And Now, A Congressional Hearing On White Nationalism, Starring Candace Owens

This was quite a ride.

Today, the House Judiciary Committee held a hearing on Hate Crimes and the Rise of White Nationalism, in light of the recent New Zealand massacre and the incredibly obvious facts that White Nationalism is becoming a pretty big problem here in America and that people are being radicalized on the internet.

Invited to the hearing were representatives from the ADL, from the Equal Justice Society, Facebook, Google, etc ... and, for some goddamned reason, Candace freaking Owens.

Why was Candace Owens there? Well, apparently she was invited by the GOP to sit there and explain to everyone that rightwing extremism is not actually problem, and that all of the real racism comes from the Left. Also invited by the House Republicans was Morton Klein, the head of the right-wing Zionists Organization of America, who tried to claim in his opening statement that all the "real" anti-Semitism was actually coming from Ilhan Omar and pro-Palestinian student groups on campus. He also claimed that the New Zealand shooter was actually a left-wing terrorist. He was a real peach.

In her opening statement, Owens noted that she was a victim of a hate crime when she was in high school, and that the "liberal media" never brings this up when discussing all of the stupid things she says and does now. I actually believe I have mentioned that before, along with the fact that she stopped identifying as a liberal right around the time that she tried to start a website called "Social Autopsy," the purpose of which was to doxx Gamergate bullies. Owens was warned that this was a bad idea by lots of people who had already been victimized by the movement, and when she was harassed by Gamergate trolls, claimed that it was actually the anti-Gamergate people harassing her, and then joined Gamergate herself. We're all up on your history, Candace, no need to worry.

Today, Owens explained that she is a victim of hatred because she's not the kind of black person the Left wants her to be, because she supports the President. I don't see us rallying around white people who love Donald Trump either, so I'm not sure what her point here is supposed to be.

WATCH LIVE: Hate crimes and white nationalism discussed in House Judiciary Committee hearing    www.youtube.com 

Owens made a point of noting that many years ago, in the South, Democrats were racist, as if that is a thing anyone is disputing, and that "racism" and "white nationalism" used to be real problems, as opposed to now when apparently they are just used by those same Democrats to win elections. This would be a truly compelling argument were people completely unable to observe the world around them in any capacity.

She explains that the real problem is not White Nationalism, it is Democratic policies that have hurt black people. She was disappointed that she was there for a hearing on White Nationalism and not one about how many black single mothers there are. How such a hearing would even go, I cannot even begin to imagine. What does she want? For the government to force women to get married whether they want to or not? For them to scold single mothers more? To travel back in time to 1992 and retroactively cancel Murphy Brown ? Besides, Candace Owens, just which side of the made-up Margaret Sanger meme are you on???

Dear @BLEXIT and @RealCandaceO: You don't know what you're talking about here on your site:… https://t.co/v1DaUMyDGw

— Kevin M. Kruse (@Kevin M. Kruse) 1540835135.0 

Later in the hearings, when asked by Congressman Steve Chabot (R-OH) about Blexit (Black Democratic Exit) and how she used to be a liberal, Owens explained that her goal was to help black Americans leave the Democratic Party just as she did when she realized that Democrats were just trying to emotionally manipulate her by showing her things like pictures of black churches being burned down, and that the Southern Strategy never happened.

WATCH LIVE: Hate crimes and white nationalism discussed in House Judiciary Committee hearing    youtu.be 

This should come as quite the surprise to the many black Americans who were alive at the time. What a relief it will be to them that this 29-year-old is now here to tell them that a thing they literally lived through did not even happen.

When asked to explain, after the hearing, what she meant by this, Owens responded with a lot of right-wing gobbledy-gook about how only Strom Thurmond left the Democratic Party to join the Republicans. The Democratic Party today, she claims, has not changed at all since before Strom Thurmond left it for no particular reason whatsoever.

Here is ⁦@RealCandaceO⁩ explaining why she called the Southern Strategy a “myth.” cc: Nixon historians ⁦… https://t.co/vkisVubdvP

— Alexander Nazaryan (@Alexander Nazaryan) 1554832615.0 

It's gonna be real tough when someone shows her an electoral map. What is her theory here? That white people in the South actually got less racist during Nixon and that's why they're Republicans now? That Democrats decided to only be secretly racist while pretending to not be racist and then trick the vast majority of black people (except for geniuses like Candace Owens) into joining the party? Whatever it is, it's certainly complicated.

Also, during the hearing, Owens stated that she was upset that Democrats had not done enough to condemn Jussie Smollett, stating that faking hate crimes makes people less likely to believe other people when hate crimes happen for real ... and then criticizing people for believing Smollet in the first place. So what she wants here is for people to not believe people when they say they are victims of a hate crime, so that when people are victims of hate crimes they are believed? Do I have that straight? It's hard to tell.

It was not long after Owens's impassioned assertions that racism and white nationalism were not "real" problems today that House Judiciary Committee Chair Rep. Jerry Nadler pointed out that YouTube had to stop allowing comments on the livestream of the hearing on account of all the racist and anti-Semitic bullshit that was going on in them.

Rep. Louie Gohmert, being Louie Gohmert, noted that the racist and anti-Semitic comments themselves could be a "hate hoax."

Later on in the hearing, Congressman Ted Lieu, who is the freaking best, used his time to play a tape of Owens explaining that Hitler would have been fine if he were just trying to make Germany great again and not trying to invade other countries. Owens claimed that her comments were taken out of context, and accused Lieu of thinking black people were "too stupid" to go and listen to her entire two-hour video to see what she was really talking about. She noted that this is the exact same thing that happens to Donald Trump.

WATCH LIVE: Hate crimes and white nationalism discussed in House Judiciary Committee hearing    youtu.be 

This is a fascinating theory coming from someone who thinks that nearly alllllll the black people in America were fooled by the Democratic Party secretly still being the party of the KKK.

It's incredibly unfortunate that a hearing on a very serious issue ended up being undermined by the absolute foolishness that is Candace Owens, but it would appear that the Republican plan to dispatch a black woman to deny the existence of racism in America failed quite miserably, and that all of the people who were actually qualified to be on that panel did a great job. So there's that.

Anyway! This is now your open thread! Enjoy!

[ PBS ]

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