Nazi the Snowman… was a white pride racist soul; with a lynchin’ rope, and a pointy hood, and two eyes made out of coal…
This cracks me up is an outrage! Some crazyface in Idaho has been charged under nuisance laws for displaying a KKK-Snowman on his lawn:
“Mark,” a Hayden, Idaho man who has so far refused to give his last name, loves to decorate his pad with Nazi, Aryan Nation and other white supremacist paraphernalia. “I have every right,” he reminds reporters when they ask about the SS flag that flies on his garage. So when the holidays roll around and the snow falls, he’s not one to let opportunity pass him by. He’s turned the latest snow accumulation into a perfectly sculpted, hood-wearing, noose-holding KKK member.
KXLY reports the story Wednesday and is the second time the station has quizzed Mark about his love of all things Aryan.The first time he made news it was over his twin Aryan Nation and Nazi SS flags that he hung up within hours of moving into his Hillview Drive house.
Then, he described his take on the flags to KXLY reporter Sally Showman [seriously?!]:
“I have every right to hang ’em and fly ’em,” Mark said, explaining flags are “a little bit of white pride…. I would like to say leave me alone and I’ll leave you alone.“
It’s just a little bit of white pride. What’s the big deal? Get offa his lawn.
“If you’ve got hate in your heart, let it out.”
[cross-posted at ABLC, here]
Jrod the Cookie Thief
If “white pride” requires a person to hide his face behind a hood and threaten to murder people, then sign me up for the other side.
dmbeaster
Hysterical.
As a liberal, I say he can do it while we get to call him out for his rascist @*%#% behavior.
Freedom. It includes having to put up with these a-holes. Or as our right wingers love to say, it ain’t free.
soonergrunt
@Jrod the Cookie Thief: You beat me to that observation. I was thinking along the lines of “what kind of pride is it when you won’t give anyone your name to be associated with it?”
General Stuck
At least it wasn’t a pu%%y snowman
BR
@dmbeaster:
Exactly. He should get to keep it up, and the daily paper should get to put his name, picture, and personal information in every day’s paper as long as he keeps it up.
Svensker
Sounds like a case for the ACLU, to me. It’s horrible, but I don’t see how this isn’t protected speech.
wenchacha
The ultimate “there goes the neighborhood.”
jeff
These jackasses give cover to the racists with actual power. Nobody would go to a cocktail party with that redneck, but they’ll send checks to the campaigns of the people in power that work to strengthen white privilege (though they do not, usually, understand themselves to be racist.) All the while, they can point out how offended they are by the Klan and Nazis–who are, no doubt, horrible people–it’s just that they are poor, powerless, and friendless.
Maude
He wouldn’t have the right to hang them and fly them in Austria or Germany.
ThresherK
It’s the new “proud right-wing” way, no? He’s out in Idaho v. an ordinary suburb someplace. Out where one doesn’t need to be brave to be a white man with his own munitions depot.
Most every lefty-pride thing I can remember involved at least one incident where the aggrieved group was attacked in public by more-armed police for the purposes of “public safety”.
“Pride” ain’t what it used to be.
dmbeaster
Funny how there isn’t a well known right wing version that stands up for freedom of speech – no matter the content.
wengler
If he threw up a Confederate flag this wouldn’t be a story. The only problem is his white pride is inspired by German fascists and not American ones.
scav
So I can only assume he’d be entirely in favor of the large black men with balaclavas, knuckle-dusters and Malcolm X shirts standing silently in an honor guard in the street in front of his house too, no?
Yutsano
Am I wrong for thinking this was just funny? Cause he’s like some weird holdover from the 90’s or something. The Aryan Nations moved out of that area years ago. And Coeur d’Alene, bless their hearts, has been trying to repair that image after they ran off to Indiana. Maybe he thinks he’s a beach head or something. All I know is thanks to assholes like this I can’t make Conehead snowmen.
Angry Black Lady
@dmbeaster: the right wing thinks the ACLU is a terrorist organization.
ruemara
It’s his right and from what I’ve seen, he’s more honest about it than most.
ms. malaprop
I miss Dave Chappelle.
