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You are here: Home / We Can Read That, You Know

We Can Read That, You Know

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Dear winger nutjob public officials writing stupid bigoted stuff on social media:  Hi there!

The Miami-Dade Fire and Rescue Department opened an investigation into a racist post on one of its captains’ Facebook page. According to The Grio, Brian Beckmann, a captain in the Miami-Dade fire department, posted a rant on his Facebook page suggesting that Trayvon Martin shooter George Zimmerman was unjustly accused and that Martin’s killing can be blamed upon poor parenting by “urban” parents who are “welfare dependent”.

Naah, people don’t read Facebook or anything. Your lousy racist screed? Nobody will see it. You know, except for possibly anyone on Facebook. Or on the internet. But what are the odds of that, right?

So, we’ll be in the “public apology” phase by the end of the day, followed by the “suspension pending investigation” phase, the “close-minded PC Libtards are afraid of the truth!” phase and eventually the “hope people have forgotten about it/quietly reinstated” phase, when it will all be repeated by the next bigoted slimebucket who wants to “tell the truth” about those people, just like it’s been going on for the last four years now in the spotlight and long since before out of it.

But what do I know, I’m just a ghetto hoodie hood rat with shitbag parents. Bonus points for packing in misogyny, class warfare and the media too, and it’s even spelled correctly. Hey, that’s why he made Captain, right?

[UPDATE]  Via Southern Beale in the comments, I see Charles Pierce goes Level 3 Super Combo on this one and crushes it out of the park.

The hell of it all is, I am not surprised by anything anymore, except for the stubborn stupidity of people who believe that anything they post on Facebook, or tweet around the Twitterverse, is in anyway private. It’s like those politicians who affect shock when they discover that the camera’s on, or that the tape recorder actually works.

One might be forgiven for thinking after the 4067th time or so, that they feel confident enough in the “It pisses off the libtards!/You’ll fail upwards!” outcome probability that they’re doing it on purpose now.

Reader Interactions

73Comments

  1. 1.

    Villago Delenda Est

    Another guy from whom the only apology I’m willing to entertain is a Captain Needa apology.

    Post racial America, my ass.

  2. 2.

    Mickey

    This clown will probably be interviewed on Faux telling “his side of the story” by the end of the day.

  3. 3.

    slag

    But what do I know, I’m just a ghetto hoodie hood rat with shitbag parents.

    Which, of course, means you must also be shot.

  5. 5.

    Southern Beale

    …Martin’s killing can be blamed upon poor parenting by “urban” parents who are “welfare dependent”….

    This is wingnut for “black.” C’mon.

    Charlie Pierce had the best take on this I’ve seen yet:

    In case anyone has missed it, what Captain Beckmann there is saying is the sum total of George Zimmerman’s entire defense, particularly those parts of it being waged by his pal, Sean Hannity. In case anyone has missed it, what Captain Beckmann is saying here is the sum total of conservative social policy for the past 40 years. In case anyone missed it, what Captain Beckmann is saying here is the sum total of the complicity of the Democratic party in those Republican social policies for the past 20 years, including Bill Clinton’s welfare reform. In case anyone missed it, what Captain Beckmann is saying here is exactly why Willard Romney’s wife can tout her work as a stay-at-home mom while hubby’s out bragging about how many poor stay-at-home moms he forced to go out and work a couple of jobs. In case anyone’s missed it, welcome to four decades of American politics. Nothing good and lasting will come of this case now, nothing at all.

    Wingnuts have been listening to so many dog whistles spewed by Limblah/Fox etc. that they’ve internalized their racist message.

  8. 8.

    cathyx

    …Martin’s killing can be blamed upon poor parenting by “urban” parents who are “welfare dependent”….

    I actually took this to mean Zimmerman’s upbringing. It’s possible that that’s what he meant.

  9. 9.

    Culture of Truth

    All it took for these guys to becomes card-carrying-ACLU-type civil rights activists was for a white guy to be arrested for stalking and killing an unarmed black teen on his way home.

  10. 10.

    Judas Escargot, Your Postmodern Neighbor

    Weird, the only pro-Zimmerman voice in my own Facebook circle is someone I went to HS with who is now… A fireman! I never thought of firemen as particularly racist, I thought that was a Cop Thing. Oh well.

    Also, OT, but it’s only April and the polls are already driving me nuts. I read detailed analyses of state-by-state polls showing Obama in a electoral landslide given current trends in the swing states. Then I read crap like this that turns all that into a lie.

    So which is it? These can’t both be true at the same time.

  11. 11.

    Southern Beale

    @cathyx:

    I actually took this to mean Zimmerman’s upbringing. It’s possible that that’s what he meant.

