#anti sarah hess

[pessimisticpigeonsworld]

HOTD has made many interesting choices in their adaptation of the story of the Dance. One of their favorite excuses for many of their questionable choices is "feminism". Why did they remove Alicent's ambitions and autonomy? Feminism. Why is Rhaenyra less proactive and hesitant? Feminism. Why are Daemon and Otto the primary active agents in the lead up to the Dance? Well women can't be in the wrong or violent, so feminism.

These choices are the farthest thing from feminist; they're sexist, end of story. Every decision surrounding the women of the Dance reeks of benevolent sexism. One of the most obviously sexist decisions made is the purposeful removal of female cooperation and friendship.

Rhaenyra in F&B has many female allies and friends. Her ladies in waiting loved her so much, one of them, Lady Elinda Massey gouged out her eyes at the sight of Rhaenyra's death. Lady Jeyne Arryn, Lady Alysanne Blackwood, and Lady Sabitha Frey/Vypren are just a few examples of ladies who fought for Rhaenyra (Alysanne and Sabitha literally fought in battles). Lady Fell chose death over betraying her oath to Rhaenyra.

Now, we haven't had any opportunity to meet most of these women I listed in the show. Lady Fell was portrayed as she was written in the book, a very minor character who simply foreshadowed how most of the realm would choose Rhaenyra over Aegon. Elinda Massey, however was reduced to an unnamed servant, not even a lady in waiting. Her treatment is an echo of one of my biggest issues with HOTD, the treatment of Laena and Rhaenys.

Laena was Rhaenyra's dearest friend in the book, in fact it's implied that they had a romantic relationship. Whether you believe that telling or not, it's undeniable that she and Laena were extremely close. They chose to betroth their children while they were infants, Rhaenyra flew to Laena's bedside during her final labor, and she stood vigil with Daemon over Laena's body.

All of that closeness and intimacy was removed in the show to make room for Alicent. So let's break that down: they removed a long and healthy relationship between two women and replaced it with a short-lived (in terms of screen time) friendship that quickly fell apart and turned into an intense rivalry. Reinforcing an old stereotype of female friendship: that it is entrenched in rivalry and toxicity and can quickly be turned to enmity. Alicent was so quickly and easily turned against Rhaenyra and it's even implied that she was jealous of Rhaenyra long before they became enemies.

Rhaenys in the book was an ardent supporter of Rhaenyra. She happily claimed Jace, Luke, and Joff as her grandsons, advised Rhaenyra to go to war, and gladly flew against Aegon and Aemond.

Meanwhile, in the show, Rhaenys was turned into one of Rhaenyra's rivals. She constantly challenged Rhaenyra's ideas, dismissed her as a naive child, disliked her children, and even considered backing the Greens. On top of that, they turned her into yet another "peaceful" woman. She advises against the war, and seems to continue to do so in season two. Rhaenys is virtually unrecognizable in the show. They chose to take a woman who tried to prevent a younger woman being wronged by the patriarchy the same way she was and turned her into a bitter woman who resents Rhaenyra (for most of the show).

HOTD claimed to have wanted to tell a story about how the patriarchy pits women against each other. That's all very well and good, but that's not what they actually did. They took a story where a woman is wrongfully usurped because of her gender and is supported by many other women and turned it into another tired female rivalry story.

Rhaenyra has no female friends aside from Alicent. Laena was turned from her dearest friend/lover into simply a rival for Daemon's affection. Rhaenys was turned from a supportive mentor and defender to someone who took out her resentment for the system on a fourteen year old who only starts to support her when she's proven "peaceful".

HOTD chose to perpetuate a harmful stereotype about women: that we constantly view each other as threats/rivals and can't have truly healthy relationships with other women. Rhaenyra had women who supported and cared for her in the book, in the show all she has is Alicent. A woman who abused and undermined her for ten years, raised her children to hate her, and usurped her. Every change HOTD made in the name of "feminism" solidified just how sexist it really is.

[darklinaforever]

Completely agree with this article. It is simply absurd that there is no bonus content in the DVD, including deleted scenes. People buy physical media for a reason HBO. Paying that much just to get the series on DVD and nothing more is stealing at this point. Another proof that they just wanted to force their vision down our throats by not including the deleted scenes in my opinion. It's just shameful.

[spirit-meets-the-b0ne]

In the middle of my HotD rewatch

The gyroscope of interpretation on this show has been at the forefront of my rewatch along with now having read some of the script and read/watched cast interviews.

This one inference made by Olivia Cooke (via Sarah Hess) has plagued me for the first few episodes.

Now, now I know these waters are really muddy what with a few obvious conceptual things: "isn't this queer baiting" "if it wasn't it wouldn't be good sapphic representation anyway" "this is an actors interpretation" blah blah blah. I'm not arguing any of that.

Just that Olivia's head canon held against this scene hits SO MUCH HARDER

Because I gotta say MY GOD imagine how that strikes Alicent if at some point her mother caught them together. Before they even really knew what they were doing (objectively to the tune of they were 13/14 not fully clear on platonic/romantic love) her mother impressed upon them it was wrong. When they denied and in some way or another Alicent/Rhaenyra saying "she never touched me." Only for Alicent to hear it echoed back to her years later like this... Knowing that even in her naïveté she would recognize the truth. That Alicent’s mother, naturally, kept this contained. Which honestly plays more to truly making Alicent more complex by the way she saw what “scandal” her mother covered up for her only for her to act out some perversion of this with Aegon when she’s a mother. A learned behavior twisted in the worst way, because that's what she knew.

Listen I fully understand that this show is NOT taking this angle even though there seems to be a huge division between what some writers and actors are playing to and the editors at HBO imaginably being like "what's all this gay shit?" BUT

I think it's part of what this show missed about TRAGEDY and I mean come on you want drama???? These girlies were ready to hand it to you on a silver plater! In this context I needed:

Rhaenyra being devastated by the news that Alicent was going to be marrying her father. The sheer heartbreak of “this can’t be happening” and knowing she would have lost Alicent to a husband but not THIS. Show her with Syrax, confiding in her dragon because now she has no other friend to talk to - I’m just saying if they were going with the context of “Fire & Blood itself is an unreliable narrator and only shows certain people’s views” - then a scene like this disrupts nothing. Tell me how when they prayed together and Alicent told her to "kneel with me" that part of Rhaenyra prayed for that world where they flew off on dragon back and ate cake.

Alicent being devastated - having her heart torn in two, crying behind every closed door knowing she was going to break the heart of her best friend. The deleted scene does give a peak of that being the case - but again it could/should have been included. Show me Alicent begging Rhaenyra to forgive her and desperately saying she loves her. I think one of the things that Team Green argues the most could have been explored by this avenue, Alicent is a victim of her marriage - it would be inherently more compelling if in the process she is also losing the closest thing to a "first love" she had. Show me Alicent at her desk writing letters to Rhae once a week and then ceremoniously burning them in the braziers. Alicent leaning more into religion as a means of getting out from under her repressed desires and past actions.

Show me both women struggling in their adulthood to even remember why they held "such childhood affections" for each other. Knock the fucking wind out of me with a line like, "the worst part of it all was that they only ever wanted to love each other."

To me one of the worst parts of this production (of which there's a few) has got to be this was the apex of completely missed opportunities to explore. In the premise of "going by unreliable sources" their queerness would be suppressed information. I even think it plays into the dynamic between Rhae-Alicent-Criston in a kind of "Jennifer's Body" way where Rhae was really only interested in him as the object of Alicent's desires which I believe is made a little clearer in the books. A kind of "see this could have been us if you didn't marry my bag-of-bones father" for Rhaenyra who clearly had no aversion to consorts.

I'm sorry to go on this rant, and yes I KNOW - the counter arguments for many of these points. I would even argue some of them further such as the sapphic representation not being invalidated simply because both women do end up with men in the source material. If this was the case then why was "Portrait of a Lady on Fire" received so well? This at the very least to say if they made Alicent and Rhaenyra explicitly queer it would still be less controversial than what the queer men on that show got … Still its not even to say "it's a better way" to explore more of Rhaenyra and Alicent's characters but its at least A WAY to do it. More than we got. Surely both sides could agree on that.

Sorry, now I'm just being pedantic. As a queer woman naturally I have a bias but I still think this was objectively a missed opportunity to explore. Both girl's back stories could have been enriched and tbh a lot of HOTD fans I know also had the same complaint that the time skip came in too early. I think it also makes things less likely to be so divisive between TG and TB when you look at the central pillars of this conflict. You can truly grieve for Alicent and Rhaenyra and what they lost already while on the verge of losing it all. Anyway, I gotta go cry about my divorced lesbian war wives.

[salvatoreren]

In regard to your anti Rhaenicent about what’s the purpose of Alicent’s character other than being Rhaenyra’s love interest, I’m just going to say it: she doesn’t have one.

The writers screwed her up big time and this is something I’ve seen both pro Alicent and anti Alicent fans agree on. They desperately want her to be a victim of evil men because it’s the only way Rhaenicent can work. If she actively schemes against Rhaenyra then how can there still be hope for them? She needs to be a complete doormat with 0 personality, someone who is ready to set herself on fire just to keep Rhaenyra warm.

Who is this for exactly? Her fans hate it because they don’t want their favourite character to be reduced to nothing more than a glorified cardboard cutout. Her haters aren’t thrilled either because this nonstop victimisation is whitewashing her crimes.

Ryan Condal and Sarah Hess are ready for this show to crash and burn than accept they made a mistake by trying to force a ship that doesn’t exist in canon.

i totally agree with you for this, alicent has no purpose in the story but a perpetual victim, stripped of her agency, her ambition, all of that is reduced to her love for rhaenyra, that, all she did was for her, that she wanted to save her which is funny because you wouldn't constantly abuse, undermine or spread slanders of her and her sons if you love them so much, if you wanted to save or protect them. if you love them so much, you wouldn't instantly believe that rhaenyra would have it out for your children just because your father told you so...

when you think of alicent hightower nowadays, you don't think of the woman who herself made the green faction, who was her son's staunch supporter, who wanted it herself with no interference from her father that aegon should be king, no, when you think of alicent hightower, it's the woman who can't decide what she wants for herself, who is always fraying by the seams and always overruled by the men around her, who is rhaenyra's childhood companion, rhaenyra's so called first love and that's it. there is nothing powerful about her in the show.

and like i said, she's not complex as some may think she is, she's inconsistent, she doesn't know what she wants, she doesn't know whether to declare for rhaenyra or aegon when she has constantly worked hard for the latter to seat the throne, she switches it up every once in a while and you might argue, that's realistic, it's not, because, alicent clearly has ambitions that has been solidified for 10 years but that one moment she hurt rhaenyra, suddenly she forgets what she wants? as if she didn't abuse rhaenyra for those 10 years, like what.

in my opinion, rhaenicent could still work, young them of course but ultimately they chose themselves, that's why i vehemently hate this ship because of how much it's been shoved in our throats that there is still hope after all the atrocious shit they've done to each other, why couldn't their death be the fact that alicent ultimately chose power for herself? why did it have to be that she waged war because she was lied to?

let alicent plot against rhaenyra, let rhaenyra be brutal, be indifferent to alicent, let them fight each other but because it is of their own accord; that alicent cared more about her son's claim, that rhaenyra cared more about hers. not because they are forced to by the men in their lives.

but it's misognystic???? yeah, well there are many positive female friendships in f&b; rhaenyra/laena, rhaenys/rhaenyra, that were erased just to show that the patriarchy will always turn women against each other and how that's bad.

[elegantwoes]

I love your responses to the deranged antis in your inbox (If you hate Sansa and her stans so much, you can just go your merry way avoiding her tag on tumblr, instead of sliding into the inbox of someone you know adores the character that you hate). I'm curious, what are your thoughts of HoTD and the Targ dynasty in general.

I am glad you are enjoying my ramblings, dear anon. When I started watching HOTD I was both cautious and tried my best to stay neutral on the feud and only wanted to watch the Targaryens mutually self destruct and laugh at both sides. However, since the show wanted the watcher to overly favor one side and the fandom was overwhelmingly team black plus deeply misogynistic towards Alicent I initially started to side with the green side purely out of spite, but eventually I genuinely became to love the characters. Unfortunately as my love for the characters grew the writing for the show started to decline at a rapid pace.

What was once barely tolerable became atrocious in a couple episodes (a rare record I may add. At least GOT was tolerable for a couple years). If you add the horrible interview of Sarah Hess (saying stupid shit like, “The peasants don’t matter.”) I knew it was a done matter. If that is your takeaway from a book that is pro-smallfolk and condemn both sides for focusing too much on birthright and not doing what matters the most: serving the people, then this show is no different from Game of Thrones, and the show runners are exactly like David and Dan. So in conclusion, the show is bad and I don’t want to watch it any further. Now granted there’s a chance I might not stay true that statement, because unfortunately I have a toxic relationship with HBO. They are like an abusive boyfriend: they promise to do better and once you go back to them, they revert back to how they once were. Let’s hope I stay strong this time.

As for my thoughts on the Targaryens in general. I don’t like them. Their way of thinking (i.e Targaryen exceptionalism, how they are supposedly closer to gods than men, their refusal to ‘breed with lesser men’) is too racist to my liking. Secondly unlike the First men, Andals, and the Rhyonar, they have never managed to assimilate to the culture and supplant their roots (which is to be expected because dragons can’t plant trees) and because of that Westeros can hardly be considered home for them. It’s for this reason they were deposed so easily. GRRM has promised that one great house would come to an end, and Targaryen (who are so villain coded) are the most likely one to die out. Conclusion: they suck.

[bruhmityblight]

Reposting this washpo article about the new Florida bills, anti trans and otherwise, cause people need to read them without a paywall:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2023/03/05/florida-bills-would-ban-gender-studies-transgender-pronouns-tenure-perks/

Florida legislators have proposed a spate of new laws that would reshape K-12 and higher education in the state, from requiring teachers to use pronouns matching children’s sex as assigned at birth to establishing a universal school choice voucher program.

The half-dozen bills, filed by a cast of GOP state representatives and senators, come shortly before the launch of Florida’s legislative session Tuesday. Other proposals in the mix include eliminating college majors in gender studies, nixing diversity efforts at universities and job protections for tenured faculty, strengthening parents’ ability to veto K-12 class materials and extending a ban on teaching about gender and sexuality — from third grade up to eighth grade.

