Sheriff Joe
DA
Put this in your pipe and smoke it,
Radical Muslims Behind 84 Percent of Terror Killings in Western World
Radical Muslims Behind 84 Percent of Terror Killings in Western World
Ponderable
- Thread starter Bruddah IZ
- Start date
Sheriff Joe
DA
Looks like a bad time to be white in the USA,
typical, angry, mixed up, mostly white black person.
NYT’s Mara Gay: ‘I’m Not Willing to Let White Voters off the Hook’ for Supporting ‘White Nationalist’ Trump
14,585
typical, angry, mixed up, mostly white black person.
NYT’s Mara Gay: ‘I’m Not Willing to Let White Voters off the Hook’ for Supporting ‘White Nationalist’ Trump
14,585
Sheriff Joe
DA
University of Denver hosts ‘White Privilege Symposium’
Adam SabesMississippi Senior Campus Correspondent@asabes10 on Oct 31, 2018 at 4:21 PM EDT
The University of Denver will host and sponsor the annual “White Privilege Symposium,” (WPS) which is set up to “examine patterns, cultures, and systems that contribute to identity, power, and privilege,” on Friday and Saturday.
The symposium will feature breakout sessions such as “Anti-Racist Allyship: Avoiding The Pitfalls,” “Colleagial Check-In for POC: Needing Connection While Managing Whiteness,” “Colored White: A Discussion On White Identity,” “White Accountability,” and more, according to the symposium website,
"How are folks engaged in this work really problematizing their own white fragility, defensiveness, tokenization of POC, etc., and how can you become an even better ally/accomplice?" Tweet This
[RELATED: Profs claim scientific objectivity reinforces ‘whiteness’]
“White Accountability” will explain why white people need to check their privilege in order to stop racism.
“Helping white people understand the difference between accountability and blame and challenging white people to use this knowledge to check their own white [privilege] and to dismantle the systems of racism that permeate this country,” is the stated purpose of the session.
Another workshop titled “Similar but Separate” seeks to explain the difference between black and brown women to the audience.
“We will explain the differences of black and brown women in Colorado,” that description states. “Many people believe black and brown women experience the same inequalities; however we do not.”
The “Anti-Racist Allyship: Avoiding the Pitfalls” workshop even criticizes the “good progressive or liberal” who considers themselves an “anti-racist ally.”The description asks progressives and liberals, “what happens when you are challenged, to think of yourself and your work differently?”
“Quite often, POC find ourselves disappointed, shocked, and saddened by how frequently the 'ally,' especially the white ally, reveals themselves to be anything but,” it explains. “How are folks engaged in this work really problematizing their own white fragility, defensiveness, tokenization of POC, etc., and how can you become an even better ally/accomplice?”
[RELATED: CUNY cuts class calling for ‘Abolition of Whiteness’]
When Campus Reform asked the University of Denver what the university is doing to sponsor the program, the school said it is letting the WPS use university space. If members of the community disagree with the content in the symposium, they are encouraged to come and discuss the issue, the school told Campus Reform.
“The University of Denver brings together people and communities with diverse and opposing viewpoints and we invite members of our community to engage in civil discourse regardless of subject. We strive to create an inclusive environment that fosters the intellectual growth of our students, alumni, and the greater, global community,” the school told Campus Reform. “Within that environment, we encourage each individual to engage in respectful discourse and the critical examination of ideas. Freedom of expression is crucial to the mission of the University of Denver.”
The UD Graduate School of Social Work is sponsoring the WPS as well as The University of Colorado-Denver.
Adam SabesMississippi Senior Campus Correspondent@asabes10 on Oct 31, 2018 at 4:21 PM EDT
- The University of Denver is hosting a variety of workshops as part of the annual "White Privilege Symposium."
- Workshops offered include "White Accountability" and “Colored White: A Discussion On White Identity."
The University of Denver will host and sponsor the annual “White Privilege Symposium,” (WPS) which is set up to “examine patterns, cultures, and systems that contribute to identity, power, and privilege,” on Friday and Saturday.