Angry Black Lady
@soonergrunt: exactly. i alluded to that in an old (random-ass) post: This is a robe that says, “I am somebody. And that somebody is an anonymous racist.”
a la Wyatt Cenac
@scav: “My one thought is, Bring it on. Let’s fucking do this. I’m kinda sick of their shit. We have guns, too.”
Morbo
He sounds like quite a joy to be around.
Angry Black Lady
@Yutsano: no. when i first saw it i died laughing, hence the strike out. it’s hilarious and sad, not enragening.
ETA: something about how the snowman is almost doing the heisman.
Mike M
The guy is a wacko, but I think he has every right to put his extremist positions into snow if he’d like and it would be nice to have a good snowball target for the neighborhood kids. That said, I can understand how this particular snow sculpture could quickly become an attractive nuisance for his neighborhood. I’d hate to be living near this guy while the street filled with protestors, supporters, and the press.
I am very tolerant of temporary disruptions. Still, if there was going to be a semi-permanent circus on my cul-de-sac, I’d like to have some say in the matter.
Angry Black Lady
@Mike M: i just googled idaho’s nuisance law:
52-101. NUISANCE DEFINED. Anything which is injurious to health or
morals, or is indecent, or offensive to the senses, or an obstruction to the
free use of property, so as to interfere with the comfortable enjoyment of
life or property, or unlawfully obstructs the free passage or use, in the
customary manner, of any navigable lake, or river, stream, canal, or basin, or
any public park, square, street, or highway, is a nuisance.
in my view, idaho can charge him under the nuisance law. freedom of speech would likely be an affirmative defense.
Dennis SGMM
I’m certain that the two dozen or so African-Americans who live in Idaho are outraged. My sister lives in Sand Point. From what she tells me about Idaho this is just coals to Newcastle.
hal
I agree with the 1st amendment aspect of the case, but it really bugs when people give racists credit for being “honest” or dismiss this as some foolish white supremacist, and boy, ain’t he a funny one.
Plenty of these people are one rented u-haul away from a Federal Building, so I’m not so sure they should be dismissed as harmless, racist assholes.
Mike in NC
He has every right to eat yellow snow, too.
Roy G
I hate f*n Idaho Nazis. I’d love to see the Bluesmobile plow through that white trash.
Jack
Well, you know why the hoods are pointed, don’t you? So they fit right on their pointy little heads…
Brick Oven Bill
Next thing you know, this Idaho guy will join some group called ‘The Race’, or perhaps ‘The National Association for the Advancement of White People’.
Shameful.
Anya
I am always conflicted when I see a story like this, because most of the racists who do society damage are not the dyed-in-the-wool variety but the subtle racists. The ones who clutch their purses unconsciously when they see a back man approaching, or the ones who always find a way to hire the white candidate even if the black candidate is more qualified. Those people will be disgusted by KKK-Snowman’s antics. When we fixate on the extreme racists like this Idaho man, we give those subtle racists cover.
J
“I have every right to hang ‘em and fly ‘em,” Mark said, explaining flags are “a little bit of white pride…. I would like to say leave me alone and I’ll leave you alone.“
Live and let live–in a spirit of tolerance and mutual respect, I take it. Who could object to that? It positively warms the cockles, doesn’t it?
Love that noose, though, because nothing says let’s all get along and respect each other’s rights like a lynching.
Yutsano
@Angry Black Lady: It struck me as pathetic and stereotypical. Like he thought he would get away with it just by sheer geography. The demographics of that area have changed A LOT. There’s a big theme park up that way that has been trying to whitewash that image for years and was starting to make some headway until this happened. That theme park is coupled with the resort town atmosphere of Coeur d’Alene (which I can see, it’s GAWJUSS there) and they’ve been trying to go all inclusive and such. So it’s no wonder the neighbors are pissed. What really ran the Aryan Nations out of Hayden was the local townsfolk. They just got tired of that image. I bet this guy moves again soon and bitches about his persecution.
BTW I saw an update: the point on the snowman was knocked off by neighborhood kids.