    Umm, no. Zimmerman’s father was a judge … that description fits neither Zimmerman nor Martin.

  12. 12.

    comrade scott's agenda of rage

    @Culture of Truth:

    In Myspace, no one can hear your screed.

    You sir win Teh Internetzezzzz for today.

    Now queue Faux “News” telling us how the outrage over this is oppressing this guy’s FREEDUMB!!!! in 3…2..1…

  13. 13.

    muddy

    I especially hate the “suspension with pay” BS. That guy who pepper sprayed at UC Davis (sorry, OT) has been off work but getting a paycheck since November. Rewarded by a lengthy paid vacation, pretty sweet. I wouldn’t doubt some people are hoping for that when they do and say stupid shit.

    I knew a guy who would pick a medium sized fight with his boss right before deer season every year. Just enough to get off work, not enough for outright firing.

  16. 16.

    Culture of Truth

    I assume David Gregory will devote a show to these remarks after they cause a “firestorm”

  18. 18.

    Culture of Truth

    Gallup has had the same Obama v Romney results since August, except for March which was very different. Why I do not know.

  19. 19.

    Andree-Anne Desmedt

    Never mind, of course, that the majority of welfare recipients are rural whites…

  20. 20.

    geg6

    @Southern Beale:

    Zimmerman’s father was a judge

    And that means he’s definitely not a welfare queen? Hell, in my little corner of the world, a judge (especially a magistrate, which is what his dad really was) is the very definition of a welfare queen. Big bucks from tax payers and not a whole lot of hard work going on. I’ve know four local magistrates in my time and none of them exactly kill themselves for the relatively high salaries they get. In fact, every single one of them had enough free time to run a business on the side.

  21. 21.

    Culture of Truth

    I hate to be the one to break it to you, but the ‘ghetto hoodie look’ was a reference to Martin.

  22. 22.

    JoyfulA

    I still don’t get “ghetto hoodie look.” Yesterday I saw an infant Harley Davidson logo hoodie. Is there also a “trailer trash hoodie look” this infant’s parents are promoting in their young? So this disdain and/or fear regarding “hoodies” is classism at the root, with various other ethnic hoodie looks on tap?

    To sallow old me, a sweatshirt with a hood and pockets looks like a sensible garment, onesies for grown-ups. If I get one and wear it, do I risk being labeled a “grannie hoodie” or a “shoofly hoodie” and shot on sight because I terrified a gun-toting nervous nellie?

  23. 23.

    Yutsano

    @Judas Escargot, Your Postmodern Neighbor: Because this far out national polling numbers are bupkess. It’s the state-by-state numbers to watch, and those have been quite stable. Plus analysis of the crosstabs will help there as well. Geg6’s outlier explanation is also possible. Polls this early are crap, but again, horserace.

  24. 24.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    and it’s even spelled correctly. Hey, that’s why he made Captain, right?

    I’m not on the Facebook. Does it have spellcheck?

  25. 25.

    TooManyJens

    The entire text of the Facebook entry, for those who stayed in the boat and can’t quite figure out who Brian Beckmann hates in this case:

    Listening to Prosecutor Corey blow herself and her staff for five minutes before pre-passing judgment on George Zimmerman. The state seeks reelection again, truth aside. I and my coworkers could rewrite the book on whether our urban youths are victims of racist profiling or products of their failed, shitbag, ignorant, pathetic, welfare dependent excuses for parents, but like Mrs. Corey, we speak only the truth. They’re just misunderstood little church going angels and the ghetto hoodie look doesn’t have anything to do with why people wonder if they’re about to get jacked by a thug.

    Preeeeety sure he’s talking about Trayvon Martin, or more accurately, the distorted image of Trayvon Martin and all black people that he’s carrying around in his head.

  26. 26.

    FlipYrWhig

    @JoyfulA: A black person in a hooded sweatshirt is scary and thuggish. Any other person is just keeping warm. With the possible exception of Bill Belichick.

  27. 27.

    FlipYrWhig

    @TooManyJens: That seems to imply that Zimmerman was just minding his own business when, out of nowhere, a black kid in a hooded sweatshirt confronted him, and he drew his gun in self-defense. That’s kind of the bizarro-world version of what happened.

  28. 28.

    Commenting at Balloon Juice since 1937

    Its like you can’t even masturbate at work any more with all the dash cams and such.

  29. 29.

    Ripley

    As I recall, wasn’t Trayvon Martin on the way to his father’s house? Said house being in that very subdivision?

  30. 30.

    Bubblegum Tate

    Sounds like your average wingnut blog poster. Except at least the Facebook poster is a fireman, which means he actually does something to help society.