The legislation has already drawn protest from Democratic politicians, education associations, free speech groups and LGBTQ advocates, who say the bills will restrict educators’ ability to instruct children honestly, harm transgender and nonbinary students and strip funding from public schools

“It really is further and further isolating LGBTQ students,” said Sarah Warbelow, legal director for LGBTQ advocacy group Human Rights Campaign. “It’s making it hard for them to receive the full support that schools should be giving every child.”

Irene Mulvey, president of the American Association of University Professors, warned that the legislation — especially the bill that would prevent students from majoring in certain topics — threatens to undermine academic freedom.

“The state telling you what you can and cannot learn, that is inconsistent with democracy,” Mulvey said. “It silences debate, stifles ideas and limits the autonomy of educational institutions which … made American higher education the envy of the world.

Sen. Clay Yarborough (R), who introduced one of the 2023 education bills — Senate Bill 1320, which forbids requiring school staff and students to use “pronouns that do not correspond with [a] person’s sex” and delays education on sexual orientation and gender identity until after eighth grade — said in a statement that his law would enshrine the “God-given” responsibility of parents to raise their children.

“The decision about when and if certain topics should be introduced to young children belongs to parents,” Yarborough said in the statement. “The bill also protects students and teachers from being forced to use language that would violate their personal convictions.”

The proposed laws have a high likelihood of passing in the State House, where GOP legislators make up a supermajority. Even before the landslide victory by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) in November, very few Republicans pushed back against his policy proposals, instead crafting and passing bills that align with the governor’s mission to remake education in Florida from kindergarten through college

This year’s crop of proposed education bills accelerates those efforts, expanding on controversial ideas from the past two years and adding a few more. Tina Descovich, co-founder of the conservative group Moms for Liberty and a Florida resident, said her group backs the DeSantis education agenda “100 percent” — and that she thinks his policies are catching on outside the state.

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“You see governors picking up education as a top issue, and you even see presidential candidates now putting education as a top issue,” she said. “I think Gov. DeSantis has set the path for that.”



Students at New College of Florida stage a walkout to protest far-reaching legislation that would ban gender studies majors and diversity programs at Florida universities. (Octavio Jones/Reuters)

Rick Hess, director of education policy studies for the right-leaning American Enterprise Institute, predicted the education laws will play well with voters both in Florida and nationwide, boosting DeSantis’s chances at the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.

“The direction of this policy is sensible policy,” Hess said, referring especially to laws limiting young children’s learning on sex and gender. “It is both attractive to the DeSantis base but also has been shown to poll quite well with the center right, the center and even with parts of the center left.”

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A May 2022 Fox News poll found that 55 percent of parents favor state laws that bar teachers from discussing sexual orientation and gender identity with students before fourth grade. An October 2022 University of Southern California survey, meanwhile, found a partisan split: More than 80 percent of Democrats said high school students should learn about sexual orientation and gender identity, compared to roughly a third of Republicans. Just 7 percent of adults in both political camps supported assigning reading that depicts sex between people of the same sex to elementary-schoolers, per the survey.

The bills in Florida come as at least 25 states have passed 64 laws in the last three academic years reshaping what children can learn and do at school, according to a Washington Post tally. Many of these laws circumscribe education on race, gender and sexual identity, boost parental oversight of school libraries and curriculums or restrict the rights of transgender children in classrooms and on the playing field.

Florida already passed several such laws, including the “Stop W.O.K.E. Act,” which prohibits certain ways of teaching about race. (A judge blocked some aspects of the law in November.) Another is the “Parental Rights in Education” law, dubbed “don’t say gay” by critics, which forbids teaching about gender identity and sexual orientation during grades K-3 and requires that education on those subjects be age-appropriate in older grades.

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One of the bills put forward in the 2023 legislative session builds directly on the parental rights law: House Bill 1223 would expand the ban on gender and sexuality education to extend through eighth grade. That bill also says school staffers, contractors and students cannot be required to use pronouns that do not match the sex a person was assigned at birth.

“It shall be the policy of every public K-12 educational institution,” the bill states, “that a person’s sex is an immutable biological trait and that it is false to ascribe to a person a pronoun that does not correspond to such person’s sex.”

Jon Harris Maurer, public policy director for LGBTQ rights group Equality Florida, said the bill will compound damage already wrought by the “Parental Rights in Education” act.

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“That resulted in book banning, eroding supportive guidelines and led teachers to leave the profession,” Maurer said. “This doubles down.”

House Rep. Adam Anderson (R-District 57), who sponsored the bill, did not respond to a request for comment.

Florida legislators have introduced two other pieces of similar legislation: the near-identical Senate bill filed by Yarborough and House Bill 1069, brought by Rep. Stan McClain (R-District 27). The latter bill requires that students in grades 6-12 be taught that “sex is determined by biology and reproductive function at birth.” It also grants parents greater power to read over and object to school instructional materials, as well as limit their child’s ability to explore the school library.

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McClain did respond to a request for comment.

Another bill on the table is House Bill 999, targeted to higher education and introduced by Rep. Alex Andrade (R-District 2), who did not respond to a request for comment. The bill outlaws spending on diversity, equity and inclusion programs, says a professor’s tenure can come under review at any time and gives boards of trustees — typically appointed by the governor or Board of Governors — control of faculty hiring and curriculum review.

It also eliminates college majors and minors in “Critical Race Theory, Gender Studies, or Intersectionality.” It says colleges should offer general education courses that “promote the philosophical underpinnings of Western civilization and include studies of this nation’s historical documents” including the Constitution and the Federalist Papers.

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The bill has a companion in the Senate, proposed by Sen. Erin Grall (R), who did not respond to a request for comment. Andrade previously told the Tampa Bay Times that his bill would ensure that institutions of higher education remain focused on legitimate fields of inquiry rather than disciplines “not based in fact.”

“It’s a complete takeover of higher education,” said Kenneth Nunn, who stepped down earlier this year from his role as professor of law at the University of Florida — in part because of the politics in the state. The “attacks” on higher education “reduce the reputation and perhaps the accreditation of the state institutions,” Nunn said.

Organizations focused on civil liberties are also objecting. PEN America, which advocates for free speech, said the bill would impose “perhaps the most draconian and censorious restrictions on public colleges and universities in the country.” The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression said the bill is “laden with unconstitutional provisions hostile to freedom of expression and academic freedom.”

Adam Kissel, a visiting fellow for higher education reform at the Heritage Foundation, said there are a few easily fixed constitutional problems with the wording but praised the bill for holding “universities accountable in a few ways to the will of the people.” He added that post-tenure review is important because someone who earns that laurel at 28 may “become a dead weight” 30 years later. He said an ideological review would be inappropriate, but that if a professor has turned from intellectual pursuits to activism and is no longer producing scholarship, then that faculty member — regardless of viewpoint — merits scrutiny.

Andrade’s bill mirrors steps already taken by the DeSantis administration. In early January, the governor’s budget office mandated that all universities report the amount of money they are expending on diversity, equity and inclusion programs. Later that month, DeSantis announced a slate of reforms to higher education, including prohibitions on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

A sixth education-related bill, House Bill 1, introduced by Reps. Kaylee Tuck (R-District 83) and Susan Plasencia (R-District 37), renders all parents eligible to receive state funds to send their children to private school, stripping away a previous low-income requirement, although low-income families would still be prioritized. It comes as the school choice movement is surging nationally, with Republican-led states passing laws that grant state funds to parents who can spend the money on religious and private schools. Tuck and Plasencia did not respond to requests for comment.

Pat Barber, president of the Manatee Education Association, said this bill is the one that hurts most.

“We’re not very well funded in public education in Florida to start with,” she said. “And their answer to that is to funnel money away from public education?”

The laws are moving through committee as DeSantis continues an ongoing feud with the College Board over a new AP African American studies course, which Florida has rejected as being too “woke.” DeSantis recently said the legislature “is going to look to reevaluate” whether the state should offer any AP courses at all, or the SAT exam.

Battles over state education have also spilled into other arenas. A dispute over the Parental Rights bill lasts year ended with DeSantis pushing for a state takeover of a half-century-old special taxing district for Walt Disney World. DeSantis began excoriating Disney after the company’s former CEO criticized the “Parental Rights in Education” law.

[delaneyhons]

19.3.21 Studio Theory- Matt Ellwood. Michelangelo, Pieta, 1498-9 Rodin, Kiss Henry Moore, OM, Recumbent figure- negative/positive space Anthony Gormley, Case for an Angel, 1989 Louise Bourgeois Charles Ray,92 Isa Genzken Tatlin- Constructivism

Constantin Brancusi

-no heirachy of object/plinth -endless column -repetition

Barbara Hepworth, 1961 Arte Povera- post WW2 Guiseppe Penone Kinetic Sculpture- Jean Ting Minamilism Sculpture

-about the art, NOT the author -doesn't exist until you're there -minimalism the metaphor, stripping drama back

Robert Morris-Untitled, 1965, existentialism Post-Minimalism-aesthetics of minimalism, using material as meaning, poetic. Richard Serra, One Ton Prop, 1969 Eva Hesse - drawing, sculpture

Post Modernist- appropriation sculpture Anish Kapoor

-Sometimes physical properties are the sculpture -Don't overthink it

Tony Cragg Sarah Lucas, Au Natural Damien Hirst Unmonumental Sculpture- anti-monument, romanticizing process -object-oriented, anthology sculpture -scientific-philosophy-art Duchamp- dysfunction, what did they use to do?

Man Ray Ceal Floyer important historical assembly sculpture

[icymirss]

Nearly 3 weeks into its planned 4-week run, an electronic billboard honoring first responders in the Gaza Strip was pulled November 13th because the billboard company received phone calls and email complaints calling their staff terrorists and anti-Semites, and threatening a boycott.... The billboard included a photo of deceased Palestinian medic Razan al-Najjar and text reading: "Honoring the First Responders of Gaza. Saving Lives. Rescuing Hope." It was estimated to be viewed by over a half million motorists each week of its planned 4-week run, beginning 24 October. The billboard was met with positive media coverage. This week, a coordinated, aggressive campaign was launched against the billboard company with accusations of anti-Semitism, intended to damage the company for hosting this billboard. Sarah Gold, a volunteer with the Palestine Advocacy Project, said, "This campaign is neither engaging us nor our perspective. Instead it is attempting through intimidation to eradicate the avenues of free speech we have endeavored to use; to silence us."... Richard Colbath-Hess, founder of the Palestine Advocacy Project, remarked that "The billboard was extremely positive and does not even mention Israel. Instead it was a celebration of Palestinian heroes. Apparently, there cannot be Palestinian heroes without some advocates of Israel feeling attacked."

[patriotsnet]

Who Has More Billionaires Democrats Or Republicans

New Post has been published on https://www.patriotsnet.com/who-has-more-billionaires-democrats-or-republicans/

Who Has More Billionaires Democrats Or Republicans

Tom Steyer And Kathryn Ann Taylor $598 Million

Steyer is an environmentalist and former hedge fund manager at Farallon Capital who made his fortune picking diamonds out of the dust, as one magazine put it. In 2012, Steyer walked away from his company to focus full time on political activism and philanthropy. He and his wife, Taylor, have an estimated net worth of $1.6 billion and have become top Democratic donors.

Steyer launched an online petition urging Trumps impeachment that has garnered 6.1 million signatures and made establishment Democrats uneasy. He opted not to donate any money to Democratic Party committees this year after Democrats in Congress voted to reopen the government despite failing to reach an immigration deal.

Steyer has pledged to spend nearly $120 million in the 2018 midterm campaign, including $70 million to NextGen America, his nonprofit focused on climate change that is helping register and turn out young voters and people of color. Speaking to a student on the Cal State Fullerton campus this fall, Steyer said, You can change this world, or it can be run by a bunch of arrogant, entitled, rich white old men.

A spokesman for Steyer says much of the money he spends wont be documented by campaign finance filings submitted to the Federal Election Commission but in IRS filings due next year.

These Are The 10 Billionaires Who Influence Politics In America The Most

When Travie McCoy and Bruno Mars sang about how much they wanted to be billionaires, mostly they were interested in living the good life for themselves. Actual billionaires in the United States have found avenues for their money that accomplish much more. Given the vast amount of wealth they control and their outsized role in the American political process, the extremely rich have access to corridors of power in America the rest of us can only dream of.

The Brookings Institution’s Darrell West devised a ranking to sort out which of these larger-than-life figures are the most politically powerful, factoring in “campaign expenditures, activism through nonprofit organizations and foundations, holding public office, media ownership, policy thought leadership and behind-the-scenes influence.” Ranging from media moguls to high-profile philanthropists to serving Cabinet members, here are the real top 10 influencers on American political thought and action today.

Linkedin Cofounder Reid Hoffman Donated $9315826 Mostly To Democrats

Total donations: $9,315,826

Party Affiliation: Democrat

Net worth: $1.9 billion

Reid Hoffman was an early employee of PayPal and one of the first investors in Facebook, according to Forbes. Hoffman founded Linkedin in 2003. Hoffman sold LinkedIn for $26.2 billion to Microsoft in 2016 and now sits on Microsoft’s board, according to Forbes.

Hoffman gave $8,317,326 to Democrats and $433,500 to Republicans in 2018, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. 

Heiress Deborah Simon Donated $97 Million To Democrats

Party Affiliation: Democrat

Net worth: Unknown

Deborah Simon is the daughter of Indiana shopping mall developer Melvin Simon. Simon inherited a portion of her father’s fortune after a bitter legal battle over his estate with her stepmother Bren Simon, according to Forbes. 

Simon’s family had a net worth of $6.8 billion in 2014, according to Forbes.

