This is Republican America, folks - hateful, spiteful, ugly, & murderous
Cass McWade is a young woman living in North Carolina. She suffers from a number of chronic illnesses, including "psoriatic arthritis, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome and early-stage Crohn’s disease, " that entitle her to display a disabled sticker on the rear window of her car. On Monday she was involved in a car accident, which disabled her car. When her family's regular mechanic was unable to come out and tow it to the garage (and pick up Cass as well), he sent a substitute: Shupee Max Towing owned by Max Shupe, a devout conservative Christian. When he got to the scene, he hooked up her car to his tow truck, and everything seemed to be going just fine until he saw her Bernie Sanders bumper sticker. Then this happened:
“He goes around back and comes back and says, ‘I can’t tow you,'” McWade said. “My first instinct was there must be something wrong with the car, and he says, ‘No, you’re a Bernie supporter.’ And I was like, ‘Wait — really?’ And he says, ‘Yes ma’am,’ and just walks away.”
Shupe offered a supernatural explanation for his decision to leave the 25-year-old McWade, who suffers from arthritis and other health conditions, alongside I-26.
“Something came over me, I think the Lord came to me, and He just said, ‘Get in the truck and leave,'” Shupe said. “And when I got in my truck, you know, I was so proud, because I felt like I finally drew a line in the sand and stood up for what I believed.”
Mind you, this isn't illegal. Political affiliation is not a protected class under our civil rights laws. But it is pretty damning that someone would use as an excuse his so called "Christian values" to deny service to a disabled woman just because she supports a political candidate he didn't like. It's beyond petty.
Oh by the way, did I mention he is a Trump supporter? Yes indeedy. And apparently he believes Sanders' supporters are all low life scum who don't pay their bills, so that also justifies his behavior in his mind. He claimed he didn't know Cass McWade was disabled, but that wouldn't have made any difference to him, he claimed. He just wants us to respect his beliefs, because - reasons.
"
Every business dealing in recent history with a socialist minded person I have not gotten paid," Shupe said. "Every time I deal with these people I get 'Berned' with an 'e' not a 'u'."
Shupe, who runs Shupee Max Towing in Travelers Rest, said he is a conservative Christian who supports Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.
“I respect their beliefs, and I hope they respect my views,” Shupe said Wednesday.
The woman’s mother Kelle McWade posted an angry message on Facebook after the incident, calling Shupe a bigot.
"Trump's motto is 'Make America Great Again'," McWade said. "And this kind of divisive behavior is not going to make America great again."
Well, Mr. Shuppe, here's what I think about you and your views. You believe you are a liar, a hypocrite and a premium grade A asshole. But hey, I will say this for you. At least you haven't been caught (yet) placing leaflets on cars windshields advocating for the mass murder of Muslims and Latinos, which happened in Sacramento, California, and is under police investigation:
Denise Calderon, a community activist, said she awoke to find the message directed against Muslims and Hispanics on vehicles around her apartment at 26th and J streets.
“It basically gives a green light to assassinate Muslims and Latinos in our community,” Calderon said.
The letter ends with the sentence: “If you have not secured a body dump-site, do so now! Kidnap, rob, torture for information and execute all Muslims and Latinos. Leave no survivors.”
The letter is signed Greg Withrow, co-founder and president of the Aryan Youth Movement-White Student Union. His attempts in the 1980s to form a chapter while a student at American River College prompted school officials to obtain a restraining order to keep him off campus.
That's right, someone urging all those little Dylann Roof clones in hiding to come out of the closet and go on a racial killing spree the likes of which we haven't seen in America in almost one hundred years. As if what happened at Charleston last year wasn't bad enough.
Lovely country we live in. And who created this much anger, hatred, racism and mainstreaming of radical right wing genocidal fantasies? The Republican Party. Ever since Reagan (Hell since Nixon) this has been their modus operandi. They are the ones responsible for allowing bigotry and hatred to be openly expressed with little if any consequences (with a little help from certain of their friends in the Democratic Party, of course).
And now we live in a country where it is just fine to express such violent and hateful desires, one where the presumptive nominees of the GOP encourages his followers at his rallies to "rough up" non-violent protestors. One where a war veteran gets booed by the Republican faithful at a Republican debate - in 2011 - because he was gay. One where laws are passed to endanger the lives of transgender women and men.
One where an entire city's water system was poisoned and then its citizens, the majority of them poor African Americans, were charged the highest rates in the country for the benefit of receiving such largesse. Where police get away with murder of minorities, men women and children, at an alarmingly disproportionate rate. Not to mention our endless and useless wars on "terror" around the world, which gave us secret "black" prisons, invasive surveillance by the CIA, NSA and FBI, the authorized use of torture, the countless number of of war crimes for which no one but a few lowly grunts have been held accountable, etc. I could go on and on, but I think you get the idea.
Exceptional country? Hell, yes. An exceptionally bad one and getting worse every day.
Comments
I like
how you used the majority of your post to point out what the republican party has done. Yet, in the last paragraph, you show how what is happening can be equally applied to both parties.
Our two party system sucks and will be the downfall of a nation that at one time had a chance to change the world for the better. Now it's a race to the death of all.
Hang on and buckle your seat belt. The roads ahead are not only filled with potholes but land mines to boot.
Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.