  31. 31.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @FlipYrWhig: the wing nut version is that Volunteer Patrol Captain Zimmerman got out of his car to double check coordinates to inform the police of his location, and was peaceably preparing to get back in his car and drive home when Trayvon Martin jumped him, took him to the ground and started bounding his head against the curb. If Captain Zimmerman had been unarmed, the behoodie’d thug would’ve killed him.

  32. 32.

    trex

    ”…urban youths… [are] just misunderstood little church going angels and the ghetto hoodie look doesn’t have anything to do with why people wonder if they’re about to get jacked by a thug

    Shorter Beckmann: all black kids are indisputedly criminals and we should be able to shoot them on sight if we feel threatened.

    Also shorter Beckmann: since black kids are, by definition, dangerous criminals who should be shot on sight, the prosecutor was by definition committing fraud and political persecution by bringing charges against poor, defenseless Zimmerman.

    Mmmm, taste the crazy.

  33. 33.

    jwest

    The Fire Captain was wrong to imply that Trayvon was doing anything wrong that night. He didn’t even have his school backpack with the stolen jewelry and burglary tools with him.

  34. 34.

    Judas Escargot, Your Postmodern Neighbor

    @Yutsano:
    @geg6:

    The state-by-state numbers also correlate better with how the electoral college actually works.

    I’ve played with the 270towin site, and even in my most concern-trolly, pessimistic mood (Obama losing states like OH, PA, NC, NV and NM) I had Obama barely squeaking by at 271. Out here in the real world, it’s an uphill battle for Romney, period.

    I’m forced to agree with the ‘horse race’ interpretation of the reporting. And even TPM is guilty of it, apparently.

    One would think that a referendum on whether to continue as a viable, functional nation-state vs. carvin’ it up and rafflin’ off the pieces to the highest bidder (which, in all seriousness, is the core truth of this particular election) wouldn’t be so close.

    But then again, this is America. Chaos is the default setting.

  35. 35.

    quannlace

    Love the repeat of the ‘gangster hoodie look’ as blaming the victim. Isn’t if funny? All these years of white teenagers imitating the ‘gangsta’ fashion look, and noone seems to have hinted that that was the cause when anything bad happened to them.

  36. 36.

    Mike in NC

    @Southern Beale:
    Charles Pierce:

    Zimmerman’s entire defense, particularly those parts of it being waged by his pal, Sean Hannity.

    Hannity really is the scum of the earth, isn’t he?

  37. 37.

    Chyron HR

    @jwest:

    I feel like Atticus Finch explaining how things are to Scout.

    I missed the scene where Atticus announced that Tom Robinson was a dirty rapist thug, so there. Was that in the director’s cut of the film?

  38. 38.

    jwest

    “…all black kids are indisputedly criminals and we should be able to shoot them on sight if we feel threatened.”

    This is probably a gross exaggeration. Only half of black urban males will be convicted and spend time in jail. Of course, there will be some percentage of the other half who will commit crimes and not be caught, or caught and not convicted, but I’m sure Beckmann knows it can’t be everyone.

  39. 39.

    jwest

    “I feel like Atticus Finch explaining how things are to Scout.”

    To Kill A Mockingbird is the first thing that came to my mind thinking about the Trayvon case. I picture myself as Atticus standing in front of the jail, holding off the mob trying to lynch Zimmerman due to their ignorance and hate.

    Why don’t liberal ever research the facts about things before they fly off the handle?

  41. 41.

    TooManyJens

    @FlipYrWhig: That’s pretty much what they’ve convinced themselves happened (well, the version relayed by Jim, Foolish Literalist, anyway). Otherwise, they’d have to be on the same side as liberals and the Kenyan Usurper, and that can’t happen. They’ll believe anything to avoid that.

  43. 43.

    Ben Cisco

    One might be forgiven for thinking after the 4067th time or so, that they feel confident enough in the “It pisses off the libtards!/You’ll fail upwards!” outcome probability that they’re doing it on purpose now.

    Of course they are. However, I have it on authority that that is no way to run a country.

  44. 44.

    Tom Q

    @Judas Escargot, Your Postmodern Neighbor: In case you’re still reading here: the other factor is, Gallup’s daily tracking is, and has been for some time, caca. Gallup’s descendant, who took over the company, is a Christian rightie, and has consistently produced GOP-favoring numbers over the past decade or more. (He had Bush with a 17-point lead at one point in 2000…which was only off the final number by 17.5 percent)

    That said, I’d recommend not obsessing on any polls till at least post-Labor Day. The fundamentals of the election, barring a full swing back into recession, strongly favor Obama’s re-election. Yet there will be occasional polls saying the opposite (one guaranteed: right after the GOP convention, the press will squeal with glee that Romney has closed the gap. No one will mention how Pres. Mondale did exactly the same in ’84). The reason I’ve always advocated generally for Lichtman’s Keys system (without being iron-clad on it) is it sticks to the whole landscape, and doesn’t get distacted by temporal noise.

