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On a lighter note - Political jokes & memes

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Not a joke or meme but wanted to share. Also didn’t want to fuck up the “I Love California” thread. Lol

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">“This is Los Angeles. Everything is gone. Look at this.“<br><br>“Looks like it&#39;s been looted. And I guess thieves just come in and take whatever&#39;s expensive and just f*cking walk out with it. This is crazy. This is unrecognizable. — This is so f*cking sad”<br><br>Biden &amp; Kamala America <a href="https://t.co/JPMIGcyJPL">pic.twitter.com/JPMIGcyJPL</a></p>&mdash; 1776 (@TheWakeninq) <a href="
https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1831667989973733702
">September 5, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
 
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The rumor spread by presidential candidate Donald Trump and the Arizona Republican Party that Haitian immigrants are eating pets and urban wildlife in Ohio has no basis in fact.

But even if it did, the way it's being used by politicians and xenophobes would still be racist, said Joe Beason, a longtime California attorney.

Beason knows about such things: In 1989, he defended two Cambodian refugees from Long Beach who had killed and skinned a German Shepherd puppy for food. The sensational court case led to a California law banning the eating of animals traditionally considered pets. It also spurred "numerous letters from all over the world" to Beason and the judge in the case by apparent racists taking out their anger on whole communities.

"They were, without exception, extremely racist in attacking Asians," he said.

At a rally in Tucson Thursday, Trump doubled down on the claim about Haitians in Springfield, Ohio, saying "Residents are reporting that the migrants are walking off with the town’s geese. They're taking the geese. You know where the geese are, in the park. And even walking off with their pets."

Arizona Republican Party billboard campaign, amplifying a baseless report that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, are eating people's pets and ducks in the local parks.
Days earlier, at the debate with Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris, Trump shocked viewers with his pronouncement that immigrants are "eating the dogs. They're eating the cats."

Before Trump's arrival in Arizona this week, the Republican Party of Arizona announced the start of a billboard campaign capitalizing on the rumor. Mimicking Chick-fil-A ads, the 12 digital billboard displays feature kittens in cow suits and the message, "Eat Less Kittens. Vote Republican!"

"This campaign highlights just how horrific things have become under the failed policies of ‘Border Czar’ Kamala Harris," the state GOP said in conjunction with the launch of the ads.

The rumor brought attention to the surge of Haitian immigrants in Springfield, which city leaders said has overwhelmed schools and social services. But so far, the claims by a few Springfield residents of pet-eating immigrants have not been proven

'One-in-a-million' California case drew attention in 1980s

A major difference between the current rumor about Haitians and the claims about Asian immigrants in the 1980s is the earlier situation was based on a real case. Potentially, a handful of other such cases may have existed somewhere in the country. But the Long Beach incident sparked a wave of overreaction in California.

Newspaper reports detail how the two men, who still live in the area but could not be reached, accepted a puppy from a co-worker and proceeded to bludgeon and butcher it at their apartment. After a neighbor heard the puppy's cries, police arrived and arrested the men on suspicion of animal cruelty. The court case drew worldwide interest and brought attention to the allegation that immigrants were capturing and eating their neighbors' dogs and cats.

The then-executive director of the Los Angeles Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals announced in 1989 the group would educate immigrants that eating pets was not culturally acceptable in the United States. One news article from the era states that members of the group believed the number of dogs and cats being killed for food was rising. The program was reportedly based on the Long Beach case and targeted people from Vietnam, Cambodia, Korea and the Philippines.

Current management at the organization declined to discuss the program. The nonprofit "will not and cannot be drawn into a political and especially partisan discussion," spokesperson Ana Bustilloz said.

Beason's clients won their case when a judge determined the animals hadn't been killed in a cruel manner.

Arizona politics:Chandler council member, accused of corruption, seeks millions ... from Chandler

Two California lawmakers then proposed bills to outlaw the eating of pets, drawing fire from people who accused them of pandering to stereotypes. A similar bill had been proposed in 1981 after rumors of people capturing ducks and geese from San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, even though the sponsor admitted evidence of the claim was "sketchy." The bill died when critics accused it of fanning anti-Asian sentiment.

But after the Long Beach incident, former Gov. George Deukmejian signed a bill into law making it a misdemeanor to give or accept a pet with the intention of killing it for food. Arizona and most other states don't have such a law. But in 2018, former President Trump signed the Farm Bill, which contains a federal prohibition on slaughtering dogs and cats for human consumption.

Beason called the Long Beach case "one in a million" and said the public should not consider such isolated cases as common within certain immigrant communities. Cambodians in California were, in general, "astounded" by the men's action, he said.

Targeting people because of their national origin, culture or race because of the act of a few individuals is clearly wrong, Beason continued. And as far as the current Haitian rumor, "There is no evidence of anything."

He described himself as a Harris supporter, saying what Republican politicians and pundits have done with the immigrant rumor is "extremely, extremely racist."

Local campaign slammed, Chick-fil-A denies involvement

Lamar Advertising, the Louisiana-based billboard company that ran the ads for the state GOP, didn't return messages about the campaign, which a number of critics said was racist or in poor taste.

"Gina Swoboda, chair of the AZ Republican Party, is obviously a racist herself," said retired social worker and former Scottsdale resident Pat Gagen, who wrote to The Republic after reading about the billboard ad. "She, and many other destructive Republican politicians, are the reason we left Arizona over two years ago for retirement in Southern California."

"This billboard is an affront to civility in our civil discourse and shows a blatant disregard for the truth," said Andre Miller Sr., vice president for the NAACP Arizona State conference. "It’s sad that political party operatives would rather insult Haitian Americans than stand for what’s right − the truth. Kittens aren’t our issue − a blatant disregard for the truth, the constitution and the rule of law are."

Joe Casados, spokesperson for the Arizona Humane Society, said he wasn't aware of any reports of pets being eaten and the organization does not "weigh in on political allegations."

A spokesperson for Chick-fil-A who didn't want to be named said the company didn't collaborate with the GOP on the ad.

"We didn't give them any type of permission to use our imagery," the spokesperson said. "We didn’t know about the billboards before they went up."

The company declined further comment about the ads. Chick-fil-A likely has little recourse even if it wanted to take action: Parody and satire are generally allowed under First Amendment protections.
 
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