But today, I thought, is the day that I am going to take a break, write about something light and fun!  But alas … maybe tomorrow, because just as I was trying to think of what might be fun for me to write and my readers to read, this crossed my desk:

“Tonya Couch, the mother of so-called “affluenza” teen Ethan Couch, had her bond lowered from $1 million to $75,000 at a hearing on Monday.”  http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/11/us/texas-affluenza-tonya-couch/index.html?sr=fbCNN011216texas-affluenza-tonya-couch0351AMVODtopLink&linkId=20283485

You may remember my post of 16 December 2015 titled “The New 1% Disease” about “affluenza”.  https://jilldennison.com/2015/12/16/the-new-1-disease/  The post was inspired by the story of this woman’s son who, after driving drunk and killing four innocent people, was given only a proverbial slap-on-the-wrist because it was ruled that as a result of being born into a wealthy family, he was not able to understand the concept of responsibility, and thus could not be held accountable for his actions.  Then, just two years into his ten-year probation sentence, he disappeared.  Poof.  Vanished, as did his mother.  Just over two weeks later, Couch and his mother were found in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.  The mother was promptly returned to the U.S. and was being held on $1 million bail.  Given the family wealth, one would not expect a mere $1 million to be a huge drain on the family coffers, but apparently it was, so during her bond hearing yesterday the bail was lowered to a modest $75,000.  She is charged with hindering the apprehension of her son, who fled to Mexico after a video surfaced showing him drinking alcohol, a blatant violation of his probation.  She will likely end up paying only 10% of the bond, or $7,500.  Her older son claims that she is broke … a story I find difficult to believe, especially in light of the fact that she withdrew $30,000 from her bank account to fund the trip to Mexico. I don’t know about you, but I don’t have $30,000 readily accessible!  Generally a higher bond is intended to keep a person in jail if that person is believed to be a “flight risk”.  Apparently the Texas judge who lowered Ms. Couch’s bail does not believe that she is at risk of disappearing before trial, despite the fact that she already did exactly that back in December.

 

Meanwhile, back in Mexico, young Ethan, now 18 years of age, languishes in a Mexican migrant holding facility pending extradition.  Why has he not already been extradited to the U.S.?  Because his attorney argues that extraditing him, or “kicking him out of Mexico” would violate his rights, since he hasn’t committed any crime in Mexico.  As a result, Couch’s return to the U.S. will take a minimum of two weeks and could take as long as several months.  The matter now apparently rests in the hands of the Mexican immigration court.  His attorney has announced that he will appeal any unfavorable decision, in which case the process could be lengthy, if not interminable.  Meanwhile, what about the rights of Kevin McConnell whose 12-year-old son, Lucas was one of nine people injured by Mr. Couch?  Or what about the rights of Eric Boyles, whose wife and daughter were both killed by Mr. Couch?  Who has the greater right here, the criminal or the victim?

 

Now, I don’t understand the concept that he should not be deported from Mexico because he “hasn’t committed any crime in Mexico”.  Let us think about this for just a minute.  First, the U.S. does, in fact, have an extradition treaty with Mexico that was signed on 13 November 1997 and entered into force on 21 May 2001. Surely, I thought, this means that Mexico is obligated to return this young man to the U.S. to stand trial.  But then, as I was researching the topic (yes, I do actually research before I make a statement), I discovered that most extradition treaties actually have a requirement of “dual-criminality” … in other words, the person must be found to have committed a crime in both countries!  Upon learning of this, my first thought was “how utterly ridiculous!”  But then, I tried thinking of it in some hypothetical cases completely apart from the Couch case, and I realized that simple extradition based solely on the request of one country could certainly lead to crimes against humanity and human rights abuses.

 

So, I have another idea.  Consider the following.  After the end of WWII, Adolph Eichmann, one of the most notorious Nazi SS officers and one of the major organizers of the Holocaust, fled to Argentina using a false passport under the name of Ricardo Klement.  Many, including famed Nazi-hunter Simon Wiesenthal, dedicated themselves to finding Eichmann, as well as other former Nazis.  Long story short, eventually they discovered that he was living comfortably with his family in Buenos Aires, Argentina.  Argentina had a long history of denying extradition requests for Nazis, so in 1960, Mossad, Israel’s famed intelligence agency, simply kidnapped Eichmann and smuggled him out of the country, to later be tried and executed.  Okay, there is a bit of a difference between Eichmann and Couch, and I’m not suggesting execution for this stupid and misguided young man, but I am suggesting that if Mexico refuses to extradite within a reasonable amount of time, say ten days or two weeks, CIA agents be dispatched to kidnap him and bring him to the U.S. to face the music.

 

And some music it will be, as MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) are circulating a petition demanding that Couch’s case be moved to adult court.  I am not sure what the protocols and precedents for such an action are, and that is research best left to the experts.  But what I do know is that MADD has historically had significant influence and has been successful in the enactment of more than 1,000 new laws since their founding in 1980.

 

The wheels of justice sometimes turn slowly, but turn they do.  I strongly suspect that Tonya Couch will ultimately plead that she is not responsible for her actions due to some mental illness and be let off with a minimum sentence, possibly only probation, although by law she could receive up to a ten-year prison sentence.  And I think that eventually Ethan Couch will be returned to the U.S.  I cannot predict whether he will be transferred to adult court, but I certainly hope he is.  I think it will be years before this matter is fully resolved and that even then most of us will believe it wasn’t enough.  I only hope that there will never again be a case where a person is not brought to justice based solely on the fact of being too wealthy to understand social and moral responsibility.