The symposium will feature breakout sessions such as “Anti-Racist Allyship: Avoiding The Pitfalls,” “Colleagial Check-In for POC: Needing Connection While Managing Whiteness,” “Colored White: A Discussion On White Identity,” “White Accountability,” and more, according to the symposium website,
"How are folks engaged in this work really problematizing their own white fragility, defensiveness, tokenization of POC, etc., and how can you become an even better ally/accomplice?" Tweet This
[RELATED: Profs claim scientific objectivity reinforces ‘whiteness’]
“White Accountability” will explain why white people need to check their privilege in order to stop racism.
“Helping white people understand the difference between accountability and blame and challenging white people to use this knowledge to check their own white [privilege] and to dismantle the systems of racism that permeate this country,” is the stated purpose of the session.
Another workshop titled “Similar but Separate” seeks to explain the difference between black and brown women to the audience.
“We will explain the differences of black and brown women in Colorado,” that description states. “Many people believe black and brown women experience the same inequalities; however we do not.”
The “Anti-Racist Allyship: Avoiding the Pitfalls” workshop even criticizes the “good progressive or liberal” who considers themselves an “anti-racist ally.”The description asks progressives and liberals, “what happens when you are challenged, to think of yourself and your work differently?”
“Quite often, POC find ourselves disappointed, shocked, and saddened by how frequently the 'ally,' especially the white ally, reveals themselves to be anything but,” it explains. “How are folks engaged in this work really problematizing their own white fragility, defensiveness, tokenization of POC, etc., and how can you become an even better ally/accomplice?”
[RELATED: CUNY cuts class calling for ‘Abolition of Whiteness’]
When Campus Reform asked the University of Denver what the university is doing to sponsor the program, the school said it is letting the WPS use university space. If members of the community disagree with the content in the symposium, they are encouraged to come and discuss the issue, the school told Campus Reform.
“The University of Denver brings together people and communities with diverse and opposing viewpoints and we invite members of our community to engage in civil discourse regardless of subject. We strive to create an inclusive environment that fosters the intellectual growth of our students, alumni, and the greater, global community,” the school told Campus Reform. “Within that environment, we encourage each individual to engage in respectful discourse and the critical examination of ideas. Freedom of expression is crucial to the mission of the University of Denver.”
The UD Graduate School of Social Work is sponsoring the WPS as well as The University of Colorado-Denver.
Bruddah IZ
DA
Just what we need, another racist!!Looks like a bad time to be white in the USA,
typical, angry, mixed up, mostly white black person.
NYT’s Mara Gay: ‘I’m Not Willing to Let White Voters off the Hook’ for Supporting ‘White Nationalist’ Trump
14,585
Sheriff Joe
DA
They are sure coming out of the woodwork, aren't they?
Thanks Obama, you built that and Oprah is fanning the flames.
Sheriff Joe
DA
Bruddah IZ
DA
I like the popularity format though.
Sheriff Joe
DA
I believe her.
Alleged victim is a no-show for news conference claiming Mueller 'sex assaults'
"Are you both prepared for federal prison?" one reporter asked Wohl and Burkman, who made sex assault allegations against Mueller but offered no evidence.
After presenting allegations against Mueller, Jacob Wohl asked if he's prepared for prison
Nov. 2, 201801:54
Breaking News Emails
Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings.
Nov. 1, 2018 / 2:52 PM PDT
By Brandy Zadrozny
Jacob Wohl, a pro-Trump fan of conspiracy theories, and Jack Burkman, a conservative lobbyist and radio host, stood in front of a half-full room of reporters and activists at a D.C.-area Holiday Inn Thursday to detail their allegations of sexual misconduct against Robert Mueller, the special counsel probing Russian interference in the 2016 election.
The woman who they said has made those allegations, a Los Angeles native in her 30s, was slated to attend the news conference and give her own account. But, Wohl said, she feared for her life and on arriving in Washington, "panicked and boarded a flight to another location." Burkman promised she would appear at another news conference in the near future.