Americas Top 20 Ceos Donated To The Midterm Elections At Republicans And Democrats:

Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com

John B. Hess, Hess Corp.Total: $877,600

Stephen Wynn, Wynn Resorts LimitedTotal: $797,467

James Rupert Murdoch, Twenty-First Century FoxTotal: $506,666

Stephen James Luczo, Seagate TechnologyTotal: $469,825

Steven Roth, Vornado Realty TrustTotal: $432,400

Leslie Herbert Wexner, L BrandsTotal: $359,700

Timothy C. Wentworth, Express Scripts HoldingTotal: $262,594

Mark J. Alles, Celgene CorporationTotal: $195,682

Ian C. Read, Pfizer Inc.Total: $181,833

Joel S. Marcus, Alexandria Real Estate EquitiesTotal: $175,400

David M. Zaslav, Discovery, Inc.Total: $143,600

Gregory Q. Brown, Motorola SolutionsTotal: $132,150

David A. Ricks, Eli LillyTotal: $128,020

David N. Farr, Emerson Electric Co.Total: $127,033

Leonard S. Schleifer, Regeneron PharmaceuticalsTotal: $125,000Worlds Best CEOs Rank: #576

A. Jayson Adair, Copart

Charles William Ergen, DISH Network Corporation Total: $119,900Party: $51,300 DEM; $53,600 GOP

Marc N. Casper, Thermo Fisher ScientificTotal: $118,100

Robert A. Iger, Walt DisneyTotal: $111,800

Republicans Are Racist And Not Shy To Lie About It

Today’s republicans are not Abraham Lincoln alike. The neo-cons are all racist, like Donald Trump, Jan Brewer, Donald Sterling, Mike Huckabee, Rick Perry, Sarah Palin, Bob McDonnell… The name list just can go too long. Of course, not all republican are racists but their party has a racist culture and their public racist comments and behaviors are just too common and normal. If you talk about the history of two party, the republican party might not be that racist, but today’s republican are way more racist than any party out there. I’m neither a conservative nor liberal, that I’m independent. But I support democrat party because this party is not racist and try to direct the country’s culture to diversity and multiculturalism. It is just too late for those racist cons try to change the nation back to a white country, if you take into the consideration that there are almost 30% of people are minorities.

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Us Democratic Fundraising Arm Outraises Republican Counterpart In July

Supporters of Democratic U.S. presidential nominee Joe Biden gather with their cars for a socially distanced election celebration as they await Bidens remarks and fireworks in Wilmington, Delaware, U.S. November 7, 2020. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

WASHINGTON, Aug 20 – The fundraising arm of the U.S. Democratic Party raised more money in July than its Republican counterpart, helped by big contributions from billionaire donors including investor George Soros and former Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt.

Disclosures filed on Friday with the Federal Election Commission showed the Democratic National Committee raised about $13.1 million last month, above the $12.9 million raised by the Republican National Committee.

The RNC still had more money in the bank at the close of the month – $79 million compared to nearly $68 million held by the DNC – although Democrats narrowed the gap.

Raising more money does not necessarily translate into Election Day victory, but a big bank account helps U.S. parties support their candidates’ campaigns and pays for ads and polling.

Democrats have narrow majorities in the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives, and losing control of either in the November 2022 contests would be a blow to Democratic President Joe Biden’s agenda.

Soros, a famed investor and a bogeyman of conservatives due to his status as a major donor for liberal causes, gave the DNC at least $250,000 in July.

Yes Republicans Are Racists

Their policies and programs result in cutting benefits for blacks and increasing benefits for whites – since due to discrimination blacks have a higher proportion getting assistance, and represent a smaller proportion of defense contractors. Their policies against Affirmative Action directly impact blacks, yet the Republicans have no policy against ending discrimination against blacks. You will never see Sarah Palin give a speech on the struggle of black Americans. You will never see a Tea Party representative give a speech about racial segregation in our society. The Tea Party Republicans think blacks have on average lower income and status in society not because of racism but because blacks ‘choose’ these lifestyles. Thus, their explanation of differences in racial incomes is based on race itself. By definition, most are in fact racist

Investor Timothy Mellon Gave $10 Million Mostly To Republicans

Total donations: $10,061,000

Party Affiliation: Republican

Net worth: $1 billion 

Timothy Mellon, the grandson of twentieth-century business magnate Andrew Mellon, funded the founding of New Hampshire-based railroad company, Guilford Transportation Industries, according to Forbes.

While most of Mellon’s donations were to conservatives, Mellon also gave $2,700 to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, according to The Guardian.

Billionaires Backed Republicans Who Sought To Reverse Us Election Results

Guardian analysis shows Club for Growth has spent $20m supporting 42 rightwing lawmakers who voted to invalidate Biden victory

An anti-tax group funded primarily by billionaires has emerged as one of the biggest backers of the Republican lawmakers who sought to overturn the US election results, according to an analysis by the Guardian.

The Club for Growth has supported the campaigns of 42 of the rightwing Republicans senators and members of the House of Representatives who voted last week to challenge US election results, doling out an estimated $20m to directly and indirectly support their campaigns in 2018 and 2020, according to data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics.

About 30 of the Republican hardliners received more than $100,000 in indirect and direct support from the group.

The Club for Growths biggest beneficiaries include Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz, the two Republican senators who led the effort to invalidate Joe Bidens electoral victory, and the newly elected far-right gun-rights activist Lauren Boebert, a QAnon conspiracy theorist. Boebert was criticised last week for tweeting about the House speaker Nancy Pelosis location during the attack on the Capitol, even after lawmakers were told not to do so by police.

Heres the thing about the hyper wealthy. They believe that their hyper-wealth grants them the ability to not be accountable

Neither the Club for Growth nor McIntosh responded to requests for comment.

James And Marilyn Simons

Amount donated: $20.1 million

The couple has supported some of the biggest outside groups in Democratic politics during the midterms.

James Simons, for instance, donated $10 million to a single group, the House Majority PAC, which worked to help the party win control of the chamber in 2018. Hes an MIT-educated mathematician, who founded Renaissance Technologies, a New York hedge fund.

Simons worth more than $21 billion, according to Forbes stepped away from day-to-day management of the fund in 2009. Their aides did not respond to interview requests.

Are America’s Richest Families Republicans Or Democrats

Forbes took at look at the 50 richest clans on our new list of Americas Richest Families. There are a handful of politicians in the mix, and an overwhelming majority that support one political party far more than another.

Some of Americas wealthiest families wear their politics on their sleeves. Charles and David Koch, notorious for their support of right-wing causes, donated more than $2.2 million during the 2012 election, nearly all to Republican candidates. Jon and Patricia

Other members of rich clans have stepped into the political fray themselves. Penny Pritkzer, part of the family that owns the Hyatt hotel chain, became President Obamas Commerce Secretary in June 2013. Mark Dayton, an heir to the Dayton family fortune is a Democrat and the current governor of Minnesota. Pete du Pont, descendant of the founder of chemical giant DuPont, was a Republican governor of Delaware from 1977 to 1985 and ran for president in 1988. Dolph Briscoe, Jr., member of the Briscoe ranching family, was a Democrat and governor of Texas from 1973 to 1979. Ross Perot, Sr., is famous for his two impressive but unsuccessful presidential runs as an Independent. He and his son have donated to both parties, but they lean Republican.

Infographic: David Lada

One caveat: Some of these family fortunes are shared among dozens or even hundreds of people, so we were only able to track political donations of a subset of prominent members.

1. Walton Republican

James And Marilyn Simons Gave $22 Million To Democrats

Total donations: $22,165,010

Net worth: $21.6 billion

James Simons, the founder of quantitative hedge fund Renaissance Technologies, was named the highest-paid hedge fund manager of 2019 by Forbes. James and his wife, economist and philanthropist Marilyn Simons, are also major donors to Stony Brook University, where they met, according to Bloomberg.

Bezos Buffett Branson: What Do Americans Think Of Billionaires

With three billionaires featuring prominently in the news recently for their space race antics, the latest Economist/YouGov poll examines how popular a collection of the worlds richest people is among the U.S. public. 

The men who are attempting private space expeditions may be doing something that most Americans support, though they are not especially liked as individuals. Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and owner of space firm Blue Origin, receives favorable reviews from only 28% of people, compared to 50% who view him critically. 

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, is divisive, with 39% approving of him but 38% disapproving. Musk receives much more positive judgments from Republicans  than Democrats . 

British billionaire Richard Branson, owner of the Virgin conglomerate including Virgin Galactic whose spacecraft took him to orbit last week  is seen as more popular than not , although perhaps because more Americans have not heard of him . 

Facebooks Mark Zuckerberg is the most negatively viewed  of all the billionaires we asked about. This is particularly the case among Republicans, 69% of whom dislike him, although half of Democrats also dislike the social media CEO . 

Related: Americans support sending astronauts to the moon and Mars

Image: Getty 

Not A Generalization But The Majority Of Racists Are Republican

OK, as current proof of my point, http://img3.allvoices.com/thumbs/image/609/480/95031869-vote-romney.jpgSorry for the long link, but it completely proves my point. RACIST!Also, it is not uncommon for people to hold up highly offensive posters at rallies, speeches etc. For example, one said ‘Impeach the half-breed Muslim’ . Tell me again that that isn’t racist. I also want to make the point that NOT ALL MUSLIMS ARE TERRORISTS! PEOPLE SHOULDN”T CARE IF THEIR PRESIDENT IS MUSLIM ANYWAYS!!!!!!!!! I actually know many Muslims and they are awesome and some of the nicest people on earth . Just because some Muslims screwed up doesn’t mean that every Muslim is the same way. Don’t pull the argument about slavery, the parties have morphed and current examples are better.

Congress: More Democrat Millionaires Than Republican And Here’s Why

In a report from AllGov.com, we learn that for the first time more than half of all members of Congress are millionaires. But whats really interesting about the story is that it tells us there are more Democrats than Republicans in Congress who are millionaires.

That is not surprising to some of us, but it might be to a lot of people who have bought the Democrat/lamestream media narrative that Republicans are the party of the rich.

Let me tell you why this really is.

First, lets understand there is nothing wrong with being a millionaire, or a billionaire for that matter. Contrary to what the rhetoric of the Democratic Party suggests, the vast majority of rich people have earned their fortunes by working hard and accomplishing things that have benefited others. That includes those who have made their money by investing, because they have put their capital at risk to help finance businesses that create jobs and produce goods and services people want and need.

Having said that, how can it be that there are more Democrat millionaires than Republican millionaires when everyone knows the conventional wisdom that Democrats are the party of the working man and Republicans are the party of the rich?

Because thats a load of crap, thats how.

People who pursue business careers and later decide to run for Congress often do so because they see what a big problem the meddling of government is for the business community. And as you might expect, they run as Republicans.

There Is A Lot Of Flawed Logic Here

Anyone who equates conservative or Republican with racist is the exact thing they are projecting on others. Plain and simple.Racism is simply the lumping together of large groups of people and claiming they all have the same traits. Anyone who says that all conservatives are racist is exactly the same. The most racist people I have ever met have been liberals. But that doesn’t mean I think all liberals are racists. That’s absurd. But you continue on making generalizations about people you don’t even know. That just shows how tolerant and open-minded you really are.

These Democratic Billionaires Could Help Shape The 2020 Election

A small cluster of Democrats, led by former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, donated a combined $226 million to outside groups in the 2018 midterms for Congress, or nearly $1 out of every $5 spent by outside groups in those elections.

The spending helped Democrats win back the House. Now, some of these mega-donors including the billionaire pro-impeachment activist Tom Steyer are poised to help shape the 2020 races for the presidency and Congress.

Heres a glance at the Democrats five biggest donors and the amounts they donated to outside groups at the federal level in the 2018 election cycle, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics:

How Americans Feel About Billionaires During The Pandemic

The pandemic has exacerbated wealth inequality, and many Americans are resentful of the fact that while they struggled, the wealthy made significant gains.

This unease is reflected in questions that speak to Americans more generalized opinions about the top 1 percent, which were generally shared across the political spectrum. Only 23 percent of those polled said they consider billionaires to be good role models for the country, while 65 percent said they dont.

Similarly, only 36 percent said they had generally positive feelings about billionaires, as opposed to 49 percent who said they did not. Black Americans said they had much more positive feelings about billionaires than did members of other racial subgroups: 45 percent said they felt positively, while only 39 percent said they felt negatively. Democrats were also more likely to be anti-billionaire than Republicans.

And yet Americans are broadly dismissive of some progressive rhetoric about something being fundamentally wrong with a society that features billionaires. Around 82 percent say they agree with the statement that people should be allowed to become billionaires similarly, 68 percent say they disagree that its immoral for a society to allow people to become billionaires.

Former Breitbart News Investor Robert Mercer And His Wife Diana Have Given $6544024 To Conservatives

Total donations: $6,544,024

Party: Republican

Net worth: Unknown

Robert Mercer, 73, is the former co-CEO of Renaissance Technologies, a hedge fund valued at $50 million in 2017, according to The New York Times. Mercer left the hedge fund in 2017 after clients, including the retirement fund for Baltimore’s police and firefighters, withdrew their investments from Renaissance over concern about Mercer’s political donations and involvement with Breitbart, The Times reported.

The $6.5 million that Robert and his wife Diana donated to Republicans in 2018 was the smallest figure they’ve given in any election cycle since 2012, CNBC reported. The couple, once among President Trump’s biggest supporters, have become fatigued by the resulting media attention, sources told CNBC.

The Philosophy Behind Republican Economic Policy

Republicans advocate supply-side economics that primarily benefits businesses and investors. This theory states that tax cuts on businesses allow them to hire more workers, in turn increasing demand and growth. In theory, the increased revenue from a stronger economy offsets the initial revenue loss over time.

Republicans advocate the right to pursue prosperity without government interference. They argue this is achieved by self-discipline, enterprise, saving, and investing.

Republicans business-friendly approach leads most people to believe that they are better for the economy. A closer look reveals that Democrats are, in many respects, actually better.

Jeff And Mackenzie Bezos $102 Million

The founder of Amazon and his wife, MacKenzie, made their first major political donation this September to a nonpartisan fund dedicated to helping elect veterans of all stripes to Congress. They have since tried to toe the middle road, handing $10,800 to Democrats and $16,200 to Republicans this cycle. Their top individual recipients have been Sen. Maria Cantwell and Sen. Cory Gardner .

Bezos, the worlds richest person, has faced criticism from both Republicans and Democrats. Trump has attacked him via Twitter over his ownership of the Washington Post; Sen. Bernie Sanders criticized him over the wages he pays his Amazon warehouse employees.

The Bezoses other top financial contributions this cycle have been to nonpartisan political action committees connected with Amazon and Blue Origin, his rocket company.

Richard And Elizabeth Uihlein $391 Million

Richard Uihlein is founder and CEO of shipping supply giant Uline. The Uihleins have been longtime donors to conservative politics in their home state of Illinois and nationwide, particularly aimed at achieving a more conservative judicial system.

The couple were major backers of Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner and failed U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore, and they bankrolled Janus vs. AFSCME, a Supreme Court case that succeeded in banning mandatory fees funding public employee unions.

The candidates and groups the Uihleins have backed are among the most conservative in the GOP, opposing abortion and transgender rights.