Review of Once We Were Brothers by Ronald H. Balson

Posted on by under Book reviews

Once We Were Brothers by Ronald H. Balson

Every now and then a writer’s first novel is worthy of a 5-star rating. Once We Were Brothers by Ronald H. Balson is such a book. Generally speaking, I do not tend to read first works of new authors. Yes, I realize that every author has a first book and that if nobody read their first, there wouldn’t likely be a second, third or fourth and the author would fade into obscurity in a job as a lawyer or taxi-cab driver. Even Charles Dickens had a first book way back when. Still, it generally takes a writer a book or two to find his footing, to be able to write from the heart while, at the same time, pleasing his readers and making them yearn for more.

Set in Chicago in 2004, Once We Were Brothers is the story of Ben Solomon, now an 83 year-old Polish Holocaust survivor. There is, in the city of Chicago in 2004, a well-respected, wealthy man, a generous patron of the arts, named Elliot Rosenzweig. Ben Solomon is convinced that Mr. Rosenzweig is a former Nazi named Otto Piatek and is determined to bring him to justice. He enlists the aid of attorney Catherine Lockhart and her friend, a private investigator, Liam Taggart. Though set in 2004-2005, a large portion of the book is the telling of Ben’s story, set in the years 1933-1945, and this is what makes this book more than just another legal thriller. The details of that period are extremely well-researched (I double-checked several myself) and I was immediately drawn into the story, into the time. Rosenzweig, of course, has a team of highly skilled, highly paid lawyers who will do whatever it takes to protect their client and his reputation, while Ben has only Catherine and Liam. At the outset of the story, Catherine is one of hundreds of attorneys in a large law firm where billable hours rule the day, and she is impatient for Ben to come to the point of his story, doubtful that he has a case at all. But as Ben’s story unravels, we see Catherine change, subtly at first, then ultimately she becomes wholeheartedly determined to give Ben the best she has to give.

What makes this book extraordinary is Ben’s telling of how the Germans took over the Polish town of Zamość where Otto had spent his childhood with Ben and his family, and the metamorphosis of Otto from brother to betrayer. Though I have read many books about World War II and the atrocities of the Nazis, Ben’s story left this reader with the nearly breathless feeling that I was living through that time at this very moment and gave me a nightmare or two in the process.

I do not write reviews with spoilers, as the purpose of my reviews is to entice the reader to pick up the book and read it for him/herself. Suffice it to say that this is undoubtedly one of the best novels I have read in a long time. Most of my other 5-star ratings have been for non-fiction, historical books, but this novel has both entertainment value and social value, historical value. I highly recommend it and hope that if you choose to read it, you will come back here and let me know what you thought of the book. Mr. Balson also has a new novel (his 2nd) out just this week, entitled Saving Sophie: A Novel. I am eager to delve into this one and I hope it will be as excellent as Once We Were Brothers.

Review of The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult

Posted on by under Book reviews

This is a story within a story within a story. In this book, many questions are asked, still more are implied, yet few are answered, mainly because some questions quite simply have no answers. You will either love or hate this book; there will be no middle ground. But either way, it will make you think about things in ways that you may never have thought about them before; you will ask yourself tough questions that you may never have asked before. That is Jodi Picoult’s trademark. The questions are important questions, questions about forgiveness, redemption, retribution and conscience.

The story, then, is a modern-day tale of a young woman, Sage, and an old man, Josef, she scarred by her recent past, he by his distant past. The old man has lived in this small town in New Hampshire for more than sixty years and is well-liked, a retired school teacher, former kids’ coach, “everyone’s adoptive, cuddly grandfather”. Not long into their friendship, the old man asks Sage to help him die. There is a catch, though … she must forgive him for his past before he dies. His past as an officer in the Third Reich, a Nazi, a participant in the killing of more than six million Jews during the Holocaust in World War II. That is the story within the story. And then there is the story within the story within the story, which follows a young Jewish girl from a town in Poland through the labor camps and ultimately through Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen.

It is important to make the distinction that this is not, per se, a book about the Holocaust, but about the question of forgiveness. The Holocaust, the most heinous crime in modern history, is simply the background, but as such it gives this book significant historical value it could not have otherwise achieved. Is it possible to forgive someone for an act that was not committed directly against you, or must forgiveness come directly from the victim? If that is the case, can there ever be forgiveness for murder or wrongful death? Are there some acts that cannot possibly be forgiven? Are there varying degrees of guilt? Are there levels of guilt and an imaginary “line in the sand” where forgiveness is no longer possible? For example, everyone may agree that killing six million Jews is unforgiveable. Would a lesser number be easier to forgive? Say, three million? Or how about a half-million? Or was killing just one Jew unforgiveable? If that is the case, how does that differ from any other killing? Is there a difference between actually being the person to commit the act, being an accessory to the act, being an observer and not trying to stop the act? So many questions, so few answers. These and others kept me awake pondering for hours during the time I was reading this book and I concluded that if there are answers to these questions, I do not know what they are.

The Storyteller is an excellent book, one of the few works of fiction to which I will give a five-star rating. There is conflict, both internal and external, the major characters are well-drawn and highly believable, and there are enough plot twists and turns to keep the reader guessing about some things until the final pages. Oh yes, and there is just a bit of romance thrown in for good measure, though that part seemed a bit contrived to me. If you are looking for some light summer reading, put this book down now and move on. It is anything but light reading. However if you are looking for something to challenge your mind and cause you to search your own soul, question your own beliefs and values, please do yourself a favor and read this book! I would like to add here that I do not recommend The Storyteller for most children under about the age of seventeen, as there are some fairly graphic descriptions.

Disclaimer: I am an independent, unpaid reviewer. My reviews are entirely my own works and I only review books that I have actually read. I welcome all comments, whether you agree or disagree with me, however, inappropriate content in comments is not acceptable and will be removed.