Yup. The two party system must be destroyed. #BernieOrBust
"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." - JFK | "The more I see of the moneyed peoples, the more I understand the guillotine." - G. B. Shaw Bernie/Tulsi 2020
buckle of the bible belt
It puzzled me for years - so called Christians who fought against poor people, healthcare, civil rights, human rights, and on and on. Then I heard an interview that talked about the take over of the seminaries during FDR. They were afraid socialism (or even scary communism) might sweep the nation as people began to benefit from social programs. After all socialism is pretty close to Jesus' work. They pushed the concept that Christianity is capitalist by nature...you must earn your place in heaven. And so we have a couple of generations of preachers trained promote capitalism over people.
Your stories typify the effectiveness of that brainwashing. And also explains my disgust of organized religion and the mostly small minded folks that fall in line without thought. You might need to be a southerner to understand the extent of the tentacles of the church into the culture. Well I guess you remember the Scope's trail.
Thanks for another thoughtful piece!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Guess this guy's Jesus
told him -- unlike the biblical Good Samaritan -- to "pass by on the other side."
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parable_of_the_Good_Samaritan
Euterpe2
Ah....the "Prosperity Gospel"
where greed is good and selfishness is salvation!
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It is easier for a rich man to get into heaven
than for a rowing boat to pass under the Golden Gate Bridge.
“To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize.” -Voltaire
I just read the best definition
The Gospel of Free Enterprise: The combined philosophies of an atheist, abortion-loving immigrant named Ayn Rand with those of a socialist, Jewish rabbi named Jesus Christ.
Meddle not in the affairs of Dragons - For thou art crunchy and good with ketchup
They must have skipped the Episcopalians
at least the folks at CDSP (Church Divinity School of the Pacific, located on Berkeley's "Holy Hill") -- social justice is still a key tenet of most of the churches I've attended.
Actually,
if I remember correctly, this notion that God rewards faith with material riches goes back to the early Church when the Apostles spoke out against it...
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How about the money lenders in the temple?
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
I like Dan Berrigan's comment
"They make the Bible into a scrapbook" and only include the portions they like (ignoring, for example the teachings of Jesus, which you might think would be central).
Its currently
a pamphlet consisting of small chunks of Revelation and Leviticus
“To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize.” -Voltaire
They took all the parts Jefferson cut out, and made their
Bible out of only those bits.
The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.
Shupee Max Towing owned by Max Shupee
Great business ya had goin there Mr. Shupee... too bad it will soon be bankrupt.
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Shupee Used Cars (claims not
to be affiliated) is apparently dealing with some pushback
https://m.facebook.com/lacey.lindsey.73/
Hope the towing service that sent Mr. Kenneth Shupee as their substitute has gotten some feedback too.
Euterpe2
And the sad thing is we can't even hope
to avenge this as a Bernie supporter simply wouldn't do this to a T Rump supporter.
OK, a little snark maybe, but for the most part I just don't see it happening, even though as a Bernie supporter I would love to give a Trump supporter something to think about. Although in reality, I have more contempt now for the Hillbots who should know better. These Trumpers have just lived on the Faux for so long it will take quite a shake up to their own little world for them to be able to see it, but a Hillbot knows better and does it anyway. And while Trump has incited their bigotry, Faux nurtured and developed it for decades.
Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur
Don't think its snark - I wouldn't do this to a Trump supporter
I might even use the opportunity to talk to them nicely about why they support Trump, and have they considered this or that.
But just because someone supports another candidate is no reason to treat them like shit. This doesn't happen to Trump supporters, because only Trump supporters are ok with doing shit like this to people.
It would be counterproductive to do this to a Trump supporter
You never win people to your cause by being nasty to them. Just tell them that you disagree, but you respect their right to their opinion and you hope that they will try to listen to Bernie if they have a chance. Tell them that both Bernie and Trump think American jobs have been lost through disastrous trade agreements like NAFTA and that Bernie opposed NAFTA long before Trump ever talked about it. It is puzzling to look at the comments of some at DKos who seem to think that Bernie supporters can be beaten or tortured into loving HRC.
Oh by the way, did I mention he is a Trump supporter?
No, but then it wasn't strictly necessary.
By the by, this asshat has a Facebook page!
It looks like his fifteen minutes of fame isn't going quite as he envisioned.
Meddle not in the affairs of Dragons - For thou art crunchy and good with ketchup
WWJT?
Who Would Jesus Tow?
or WWTD?
What would Trump do?
Whatever it is, that guy has got it covered.
More to the point, WWJLSOTSOTR?
Who Would Jesus Leave Stranded On The Side Of The Road?
The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.
And he says, ‘Yes ma’am,’
A polite asshole.
Who knew?
Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.
Good dog, I won't look, but Southernese
of down-talking to youngers by calling them Ma'am is pretty ultimate diss. Besides leaving a paying customer by the side of the road, I mean.
Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.
to me, it's more proof that capitalism doesn't work
If the free market system was vibrant and allowed maximum opportunities for everyone, then why are only these redneck confederate rightwingers cornering the market in the towing business in South Carolina? (Traveller's Rest is in SC but adjacent to NC)
There is obviously not enough competition here or this guy would be begging for the privilege of towing any disabled vehicle.
That's evidence to me that capitalism is decadent and is destined to internally self-destruct in the long run.