Wohl and Burkman took turns speaking at the podium, detailing the allegations, complimenting each other, and defending their professional records against charges of conspiracy peddling and political bias.
The conference was streamed by several reporters in the room. A pickup truck parked in the lot outside by one of the activists in attendance carried a giant inflatable rat wearing a blond Trump toupee.
Earlier this week, several journalists reported on Twitter that they had received suspicious emails from a woman claiming someone had offered to pay her for making sexual misconduct allegations against Mueller. The journalists said those offers had come from SureFire Intelligence, a company NBC News connected to Jacob Wohl through telephone and domain records. Their claims were later bolstered by a second woman who came forward with an email offering similar payments in exchange for smearing Mueller, signed by a SureFire agent.
Burkman opened the news conference by addressing the controversy.
"None of this is true," Burkman said of the allegations he and Wohl had been involved in a plot.
"There were no offers of payment, there was no wrongdoing, there was no bribery, there was nothing illegal or untoward or unethical that took place here," Wohl said.
The special counsel's office asked the FBI to investigate the matter last week, after learning of the alleged plot to smear Mueller. Burkman and Wohl said they had not been contacted by the FBI. "I don't think the bureau would embarrass itself by calling us, talking about people that don't exist," Burkman said.
Wohl told reporters the woman making allegations had contacted Wohl with claims Mueller had sexually assaulted her in a New York City hotel room in August of 2010.
Explaining that his "default position" is "to not believe" women who come forward with allegations of sexual assault, Wohl told reporters that he found the woman now accusing Mueller credible. Wohl said that he met her after she hired his company SureFire Intelligence to handle "an estate matter." She later came back to him with the allegations.
Jack Burkman, a lawyer and Republican operative, is followed by the media after a news conference called to address his allegations against Special Counsel Robert Mueller in Arlington, Virginia, on Nov. 1, 2018.Joshua Roberts / Reuters
Little is known about the woman allegedly making these allegations. After Wohl and Burkman went back and forth on the exact spelling of her name, Wohl described her as a fashion designer, who was "well-educated and comes from a good family."
"She is a gal who has an illustrious background and she is not politically oriented," Wohl said.
"We went through every meticulous detail of her allegation, we cross-referenced it with public records, we joined historical societies to get some of those records," he said. Wohl said they were "in the process" of going to police with the woman's allegations and would file a report by the end of next week.
Burkman then stepped in and said the decision would be "up to my client," and the evidence-gathering process was mid-investigation. "We have tentacles out in all directions gathering evidence," Burkman said.
They further claimed to have more victims whose stories they were currently vetting. "Hundreds of people have contacted us" this week, Wohl said.
Burkman is well-known for peddling baseless conspiracy theories surrounding the murder of Democratic aide Seth Rich and promoting bombshell information that never materializes. Last November — again at a Holiday Inn — Burkman sent reporters home without making good on what he had advertised as new allegations of sexual harassment against a member of Congress.
Likewise, Wohl, a former hedge fund manager now banned from the financial industry, has amplified prominent conspiracy theories as a writer for The Gateway Pundit, an often-inaccurate right-wing website.
When Wohl and Burkman opened the floor to questions, the assembled reporters were unrestrained.
Wohl was asked about his political bias, specifically for his tweets attacking Mueller, including one where he wrote the special counsel should be sent to Guantanamo Bay. Wohl said his personal opinion had no effect on his professional handling of the investigation.
Other reporters questioned 20-year-old Wohl's experience in the intelligence gathering business and why he had lied to reporters days earlier when he denied having any part in the investigation. Burkman responded, calling Wohl "a child prodigy who has eclipsed Mozart."
At one point, Will Sommer from The Daily Beast said, "No one is discounting [the woman's] account. We didn't know her name until 20 minutes ago. We're questioning both you two very un-credible people."
NBC News has elected not to publish the woman's name because she has not gone public, and because of concerns about Wohl and Burkman's credibility.