PurpleGirl
So, he’s proud of being white, he’s proud of the name Mark. (How do we know his name is Mark?) But refuses to tell people his last name… must be some 10-syllable unpronounceable German/Polish/Eastern European foreign name. Not some nice short Anglo-Saxon Smith or West or King. Yeah, he has his right to make a Nazi/klan snowman. He’s still a coward, though.
jpe
The first amendment tell us the statute – or this application of it – is unconstitutional.
Ross Hershberger
Snowman suggestions for the neighbors:
Proud Gay snowman.
Businesswoman snowman
Tiger Woods snowman
Jackie Robinson snowman
Barney snowman
Abe Lincoln snowman
edmund dantes
No, they shouldn’t even be wasting their time charging him under the nuisance law. It’s wholly unconstitutional in this application. Part of the problem in this country is prosecutors being overzealous and using laws for things they were never intended to be used for and never should be used for.
Plus it just increases his impression of “fighting the good fight”. Mock and move on.
Dennis SGMM
@Ross Hershberger:
You forgot the Malcolm X snowman: “I didn’t land on this lawn – this lawn landed on me!”
sherifffruitfly
(shrug) That’s Idaho for you, and that’s why I don’t go there.
edit: In before the chorus of “it’s just a few bad apples” bullshit.
Angry Black Lady
@jpe: not necessarily. freedom of speech isn’t absolute and gives way to other “weightier” interests. i doubt the state has such an interest here, though.
Martin
@Maude: Has Idaho moved recently?
I don’t see the problem. Go park an IASCA winning vehicle outside of his house and crank up the hip-hop.
Ross Hershberger
This guy is a shithead supreme but he’s probably not one of the physically dangerous ones. People who intend to do actual harm and violence don’t advertise on their front lawn.
muddy
He just wants the ladeez to think he’s a wizard under the sheets.
Angry Black Lady
@edmund dantes: i said “can” not “should.”
based on what yutsano is saying, i’m inclined to agree with you, except that if i lived in that neighborhood, i would not view it as zeal by prosecutors. if i walked out of my door and saw my neighbor’s lawn decorated with a KKK snowman, my reaction would not be “meh. it’s just idaho.”
Ross Hershberger
Speaking of in front of the house, I just ran up to the store. Literally ran. It’s COLD out. On the way back I had to stop for a procession of 27 vehicles with giant light up menorahs on the top. They were escorted by 7 or 8 local and state police vehicles. Every 3rd vehicle was blasting some kind of music. Dudes with long beards and wide hats hanging out the windows waving and having a blast. I wonder if it’s that fun all year or only Hanukkah.
Angry Black Lady
@Martin: a great way to ensure that a conflict will result.
@Ross Hershberger: “probably not” isn’t that comforting to me.
Ross Hershberger
@Angry Black Lady:
Agreed that there’s nothing at all comfortable about having someone so demonstrative about his mental derangement on the block.
mai naem
If the roles were switched and it was a black person going off on some white folks Michelle Mangalangaddingdong would have already looked up this guys address and name and had it all over the intertubes. I don’t get why the reporter didn’t publish his name. I would be willing to along with anonymity on some whistleblower situation but this? Seriously?
Shade Tail
Personally, I think it’s quite polite for a bigoted piece of shit to come right out and say, “I’m a bigoted piece of shit!” Not hiding behind dog whistles saves the rest of us the trouble of trying to figure it out.
Martin
@Angry Black Lady: Yes. But sometimes conflict is necessary to advance a cause. That’s not my call here, but I wouldn’t begrudge anyone who felt it was necessary.
But yeah, this is pretty classic Idaho.
ricky
@Dennis SGMM:
Coals to newcastle? I thought the coals were for the eyes.
soonergrunt
@PurpleGirl: If I lived next to him, I’d put up a sign in my own yard with an arrow pointed at his house saying “That is the residence of Mark Smith (or whatever his name is), ph 555-123-4567.
Brick Oven Bill
The Religion begins at The New Seminaries, aka grooming colleges. At the state schools outside of California, the ones where you look to your left and right, and you are informed that one of the three of you will be gone in a semester, success is founded in Merit.