Uihlein and his wife maintain a low profile, rarely giving interviews.

The Nations Wealthiest Are More Likely To Be Republican Than The Average Americanbut Just About As Likely To Be Voting For Biden

How are Americas billionaires voting in the 2020 presidential election? 

If you think theyre all coming out in support of their fellow Forbes 400 member, Donald Trump, youd be wrong. Over the past month Forbes sent every billionaire in the U.S. a brief election survey. We got 42 responses, from billionaires spanning the political spectrum. 

The biggest takeaway: These billionaires are more likely to be Republican than the average Americanbut just about as likely to be voting for Joe Biden. 

A recent Gallup poll shows that 28% of Americans identify as Republicans, 27% identify as Democrats and 42% identify as independents. Our billionaire cohort skewed farther right: 43% Republicans, 24% Democrats and 33% independents. Yet theyre swaying blue. Nearly half, or 48%, say theyre casting a ballot for Biden, compared to 40% for Trump. That tracks with the larger population, which favors Biden to Trump 51-42, according to RealClearPolitics RCP Poll Average. It also tracks with Federal Election Commission data, which shows more billionaires opening their wallets to support Biden than Trump.

Nearly as important as their votes is the billionaires money. Twenty-six billionaires say theyve donated money to a campaign this year, 26 also say theyve given to a political action committee, ten say theyve attended a fundraiser and four say theyve hosted a fundraiser themselves. Only seven of the 42 respondents say they havent done anything to support a candidate this year.

For The First Time Half Of Members Of Congress Are Millionairesdemocrats Worth More Than Republicans

Members of Congress continued to get richer last year, resulting in more than 50% of lawmakers possessing a net worth of $1 million or moresomething thats never happened before in congressional history.

  Of 534 current members of Congress, at least 268 were millionaires, according the Center for Responsive Politics review of financial disclosure reports filed last year.

  The median net worth for the 530 lawmakers who were in Congress as of the May 2013 filing deadline was $1,008,767up from $966,000 during the previous year.

  The center also found that Democrats overall were a little wealthier than Republicans in Congress, $1.04 million versus $1 million.  Both groups saw their collective net worth go up, from $990,000 for Democrats and $907,000 for Republicans in the previous year.

  Democrats in the House were richer than their GOP counterparts, $929,000 versus $884,000. House Republicans, however, could boast having the richest member: Darrell Issa of California, who has had this distinction in other years. The Viper car-alarm magnate has a net worth of $464 million.

  In the Senate, the GOP caucus was noticeably wealthier than the Democratic caucus, $2.9 million versus $1.7 million.

    -Noel Brinkerhoff

S Donald Sussman $229 Million

A Florida native, Sussman founded New China Capital Management and the Paloma Fund, which was described in 2016 as a $4-billion hedge fund.

Sussman is a longtime donor to Bill and Hillary Clinton and was a prominent donor to Hillary Clintons 2016 presidential campaign. This cycle, his biggest contributions have gone to Democratic behemoth Priorities USA PAC and the Senate Majority PAC, which is working to flip control of the Senate. He has also given to efforts to expand voter access and has said he is driven by a desire to elect candidates who will bring about campaign finance reform.

Its very odd to be giving millions when your objective is to actually get the money out of politics, he told the Washington Post in 2016.

[statetalks]

Who Has More Billionaires Democrats Or Republicans

Tom Steyer And Kathryn Ann Taylor $598 Million

Steyer is an environmentalist and former hedge fund manager at Farallon Capital who made his fortune picking diamonds out of the dust, as one magazine put it. In 2012, Steyer walked away from his company to focus full time on political activism and philanthropy. He and his wife, Taylor, have an estimated net worth of $1.6 billion and have become top Democratic donors.

Steyer launched an online petition urging Trumps impeachment that has garnered 6.1 million signatures and made establishment Democrats uneasy. He opted not to donate any money to Democratic Party committees this year after Democrats in Congress voted to reopen the government despite failing to reach an immigration deal.

Steyer has pledged to spend nearly $120 million in the 2018 midterm campaign, including $70 million to NextGen America, his nonprofit focused on climate change that is helping register and turn out young voters and people of color. Speaking to a student on the Cal State Fullerton campus this fall, Steyer said, You can change this world, or it can be run by a bunch of arrogant, entitled, rich white old men.

A spokesman for Steyer says much of the money he spends wont be documented by campaign finance filings submitted to the Federal Election Commission but in IRS filings due next year.

These Are The 10 Billionaires Who Influence Politics In America The Most

When Travie McCoy and Bruno Mars sang about how much they wanted to be billionaires, mostly they were interested in living the good life for themselves. Actual billionaires in the United States have found avenues for their money that accomplish much more. Given the vast amount of wealth they control and their outsized role in the American political process, the extremely rich have access to corridors of power in America the rest of us can only dream of.

The Brookings Institution’s Darrell West devised a ranking to sort out which of these larger-than-life figures are the most politically powerful, factoring in “campaign expenditures, activism through nonprofit organizations and foundations, holding public office, media ownership, policy thought leadership and behind-the-scenes influence.” Ranging from media moguls to high-profile philanthropists to serving Cabinet members, here are the real top 10 influencers on American political thought and action today.

Linkedin Cofounder Reid Hoffman Donated $9315826 Mostly To Democrats

Total donations: $9,315,826

Party Affiliation: Democrat

Net worth: $1.9 billion

Reid Hoffman was an early employee of PayPal and one of the first investors in Facebook, according to Forbes. Hoffman founded Linkedin in 2003. Hoffman sold LinkedIn for $26.2 billion to Microsoft in 2016 and now sits on Microsoft’s board, according to Forbes.

Hoffman gave $8,317,326 to Democrats and $433,500 to Republicans in 2018, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. 

Heiress Deborah Simon Donated $97 Million To Democrats

Party Affiliation: Democrat

Net worth: Unknown

Deborah Simon is the daughter of Indiana shopping mall developer Melvin Simon. Simon inherited a portion of her father’s fortune after a bitter legal battle over his estate with her stepmother Bren Simon, according to Forbes. 

Simon’s family had a net worth of $6.8 billion in 2014, according to Forbes.

Americas Top 20 Ceos Donated To The Midterm Elections At Republicans And Democrats:

Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com John B. Hess, Hess Corp.Total: $877,600 Stephen Wynn, Wynn Resorts LimitedTotal: $797,467 James Rupert Murdoch, Twenty-First Century FoxTotal: $506,666 Stephen James Luczo, Seagate TechnologyTotal: $469,825 Steven Roth, Vornado Realty TrustTotal: $432,400 Leslie Herbert Wexner, L BrandsTotal: $359,700 Timothy C. Wentworth, Express Scripts HoldingTotal: $262,594 Mark J. Alles, Celgene CorporationTotal: $195,682 Ian C. Read, Pfizer Inc.Total: $181,833 Joel S. Marcus, Alexandria Real Estate EquitiesTotal: $175,400 David M. Zaslav, Discovery, Inc.Total: $143,600 Gregory Q. Brown, Motorola SolutionsTotal: $132,150 David A. Ricks, Eli LillyTotal: $128,020 David N. Farr, Emerson Electric Co.Total: $127,033 Leonard S. Schleifer, Regeneron PharmaceuticalsTotal: $125,000Worlds Best CEOs Rank: #576 A. Jayson Adair, Copart Charles William Ergen, DISH Network Corporation Total: $119,900Party: $51,300 DEM; $53,600 GOP Marc N. Casper, Thermo Fisher ScientificTotal: $118,100 Robert A. Iger, Walt DisneyTotal: $111,800

Republicans Are Racist And Not Shy To Lie About It

Today’s republicans are not Abraham Lincoln alike. The neo-cons are all racist, like Donald Trump, Jan Brewer, Donald Sterling, Mike Huckabee, Rick Perry, Sarah Palin, Bob McDonnell… The name list just can go too long. Of course, not all republican are racists but their party has a racist culture and their public racist comments and behaviors are just too common and normal. If you talk about the history of two party, the republican party might not be that racist, but today’s republican are way more racist than any party out there. I’m neither a conservative nor liberal, that I’m independent. But I support democrat party because this party is not racist and try to direct the country’s culture to diversity and multiculturalism. It is just too late for those racist cons try to change the nation back to a white country, if you take into the consideration that there are almost 30% of people are minorities.

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Us Democratic Fundraising Arm Outraises Republican Counterpart In July

Supporters of Democratic U.S. presidential nominee Joe Biden gather with their cars for a socially distanced election celebration as they await Bidens remarks and fireworks in Wilmington, Delaware, U.S. November 7, 2020. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

WASHINGTON, Aug 20 – The fundraising arm of the U.S. Democratic Party raised more money in July than its Republican counterpart, helped by big contributions from billionaire donors including investor George Soros and former Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt.

Disclosures filed on Friday with the Federal Election Commission showed the Democratic National Committee raised about $13.1 million last month, above the $12.9 million raised by the Republican National Committee.

The RNC still had more money in the bank at the close of the month – $79 million compared to nearly $68 million held by the DNC – although Democrats narrowed the gap.

Raising more money does not necessarily translate into Election Day victory, but a big bank account helps U.S. parties support their candidates’ campaigns and pays for ads and polling.

Democrats have narrow majorities in the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives, and losing control of either in the November 2022 contests would be a blow to Democratic President Joe Biden’s agenda.

Soros, a famed investor and a bogeyman of conservatives due to his status as a major donor for liberal causes, gave the DNC at least $250,000 in July.

Yes Republicans Are Racists

Their policies and programs result in cutting benefits for blacks and increasing benefits for whites – since due to discrimination blacks have a higher proportion getting assistance, and represent a smaller proportion of defense contractors. Their policies against Affirmative Action directly impact blacks, yet the Republicans have no policy against ending discrimination against blacks. You will never see Sarah Palin give a speech on the struggle of black Americans. You will never see a Tea Party representative give a speech about racial segregation in our society. The Tea Party Republicans think blacks have on average lower income and status in society not because of racism but because blacks ‘choose’ these lifestyles. Thus, their explanation of differences in racial incomes is based on race itself. By definition, most are in fact racist

Investor Timothy Mellon Gave $10 Million Mostly To Republicans

Total donations: $10,061,000

Party Affiliation: Republican

Net worth: $1 billion 

Timothy Mellon, the grandson of twentieth-century business magnate Andrew Mellon, funded the founding of New Hampshire-based railroad company, Guilford Transportation Industries, according to Forbes.

While most of Mellon’s donations were to conservatives, Mellon also gave $2,700 to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, according to The Guardian.

Billionaires Backed Republicans Who Sought To Reverse Us Election Results

Guardian analysis shows Club for Growth has spent $20m supporting 42 rightwing lawmakers who voted to invalidate Biden victory

An anti-tax group funded primarily by billionaires has emerged as one of the biggest backers of the Republican lawmakers who sought to overturn the US election results, according to an analysis by the Guardian.

The Club for Growth has supported the campaigns of 42 of the rightwing Republicans senators and members of the House of Representatives who voted last week to challenge US election results, doling out an estimated $20m to directly and indirectly support their campaigns in 2018 and 2020, according to data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics.

About 30 of the Republican hardliners received more than $100,000 in indirect and direct support from the group.

The Club for Growths biggest beneficiaries include Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz, the two Republican senators who led the effort to invalidate Joe Bidens electoral victory, and the newly elected far-right gun-rights activist Lauren Boebert, a QAnon conspiracy theorist. Boebert was criticised last week for tweeting about the House speaker Nancy Pelosis location during the attack on the Capitol, even after lawmakers were told not to do so by police.

Heres the thing about the hyper wealthy. They believe that their hyper-wealth grants them the ability to not be accountable

Neither the Club for Growth nor McIntosh responded to requests for comment.

James And Marilyn Simons

Amount donated: $20.1 million

The couple has supported some of the biggest outside groups in Democratic politics during the midterms.

James Simons, for instance, donated $10 million to a single group, the House Majority PAC, which worked to help the party win control of the chamber in 2018. Hes an MIT-educated mathematician, who founded Renaissance Technologies, a New York hedge fund.

Simons worth more than $21 billion, according to Forbes stepped away from day-to-day management of the fund in 2009. Their aides did not respond to interview requests.

Are America’s Richest Families Republicans Or Democrats

Forbes took at look at the 50 richest clans on our new list of Americas Richest Families. There are a handful of politicians in the mix, and an overwhelming majority that support one political party far more than another.

Some of Americas wealthiest families wear their politics on their sleeves. Charles and David Koch, notorious for their support of right-wing causes, donated more than $2.2 million during the 2012 election, nearly all to Republican candidates. Jon and Patricia

Other members of rich clans have stepped into the political fray themselves. Penny Pritkzer, part of the family that owns the Hyatt hotel chain, became President Obamas Commerce Secretary in June 2013. Mark Dayton, an heir to the Dayton family fortune is a Democrat and the current governor of Minnesota. Pete du Pont, descendant of the founder of chemical giant DuPont, was a Republican governor of Delaware from 1977 to 1985 and ran for president in 1988. Dolph Briscoe, Jr., member of the Briscoe ranching family, was a Democrat and governor of Texas from 1973 to 1979. Ross Perot, Sr., is famous for his two impressive but unsuccessful presidential runs as an Independent. He and his son have donated to both parties, but they lean Republican.

Infographic: David Lada

One caveat: Some of these family fortunes are shared among dozens or even hundreds of people, so we were only able to track political donations of a subset of prominent members.

1. Walton Republican

James And Marilyn Simons Gave $22 Million To Democrats

Total donations: $22,165,010

Net worth: $21.6 billion

James Simons, the founder of quantitative hedge fund Renaissance Technologies, was named the highest-paid hedge fund manager of 2019 by Forbes. James and his wife, economist and philanthropist Marilyn Simons, are also major donors to Stony Brook University, where they met, according to Bloomberg.

Bezos Buffett Branson: What Do Americans Think Of Billionaires

With three billionaires featuring prominently in the news recently for their space race antics, the latest Economist/YouGov poll examines how popular a collection of the worlds richest people is among the U.S. public. 

The men who are attempting private space expeditions may be doing something that most Americans support, though they are not especially liked as individuals. Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and owner of space firm Blue Origin, receives favorable reviews from only 28% of people, compared to 50% who view him critically. 

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, is divisive, with 39% approving of him but 38% disapproving. Musk receives much more positive judgments from Republicans  than Democrats . 