When questioned about a Washington Post account of Mueller at jury duty in D.C. on the date of the alleged incident in New York, Wohl accused the paper of reporting the story to discredit the woman.
When reporters laughed at Wohl's suggestion that "sometimes people go to jury duty, but they're also somewhere else," Wohl admonished the audience. "It's not funny. It's not a laughing matter," he said.
As the hour they had booked was almost up, Burkman announced he would take one more question. Someone from the back shouted, "Are you both prepared for federal prison?"
"No we are not," Burkman answered.
Alleged victim is a no-show for news conference claiming Mueller 'sex assaults'
"Are you both prepared for federal prison?" one reporter asked Wohl and Burkman, who made sex assault allegations against Mueller but offered no evidence.
After presenting allegations against Mueller, Jacob Wohl asked if he's prepared for prison
Nov. 2, 201801:54
Breaking News Emails
Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings.
Nov. 1, 2018 / 2:52 PM PDT
By Brandy Zadrozny
Jacob Wohl, a pro-Trump fan of conspiracy theories, and Jack Burkman, a conservative lobbyist and radio host, stood in front of a half-full room of reporters and activists at a D.C.-area Holiday Inn Thursday to detail their allegations of sexual misconduct against Robert Mueller, the special counsel probing Russian interference in the 2016 election.
The woman who they said has made those allegations, a Los Angeles native in her 30s, was slated to attend the news conference and give her own account. But, Wohl said, she feared for her life and on arriving in Washington, "panicked and boarded a flight to another location." Burkman promised she would appear at another news conference in the near future.
Wohl and Burkman took turns speaking at the podium, detailing the allegations, complimenting each other, and defending their professional records against charges of conspiracy peddling and political bias.
The conference was streamed by several reporters in the room. A pickup truck parked in the lot outside by one of the activists in attendance carried a giant inflatable rat wearing a blond Trump toupee.
Earlier this week, several journalists reported on Twitter that they had received suspicious emails from a woman claiming someone had offered to pay her for making sexual misconduct allegations against Mueller. The journalists said those offers had come from SureFire Intelligence, a company NBC News connected to Jacob Wohl through telephone and domain records. Their claims were later bolstered by a second woman who came forward with an email offering similar payments in exchange for smearing Mueller, signed by a SureFire agent.
Burkman opened the news conference by addressing the controversy.
"None of this is true," Burkman said of the allegations he and Wohl had been involved in a plot.
"There were no offers of payment, there was no wrongdoing, there was no bribery, there was nothing illegal or untoward or unethical that took place here," Wohl said.
The special counsel's office asked the FBI to investigate the matter last week, after learning of the alleged plot to smear Mueller. Burkman and Wohl said they had not been contacted by the FBI. "I don't think the bureau would embarrass itself by calling us, talking about people that don't exist," Burkman said.
Wohl told reporters the woman making allegations had contacted Wohl with claims Mueller had sexually assaulted her in a New York City hotel room in August of 2010.
Explaining that his "default position" is "to not believe" women who come forward with allegations of sexual assault, Wohl told reporters that he found the woman now accusing Mueller credible. Wohl said that he met her after she hired his company SureFire Intelligence to handle "an estate matter." She later came back to him with the allegations.
Jack Burkman, a lawyer and Republican operative, is followed by the media after a news conference called to address his allegations against Special Counsel Robert Mueller in Arlington, Virginia, on Nov. 1, 2018.Joshua Roberts / Reuters
Little is known about the woman allegedly making these allegations. After Wohl and Burkman went back and forth on the exact spelling of her name, Wohl described her as a fashion designer, who was "well-educated and comes from a good family."
"She is a gal who has an illustrious background and she is not politically oriented," Wohl said.
"We went through every meticulous detail of her allegation, we cross-referenced it with public records, we joined historical societies to get some of those records," he said. Wohl said they were "in the process" of going to police with the woman's allegations and would file a report by the end of next week.
Burkman then stepped in and said the decision would be "up to my client," and the evidence-gathering process was mid-investigation. "We have tentacles out in all directions gathering evidence," Burkman said.