At The New Seminaries, success is founded in passing the entrance criteria, as established by The Authorities, Believers all. These entrance criteria are shaped by two forces: Affirmative Action (necessary to foster The Belief) and Legacy Scholarships (necessary to fund The Belief). This is the system of Wealth and Birth.
Once you are in, you graduate, so long as the fees are paid.
And while The Belief measures itself by its own wants and desires, Merit is measured by Mathematics. The sum of the squares of the two sides of a right triangle always equals the square of the hypotenuse.
arguingwithsignposts
@Ross Hershberger:
How about an entire neighborhood of snowpeople giving the middle finger saying “f$%k off, racist asshole.”
P.S. – this is why we can’t have nice
thingssnow.Yutsano
@Brick Oven Bill: That’s nice. Now how does this relate to racist snowmen in Idaho exactly?
Ross Hershberger
What’s that smell? Is something burning?
Ross Hershberger
I hope for the sake of Idaho that the neighbors aren’t all just “Well, that’s Mark. It’s a thing with him.”
People pull deplorable stuff like this when they’re pretty sure there will be no backlash.
Yutsano
@Ross Hershberger: Actually the neighbors are the ones who raised the unholy stink to both the news and the police. It really is amazing how there are some decent folk in Idaho.
Brick Oven Bill
The subject of the post is a Heretic, Yutsano. He must be picked, frozen, personalized, and polarized.
Duh.
Dick Move
Hey, kids! It’s time for the Andrew Show.
alwhite
@Yutsano:
God Damnit! Do not respond to Brick Head Bill. Never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, not once, not just a little – NEVER.
Its decent peoples only hope that he will go away & stay away.
burnspbesq
@Ross Hershberger:
What do you mean by backlash? Under no circumstances should anyone try to silence this fool. You’re either for freedom of speech at all times and under all circumstances, or you’re not for it at all.
If you want to point and mock, that’s fine.
Yutsano
@alwhite: Hehehe. BoB is kind of like my own personal blog cat toy. It’s fun to poke at for a little while, then I get bored and move on. Trust me if he’s not a DougJ spoof he’s a total moron. He claims heterosexuality but has hit on at least two gay men on here so far.
alwhite
We had a neighbor who had a “lawn Jockey” in his driveway. He thought it was HI-Lari-us the them colored guys in the neighborhood had to look at it but couldn’t do anything about.
A couple of us white humans got together one night & stole the thing, he got a new one & chained it down so we brought bolt cutters the next time. Happily the asshole sold this summer & went into a retirement home.
Ross Hershberger
@burnspbesq:
I know. Nazis/Skokie. It’s tough to take but either we can all speak freely, even assholes, or nobody can.
Backlash generally, like being shunned by all reasonable people. Looks like that’s happening already.
Ross Hershberger
One of our neighbors had the jockey on his lawn. Shortly after we moved in (late ’60s) the house changed owners. The statue was set in concrete so they just painted the face white.
mb
I wonder if this guy knows Jonah Goldberg thinks he’s a liberal?
JBerardi
I’m forced to conclude that white people simply should not exist.
Drouse
@Yutsano: That’s written puposely?
I thought it was some sort of automatic prose generator.
alwhite
@Yutsano:
Sorry, I am just physically ill from having to put up with brain dead asshole who think they are so cute. BhB is one of them & this place was so much nicer when he went away.
alwhite
@JBerardi:
Nah, there are good white people. Some of my best friends are white people. Take Payton Manning, hes a credit to his race. White people are OK as long as they know their place & don’t get uppity.
Yutsano
@alwhite: I regard BoB like you do when the dog starts cleaning himself in the middle of the living room during a party: you glance then move on with your conversation. I usually do ignore him, except when he blatantly hits on me, but sometimes I’m just bored and he spouts off nonsense and I swat back.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Yutsano:
BOB or the dog?
Yutsano
@Just Some Fuckhead: Yes.
Odie Hugh Manatee
What does Glen Greenwald have to say about Blackwaterdog’s new web site?