British billionaire Richard Branson, owner of the Virgin conglomerate including Virgin Galactic whose spacecraft took him to orbit last week  is seen as more popular than not , although perhaps because more Americans have not heard of him . 

Facebooks Mark Zuckerberg is the most negatively viewed  of all the billionaires we asked about. This is particularly the case among Republicans, 69% of whom dislike him, although half of Democrats also dislike the social media CEO . 

Related: Americans support sending astronauts to the moon and Mars

Image: Getty 

Not A Generalization But The Majority Of Racists Are Republican

OK, as current proof of my point, https://ift.tt/3jpQSob for the long link, but it completely proves my point. RACIST!Also, it is not uncommon for people to hold up highly offensive posters at rallies, speeches etc. For example, one said ‘Impeach the half-breed Muslim’ . Tell me again that that isn’t racist. I also want to make the point that NOT ALL MUSLIMS ARE TERRORISTS! PEOPLE SHOULDN”T CARE IF THEIR PRESIDENT IS MUSLIM ANYWAYS!!!!!!!!! I actually know many Muslims and they are awesome and some of the nicest people on earth . Just because some Muslims screwed up doesn’t mean that every Muslim is the same way. Don’t pull the argument about slavery, the parties have morphed and current examples are better.

Congress: More Democrat Millionaires Than Republican And Here’s Why

In a report from AllGov.com, we learn that for the first time more than half of all members of Congress are millionaires. But whats really interesting about the story is that it tells us there are more Democrats than Republicans in Congress who are millionaires.

That is not surprising to some of us, but it might be to a lot of people who have bought the Democrat/lamestream media narrative that Republicans are the party of the rich.

Let me tell you why this really is.

First, lets understand there is nothing wrong with being a millionaire, or a billionaire for that matter. Contrary to what the rhetoric of the Democratic Party suggests, the vast majority of rich people have earned their fortunes by working hard and accomplishing things that have benefited others. That includes those who have made their money by investing, because they have put their capital at risk to help finance businesses that create jobs and produce goods and services people want and need.

Having said that, how can it be that there are more Democrat millionaires than Republican millionaires when everyone knows the conventional wisdom that Democrats are the party of the working man and Republicans are the party of the rich?

Because thats a load of crap, thats how.

People who pursue business careers and later decide to run for Congress often do so because they see what a big problem the meddling of government is for the business community. And as you might expect, they run as Republicans.

There Is A Lot Of Flawed Logic Here

Anyone who equates conservative or Republican with racist is the exact thing they are projecting on others. Plain and simple.Racism is simply the lumping together of large groups of people and claiming they all have the same traits. Anyone who says that all conservatives are racist is exactly the same. The most racist people I have ever met have been liberals. But that doesn’t mean I think all liberals are racists. That’s absurd. But you continue on making generalizations about people you don’t even know. That just shows how tolerant and open-minded you really are.

These Democratic Billionaires Could Help Shape The 2020 Election

A small cluster of Democrats, led by former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, donated a combined $226 million to outside groups in the 2018 midterms for Congress, or nearly $1 out of every $5 spent by outside groups in those elections.

The spending helped Democrats win back the House. Now, some of these mega-donors including the billionaire pro-impeachment activist Tom Steyer are poised to help shape the 2020 races for the presidency and Congress.

Heres a glance at the Democrats five biggest donors and the amounts they donated to outside groups at the federal level in the 2018 election cycle, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics:

How Americans Feel About Billionaires During The Pandemic

The pandemic has exacerbated wealth inequality, and many Americans are resentful of the fact that while they struggled, the wealthy made significant gains.

This unease is reflected in questions that speak to Americans more generalized opinions about the top 1 percent, which were generally shared across the political spectrum. Only 23 percent of those polled said they consider billionaires to be good role models for the country, while 65 percent said they dont.

Similarly, only 36 percent said they had generally positive feelings about billionaires, as opposed to 49 percent who said they did not. Black Americans said they had much more positive feelings about billionaires than did members of other racial subgroups: 45 percent said they felt positively, while only 39 percent said they felt negatively. Democrats were also more likely to be anti-billionaire than Republicans.

And yet Americans are broadly dismissive of some progressive rhetoric about something being fundamentally wrong with a society that features billionaires. Around 82 percent say they agree with the statement that people should be allowed to become billionaires similarly, 68 percent say they disagree that its immoral for a society to allow people to become billionaires.

Former Breitbart News Investor Robert Mercer And His Wife Diana Have Given $6544024 To Conservatives

Total donations: $6,544,024

Party: Republican

Net worth: Unknown

Robert Mercer, 73, is the former co-CEO of Renaissance Technologies, a hedge fund valued at $50 million in 2017, according to The New York Times. Mercer left the hedge fund in 2017 after clients, including the retirement fund for Baltimore’s police and firefighters, withdrew their investments from Renaissance over concern about Mercer’s political donations and involvement with Breitbart, The Times reported.

The $6.5 million that Robert and his wife Diana donated to Republicans in 2018 was the smallest figure they’ve given in any election cycle since 2012, CNBC reported. The couple, once among President Trump’s biggest supporters, have become fatigued by the resulting media attention, sources told CNBC.

The Philosophy Behind Republican Economic Policy

Republicans advocate supply-side economics that primarily benefits businesses and investors. This theory states that tax cuts on businesses allow them to hire more workers, in turn increasing demand and growth. In theory, the increased revenue from a stronger economy offsets the initial revenue loss over time.

Republicans advocate the right to pursue prosperity without government interference. They argue this is achieved by self-discipline, enterprise, saving, and investing.

Republicans business-friendly approach leads most people to believe that they are better for the economy. A closer look reveals that Democrats are, in many respects, actually better.

Jeff And Mackenzie Bezos $102 Million

The founder of Amazon and his wife, MacKenzie, made their first major political donation this September to a nonpartisan fund dedicated to helping elect veterans of all stripes to Congress. They have since tried to toe the middle road, handing $10,800 to Democrats and $16,200 to Republicans this cycle. Their top individual recipients have been Sen. Maria Cantwell and Sen. Cory Gardner .

Bezos, the worlds richest person, has faced criticism from both Republicans and Democrats. Trump has attacked him via Twitter over his ownership of the Washington Post; Sen. Bernie Sanders criticized him over the wages he pays his Amazon warehouse employees.

The Bezoses other top financial contributions this cycle have been to nonpartisan political action committees connected with Amazon and Blue Origin, his rocket company.

Richard And Elizabeth Uihlein $391 Million

Richard Uihlein is founder and CEO of shipping supply giant Uline. The Uihleins have been longtime donors to conservative politics in their home state of Illinois and nationwide, particularly aimed at achieving a more conservative judicial system.

The couple were major backers of Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner and failed U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore, and they bankrolled Janus vs. AFSCME, a Supreme Court case that succeeded in banning mandatory fees funding public employee unions.

The candidates and groups the Uihleins have backed are among the most conservative in the GOP, opposing abortion and transgender rights.

Uihlein and his wife maintain a low profile, rarely giving interviews.

The Nations Wealthiest Are More Likely To Be Republican Than The Average Americanbut Just About As Likely To Be Voting For Biden

How are Americas billionaires voting in the 2020 presidential election? 

If you think theyre all coming out in support of their fellow Forbes 400 member, Donald Trump, youd be wrong. Over the past month Forbes sent every billionaire in the U.S. a brief election survey. We got 42 responses, from billionaires spanning the political spectrum. 

The biggest takeaway: These billionaires are more likely to be Republican than the average Americanbut just about as likely to be voting for Joe Biden. 

A recent Gallup poll shows that 28% of Americans identify as Republicans, 27% identify as Democrats and 42% identify as independents. Our billionaire cohort skewed farther right: 43% Republicans, 24% Democrats and 33% independents. Yet theyre swaying blue. Nearly half, or 48%, say theyre casting a ballot for Biden, compared to 40% for Trump. That tracks with the larger population, which favors Biden to Trump 51-42, according to RealClearPolitics RCP Poll Average. It also tracks with Federal Election Commission data, which shows more billionaires opening their wallets to support Biden than Trump.

Nearly as important as their votes is the billionaires money. Twenty-six billionaires say theyve donated money to a campaign this year, 26 also say theyve given to a political action committee, ten say theyve attended a fundraiser and four say theyve hosted a fundraiser themselves. Only seven of the 42 respondents say they havent done anything to support a candidate this year.

For The First Time Half Of Members Of Congress Are Millionairesdemocrats Worth More Than Republicans

Members of Congress continued to get richer last year, resulting in more than 50% of lawmakers possessing a net worth of $1 million or moresomething thats never happened before in congressional history.

  Of 534 current members of Congress, at least 268 were millionaires, according the Center for Responsive Politics review of financial disclosure reports filed last year.

  The median net worth for the 530 lawmakers who were in Congress as of the May 2013 filing deadline was $1,008,767up from $966,000 during the previous year.

  The center also found that Democrats overall were a little wealthier than Republicans in Congress, $1.04 million versus $1 million.  Both groups saw their collective net worth go up, from $990,000 for Democrats and $907,000 for Republicans in the previous year.

  Democrats in the House were richer than their GOP counterparts, $929,000 versus $884,000. House Republicans, however, could boast having the richest member: Darrell Issa of California, who has had this distinction in other years. The Viper car-alarm magnate has a net worth of $464 million.

  In the Senate, the GOP caucus was noticeably wealthier than the Democratic caucus, $2.9 million versus $1.7 million.

    -Noel Brinkerhoff

S Donald Sussman $229 Million

A Florida native, Sussman founded New China Capital Management and the Paloma Fund, which was described in 2016 as a $4-billion hedge fund.

Sussman is a longtime donor to Bill and Hillary Clinton and was a prominent donor to Hillary Clintons 2016 presidential campaign. This cycle, his biggest contributions have gone to Democratic behemoth Priorities USA PAC and the Senate Majority PAC, which is working to flip control of the Senate. He has also given to efforts to expand voter access and has said he is driven by a desire to elect candidates who will bring about campaign finance reform.

Its very odd to be giving millions when your objective is to actually get the money out of politics, he told the Washington Post in 2016.

source https://www.patriotsnet.com/who-has-more-billionaires-democrats-or-republicans/

[pessimisticpigeonsworld]

the showrunners are all so tg its insane

Yeah, I think Condal tried to disguise it a bit when season one first came out, but he's really just letting it all out now. What the fuck is he planning on doing that will make us "consider switching sides"?

I don't understand people who claim he and HoTD are biased towards TB. They made Rhaenyra be completely inactive politically outside of that one small council scene. They took Jace's interests and gave them to Aemond. They made Daemon kill Rhea, even though in the book he wasn't even in the country. They made Rhaenys and Corlys be completely unsupportive of Rhaenyra, when Rhaenys was her biggest support in the book. They removed Baela and Rhaena's personalities in favor of spending more time on the greens. They turned Laenor into an absent father who chose to abandon his children (biological or not, they were his sons).

Meanwhile, the greens get a majority of the screen time. Alicent is turned into a perpetual victim who refuses to help herself or her children, even though she's the second most powerful person in the realm. Aegon is made to be a "sympathetic" baby with daddy/mommy issues who rapes women because "he doesn't understand consent" (yes, Hess literally said this). Aemond is made to be a poor bullied baby who is actually just so right to be king, guys! Helaena is made into a dreamer yet still has no bearing on the plot other than "sad victim".

The plot itself suffers sooo much because Condal and Hess just had to make the greens into a bunch of poor innocent babies. The greens are the most cartoonishly evil Targaryens GRRM has ever written. But of course, if Condal and Hess are going to ignore the fact that Daemon is meant to be a gray character (GRRM said he's the grayest character in F&B), why wouldn't they ignore how completely shitty the greens are (with the exception of Helaena, who we know nothing about).

[darklinaforever]

So I summarize...

- They removed the fact that Viserys caused (indirectly, but it remains globally his fault) the miscarriage of Mysaria and therefore of Daemon's first child, simply because he dared to offer a dragon egg to the child to be born. Instead, in the show, Daemon made it appear that Mysaria was pregnant and stole the dragon egg precisely from Baelon, the dead son of Viserys, whereas in the book it was a normal egg, all because he wanted to get his brother's attention...

- They removed the fact that Rhea Royce died in a hunting accident and agonized for 9 days before she passed away, while Daemon was at war on another continent, so that instead Daemon killed her directly himself...

- They attenuated (because yes it's still there but by details, which is really frustrating) the fact that Daemon is clearly a good father in the book who loves all his children...

- They tried to invent a scenario where Daemon would ignore his daughter Rhaena under the pretext that she does not have dragons until the age of 10... While almost all Targaryens, including Daemon, claimed/claim their dragons as teenagers. Literally, Rhaenyra who claims Syrax at 7 years old and the cradle eggs which hatch is not a generality, it is rarities/exceptions. It's also forgetting that as much in the book as the show Daemon loves/adores his brother Viserys who doesn't have a dragon... So I'm really supposed to believe he's ignoring Rhaena for that rather than not knowing how to properly handle her daughter's insecurities due to him own depression? (Lol)

- Then they removed the fact that Daemon attended Rhaenyra's birth for Visenya, making him do something else instead.

- And finaly, then they added a random Daemon choke on Rhaenyra, though it's never hinted that the latter was violent with her in any way in the book.

- Not to mention that they keep talking in their interview about Daemon grooming Rhaenyra when it's nowhere in the show and it's something just plain ridiculous in a feudal context.

No seriously, at this point, what do the writers have against Daemon ?!

[allspark]

It’s time for our weekly Diamond Comics Shipping List! Check out some great titles IDW has in store for us next week like Optimus Prime, Requiem of The Wreckers, G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, My Little Pony, Star Trek, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and much more! All coming your way for May 30th!

OPTIMUS PRIME #19

John Barber (A) Sara Pitre-Durocher (CVR A) Kei Zama (CVR B) Casey Coller

“The Falling,” Part 4. Onyx Prime’s motivations are clear, and his scheme seems unstoppable. Heroes have fallen, and hope dwindles for the survivors. Cybertron’s last chance of salvation is in the hands of… well, that would be telling, wouldn’t it?

TRANSFORMERS REQUIEM OF THE WRECKERS

Nick Roche (A/CVR) Nick Roche

Wreck & Rule! The final entry in the Wreckers trilogy! They’ve been beaten up, torn apart, betrayed, and had their sins revealed. The few remaining Wreckers are more lost and lonelier than they’ve ever been, which makes it the perfect time for them to come under fire from an anti-Cybertronian campaigner and an old foe! Remember them fondly, because this is the “Requiem of the Wreckers.” Written and drawn by Nick Roche (Transformers: Sins of the Wreckers, Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows)!