They further claimed to have more victims whose stories they were currently vetting. "Hundreds of people have contacted us" this week, Wohl said.
Burkman is well-known for peddling baseless conspiracy theories surrounding the murder of Democratic aide Seth Rich and promoting bombshell information that never materializes. Last November — again at a Holiday Inn — Burkman sent reporters home without making good on what he had advertised as new allegations of sexual harassment against a member of Congress.
Likewise, Wohl, a former hedge fund manager now banned from the financial industry, has amplified prominent conspiracy theories as a writer for The Gateway Pundit, an often-inaccurate right-wing website.
When Wohl and Burkman opened the floor to questions, the assembled reporters were unrestrained.
Wohl was asked about his political bias, specifically for his tweets attacking Mueller, including one where he wrote the special counsel should be sent to Guantanamo Bay. Wohl said his personal opinion had no effect on his professional handling of the investigation.
Other reporters questioned 20-year-old Wohl's experience in the intelligence gathering business and why he had lied to reporters days earlier when he denied having any part in the investigation. Burkman responded, calling Wohl "a child prodigy who has eclipsed Mozart."
At one point, Will Sommer from The Daily Beast said, "No one is discounting [the woman's] account. We didn't know her name until 20 minutes ago. We're questioning both you two very un-credible people."
NBC News has elected not to publish the woman's name because she has not gone public, and because of concerns about Wohl and Burkman's credibility.
When questioned about a Washington Post account of Mueller at jury duty in D.C. on the date of the alleged incident in New York, Wohl accused the paper of reporting the story to discredit the woman.
When reporters laughed at Wohl's suggestion that "sometimes people go to jury duty, but they're also somewhere else," Wohl admonished the audience. "It's not funny. It's not a laughing matter," he said.
As the hour they had booked was almost up, Burkman announced he would take one more question. Someone from the back shouted, "Are you both prepared for federal prison?"
"No we are not," Burkman answered.
Sheriff Joe
DA
She's gonna fit right in.
Sheriff Joe
DA
U.S. Adds More Than 1,000 Manufacturing Jobs — per Day…
…Best Since 1998
The United States has not seen an October this strong for manufacturing employment since before the turn of the century
…Best Since 1998
The United States has not seen an October this strong for manufacturing employment since before the turn of the century
Cop killer in Trump video was released by Sheriff Joe
Cop killer in Trump video was released by Sheriff Joe: A video ad tweeted by President Donald Trump is incorrect in suggesting that Democrats are solely responsible for an immigrant cop killer’s presence in the U.S., according to reports from the Sacramento Bee and other media outlets.
Records in Arizona show Luis Bracamontes was arrested on drug charges in Phoenix in 1998, but released for reasons unknown by the office of Sheriff Joe Arpaio, the former Republican law enforcement official for Maricopa County who has styled himself as “America’s Toughest Sheriff.” Arpaio was pardoned by Trump
Trump supporters are the biggest suckers known to man.
Cop killer in Trump video was released by Sheriff Joe: A video ad tweeted by President Donald Trump is incorrect in suggesting that Democrats are solely responsible for an immigrant cop killer’s presence in the U.S., according to reports from the Sacramento Bee and other media outlets.
Records in Arizona show Luis Bracamontes was arrested on drug charges in Phoenix in 1998, but released for reasons unknown by the office of Sheriff Joe Arpaio, the former Republican law enforcement official for Maricopa County who has styled himself as “America’s Toughest Sheriff.” Arpaio was pardoned by Trump
Trump supporters are the biggest suckers known to man.
They're deplorables
She's racist against herself.
Maybe a trip to 23 'n me would shed some" light."
Sheriff Joe
DA
Fake news booty.
Sheriff Joe
DA
OPINION: Remembering Jim Jones, Once The Darling Of California Liberals
November 3rd, 2018
Pedestrians walk past the California State Capitol building in Sacramento, California, U.S., on Thursday, March 30, 2017. (Photo: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Nov. 18 will mark 40 years since nearly 1,000 Americans — a majority of them African American — perished in a mass suicide/murder in the Jonestown compound in the jungles of Guyana. Many misconceptions surround this horror, but a new account dispels some common myths.
