Be Safe, Sacramento.

I hope to post my travelogue of Sacramento one of these days. Not only was it a trip, it was also a meeting of family. But seeing these headlines, I have to respond.

The Los Angeles Times: "At Least Five People Stabbed at Neo-Nazi Event Outside Capitol in Sacramento."

Update: CNN: "At Least 7 Injured--Some Stabbed--At California Rally, Authorities Say."

We went to the Capitol on a Sunday afternoon. The building itself was closed but we walked around the garden. Everything was lovely. Not today, apparently.

27 June update: KCRA [NBC Sacramento affiliate]: "10 People Injured During Protest Clash at State Capitol (Officials: 2 People Suffered Life-Threatening Stab Wounds)

Nothing so far at the SPLC Hatewatch blog. The SPLC Twitter has a few posts. But this SPLC article from 2013 describes a conflict between white nationalists and anti-fascists that has flared up sporadically for decades.

Sacramento reporter Frances Wang was covering the protest and got in the thick of it:

That is correct. Learned this once things calmed down. https://t.co/pfGMctFvEn

— Frances Wang (@ABC10Frances) June 27, 2016

Hey @MatthewHeimbach would you be interested in speaking with me tomorrow? Feel free to tweet/email me! Fwang@abc10.com

— Frances Wang (@ABC10Frances) June 27, 2016

VIDEO: All of this chaos at the Capitol captured in just 1 hour on 1 phone. @ABC10 pic.twitter.com/upgnZPYuJf

— Frances Wang (@ABC10Frances) June 27, 2016

Blumenthal says this. Who attacked who first is the question.

Here's neo-Nazi Matthew Heimbach, whose group was behind the Sacramento stabbings, with the late Andrew Breitbart pic.twitter.com/4mf0OACZHs

— Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) June 27, 2016

CBS News: "Police Recordings Show Response to Violent Calif. 'Nazi Mega-Rally.'"

Kunstler: "Bang, You're Dead."

Kunstler's latest, on gun violence in America, especially mass shootings by young men.

Kunstler: "Bang, You're Dead."

Others to read:

Michael Kimmel here and here.

Mass shooters by race and gender.

What is the Matter With Florida?

Just got to Tampa, everyone's talking about the local cop who shot a man to death for texting in a movie theater: http://t.co/e0glULnqVh

— Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) January 15, 2014

I saw a bit of Cross Creek on Monday (I think). It starred Mary Steenburgen as Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, who moved to rural Florida and wrote The Yearling, itself recently discussed in Harper's. Her husband was appalled at her wanting to move to some "hick town" in Florida.

I've never been to Florida, which might retain some of the beauty M.K. Rawlings saw. But what I hear is not good. Florida seems to concentrate much what is bad about the mainland.

White-on-Black Violence

(a post in progress)

I'm keeping track of the aftermath of the George Zimmerman trial* but wanted to list some lesser-known cases of white-on-black gun violence and their relation to stand-your-ground laws.

http://www.alternet.org/culture/trial-begins-old-white-man-who-senselessly-shot-and-killed-black-middle-schooler

Michael Dunn shot and killed a black teenager at a gas station.

*2 November update: George Zimmerman had left a bullet-riddled target for his wife.

No Justice, No Peace, Indeed

The pungent commentary of Mark Ames at NSFWCorp.com on the futility of gun control without social justice.


He is also the author of Going Postal: Rage, Murder, and Rebellion: From Reagan's Workplaces to Clinton's Columbine and Beyond (Soft Skull Press, 2005)