GI JOE A REAL AMERICAN HERO #252

Larry Hama (A) Netho Diaz (CVR A) David Messina (CVR B) John Royle

“Special Missions,” Part 2 (of 5). G.I. Joe. Cobra. Two opposing forces. Two powerful war machines, each made more lethal by the undeniable strength of their individual parts. But who and what are those parts? This issue, artist David Messina (ROM, Star Trek) joins forces with Larry to present Cobra’s ruthless and deadly femme fatale: BARONESS!

GI JOE A REAL AMERICAN HERO TP VOL 20

Larry Hama (A/CVR) Netho Diaz

While opposing forces-both good and evil-battle to control the young ninja, Dawn Moreno, she fights her own personal war within her fragile mind… one that will change the pages of G.I. JOE: A REAL AMERICAN HERO forever! It’s the dawning of a new age, where old meets new, bloody past collides with an even bloodier present… and an ALL-NEW SNAKE-EYES RISES FROM THE ASHES! Collects issues #246-250. •   “Dawn of the Arashikage” story arc!

MY LITTLE PONY PONYVILLE MYSTERIES #1

Christina Rice (A/CVR A) Agnes Garbowska (CVR B) Philip Murphy

Welcome to a new series of mystery and intrigue! The Cutie Mark Crusaders discover their inner detectives and solve crimes nopony else can! Will they be able to discover who is stealing supplies from Ponyville hospital and get their schoolwork done at the same time? A brand-new miniseries full of mystery and adventure! A sister series to the popular “My Little Pony: Ponyville Mysteries” prose books!

CROW MEMENTO MORI #3

Roberto Recchioni, Micol Beltramini (A) Angelo Mennillo (A/CVR A) Werther Dell’Edera

The Crow cannot rest until it has exacted its vengeance. David sets off to punish the mastermind responsible for the attack that killed him and Sarah, but the violent showdown will raise more questions than it lays to rest, and more than David can answer alone.

JUDGE DREDD UNDER SIEGE #1

Mark Russell (A/CVR A) Max Dunbar (CVR B) Alan Quah

When all contact with the Patrick Swayze Block is lost, Dredd and Judge Beeny investigate only to find it’s become a beachhead for an all-out mutant assault on Mega-City One. Cutting-edge humor and tense, gritty action from writer Mark Russell (The Flintstones, God Is Disappointed in You) and artist Max Dunbar (Gears of War)!

SONIC THE HEDGEHOG #4 2ND PTG

Ian Flynn (A) Evan Stanley (CVR) Tyson Hesse 

SONIC THE HEDGEHOG #5

Ian Flynn (A/CVR A) Jamal Peppers (CVR B) Kieran Gates

“The Fate of Dr. Eggman,” Part 1. After his last battle with Sonic, Dr. Eggman’s gone quiet. His Badnik forces are still causing trouble, but without the bad doctor’s usual fanfare. What’s Eggman been doing all this time? And what will happen to Sonic when he finds out? Guest starring: The Chaotix Detective Agency!

STAR TREK TNG THROUGH THE MIRROR #5

Scott Tipton, David Tipton (A) Debora Carita (A/CVR A) J. K. Woodward (CVR B) Debora Carita

Can Captain Picard prevent his Mirror counterpart’s plans for galactic conquest? It’s the explosive finale to THROUGH THE MIRROR! •   Retailers: See your order form for incentive information.  

Join the IDW Hasbro Shared Universe related conversation here in our Comics Discussion and Reviews section and here for all other franchises, superheroes, or general comic book discussions! Not a member? Join our community by creating your own free account here! Or jump right into the live chat on our Discord server!

IDW Comics Shipping List for May 30th! It’s time for our weekly Diamond Comics Shipping List! Check out some great titles IDW has in store for us next week like…

[mteaotonga]

STUDIO THEORY:

Friday 19 March

Negative space is essential in sculpture. The balance of negative and positive space is what activates space. Henry Moore OM, CH, Recumbent Figure, 1938.

Louise Bourgeois: the matriarch of artists. Research her!

Anything goes! Re: Isa Genzkin.

Constuctivism Sculpture: to construct, with the cultural ideas of a better future (post WW1).

Primativism Sculpture: the borrowing from other cultures into western sculptural art. Wouldn't tend towards this today. Re: Picasso.

Brancusi: would fold the material and methodology into eachother so there wasnt a heirachy between object and plinth. Modified how you see objects in space.

Modernist Sculpture: abstraction and balance, negative and positive space. Re: Barbara Hepworth, Henry Moore.

When making sculpture make sure you move around! Stand up, look at it 360°, and not just on one axis.

Arte Povera: Italian, post-war. Literally means "Poor Art". The use of everyday materials. This was a big shift away from sculptural tradition at the time. Re: Giuseppe Penone.

Kinetic Sculpture: work that moves. Re: Jean Tingley.

Minimalism Sculpture: came from abstract expressionist painting. Saying, nah, it's about the art and not the author. Inadvertently, created an aesthetic. Flawed, as we want to interpret things, to be representational, referential.

Post-Minimalist Sculpture: Material as the message, to evoke something, but still following the structure of minimalism.

Eva Hesse: Research her!

Post-Modernist Sculpture: Re: Jeff Koons.

Young British Artists (YBA): Incl. Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin, Sarah Lucas.

Unmonumental Sculpture: the anti-monument, it's romantic. Book in library titled 'Unmonumental'.

Object Oriented Ontology: The object exists regardless of us.

Ceal Floyer.

TASK: widewalls.ch/magazine/contemporary-assemblage-art

[wsmith215]

DJ Henry death: Was fatal shooting of Pace University football player by a police officer justified?

Produced by Alvin Patrick and Sarah Prior

[This story originally aired on Dec. 1, 2018.]

In the early morning hours of Oct. 17, 2010, Danroy “DJ” Henry, a Pace University football player, was shot dead by Pleasantville, N.Y., police officer Aaron Hess. That event triggered a seven-year journey for DJ’s family as they searched for answers.

“We’re not anti-police,” Danroy Henry, Sr., DJ’s father, tells CBS News special correspondent James Brown. “We’re just trying to understand what the facts tell us. Was it a justified shooting or was it not justified? Because if it wasn’t – it was murder.”

“People believed fervently that they knew what happened,” says Brian Sokoloff, who represents Hess. “And whenever you hear of a case like this, you can’t believe first impressions.”

DJ was out celebrating with his teammates at a bar after a homecoming game when other patrons got into a fight. Police say that DJ was parked in a fire lane in front of the bar and when he was asked to move, he allegedly sped towards Officer Hess, propelling him on the hood and forcing him to shoot DJ.

When it was over, DJ was dying in the street, and he and his friends were in handcuffs.

Hess maintained he shot into the car because he feared for his life and had no other option. DJ’s friends and witnesses denied he was driving fast and said he wasn’t trying to hit the officer.

DANNY. ALWAYS.

Dan and Angella Henry had no idea it would be the last game they would watch their son, DJ, play.

Danroy “Dan” Henry Sr.: I think I made all the games. And homecoming we were all there … we had driven up and we were there to see the game.

DJ Henry was a junior playing football for Pace University.

Dan Henry: DJ …He was my shadow. He and I were together all the time.

Kyle Henry | DJ’s brother:  My family’s — really close. Really close. Always been really close.

From left, Dan, Amber, Kyle, DJ and Angella Henry 

Angella Henry

Angella Henry:  We are like our own little universe, the five of us.

Amber Henry | DJ’s sister:  Dad called him DJ. Mom would call him Danny.

Angella Henry: Danny. Always.

Dan Henry:  He was the surrogate dad to his siblings … they looked up to him.

Amber Henry: I struggled with math as a high school student … He’d be the first one to sit down and be like, “OK, well, let’s figure it out.”

Angella Henry:  He … was [pauses, emotional]. Oh, my gosh. A joy. … A pied piper in the neighborhood.  All of the kids loved him …The biggest smile  you’ve ever seen.  And a very gentle spirit.

Angella Henry: We had driven up there the same day, watched the game, hung out, and then drove back home.

DEVASTATING NEWS

It was in the early morning of October 17, 2010.

Dan Henry: It was early. It was after the midnight hour.

The serenity of Dan and Angella Henry’s home in Easton, Massachusetts, was shattered with the unfathomable news that their eldest son DJ had been shot to death.

Dan Henry: I think they heard me scream that he died and came back down.

Angella Henry: I just remember laying on the floor crying and Kyle came over and stood over me and he just grabbed my shoulders and he said, “Mom … look at me, it’s gonna be OK.”

DJ Henry

Kevin Day

Kyle Henry: We just rushed outta the house. I don’t even remember if we locked anything up. I didn’t even have shoes on.

The drive from Easton to the Westchester County Medical Center in New York was over three hours.

Dan Henry: We didn’t want him there by himself, and so we prayed all the way.

James Brown: What was it like when you got to the hospital?

Angella Henry: As soon as we saw him, we all just screamed and cried. … Dan grabbed him and just held him and talked to him. … prayed with him … told him that we loved him.

Kyle Henry: … to see your brother, the person you grew up with … My whole life has been with him. … then you see this person lifeless … it was the most horrifying thing I’ve ever seen in my life.

Angella Henry: He had scrapes and scratches and cuts that he didn’t have … I just couldn’t believe it.

The Henrys’ daughter Amber got to the hospital later.

Amber Henry: So my mom came out of the doors. … She said … “I need to come take you to say goodbye.” …It was definitely a moment I knew, I knew right there that my life was gonna change.

The life the Henrys built was an American dream. Dan, an Ivy League graduate, enjoyed a successful career as a human resources executive.

His wife Angella made the choice to stay home with their three children.

Angella Henry We knew right away that we wanted to work as hard as we could to provide for our children a stable home and two parents.

Amber, a recent college graduate, is the youngest.

Amber Henry: We are so full of love. We just want the best for each and every one of us.

Kyle, an independent music artist, is in the middle.

Kyle Henry: We’ve always had each other’s backs. Always been very strong in each other’s lives.

Danny, a handsome student-athlete, was the oldest.

Angella Henry: When he played sports there was inevitably another Dan or Danny and so Dan started calling him DJ.

DJ embraced his family so much that it inspired him to get a tattoo.

Angella Henry: His first tattoo was “family first.”

Dan Henry: I looked down and saw what he did and said, “Oh that was — that was well played!”

Dan Henry: … he’s an amazing kid. …he wasn’t perfect, but man, was he a good guy. …with immense promise.

So what happened? How did the Henrys end up in a hospital crying over their 20-year old son’s body?

Dan Henry called the police investigator in charge and was floored by what he was told.

Dan Henry: He said DJ was trying to run over two police officers and that they had to shoot him to stop him.

The Henrys were dumbfounded. They knew DJ was out celebrating with friends after homecoming, but they could not imagine their son running down police with his car.

Dan Henry: … something had to have happened if that happened. What caused him to do something that’s so outside of his character? And Brandon affirmed for us that he didn’t.

Brandon Cox, DJ’s best friend, was also at the hospital.

Angella Henry: Brandon came in and sat down next to Danny’s bed … and just said, “He didn’t deserve this.”

From what the Henrys could piece together, DJ, Brandon and another friend were in DJ’s car waiting outside of a bar and police asked them to move out of a fire lane.

Dan Henry: Brandon … said they weren’t doing anything and that out of the clear blue, some guys flashes across with a gun, and starts shooting. And then before he knows it, he’s on the car and he’s shooting at them.

Brandon was sitting next to DJ in the car. He was shot in the arm but escaped serious injury.

Angella Henry: And we said, “Brandon, we need to know everything” … And Brandon said, “No, we were driving. We were leaving.” And he just kept saying, “He didn’t deserve this.”

The family wanted answers, and that morning headed to the Mount Pleasant Police station just hours after saying goodbye to DJ.

Dan Henry: …we wanted to look them in the eyes and just say, “You need to know a little bit about our son.”

What the Henrys did not know is that the Police Chief Louis Alagno had already conducted a press conference implicating DJ:

CHIEF LOUIS ALAGNO | MOUNT PLEASANT PD [press conference]: At about 1:20 a.m. this morning, Mt. Pleasant police received a call of a disturbance.

POLICE RADIO CALL: Respond to Finnegans … fight in progress.

Alagno said several police officers responded to a fight at Finnegan’s grill, a local bar about two miles from Pace University’s campus.

Reportedly, unruly patrons had spilled into the parking lot.

POLICE RADIO CALL: It looks like … it’s just a large gathering of the bar outside.

According to Alagno, when a policeman approached the car in the fire lane, the vehicle sped off and struck an officer:

CHIEF LOUIS ALAGNO [press conference]: For an unknown reason a vehicle that had been parked in a fire lane … near Finnegan’s Grill accelerated from the scene. A Village of Pleasantville officer attempted to stop that vehicle … that vehicle struck that officer; he was propelled onto the hood.

POLICE RADIO CALL: I’ve got an officer down — hit by a vehicle.

Alagno said the car continued to accelerate and the officer on the hood of the car shot the driver. That driver was DJ Henry.

CHIEF LOUIS ALAGNO [press conference]: I’m truly saddened by the events that occurred this evening. My condolences go out to the family of the young man that died in this event.

“We don’t need some version of the story that protects one side or the other,” says Dan Henry. “Our whole goal was to just get the truth,” says Angella Henry.

CBS News

The Henrys didn’t want condolences; they wanted to know how Chief Alagno could make a public statement about their son without talking to them first.

James Brown: And you asked the question that they would conduct a press conference without even having talked with you, his family, and the response was?

Dan Henry: …that’s what the officers on the scene told me happened, basically. … And we pressed and said, “Look, we want truth. What we want is truth.”

That moment began a long, legal journey that would take the Henrys from a strip mall in New York all the way to the United States Department of Justice.

Dan Henry: We’re not anti-police. … We’re just trying to understand what the facts tell us. Was it a justified shooting or was it not justified? Because if it wasn’t — it was murder.

WHAT DJ’S FRIENDS SAW

WCBS RADIO [October 2010]: Police in Westchester in the community of Mount Pleasant fire at a speeding vehicle, killing the driver identified as a Pace University student.

Dan Henry: We were pushing hard against a very strong current in those early days because they’d beat us out there with a narrative.