Cult leader Jim Jones is often portrayed as having been a normal fundamentalist Christian preacher. But as Daniel Flynn shows in “Cult City: Jim Jones, Harvey Milk, and 10 Days that Shook San Francisco,” Jones believed “the Bible is the root of all our problems today,” and he sought to “infiltrate the church” to spread the communist message.
Jones was also a racist. He used a racial epithet in reference to black activist Medgar Evers, and he called jazz icon Duke Ellington an “Uncle Tom.” The name-calling proved no obstacle when Jones moved to San Francisco. His People’s Temple congregation attracted some Black Panthers, and Jones became the darling of the California Democratic establishment.
In a letter to Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, then-state Assemblyman Willie Brown called Jones a “close personal friend and highly trusted brother in the struggle for liberation.” Liberal icon Tom Hayden hailed Jones for his “high standard of ethics and morality,” and the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner named the future mass murderer “Humanitarian of the Year.”
Jones’ admirers included California Gov. Jerry Brown, Lt. Gov. Mervyn Dymally and Congressman Phil Burton. San Francisco Mayor George Moscone appointed Jones commissioner of the city’s Housing Authority. San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk became one of Jones’ most eager advocates, writing that he had found “greatness … at Jim Jones’ People’s Temple.”
When Jones moved his flock to Guyana, some saw it as a better, more egalitarian society, free of racism, homophobia and sexist gender roles. Flynn, however, rightly calls it a “concentration camp” and notes that Jones piped in recorded audio of lengthy harangues by Angela Davis, who in 1979 won the Lenin Peace Prize and twice ran for vice-president of the United States Communist Party.
After growing public scrutiny — including a tense site visit by a political representative — Jones ordered the suicide of more than 900 followers. His guards murdered Congressman Leo Ryan and four others, and wounded now-Rep. Jackie Speier. After all that, Harvey Milk still refused to condemn Jonestown outright. “Guyana was a great experiment that didn’t work,” Milk said. “I don’t know, maybe it did.”
Milk’s judgement wasn’t always reliable — nor was his credibility. He claimed the U.S. Navy drummed him out of the service for being homosexual, but that wasn’t true. As Flynn shows, Milk was honorably discharged. In default accounts, fellow San Francisco Supervisor Dan White was a right-wing bigot who gunned Milk down because he was gay. That isn’t true either.
Flynn quotes then-City Supervisor Dianne Feinstein, now a U.S. senator, who said, “This had nothing to do with anybody’s sexual orientation. It had to do with getting back his position.”
Milk’s praise for Jim Jones was never shown in the 2008 biopic “Milk,”, which won two Oscars and featured Sean Penn in the lead role. In 2009, Milk was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom; a U.S. Navy ship also bears his name. As Flynn laments, “Myths prove harder to kill than men.”
Jim Jones told his followers, “God is Socialism, and I am Principle Socialism, and that’s what makes me God.” Forty years after Jonestown, politicians such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are still hailing socialism with Pentecostal fervor.
Flynn urges readers to think with their brain, not their ideology. He concludes Cult City with the Jonestown placard, a quote from George Santayana: “Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
Fair enough, but nobody can remember what they never knew in the first place.
Lloyd Billingsley is a policy fellow at the Independent Institute, a nonprofit group based in Oakland, Calif. He is the author of Bill of Writes: Dispatches from the Political Correctness Battlefield, and Lethal Injections: Elizabeth Tracy Mae Wettlaufer, Canada’s Serial Killer Nurse.
Sheriff Joe
DA
Fox's Laura Ingraham accuses Oprah of 'broad-brush race-baiting' | TheHill
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou...MwBnoECAIQHQ&usg=AOvVaw0saQPdmjkm6SQ9iHNVETc6
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou...MwBnoECAIQHQ&usg=AOvVaw0saQPdmjkm6SQ9iHNVETc6
Jimmy Carter's BFF.