What. An. Asshole.
Svensker
@Odie Hugh Manatee:
What? Where? Link?
Odie Hugh Manatee
@Svensker:
Hot from the horses ass.
I can’t believe that GG thinks what he said but hey, he said it.
Mike G
What are the odds that if a black/Hispanic/Asian/Democrat moved in next door that he’d “leave them alone”. Just ignore that cross burning on your lawn, that’s how we welcome newcomers to the neighborhood around here.
asiangrrlMN
If that piece of shit lived next to me, I would not be sanguine about it at all. As it is, I can just point and laugh. Or rather, point and groan. And, as others have said, if you’re so damn proud, “Mark”, then give us your last name. And, to me, this take on White Pride is so fucking twisted.
@Odie Hugh Manatee: Yeah. This got discussed pretty thoroughly in John’s sinus Open Thread.
@soonergrunt: I gotta say, I probably would do something similar.
Odie Hugh Manatee
@asiangrrlMN:
Ahhh, thanks! Sinuses don’t interest me and I missed it…lol!
gnomedad
@mb:
Are you serious?
Sloegin
Idaho’s neo-nazis mostly hang out in the panhandle, Northern part. There’s been Aryan nations and other shit up there the better part of 40 or more years, around Haydn lake. Beautiful country, stunk up by a chunk of human trash.
Growing up just inside the Washington side of the border, we’d ask our folks what the burning crosses in the hills were about, they’d tell us it was the devil-worshipers up there. I guess they were too embarrassed to tell us any better.
dmbeaster
angryblacklady @ 45
There are time, place and manner restrictions, but restrictions on content? That is where the right gets absolute.
This is pretty much all about content.
Johannes
@Angry Black Lady: ABL, I’m a fan. But, on the legal issue, you’re wrong, because balancing of interests so far only is done in First Amendment cases involving speech of government employees whose speech is reasonably foreseen to produce a disruptive effect on their workplace. That balancing is justified, the Supreme Court has held, because the employee has voluntarily affiliated her/himself with the government.
Offensive speech–whether racist, sexist, or counter-majoritarian prejudices (and here’s why the 1st A is a good thing) is protected unless it is spoken in a context which gives the target a reasonable fear of imminent violence (e.g., burning a cross on somebody else’s lawn in Virginia v. Black), or is spoken in a context where imminent lawless action is both intended to result and likely to result.
Will you forgive me if I refer you to a law review article on the topic I wrote? It’s here.
Johannes
@Johannes: Sorry, ABL–I think your “Frosty” re-work is excellent. Meant to add that.
Chuck Butcher
@Johannes:
Maybe you missed the noose? Your bridge just went up in smoke along with the cross. Lose the noose – no threat, the weapon exists and is on display and its purpose is historically and broadly known, it ain’t just a piece of rope.
Fuck, I’m a goddam nail banger.
Chuck Butcher
Before I was distracted by “look at me I’m smart,” I was going to note that Hayden ID seemed real familiar. On my “Labor Day” Harley excursion from NE OR to N MI primarily on US2 I rode through Hayden on US95. Didn’t see the AN or SS flags but I will say that ID does have a pretty fair percentage that don’t reflect this idjit even silently. I’m sure not going to assert that there isn’t a shit load of racism in ID … or well hell, rural OR or urban OR. It exists, mostly frowned at as unmannerly or damned un-neighborly.
Now up that Panhandle way the more likely victim of racism is going to be AmerInd. A lot of you are going to say, “huh?” and I’d not blame you but near the Northern Tier reservations it is rank.
Maybe thanks to the Harley, appearance, and attitude my choices of companions of “other” races was not commented on in my presence.
Johannes
@Chuck Butcher: I doubt the snow-fiend poses a clear and present danger.
Sorry the comment read as self-aggrandizing. ABL strikes me as someone interested in getting the details and I thought she might find the piece useful.
Most First Amendment cases involve speech that is offensive. This is such a case.
LanceThruster
If he doesn’t have a boom car or an extra loud modified exhaust…I’d trade him for my neighbors.