And that narrative, as DJ’s parents saw it, was that police were blaming DJ for his own death.

The day after DJ was killed, Chief Louis Alagno held a second press conference and gave more details:

CHIEF LOUIS ALAGNO [press conference]: The Pleasantville officer that was involved was police officer Aaron Hess. … Police Officer Hess was the officer that ended up on the hood of the deceased’s vehicle … Officer Hess drew his pistol and fired it into the vehicle.

And he said DJ was accelerating toward a second officer, Ronald Beckley, who had also fired at his car.

CHIEF LOUIS ALAGNO [press conference]: Another officer, Mount Pleasant Officer Beckley, was also standing in the fire lane as this vehicle drove towards him. He also discharged his weapon at the vehicle.

Dan Henry: The effort clearly … was to villainize our son. It was to make him seem like a criminal thug that needed to be stopped.

But DJ’s friends say that is not how it happened.

“We weren’t doing anything wrong. We were in the Wild, Wild West. That’s what it felt like.” says DJ Henry’s Pace teammate and passenger Desmond Hinds.

CBS News

Desmond Hinds: We weren’t doing anything wrong. We were in the Wild, Wild West. That’s what it felt like.

DJ’s teammate Desmond Hinds was in the car that night with DJ, Brandon, and two other friends who went to Finnegan’s.

Desmond Hinds: As long as the football team was together, that’s where we wanted to be, having fun.

After that fight broke out, the bartender called police, and soon six officers arrived on the scene. DJ and his passengers were not involved, and they headed to the doors.

Brandon Cox: It seemed a little bit early but the lights came on and bouncers were telling everybody to get out.

DJ’s friend, Brandon Cox.

Brandon Cox: They said, “It’s done, it’s done, so we’re leaving.”

DJ Henry, standing at right, is seen in security footage from inside the bar just minutes before he was  fatally shot.

Security video

DJ can be seen in security footage, just minutes before he was shot. DJ, Brandon and Desmond waited outside in DJ’s car for their two other friends. Brandon was in the front seat. As they were waiting, he remembers an officer tapping on the back window asking them to move.

Brandon Cox: He started to make a forward motion to move forward … That’s when DJ … starts to pull away. … He just pulled off slowly.

Brandon Cox:  Where we were parked there was like there was a curve in the roadway. … As we come around that curve, I can see somebody running from in between those two cars with their gun raised.

Desmond Hinds: And I look and I see this stance [demonstrates as if holding a gun]. Two hands on something. I didn’t see the gun. Two hands.

James Brown: Pointed at?

Brandon Cox: Pointed at the vehicle.

Within seconds, that somebody — Officer Hess — was up on the hood, shooting.

 “The next thing I know, the car has come to a stop and DJ…goes, ‘They shot me, they shot me,'” says friend and passenger Brandon Cox.

CBS News

Brandon Cox: I could feel something hit my arm. At that moment, I’m not sure what’s going on, not sure what it is, and I’m just ducking down to just try to get out of harm’s way.

Brandon and Desmond both say they never saw that second officer, Ronald Beckley, at all.

Desmond Hinds: I didn’t hear anything. It was like everything was silent. But I just saw bullet holes after bullet holes. There was three or four total.

At least one bullet hit the seat next to Desmond. Brandon had that graze wound to the arm. And DJ was shot twice — through his lungs and his heart.

Brandon Cox: DJ goes, “They shot me, they shot me …”

Desmond Hinds: And then he just made this moan, this moan that I will never forget.

DJ Henry death: Cell phone video shows scene after fatal 2010 shooting

DJ’s car crashed into a parked cruiser and stalled to a stop a little further down the road. Two officers took DJ out, handcuffed him and laid him on the ground. Desmond remembers being pulled out by yet another officer.

Desmond Hinds: And he slammed me on the ground. …And I go, “Officer, we did absolutely nothing wrong.” And he had a gun and he pointed it to the back of my head. He said, “Shut the f— up.” And at that point, I thought I was going to die.

Daniel Parker was friends with Desmond and DJ from the football team.

Daniel Parker: I was asking everyone, I’m like, “What happened? What happened?” And no one said anything.  Everyone was just staring.

DJ Henry death: Cell phone video captures chaos after fatal police shooting

Daniel came out of Finnegan’s shortly after hearing a disturbance outside. Cellphone video shot by a fellow student captured that scene. Daniel spotted Desmond on the sidewalk, also in handcuffs.

Daniel Parker: I was like, “Desmond, are you OK?” And he was saying, “They shot DJ.”

Dash cam video from a cruiser that pulled in after the shooting shows Officer Hess on the ground. Behind him is DJ, lying in the road.

Daniel Parker: I saw that no one was by him. And I was looking and I was like, “You gotta be kidding me, what’s happening right now? Why is no one helping him?”

The first person to try and revive DJ was a woman at the scene — a civilian.

Daniel Parker: I saw her struggling to try to give him compressions and. … I was like, “Hey, that’s my teammate. Can I go help him?”

Daniel Parker: I said, “I’m CPR certified. Can I help him?” He was just like, “Get the f— back.”

Daniel Parker: And his eyes was open and I saw blood in his mouth and that’s the moment when I was like, “Y’all f—— killed him.”

Daniel says after saying that he was also thrown to the ground and handcuffed. Ten long minutes had elapsed from that first call about the shooting before DJ was finally hooked up to a defibrillator.

In the days after losing their eldest son, Dan and Angella Henry had to confront more than just their grief. They were facing two very different versions of events: one from the police and another from DJ’s friends.

Dan Henry: So we immediately had a conflict.

Dan Henry: Clearly we knew we needed counsel, but I needed a really good local attorney who would push hard to get at —  truth.

The Henrys hired Michael Sussman, a legendary civil rights attorney from New York.

Michael Sussman: I remember in that first meeting Danroy looking at me and saying to me, “I don’t wanna make this about race. … I don’t want that to be the narrative. … I wanna understand the details of why it happened.

Officer Hess, his knee badly injured, was also taken to the hospital that night. And soon, he too, had a lawyer of his own.

Brian Sokoloff | Hess’s attorney: He doesn’t see himself as some kind of hero. … Aaron Hess is a victim.

AARON HESS TELLS HIS STORY

In the months after DJ’s death, as his family grieved, the Westchester District Attorney’s Office began an investigation, standard procedure at the time. In January 2011, they convened a grand jury to see if Officer Hess should be charged with any crime. DJ’s father, Danroy, was called to testify.

Dan Henry: The only question I was asked, two weeks before the grand jury wrapped up was did I know that DJ drank occasionally? That’s it.

A month later, Mr. Henry got a call: Aaron Hess was not indicted — on any charge.

Dan Henry: The DA’s office in Westchester County executed a sham.

James Brown: Pretty strong words.

Dan Henry: Yeah, that’s what they did, and if I could think of a stronger word, I’d use it.

Michael Sussman: The gentleman was not charged with anything. Criminally negligent homicide, manslaughter, murder — anything! And there should have been a charge, and there should have been a criminal trial. … The Henrys should have had, if you will, the satisfaction — not that it’s much satisfaction — of believing that their son’s life had that much value.

Hours after the grand jury decision, after Sussman’s repeated urging, the U.S. Department of Justice began a separate investigation looking into a possible civil rights violation — a federal crime. Weeks later, Hess’s union named him officer of the year. They said afterward the award was not meant to be public.

Angella Henry: They wanted to do that privately to boost Aaron Hess’s morale.

James Brown: To boost the officer’s morale?

Dan Henry: Because he had been through a lot. Because he had been through a lot.

While the Department of Justice was looking into the case, the Henrys filed wrongful death suits against Aaron Hess, the Village of Pleasantville, where Hess worked, and the town of Mount Pleasant, where DJ was shot.

In August 2012, nearly two years after DJ’s death, Hess came to the U.S. District Courthouse in Westchester for a deposition in the wrongful death cases:

Hess deposition

MICHAEL SUSSMAN: Were you the first officer on the scene?

AARON HESS: Yes.

With their attorney Michael Sussman asking questions, Dan and Angella Henry were there.

Dan Henry:  It was really, really important to us to be in the room. … We wanted to look in the eye of the guy that shot our son. We wanted to hear him tell us why, to see his face, to have him look us in the eye, to see Danny when he looked us in the eyes.

AARON HESS [deposition]: That night specifically was a bad night. I only reacted to what I thought, that I was going to be killed.

Angella Henry: Originally I was worried that I was gonna go in there and be just filled with anger but … I saw him and I just, I didn’t feel anything for him.

At the time DJ was killed in 2010, Aaron Hess was 33 years old, married and expecting twins. He had served four years in the Marines and had been a police officer since 2000 — first in New York City and later for his hometown of Pleasantville, New York.

“That night specifically was a bad night. I only reacted to what I thought, that I was going to be killed,” Officer Aaron Hess said in his deposition.

Brian Sokoloff represents Aaron Hess.

Brian Sokoloff: That was Aaron Hess. Well liked. … Up until Oct. 17, 2010, he had never fired his weapon in the line of duty.

Hess arrived at Finnegan’s shortly after the call went out about the fight. When that officer tapped on DJ’s window, Hess says he was standing in the parking lot, about 30 feet away.

Brian Sokoloff: Aaron Hess, who’s around the bend, observes three things happen simultaneously. A, he hears an engine rev. B, he hears an officer yell, “Stop that car,” or, “Stop that vehicle.” And he sees an officer get turned off balance.

James Brown: Turned off balance, suggesting that?

Brian Sokoloff: Suggesting that something was amiss

Hess says that’s why he stepped across the road, to face DJ’s car — as it drove toward him:

Hess deposition

MICHAEL SUSSMAN: Could you determine its rate of speed?

AARON HESS: Fast.

Brian Sokoloff: He puts up his hand and yells, “Stop. Stop.” The car doesn’t stop. He draws his weapon.

Hess deposition

MICHAEL SUSSMAN: Why didn’t you move out of the way of the vehicle?

AARON HESS: Because I thought the vehicle was going to stop.

MICHAEL SUSSMAN: Why did you believe that?

AARON HESS: I believed it was going to stop because every other vehicle I’ve asked to stop in my career have stopped.

AARON HESS: As the vehicle was coming towards me, I lunged forward as it hit my legs. At that time as I was on the hood, the engine revved up again and seemingly, it seemed to me that was trying to get thrown off the vehicle. At that time is when I fired my weapon.

As he was shooting, Hess says, he could not see anyone inside the car:

Hess deposition

MICHAEL SUSSMAN: Who did you aim at?

AARON HESS: The center mass of the driver.

MICHAEL SUSSMAN: So you saw the driver?

AARON HESS: I saw a silhouette. I didn’t physically see a driver.

It wasn’t until they were both lying in the road, Hess says, that he first saw DJ:

Hess deposition

AARON HESS: The first time I observed the driver he was face down and handcuffed.

MICHAEL SUSSMAN: So you didn’t see him being cuffed?

AARON HESS: No.

MICHAEL SUSSMAN: Could you tell whether he was alive?

AARON HESS: No [becomes emotional].

MICHAEL SUSSMAN: Could you see whether he was breathing?

AARON HESS: No.

MICHAEL SUSSMAN: Now what were you doing at that point?

AARON HESS: Lying on the ground as well [wipes his eyes].

MICHAEL SUSSMAN: Was anyone tending to you at that point?

AARON HESS: [doesn’t answer; cries]

MICHAEL SUSSMAN: Do you want to take a break?

AARON HESS: Just give me a second [cries].

MICHAEL SUSSMAN: Sure, take your time.

Brian Sokoloff:  I’d like somebody to tell me what other alternative Aaron Hess had on the hood of a moving vehicle other than trying to save his own life or closing his eyes and saying his prayers.

Hess deposition

MICHAEL SUSSMAN: Did you hear any comments or remarks about his status on the scene?

AARON HESS: Yes.

MICHAEL SUSSMAN: What did you hear?

AARON HESS: I heard someone say, he’s dead.

Aaron Hess did not return to work after the shooting. He was on paid medical leave for two years, then retired with disability for his knee injury at the scene.

Then, a few weeks after Hess was first deposed, the Henrys found support from a very surprising source — that second officer whom Chief Alagno had said had also fired at DJ’s car, Ronald Beckley.

Michael Sussman: He was willing to go against the script to try to stand up for what was true.

NEW FACTS REVEALED

The Henrys’ lawyer Michael Sussman is determined to keep DJ Henry’s memory alive in the driveway of his home.

James Brown: Why do you keep this car?

“Something really significant happened in this car,” the Henrys’ attorney, Michael Sussman, tells James Brown. “I needed it to be here so perhaps a day like today would come when we could tell the story of what really happened here.” 

CBS News

Michael Sussman: The car is a tangible representation of what happened. … and when you see the bullet holes and you see the situation with the axle of the car here and the wheel, you have a very clear, constant reminder of what happened. And I think that’s very important to the truth-telling process.

That truth, says Sussman, would come out during the wrongful death suits — in the testimony of one brave police officer.

James Brown: Officer Ron Beckley. Who is he?

Michael Sussman: He’s an American hero.

Ronald Beckley directly refuted the official version put out by his own department.

Michael Sussman: In fact, the police chief’s version was that DJ Henry was threatening Beckley, which Beckley disavowed and said, “This is not what happened.”

According to sworn testimony in those wrongful death suits, Mount Pleasant police officer Ronald Beckley arrived on the scene that night and fired his weapon — for the first time in his 30-year career — at Aaron Hess.

Michael Sussman: He sees a person, as he described it, in dark clothing, jumping on a vehicle, and he takes out his weapon, and he fires a shot because he sees the person jumping on the vehicle as the aggressor, and believes that that person is shooting and endangering other people, and he has to try to stop him.

Beckley did not realize that Hess was a fellow officer. Within hours of the incident, Beckley reported his account to his superiors. But the official version from Chief Louis Alagno misrepresented Beckley’s version, leaving the impression that Beckley was shooting at DJ Henry:

CHIEF LOUIS ALAGNO: [second press conference]: Another officer, Mt. Pleasant officer Beckley, was also standing in the fire lane as the vehicle drove towards him. He also discharged his weapon at the vehicle.

Michael Sussman: He was willing to go against the script to try to stand up for what was true.

Angella Henry: When Ronald Beckley did that, it was an answer to prayer.

Aaron Hess’ lawyer Brian Sokoloff says Beckley is no hero and that he broke department rules.