OPINION: Remembering Jim Jones, Once The Darling Of California Liberals
November 3rd, 2018
Pedestrians walk past the California State Capitol building in Sacramento, California, U.S., on Thursday, March 30, 2017. (Photo: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Nov. 18 will mark 40 years since nearly 1,000 Americans — a majority of them African American — perished in a mass suicide/murder in the Jonestown compound in the jungles of Guyana. Many misconceptions surround this horror, but a new account dispels some common myths.
Cult leader Jim Jones is often portrayed as having been a normal fundamentalist Christian preacher. But as Daniel Flynn shows in “Cult City: Jim Jones, Harvey Milk, and 10 Days that Shook San Francisco,” Jones believed “the Bible is the root of all our problems today,” and he sought to “infiltrate the church” to spread the communist message.
Jones was also a racist. He used a racial epithet in reference to black activist Medgar Evers, and he called jazz icon Duke Ellington an “Uncle Tom.” The name-calling proved no obstacle when Jones moved to San Francisco. His People’s Temple congregation attracted some Black Panthers, and Jones became the darling of the California Democratic establishment.
In a letter to Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, then-state Assemblyman Willie Brown called Jones a “close personal friend and highly trusted brother in the struggle for liberation.” Liberal icon Tom Hayden hailed Jones for his “high standard of ethics and morality,” and the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner named the future mass murderer “Humanitarian of the Year.”
Jones’ admirers included California Gov. Jerry Brown, Lt. Gov. Mervyn Dymally and Congressman Phil Burton. San Francisco Mayor George Moscone appointed Jones commissioner of the city’s Housing Authority. San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk became one of Jones’ most eager advocates, writing that he had found “greatness … at Jim Jones’ People’s Temple.”
When Jones moved his flock to Guyana, some saw it as a better, more egalitarian society, free of racism, homophobia and sexist gender roles. Flynn, however, rightly calls it a “concentration camp” and notes that Jones piped in recorded audio of lengthy harangues by Angela Davis, who in 1979 won the Lenin Peace Prize and twice ran for vice-president of the United States Communist Party.
After growing public scrutiny — including a tense site visit by a political representative — Jones ordered the suicide of more than 900 followers. His guards murdered Congressman Leo Ryan and four others, and wounded now-Rep. Jackie Speier. After all that, Harvey Milk still refused to condemn Jonestown outright. “Guyana was a great experiment that didn’t work,” Milk said. “I don’t know, maybe it did.”
Milk’s judgement wasn’t always reliable — nor was his credibility. He claimed the U.S. Navy drummed him out of the service for being homosexual, but that wasn’t true. As Flynn shows, Milk was honorably discharged. In default accounts, fellow San Francisco Supervisor Dan White was a right-wing bigot who gunned Milk down because he was gay. That isn’t true either.
Flynn quotes then-City Supervisor Dianne Feinstein, now a U.S. senator, who said, “This had nothing to do with anybody’s sexual orientation. It had to do with getting back his position.”
Milk’s praise for Jim Jones was never shown in the 2008 biopic “Milk,”, which won two Oscars and featured Sean Penn in the lead role. In 2009, Milk was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom; a U.S. Navy ship also bears his name. As Flynn laments, “Myths prove harder to kill than men.”
Jim Jones told his followers, “God is Socialism, and I am Principle Socialism, and that’s what makes me God.” Forty years after Jonestown, politicians such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are still hailing socialism with Pentecostal fervor.
Flynn urges readers to think with their brain, not their ideology. He concludes Cult City with the Jonestown placard, a quote from George Santayana: “Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
Fair enough, but nobody can remember what they never knew in the first place.
Lloyd Billingsley is a policy fellow at the Independent Institute, a nonprofit group based in Oakland, Calif. He is the author of Bill of Writes: Dispatches from the Political Correctness Battlefield, and Lethal Injections: Elizabeth Tracy Mae Wettlaufer, Canada’s Serial Killer Nurse.