    But if you’re going to dig into polls, check out the likability numbers on Obama & Romney in CNN’s poll today. Obama 56% — Romney 27%. I don’t think even Reagan/Mondale had a likability gap that wide.

  46. 46.

    Svensker

    Can we ban jwest? My tolerance for racist crap has gone to 0. Just cut it off and shut it down.

  47. 47.

    OzoneR

    Shorter America: We don’t know if George Zimmerman is guilty, don’t trust the media, but Casey Anthony, that bitch totally killed her daughter, I know it cause the media told me.

  49. 49.

    maya

    @jwest: Unlike all those super rich white guys, like Uncle Willard, who never stole another man’s dime in their lives.

  50. 50.

    SectarianSofa

    @JoyfulA:

    To sallow old me, a sweatshirt with a hood and pockets looks like a sensible garment, onesies for grown-ups. If I get one and wear it, do I risk being labeled a “grannie hoodie” or a “shoofly hoodie” and shot on sight because I terrified a gun-toting nervous nellie?

    Hmm. How dark is your skin? That’ll settle whether or not this coded-racial-epithet and the shootin’ will apply.

  51. 51.

    SectarianSofa

    @jwest:

    Why don’t liberal ever research the facts about things before they fly off the handle?

    Look how you didn’t proofread before you… oh, never mind.
    Instead, jwest, I glown you five trepids and a discus ; you win ; you got the tartaned crepe-fold of our old man maids and their six(7) strategy memos ; (unfortunately) ; Let righteous(7) be the winds as they go, emitting, here and there for free and freely (Pernicious was, and then it wasn’t). Welcome. This is John Wayne’s Big-dicked America. Presbyterian Presidents. Hit in the jugular with an eye-tooth. So much for that, whatever it was. Goodbye.

  53. 53.

    SectarianSofa

    @jwest:

    Why don’t liberal ever research the facts about things before they fly off the handle?

    Look how you didn’t proofread before you… oh, never mind.
    Instead, jwest, I glown you five trepids and a discus ; you win ; you got the tartaned crepe-fold of our old man maids and their six(7) strategy memos ; (unfortunately) ; Let righteous(7) be the winds as they go, emitting, here and there for free and freely (Pernicious was, and then it wasn’t). Welcome. This is John Wayne’s Big-dicked America. Presbyterian Presidents. Hit in the jugular with an eye-tooth. So much for that, whatever it was. Goodbye.

  69. 69.

    JoyfulA

    @SectarianSofa: Sallow. I tan like a salon ad, but would rather stay inside than give myself skin cancer.

    But in a hoodie, there’s very little skin showing, right?

  70. 70.

    Another Halocene Human

    @muddy:

    I especially hate the “suspension with pay” BS.

    Yeah, that one kills me. When other public servants are suspended, they get an unpaid vacation. Bills to pay? See you at Labor Ready.

    However, I know many teacher’s unions have gotten suspension with pay (administrative leave?) when a teacher is facing serious charges. It often gets a bad rap in the press but you would hate to have someone face a double-whammy over some cooked up hysteria that gets shot down in court. I.e., a Sharrod case.

  71. 71.

    Another Halocene Human

    @geg6:

    I’ve know four local magistrates in my time and none of them exactly kill themselves for the relatively high salaries they get. In fact, every single one of them had enough free time to run a business on the side.

    WTF is up with that, anyway? They certainly don’t have money for public defenders and the Guard. ad Lit. program is overburdened. Just SMH.

    But I guess that’s like firing your front line workers while the administrators get another raise.

  72. 72.

    gloryb

    @jwest: gee, I could have sworn that there was no report of stolen jewelry. Wow, we black folks are guilty even when we’re not.

  73. 73.

    Elias

    In all sincerity, a fire captain is hardly a public official. They are predominantly blue-collar workers with enough experience to supervise other blue collar workers. The trend within the industry is towards it becoming a white-collar position, but a fire captain will always be somebody who is expected to get his hands dirty running into burning buildings. In all fairness, some of these guys are not especially intelligent. They do what they do well but some of the finer points in life can elude them. This is a high profile blue-collar job.

    It’s definitely a cause for protest in the local community if their public servants are making tremendously offensive comments. But I don’t think that it’s Balloon Juice worthy. This happens all the time and it’s something you have to expect with any blue collar trade.

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