Brian Sokoloff: … officers are forbidden from firing at a moving vehicle. … Instead of saying he was firing at the moving vehicle, which is what he hit, he then says, “I was firing at Aaron Hess.”

Michael Sussman: Mr. Beckley didn’t lie. Mr. Beckley showed tremendous courage both at the scene and afterwards because … the blue code of silence does exist. … And Beckley knew in a certain sense that his career was over.

Officer Ronald Beckley directly refuted the official version put out by his own department.

CBS News

Ronald Beckley retired three months after DJ Henry’s death. He was denied a full disability pension.

Michael Sussman: The person who apologized to the Henrys, the person who cried with the Henrys was Officer Ronald Beckley, who said to them in my presence, “I wish I could’ve stopped this.” And broke down.

And then there is the question of how fast DJ Henry was driving.  Michael Sussman gave “48 Hours” video of a test conducted by Westchester County police.  In it, DJ’s car is shown accelerating to where Aaron Hess was standing.  But DJ’s friends made it clear that he was driving slowly.

Desmond Hinds: I would say maybe 15. Ten to 15 miles-per-hour.

James Brown: Nothing reckless?

Desmond Hinds: Nothing reckless.

James Brown: Nothing dangerous?

Desmond Hinds: No.

James Brown: Not endangering anybody? You saw no pedestrians at all?

Brandon Cox: Nope. There were no pedestrians in the way, there was nothing blocking our path.

Michael Sussman: Initially what was told to me by the D.A.’s Office … was that there were a group of civilians who were crossing the path in the parking lot … and that the thought was he had to stop this car from running over those civilians. … And when we started pulling it apart, no one could ever identify these civilians, where they were, how Hess knew anything about them. There was no justification. It made no sense.

James Brown Did he, Officer Hess not have the option, the alternative of getting out of the way?

Brian Sokoloff: No, not at the time that he felt his life was in danger.

James Brown: So … No room to maneuver?

Brian Sokoloff: Not once he felt his life was in danger.

But Michael Sussman says the security video from the parking lot that night shows the brake lights of DJ Henry’s car as he was nearing Aaron Hess. He was slowing down.

Michael Sussman: I don’t have to rely on a million eyewitnesses. I have the video showing the slow down. I have the bullet holes.

Michael Sussman: DJ was every young man. DJ was not doing anything that was out of character, out of ordinary. He just wasn’t.

But just after DJ’s death, a toxicology report was leaked to the press that showed his blood alcohol level at .13. That means DJ would have been impaired that night. The Henrys’ lawyer disputes that.

Michael Sussman: The bar owner, who we spoke to, and all the other people we spoke to about DJ in that bar, said he had nothing to drink in the bar.

Brandon Cox: I did not see him have one drink at Finnegan’s.

James Brown: The entire evening that you were there?

Brandon Cox: The entire evening that I was there.

According to DJ’S friends, he did have one drink earlier in the evening back at the dorm.

Desmond Hinds: That night, I witnessed him having one drink.

James Brown: That’s it?

Desmond Hines: That was it.

In a video from the bar that night, DJ does not appear to be impaired.

Michael Sussman: I didn’t see him wobbly, I didn’t see him behaving in any kind of aberrant or unusual way whatsoever.

Brian Sokoloff insists the toxicology report proves that DJ was breaking the law and had a reason for trying to leave the parking lot quickly.

Brian Sokoloff: He did have a fake ID. He was intoxicated … We produced a report by an eminent toxicologist … there’s no other evidence on this, there’s been no other report, no other expert contradicts this …

Michael Sussman: For those who say DJ Henry was drunk, OK, let me make something very clear. No officer at that scene had any knowledge of DJ’s drinking. … So he wasn’t acting like he was drunk if he was drunk, and we have no real reason to believe he was. … It’s that simple.

Brian Sokoloff: I want to make this clear, we are not looking to demonize Danroy Henry, who tragically lost his life that night.

Michael Sussman: DJ was devalued. It’s the simplest way to put it. He was some kind of common criminal who was handcuffed, thrown to the gutter.

Through their pain, as the wrongful death suits dragged on, the Henrys were still waiting to see if the Justice Department would bring criminal charges in their son’s case.

Dan Henry: We just wanted to know if he was justified in taking our son’s life.

CLEARING DJ’S NAME

By 2015, it had been four years since the justice department began its investigation. The Henrys’ hopes were with then U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara.

Dan Henry: And he said look, I’m not afraid to prosecute these things, I’ll take them on. You should know I’m not afraid to do it. …So we were hopeful.

But they were warned that it wouldn’t be easy.

Michael Sussman: He said to us that the standard for prosecution was a high standard known as willfulness. There had to be a willful violation of civil rights.

Hess deposition

MICHAEL SUSSMAN: So you saw the driver?

AARON HESS: I saw the silhouette.

Proving willfulness would be hard because Aaron Hess said he could only see a silhouette when he made the choice to shoot DJ Henry from point-blank range.

Brian Sokoloff: Aaron Hess could not see into the car. … He did not know the race, the gender, the age of anybody in the car.

James Brown: Do you think that the events of Oct. 17, 2010, would have unfolded differently if the occupants of the car were white?

Brian Sokoloff: Absolutely not.

The Henrys did not get the result they sought.

Dan Henry: They chose not to pursue federal civil rights charges. … There were no charges.

The U.S. Attorney found that Aaron Hess had to make a split-second decision and the law allows latitude for an officer’s judgment.

Despondent after exhausting all criminal options, in 2016, the Henrys decided to settle their wrongful death suit with the Village Of Pleasantville and Aaron Hess. The Village paid $6 million.

Dan Henry: It’s in a trust. We won’t touch it. It’s blood money to us and —

James Brown: Blood money.

Angella Henry: They want you to put a dollar amount on your child’s life. How can you do that? … There is no appropriate amount.  

Dan Henry says DJ, left, was a surrogate father his younger siblings. “I’ll often stare at his picture and just… I’ll just talk to him,”  says Amber Henry. “I’ll just sit there and just really try to absorb the fact that this is how I’m supposed to be living now.”

Angella Henry

In 2017, the Henrys also settled their wrongful death suit with the town of Mount Pleasant for an undisclosed amount. But what they got was more valuable to them: a public apology.

Angella Henry: They wanted to apologize in private, but we felt that they mischaracterized our son in public so the apology should be made public. … knowing that even in his death, they continued to bash his name and say such negative things is just adding salt to the wound.

The town released a statement, which read in part:

The town regrets any statement made on its behalf in the immediate aftermath of the incident … and … regrets the misimpression of DJ Henry these statements may have caused.

Amber Henry: If it were up to me, I wouldn’t even want them to say anything. They’ve said enough. … By what they’ve done, they’ve said enough.

But something big was achieved. Seven long years after the tragic death of their promising young son, the Henrys cleared Danroy Henry Jr.’s name.

Angella Henry: It was important because we knew who our son was and is.

James Brown: Do you consider that public apology an admission of guilt?

Dan Henry: Yes. That’s how we took it. I think in the public apology, they say it’s not, but that’s how we took it.

But the fact remains that no criminal charges were brought in DJ Henry’s case. Today Aaron Hess is employed in private security.

James Brown: When you do think about Officer Hess, what are your thoughts?

Angella Henry: I’m praying that at some moment in his life, he will fall to his knees and ask for forgiveness for what he did. And I pray that he never has to deal with it with his children.

Dan Henry: I try not to think about him. I try not to.

“We are like our own little universe, the five of us,” Angella Henry says of her family. Pictured from left: DJ, Kyle, Angella, Amber and Dan Henry

Angella Henry

Through their sorrow, the Henrys have found a way to honor their son’s memory. In 2011, they started a charity called the DJ Henry Dream Fund.

Angella Henry: The foundation was … a way to honor our son’s love of fitness and sports.

The fund sponsors children in need from New England to attend summer camps and programs. So far, it has given away over half a million dollars to deserving kids.

Dan Henry: What moves me the most is when kids that come and tell their stories say thank you to Danny. That’s powerful.

DJ Henry’s Life was powerful. Childhood friend Brandon Cox wears a wrist band.

Brandon Cox: It says, “This is to the memory of Danroy Henry.” …No matter what I’m going to remember him. He’s a part of me forever.

Today, the Henrys spend a lot of time on Martha’s Vineyard. They came here as a family when DJ was alive; now they keep him alive in their hearts with a memorial bench that overlooks the ocean.

James Brown: What do you want people to remember about DJ, about Danny?

Dan Henry: I want them to remember his life, not his death. I want them to remember the giving, kind, nurturing, loving spirit that he is.

Kyle Henry: We should know that he would’ve done great things if he was here, destined for great things. Amazing person that this world lost.

Amber Henry: Danny would walk around the house and say … “I have to travel. I don’t have the time.” You know, “I have to do this, I don’t have the time.” We’d look at him and say, “you have all the time, you have your whole life.” … In his mind I think he knew maybe he wasn’t supposed to be here on this earth in a physical form for very long. That he was maybe supposed to help in a different way.

Angella Henry: I know that there’s more. I just know at the end of the day, I’ll get to be with him again.

Chief Luis Alagno retired in 2013.

In 2015 New York State law changed. Police shootings of unarmed civilians are now automatically investigated by a special prosecutor.

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[hollywoodjuliorivas]

ctive

‘Karens’ try to make unequal power structures work for them

Sarah Paulson as Alice in “Mrs. America.”

Sarah Paulson as Alice in “Mrs. America.” (Sabrina Lantos/FX)

Image without a caption

By

Monica Hesse

Columnist

May 29, 2020 at 9:00 a.m. PDT

In one of the final episodes of Hulu’s “Mrs. America,” which has been chronicling the rise and failure of the Equal Rights Amendment, a character named Alice, played by Sarah Paulson, tries to check into a hotel. Alice doesn’t like the ERA; she thinks it makes a mockery of her role as a homemaker. She’s traveled to Houston for a national women’s conference to try to derail it. When she arrives, though, she finds that her hotel is overbooked with feminists. So Alice tries to do what she’s always done to fix a messy situation: call a man.

“My husband should be able to straighten this out,” she tells the harried female clerk, after breezing past a long line of patiently waiting guests. “Shall we get him on the phone?”

Forty years before the term “Karen” was coined to describe entitled white women’s may-I-speak-to-your-manager life strategy, Alice is modeling some extraordinary Karening. She is confident that her dial-a-man tactic will work, as it always has before. Only this time it doesn’t. The clerk can’t magically produce more rooms, and she tells Alice if she wants to call her husband it will have to be from a pay phone. The camera lingers on Alice’s face, not angry so much as confused.

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It’s a quiet filler scene, but it subtly conveys a lot about white women and privilege. The grand bargain of Alice’s life, in her pre-second-wave-feminism era, has been to exchange independence for protection. To always have the dial-a-man option at the ready. If that option no longer confers the privilege it once did, then what is she getting out of the deal?

I had this episode open in one corner of my screen as a different video of a white woman started to go viral: a white woman phoning the police on a black man who’d asked her to leash her dog.

Video shows white woman calling police on black man who asked her to leash her dog

Amy Cooper called the police on Christian Cooper on May 25 after he asked her to leash her dog in Manhattan's Central Park. (Christian Cooper)

The video of Amy Cooper, the police-phoning dog owner, was a chillingly self-aware performance of privilege: “I’m going to tell them there’s an African American man threatening my life,” she warns Christian Cooper, the birdwatcher, who was not threatening her life. “Please send the cops immediately!” she instructs a 911 dispatcher in a voice that’s not so much may-I-speak-to-your-manager as help-me-I-am-in-grave-danger.

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Alice in the lobby. Amy in the park. These are vastly different situations, and not just because one happened in a fictionalized world four decades ago and the other happened in our world this week. The implications of siccing the police on a black man under false pretenses are far more horrifying than appealing to male authority to take care of a hotel booking.

But there is a thread of white, female entitlement that runs through both scenes. Alice and Amy Cooper are both damsels in distress-of-their-own-making. Each knows just whom they can dial to save them from inconvenience. One “Karen” calls her man; the other calls The Man.

Amy specifying Christian’s blackness seemed to be strategy, based on the idea that a black man would automatically be considered uniquely dangerous and a white woman uniquely credible. Decades of history have propped up this concept. Just one famous example: In 1931, two rail-riding white women, Victoria Price and Ruby Bates, accused a group of young black men (later dubbed the “Scottsboro Boys”) of assaulting them in a flamboyant story that the judge instructed the jury must be true: “Where the woman charged to have been raped is white,” he said, “there is a strong presumption under the law that she will not and did not yield voluntarily to intercourse with the defendant, a Negro.”

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Later, Bates said she’d made it up. She and her co-accuser were covering for traveling unchaperoned, sneaking onto trains and engaging in unmarried sex — behavior that would have been considered unrespectable for women at that time. The audacity of the false accusation showed that Bates understood her place in an unequal system. Above black men, yet, according to insidious stereotypes, vulnerable to them; below white men, yet symbolically precious to them. And she knew how to manipulate those dynamics to her advantage.

What I loved about “Mrs. America” was how often it explored the nuances of hierarchy: how white women gained access to power via their access to white men, how that power is poisoned and poisonous. The word “privilege” is used a lot, but not how we think of it now. Phyllis Schlafly’s anti-ERA movement has a slogan: Stop Taking Our Privileges. She means the privilege of being taken care of. Her members don’t have to work. They don’t have to be independent. It is white men’s job to worry for them, to defend them, to create a society that benefits them.

The police don’t exist to protect only white women, and they don’t pose a threat to only black men. But you don’t even have to look past the news of this week to see the grave risks black men face in encounters with law enforcement — and how easily excessive force can be rationalized when there’s no video. White women can access that power via a phone call. And that, too, can become poisonous.

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Amy Cooper is an anti-Alice in all outward respects: a working woman with a high-powered job. Presumably, she makes her own hotel bookings. But when she found herself in what she perceived was a distressing situation, she fell back on a time-honored tactic: dial an authority who you suspect will make inconvenience disappear, so long as your complaint is about someone with even less power than you.

In this case, that someone was a black man who was asking her to leash her dog, and Amy, like Alice, miscalculated her ability to Karen her way out of playing by the rules. When she reached for her phone, Christian Cooper already had his out and was filming her.

Soon the footage of Amy was everywhere, and lot of people wanted to speak to her manager.

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Monica Hesse is a columnist writing about gender and its impact on society. For more visit wapo.st/hesse.